rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 2007
Directed by Michael Bay; produced by Ian Bryce, Tom DeSanto, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Don Murphy; screenplay by Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman
Starring Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Rachael Taylor, Anthony Anderson, Jon Voight, John Turturro, Bernie Mac
I do not like Michael Bay very much. He is a terrible storyteller, destroys intelligent ideas ('The Island') and when he puts his hands on history he becomes the worst director out there. In 'Team America' there was even a song devoted to his badness, especially surrounding the Ben Affleck vehicle 'Pearl Harbor'. But you got to give the man credit when it comes to action, since few do it better than he. James Cameron, Peter Jackson and Steven Spielberg maybe, but they are storytellers as well. 'Bad Boys' and its sequel, 'The Rock', 'Armageddon' and the twenty minutes of the real attack in 'Pearl Harbor' were all astonishing, and lucky for us 'Transformers' is mostly action. And great comedy, especially in the first half.
Once you are used to how ridiculous the premise basically is, you will enjoy 'Transformers' as pure entertainment. The battles between transformers and other transformers (good and evil are clearly devided), and between human beings and transformers all look as good as it can get. The final fight takes way too long, but Bay probably knows he does action best so why not take as much time for it as possible, before almost spoiling a terrific film with some typical Bay-moments in the end. I mean this in the most serious way. After Earth is saved (of course this is not a spoiler) there have to be some concluding scenes and Bay only needs one to show how bad he can be.
Still, 'Transformers' works. I would even say it is one of the few 2007 summer blockbusters that really does the job right. After major disappointments like 'Spider-Man 3' and 'Shrek the Third', and films not more than just nice, like the third 'Pirates of the Caribbbean' and 'Ocean's Thirteen', I was quite happy and honestly surprised by this Michael Bay film, especially when it comes to mixing the action, the visual effects, and the comedy. 'Team America' also asked why Michael Bay got to keep on making movies. 'Transformers' is the right reply.