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Bookmark this pageTransformers (2007)
Director: Michael Bay
Synopsis
Based on the hugely popular cartoon and toy range from the 1980s, ‘Transformers’ revolves around a war between two sets of robots for supremacy on earth. Optimus Prime is the leader of the Autobots, who have travelled to earth to protect mankind from Megatron and his evil army of Decepticons. Meanwhile, young human Sam Witwicky buys his first car, which just happens to be Autobot Bumblebee, and soon finds himself embroiled in the battle to save the planet.
Movie review
From Time Out London
The cars – are they here to help us or destroy us? Not an idle question in these carbon-conscious times, and Michael Bay’s ’splosiongasmic ’botfest could, at a stretch, be parsed as a grand-scale id-fantasy of America’s doomed infatuation with the internal combustion engine: both goodies and baddies look sexy as hell, and both leave destruction in their wake. You could even tease an oil-anxiety subtext out of the film’s overseas settings: a spot of blowback in the Middle East and a salutary warning against exploratory polar digging.
As in the ’80s cartoon series/corporate promotional tool on which the movie is based, Earth is the battlefield for two tribes of ancient alien robots who can shape-shift into items of our technology. (They also seem to have developed a kind of robo-parkour.) The evil, spiky Decepticons and the friendly but, in this version, equally spiky Autobots are slugging it out for control of a magic Rubik’s Cube; caught in the middle is high-school kid Sam (Shia LaBeouf), who inadvertently picks up a battered Autobot at a secondhand car lot and develops an even bigger crush on it than he has on the girl from history class (Megan Fox).
Sprawling, hardware-heavy, gung-ho with a streak of cruel humour, ‘Transformers’ is a Michael Bay movie, all right. It’s also about as nimble as a 30-foot behemoth with fried navigation circuits, lunging and lumbering from misfiring comic set-piece to messy pitched battle, landing the occasional bullseye along the way. John Turturro is good value as a sleazy spook but you’ll search in vain for anything like characterisation elsewhere, especially among the robots themselves. Less than meets… you know.
Author: Ben Walters
Time Out London Time Out London Issue 1927: July 25-31 2007
User reviews of this film
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- Beca & Ryan said...
- Posted on Aug 29 2007 12:20 Perfect film, one of the best i've seen all year. I wasn't convinced by the trailer but if you miss out on this film you're a fool. It has everything you could possibly imagine in one. GREAT!
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- Jojo said...
- Posted on Aug 29 2007 10:08 Bear in mind this is based on a range of toys and a favourite cartoon series for kids then sit back and enjoy the special effects which are breathtaking. The transformation sequences between vehicles into robots are also awesome. Story, well, there is one of sorts, a bit convaluted but it exists and there is alot of comic stuff thrown in which is good as you really cant take this too seriously. My kids loved this and I have to say I did enjoy it myself, albeit mainly just for the effects, a bit over long but good fun. (Gutted they didnt have the old cartoon theme tune)
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- Sarah said...
- Posted on Aug 27 2007 22:50 An excellent film. I was warned not too bother by a friend, but she was looking for some meaningful story line...if you go to see it expecting good robots fighting other robots then you won't be disappointed. I disagree with peoples comments about teh human characters, tehy were good and the scenes gave us somthing to look at besides fighting machienes.
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- Trahern said...
- Posted on Aug 27 2007 14:11 Too many humans, not enough robots. (Did ANY of the human actors make us care about them?) Perhaps they made the CGI so complicated and expensive, they couldn't afford to have the movies' namesakes front and center for the entire film. And WHY does anything brought to life by the magic cube start destroying everything? Meh... the VG Cats webcomic summed up my thoughts on this well enough.
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- Stick said...
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Posted on Aug 27 2007 11:52
A good film, if you don't take it too seriously. The CGI is amazing, particularly the 'scorpion' in the desert, but the plot sometimes moves at a slower pace than I'd like.
The battle scenes are excellent, if a little inconsistent at times.
Overall, a thoroughly entertaining film that tries to appeal to a wide variety of audiences - and almost pulls it off. - Report as inappropriate
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- Frank said...
- Posted on Aug 26 2007 13:08 You'd think this movie was about the Transformers, instead Michael Bay gives us rubbish human characters, no plot, bad dialogue supplimented by a guest appearance of some big robots who have very little to do with anything. Another movie that is only held together by its special effects...
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- warren said...
- Posted on Aug 26 2007 10:52 this film iss soo funny its gr8 how they have set it out i wud serously recomend this film and have
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- James said...
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Posted on Aug 25 2007 10:42
this film is truly geat and enjoyable
with action all the woy through. I would
highly recommend this film. - Report as inappropriate
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- Fletch said...
- Posted on Aug 25 2007 09:20 Bog standard Micheal Bay film, disengage brain watch flickering lights for two hours.
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- Jase said...
- Posted on Aug 24 2007 01:18 I've seen the fill twice now....I have to say that the second time is far better. This is because you know when the good bits are coming i.e. the parts with the Transformers and in the bad parts i.e. anyone who is human...in these parts you can go to the toilet etc.....I cannot slate the file much, as the Transformers are amazing! Optimus is just as you want and Bumble Bee is still the kids favourite.....one thing I wud say is the scene where BB is captured is probably more emotionally convincing than any scene with a real actor in it.....I knid of felt that they had a checklist of characters...Kid, kids love interest, parents, other ethnic background characters, Gulf War soldiers, FBI types, politicians....the bottom line is all we wanted to see was some robots smacking the hell out of each other.......the film is worth seeing for the last 30 minutes alone!
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- Jack said...
- Posted on Aug 23 2007 16:40 Yes, the special effects were pretty good but really when you go to watch a film, you want more than just special effects really and this film had nearly no plot at all. The first 30 minutes were good, showing the way he started to cope with the car. Then they all came and it lost all story and went special effects for the rest of the film. Micheal Bay has done it again, making cheesy american films with no real character development or anything. I also noticed that he likes slow motion a bit too much and puts it where it is not needed. There were also too many scenes of the military people running to their planes in the sunset in slow motion, but that sort of thing is what Micheal Bay does best. Better than Pearl Harbour but still leaves much to be desired
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- the king said...
- Posted on Aug 23 2007 14:01 throughly enjoyable over 2 hours of pure fun. highly recommended!!!
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- Chiefdg said...
- Posted on Aug 22 2007 21:43 What I love about reading these reviews of transformers is that people who take movies too seriously slate the movie, and the die hard fans see it as the second coming. What both parties fail to realise is yes its not perfect but it certainly more than delivers as a very entertainable, watchable film that sucks you in, and sends you on a fantastic action packed rollercoaster ride and leaves at the end thinking wow. Isn't that the point of a summer action blockbuster? And I don't believe there is another film that packs more wallop in its action that transformers!
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- adam said...
- Posted on Aug 22 2007 10:21 this film was fantastic dont be put off by the two star rating a must see film action all the way through the best film in ages! suitable for all ages hope there is a number two film.
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- Lewis said...
- Posted on Aug 20 2007 15:54 brilliant film i loved it and all u ppl out there who are giving bad ratings u must hav no sense of a gd film transformers is awesome apart from that little CD player 1 on the plane i didnt lyk tht , but its no where near enuff 2 spoil the film
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Cast & crew
Director: Michael Bay
Producer: Don Murphy, Tom Desanto, Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, Ian Bryce
Cast: Shia LaBoeuf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Jon Voight, Anthony Anderson, Rachael Taylor, John Turturro full cast
Genre(s): Science Fiction, Action/Adventure
Rated: 12A
Duration: 144 mins
UK Release: Jul 27 2007
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