Thank You Megatron

 

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 34

Movie: TRANSFORMERS

Release Date: July 2007

Rating: PG-13

Studio: DreamWorks

LOWDOWN

The action figures made popular by Hasbro made their live big-screen debut July 2007 under direction of Michael Bay. The plot’s simple. An alien species of robots come to earth looking for a cube that contains the life of the universe. One group of aliens, the Decepticons want to use the cube for evil while the Autobots want to use it for good; or destroy the cube before evil can use it. The Autobots enlist the help of young Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) who unknowingly possesses a map to the Cube given to him by his late grandfather. Ultimately the movie leads the Decepticons and the Autobots into a fight for power with humans as the bargaining chip.

DIG

I grew up with the TRANSFORMERS, so I have been anxiously awaiting this movie since I saw its first trailer in July 2006. The movie, taking place in the present, was well directed and loads of fun to sit through. I am not typically a Michael Bay fan but this movie made me one. The art that he put into directing such an epic is astounding. The special effects blew my mind. There was tons of it, it was well done and the fast-paced actions scenes weren’t very choppy either.

I was surprised with the acting. I’m not necessarily a Shia LaBeouf fan but he came across well in this movie. His love interest, played by Megan Fox, an amateur to the big screen, does a good job too.

It was cool to hear the voices for the Transformers in loud stereo. Michael Bay wanted to have the original TRANSFORMERS do their voices. Peter Cullen, the original Optimus Prime was cast into the movie, however the original Megatron, Frank Welker, was replaced by Hugo Weaving because his voice had aged so much since the TRANSFORMERS shows.

There is a moment that stuck out for me in the movie. It’s a scene where Optimus Prime is talking to Sam and says that he is going to have to fight Megatron. If it looks like he is about to lose the fight, Sam must insert the cube (of power) into Optimus Prime’s chest. This act, because of the power, will kill Optimus Prime but it will also destroy the evil that Megatron is hoping to be able to control. Crazy huh. Optimus Prime is willing to lay down his life for the sake of humankind.

SPARK

Would you ever lay down your life for a friend?

What do you think Jesus was thinking as he was being led to the cross knowing that he was going to lay down his life for all of humanity?

FINAL THOUGHTS

To be completely honest I can’t think of anything that was wrong with this movie. Those that grew up on TRANSFORMERS will love it. Those that have not will become addicted to it. It’s fun for the whole fam. What are you waiting for, go out and see it.

 

Video games reviews: Transformers: The Game (Xbox 360, Wii, PS2, PS3)

You know when an incredibly hyped-up film like Transformers is released there’s going to be a heck of a lot of side merchandise following it – and so the release of this game on the Xbox 360 wasn’t really a surprise to me.

-Synopsis-

The synopsis for the game will probably appeal to anyone with a destructive side and a tendency to want to root for the bad guys – you can either play a campaign as the Autobots, the goody-goody robots trying to protect Sam, the film’s protagonist (the game contains major spoilers so I would watch the film first if you haven’t already) or as the Decepticons, the evil robots hellbent on seemingly blowing everything up. Add in a few…extremely…deep…yet.. .painfully…

overpronounced…voices like someone out of CSI and you’ve got your game.

-Gameplay-

You start off with a nice little intro that clears everything up. Instantly you’ll be hit with the graphics – excellent. You then choose which side you’ll be playing on, and then it shows you the controls for that Transformer. One thing I like about this is it actually lets you read these controls before you progress, rather than just hoping you’ve got some kind of photographic memory and can take it in in 5 seconds, which is nice of them.

If you play as the Autobots you start off play as Bumblebee but will also get to play as Optimus Prime and a few others. You basically are just given the missions of destroying Decepticons, which starts to wear thin after a while. Sometimes game play is broken up with something a bit different like a car chase, but otherwise its all a bit ’same-y’. You have a map in the bottom right hand corner which is clear and easy to read and you also can pick up power-ups like life and ’secrets’ of which there are 100 scattered all over the game (for each character, I believe). At the beginning of each chapter you get a cut screen which tells you your mission.

During the game you are given a ‘rating’ – as an Autobot you are expected to kill enemies and not destroy things – although this is hard to help as everything acts like it’s made out of polystyrene. The more you act good, you are given a heroic rating. The opposite, a destructive rating.

Of course, when you play as the Decepticons you try and do the opposite – cause as much destruction as possible. Your first task is simply to completely DESTROY an air base. Great fun, but quite difficult, actually.

Although the game seems quite simple on paper its actually quite tricky – your time

 

Transformers Henkei Megatron Review

 

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 40

Personally, I feel that Transformers are really just a Big Boys kind of a film. It has all the classic elements of what hard-core action packed movies that men love should.

While there is no need for me to illustrate the plot behind Transformers, I’m sure everyone knows what it is about (males and females alike, the ladies probably heard the story many times over from their male fanatics). But maybe you’re thinking about catching this movie and you’re not sure if it’s actually worth the ticket. Well, my advice, if you like ACTION and military power, and you just can’t seem to get tired of the all-traditional good versus evil plot, then Transformers is your movie, baby!

However, you want to be prepared to get your reading glasses ready because the movie not only requires you to read subtitles of the dialogues of the Decepticon (pardon my spelling if it is wrong!)FAST, you also have to have a sharp eye to figure out which Transformer is fighting which throughout the movie.

Unfortunately, I was caught unaware, and I spent half the time trying to figure out which machine was fighting which.

Nonetheless, as I have mentioned, this is an All Boys movie. There’s two residual hot chicks (one’s a blonde and the other’s a brunette, so take your pick), there’s a lot of firearms and missles flying around, sufficient blood and gore (it is a children flick after all, so definitely no SAW sequels materials) and basically being able to relive your childhood dream of seeing the robots in disguise.

My rating: 3 out of 5 Popcorns!

 

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 38

The Transformers was, far and away, the best movie of 2007. In fact, The Transformers may very well be the best science fiction movie in the last decade. What is it that made Transformers so great? Simply put, it had the three elements that a science fiction movie needs to have in order to be great: high-quality special effects, a great script and amazing acting. Add to all of this the nostalgia factor, and you will wind up with a runaway blockbuster that is guaranteed to entertain for years to come.

Let’s take a look, first and foremost, at the special effects in The Transformers. The CGI in The Transformers is entirely believable. When you watch this movie, you don’t think you’re looking at an animated picture of a car that changes into a robot; you think you’re looking at the real thing. Take, for example, the scene where the Autobots are sneaking around out in the yard. You really believe that there is a three-story tall robot peeking into a window, and you really believe that the people inside aren’t going to notice him because he is being so stealthy. THAT is quality CGI at its best.

In terms of the script, The Transformers couldn’t have been any better. From the beginning, you actually care about the characters. You sympathize with them, and you want them to succeed. The plot holes in The Transformers are so small as to be insignificant. The action steadily builds until the end, when you’ve got a full-on, nonstop, in-your-face Autobot vs. Decepticon donnybrook.

Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox shine as protagonists. Fox manages to be sexy yet tasteful, and keeps the guys’ interest piqued through the film. The presence of veteran actors Jon Voight as Defense Secretary John Keller and John Turturro as Agent Simmons is a bonus to The Transformers, albeit an unnecessary one; LaBeouf and Fox (along with the voices of Peter Cullen and Hugo Weaving as Optimus Prime and Megatron respectively) carry this film along.

Topping things off are all of the references to the old Transformers cartoons. When LaBeouf says, “more than meets the eye,” the theater burst into cheers.

The Transformers earns 11 1/2 stars out of 10.

 

Transformers Energon – Megatron Raid 2/3

 

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 42

Can anything be bigger than this?

“Silence is golden.

These are the infamous words that are plastered over every theater screen in the world at the beginning of a film in many different languages. However when a film production agency finally gives fans what they have wanted for years since its conception in the 1980’s, “silence is golden” no longer exists. “Transformers” was an animated series and line of toys created in 1984 about robots that could transform into different objects such as jet planes or trucks. There has been one animated series and now the most incredible representation of this phenomenon known to man. A classic tale of good versus evil with the Autobots as the protectors and the Decepticons as, basically the evildoers. Can’t get any better than that. So how do you present an 80’s television series to a brand new generation twenty years later?

You relate to your audience (Shia LaBouf your main character and Megan Fox as the car smart, gorgeous girl that is out of his league), you have incredible special effects (utilizing a large team of experts including David J. Barker of Spider-Man 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End), amazing sound (Peter J. Devlin of Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, sound mixer, among others), well known producers (Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg) and an action genius at the helm of the whole crew (action director Michael Bay). The audience won’t be able to keep quiet. The story begins with a narration in a very familiar voice (the fans remember him as Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots), then quick changes to Qatar, where a military base is established. This is where the a strange, large machine starts hacking into the US computer system and scanning top secret documents. While the government is chasing their tails about what country could create such an advanced piece of metal we see a high school get his first car and the steering wheel contains that one symbol that is decipherable by admirers from back in the day: the Autobots icon. And so the story goes on: the main character freaks out because his car has a mind of its own, the girl ends up learning more about the robots with the boy, and the robots start to fight out in the open in order to take possession of the Allspark, a very complex life giving cube. A very workable storyline. Shia LaBouf creates a believable character that spouts laughable quips here and there, very realistic reactions for the kind of situation he is thrown in. And honestly you can’t stop paying attention to him. You see Josh Duhamel as a captain who, in the beginning, is just trying to get home to his wife and new born child, but that sub story is forgotten after you see Bumblebee change for the first time. When you take a concept like Transformers and try to create subplots, there’s no point because all they’re going to be is forgotten and discarded due to the grandeur of robots in disguise’.

In a nutshell the revamped rendition of this classic is unbelievable, with such visual clarity that you forget you’re watching something that was made up and start thinking that this could possibly happen. You will never walk by another car again without thinking that at any minute, it could transform into a human saving fighting machine that has understood our form of language through the “world wide web”. From the moment you finish watching the movie, everything will be “more than meets the eye”.

 

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 35

Sometimes in life you just have to go with it.

Maybe it’s eating a nice big plate of bull testicles when in Spain, or maybe it’s making out with a fat chick so that your buddy can score with her hot friend, or maybe it’s just turning off your brain and enjoying the summer blockbuster “Transformers.”

Sure you can ask yourself really obvious questions like “Why do the Autobots take the form of wimpy Chevrolet vehicles, when the Decepticons are modeling themselves after jetfighters, tanks and helicopters?” but then you’re thinking too much.

In the real world a Black Hawk Helicopter beats a Pontiac Solstice.

Just, in case (you know), you get all jacked up and decide to mouth off to a marine outside of a car dealership.

I’m just trying to help here.

Every now and then I did want to jump out of my seat and say “Hey Autobots, why do you have a master of arms when each one of you seems to have an endless supply of missiles that shoot out of your fingertips?” Holy crap, I thought being a high tech worker was always just a paycheck away from the unemployment line. How useless is THIS guy?! Being the master of arms is like bragging about having skin at the Playboy mansion.

Now another nagging question that is bothering me, is the whole “magical cube of life” thing that everyone is after. So, if I get this straight, the cube’s energy can turn any mechanical device into a living (albeit evil) organism. It’s pretty damn handy that this cube landed on a planet full of mechanical devices instead of the moon, or Mars, or even Utah.

Imagine how pissed off the Decepticons would be if they activated the force field hoping to raise an army and the butter churns just sat there.

If you want to have fun at this movie stop wondering why a secret government agency (that even the Secretary of Defense doesn’t know about) would take a teenage kid into their secret laboratory and give him the guided tour. You’re just going to upset yourself over things like how this kid manages to run up 83 flights of stairs when a 7 story mechanical robot who smashes through walls is 23 feet behind him.

If you can accept that drunk gay pirate can battle an army of highly trained British Seamen (insert joke here) or how a kid in red pajamas can swing from rooftops all night and work all day without having a heart attack from all of the ephedrine that he must be taking then you can accept that really in the grand scheme of things, it’d make more sense for all of the Transformers to take the form of a jet fighter instead of a diesel truck so that they wouldn’t have to, oh… you know ride a ferry across that thing we called the ocean.

This is a stupidly fun movie.

If you took “War of the Worlds”, “Star Wars”, “National Treasure” and “T2″ and put them into a blender it might look something like “Transformers”.

I give it 5 out of 5.

 

Movie reviews: The Transformers (2007) – Part 41

Transformers is a lot like a trip to Wal Mart. There is way too much for your senses to take in; some of it is incredibly appealing, some of it is horribly tacky and the whole experience leaves you feeling a little tainted.

The visual effects are the draw with this film. The computer generated Autobots and Decepticons are seamless and utterly believable. At several times the screen is just a mess of CGI garble but for the most part the people at Industrial Light and Magic have realistically depicted a world where 30 foot robots come crashing to earth and change freely into cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles then back again into robots. Think about that for a second. That is not an easy feat.

The trouble with this movie is there is a whole lot more than Transformers in “Transformers”. The movie tries to be everything to everyone. It is clear that director Michael Bay has set out to entertain both children and the parents who bring them to (and pay for) the movie. However, there is also an attempt to appease the hordes of fanboys (and perhaps three fangirls) who have remained dedicated to the Transformers universe ever since they were in Snork pajamas. It seems that nothing has been left on the cutting room floor. There is a romance in there, as well as a family comedy, a military sub plot, cute robo-shenanigans and a techno caper to boot. It is a film that manages to pay homage to (or rip off, depending how cynical the viewer) Herbie the Love Bug, Short Circuit, Men in Black, Short Circuit II, Men in Black II, E.T., Starship Troopers, Independence Day, and Hackers, in no particular order.

The result, for me, is a wildly uneven movie that rambles on satisfying all of its viewers some of the time but less of us all of the time.

 

« Previous Page — Next Page »