Awesomeness

The Autobots have waged their battle against the Decepticons since the mid-1980's. Despite this, they haven't had a screen presence since the original animated film, Transformers: The Movie. Director Michael Bay thought this needed to change.

Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) is your average teen. He's fairly short sighted and has his sights set on dating and looking cool. He purchases a car from a used car lot to impress a high school hottie by the name of Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox). Little does he know that his vehicular selection would change his life. Meanwhile, the US military stationed in Qatar have fallen under attack. Reports claim an unidentified craft baring friendly markings landed then destroyed the base. Only a few soldiers escaped. They soon found themselves being tracked by an unknown machine that seemed impervious to their weapons. Meanwhile, a strange signal is being transmitted across the government networks. The origin is unknown.

So, with this sound set up, what you're looking at is the core for what's one of the better films I've seen. Transformers is sure to dazzle you with hype and be a rush. Just when you think something's off, you can expect a transformer to be there. And it all starts in Qatar.

What I enjoyed about the story was the subplot of Sam. They did a good job of writing this plot, and it's the most interesting because Sam becomes most directly connected to the transforming robots. As fate would have it, Mikaela finds herself in the mix with Sam. The two quickly become allies in this crazy battle of the bots. There are two other subplots. The story of Sergeant Lennox (Josh Duhamel) is one of a military grunt whose desire is to return home to his family. Little does he know, a Blackout would change everything. Finally, there's the story of communications analyst Maggie Madsen (Rachael Taylor). Maggie is assigned to a team in charge of deciphering the origins and meaning of the strange signal detected in the government network. While taking a risk, Maggie is not afraid to take risks, even if they would put her in jail for the rest of her life. But she's determined to discover the origin and meaning of this strange signal.

A story that involves giant, transforming machines, you'd think there'd be some decent action scenes. Michael Bay does not disappoint. First off, the scene with the unidentified machines in the desert was awesome. As the soldiers run for their lives, you see this creature diving in and out of the sand while attacking. The way it moves is so fluid. It almost seems like it's swimming rather than burrowing. This makes this sequence fun to watch. Later in the film, you see battles between Autobots (good guys) and Decepticons (bad guys). These are definitely fun to watch. There is one scene that starts on the road and could very well be a Road Warrior style multi-vehicle battle. This ends with a Decepticon transforming and roller blading (as it would appear) after an Autobot across a multi-level highway. Though not the most interesting chase scene I've seen (that title goes to Bad Boys II), it was both memorable and unique.

The special effects were amazing. I couldn't tell that the transformers were CGI (Computer Generated Images) and not actually there. The CGI allowed for dynamic movement without the limitations of puppetry and mechanics. What you find is that the transformers blended with their surroundings and were convincing enough to keep audiences engaged. Beyond the 3 story tall robots, there weren't many other special effects that stood out.

I can't complain about much in this film because it captured the best of the Transformers series and brought it to the big screen in a way we haven't seen before. I will say that the introductions to the Autobots and Decepticons weren't all I'd hoped. Only 4 of the 12 transformers received notable introductions. The rest just appear at some point or arrive and introduce themselves. This method was disappointing, but they seemed to use it because there were more transformers than they really had screen time to cover without the pacing and plot suffering. It is because I have been watching Transformers since I was a child that I knew most of the classics. The Decepticon leader, Megatron, was not what I expected. In the original series, he transformed into a cannon or a gun. When he did this, he could deliver more powerful shots than any one Decepticon by himself. In this film, though Megatron does not transform many times, he becomes something completely different.

Ultimately, this was a great film to see. I'm already planning to purchase the DVD when it's released. I strongly recommend seeing this film. Besides great action and an awesome story, this film also has an unexpected sense of humor. To make things better, even if you know nothing about Transformers, you can see this film and enjoy it. It has enough references to the older series and film to satisfy long standing fans and it explains just enough to newcomers aren't out of the loop.