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3 responses to “‘Transformers’ is actually less than meets the eye”

1. 

   Christian

   July 22, 2007

   Dude, wtf? Transformers was fucking awesome! The movie rocked.

   The side story with the love interest was good because it allowed for the scene in which we discover that the ‘sector 7′ secret government agency which maintains alien stuff is actually not a great thing, but they are manipulative and take advantage of people and threaten them if they don’t rat out their parents. That, along with other subtle things like the writing on the side of the decepticon who turns into a cop car that says “to punish and enslave” (instead of “to serve and protect”), the raid on the computer hackers’ house, and the aloof/sexist way in which the president asks for ding dongs on air force 1, are important in portraying the post sept-11th national security state as something which isn’t all awesome, helpful, honest and heroic (like the state was in the late 90’s propaganda film “independance day”), but actually isn’t always led by the best people and can actually hurt the citizens as much as it helps them.

   In transformers earthlings survive in spite of the American government, not because of it. For example, rank and file Iraq war veterans have to pull a gun on the sector 7 people to make them release bumblebee… without this breach of authority earth might not have been saved.

   The effects and the fight scene rocked. Where else can you see a robot transform into an F-22, transform back to a robot and shoot down other planes, and then transform back into a plane and then fuck up two other planes 5 seconds later? That was awesome.

   When optimus prime stabbed the guy in the face with his sword that was pretty bad ass, in a very T-1000 sort of way. I liked that you mentioned that.

   Still, for a hollywood action movie today, this should have definately got a 4/5 or maybe a 5/5. What else did it need? Besdies sigorney weaver with a pulse rifle duck taped to a flame thrower I can’t imagine.

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2. 

   Enrique

   July 25, 2007

   i was bummed out by 28 weeks later, spiderman 3 and surprisingly only slightly by die hard 4… best bet of the summer, super bad

   Reply
3. 

   Alexis Gentry

   July 28, 2007

   I just saw this movie today and it was definitely better than I was expecting it to be. With Michael Bay’s previous track record of crap big-budget, low-content movies (The Island), I was expecting this to be a total disaster. Even Trey Parker ripped on Michael Bay in Team America with an entire song about how much Pearl Harbor sucked and the line “Why does Michael Bay get to keep on making movies?”

   I was happily surprised that it definitely wasn’t what I thought it would be. This is less of a credit to Michael Bay and more of a credit to Shia LaBeouf, who managed to say lines that would sound totally stupid in a way that made them funny and cool.

   I was never hardcore into the animated series, though I did sometimes watch it when I was little. I’m sure if I had been really into it as a kid, I would have been more of purist about the adaptation. I’ve read some reviews by super fans who went ape shit that Optimus Prime was an extended truck in the film and not a flat-front truck like in the animated show or that Bumblebee was a Camero and not a VW Beetle like in the original.

   Regardless, I actually ended up kinda liking Transformers, if only for its fun summer-blockbuster value. It was definitely one of the better Michael Bay films I’ve ever seen.

   Oh, and I liked the soundtrack with The Used and Taking Back Sunday too.

   Reply