Transformers: As nostalgic as it could get

By Alex Villafania, hackenslash Reporter
INQUIRER.net

ANYONE who grew up in the 80s and had a TV set would surely agree with me: “Transformers” is the best American-made robot cartoon series ever. The series, as well as the subsequent toys and the VHS-only full-length animation film, made such an impact on the Filipino child’s psyche that it only meant to draw people to believe that another film would soon be made. It took another 20 years, but finally we have a live-action movie about gigantic alien robots that are disguised as normal-looking vehicles.

Luckily, the two who took up that responsibility are Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg, both legends in their own right. Still, many fans of the beloved robot series were afraid that, like many good TV franchises that went sour after being made into a movie, their version of Transformers would fall short of even the faintest expectations. They were happily proven wrong.

Bay and Spielberg’s retelling of Transformers is the best one yet, one that will not be easily forgotten not just by the fans of the series but also newbies who are not familiar with it. It would be such a hit that the DVD home videos of the Transformers would be sold out as soon as it is released. Even the toys are currently being lapped up by people who grew up with the Transformers and their kids who are about to be introduced to the Autobots and Decepticons. While Bay and Spielberg are to be thanked for making sure that the visuals and the action scenes are as stunning as they could get on film, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci (both writers for sci-fi TV series) should also be given credit for creating a solid story.

The “Transformers” movie of Bay and Spielberg is a retroactive continuity (retcon) of the original series. This meant changing the story from the original source material but most of the characters and the main plot remain intact.

The movie starts with an explosive scene in an American military base in Qatar that was attacked by a transforming helicopter (the Decepticon Blackout) who tried and failed to hack into the government servers.

Afterwards, Sam Witwicky buys a curious classic Camaro, which reveals itself as a mute transforming robot (the Autobot Bumblebee). The Camaro rescues Sam from another Decepticon disguised as a police car (Decepticon Barricade) who scares Sam into telling him where a pair of mysterious glasses is found. Later, it is told that both the Autobots and Decepticons, masters of the planet Cybertron, are at war for an infinitely powerful energy source called the Allspark and have brought their battle to Earth where the gigantic Allspark cube crash landed. From there, anyone could already expect what will happen next: gigantic robots beating each other up into piles of scrap in the hopes of acquiring the Allspark.

The movie is surprisingly long: at 2 hours and 20 minutes, it is longer than even “Superman Returns.” But what is so good about the film is that it does not feel any longer than the normal 1-hour-and 30-minute length for most films. Bay has greatly utilized his skills in shooting his film without putting in too many “dead” scenes. A lot of Bay’s signature moves also find their way to the movie, particularly the jarring camera movement and use of unnatural angles that he employed in his previous films such as “Armageddon,” “Pearl Harbor” and “The Island,” to name a few. The movie’s progression is also well executed despite Bay’s attempt to make it feel like it’s still a movie for an older generation.

The computer graphics re-animation of the Autobots and Decepticons bears the signature of Spielberg’s Dreamworks, which did 3D movies “Shrek,” “Madagascar,” and “Antz,” as well as live-action movies with 3D effects such as “A.I.” and “War of the Worlds.” Various scenes show the Transformers change from vehicle to robot in Bay-esque camera movements as if they were really part of the environment and not just obvious 3D renders placed by special effects teams. It’s as if you would want to pause the movie just to see what the robots look like in mid-action.

The Transformer robot designs have been changed drastically from the original ones but in most cases, they still bear some resemblance to their 80s counterparts. For example, Bumblebee still has his yellow paintjob and his helmet design while Optimus Prime is still in his red and blue color scheme, although he’s now a long-nose long-haul truck, sans the trailer. Meanwhile, none of the Decepticons bear any resemblance to their original designs. Only the favorites Megatron and Starscream are in the film but some viewers would still like the new Decepticons Barricade and Blackout.

Understandably, few of the Transformers actually have speaking parts. Only the Autobots get to say some lines in the movie and only a few of them get some character buildup. Poorer still are the presentation for the Decepticons. Only a few of them, such as Barricade and Blackout, get enough screen time and dialogue. The rest of the Decepticons, including Megatron, don’t show up until the last 30 minutes of the film. However, as earlier stated, the progression of the movie is so fast that viewers would be time-warped to the last battle scene without them knowing it. The urban mayhem involving all of the Transformers is also one of the best action scenes for a sci-fi movie in recent history.

Of course, the human element remains intact. Sam Witwicky (played by Shia LaBeouf) is the worrisome teenager whom most of us guys would empathize with. Sometimes, however, he is becomes annoying with his fast talk as he churns out 10 words per second as he tries to make sense of what’s happening to him. Mikaela Banes (the hot and sultry Megan Fox) works well with him as she stays quiet most of the time and only taking action if Sam is frozen in his tracks. Perhaps the hacker Maggie Marconi (Aussie actress Rachael Taylor) is the only other female in the movie who is equally hot, even as she shows a tattoo on the right side of her neck.

Here’s Rachael posing in front of a mock-up of a transformer as she arrives at the premiere of “Transformers” in Los Angeles.

Other actors who did respectable jobs in the movie are Jon Voight, who plays US Secretary of Defense John Keller, and John Turturro, as Simmons from the secretive Sector Seven. I emphasize the word “respectable” since this isn’t a movie about the human actors anyway and it’s all about the robots.

The movie, while sticking to its roots, is still largely a popcorn action flick where the mind does not need to flit around the storyline or the special effects. “Transformers” is more like a New Year’s Eve fireworks display that is more of a visual bombardment than anything else.

While the movie will be a sure blockbuster hit, it does not necessarily mean that everyone will be hoping to watch it again after the first screening.

Perhaps only the bigger fans of the TV series will have the motivation to invite a few of their other friends to watch it again. But the casual moviegoer will just say it was fun but not something worth watching again except when it comes out on home video.

Still, a blockbuster is a blockbuster and “Transformers” deserves to be in that category.

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