Review - Transformers (2007)

             Hey guys, Chuck here. Well, fifteen years ago today, we got the theatrical release of the live-action movie Transformers, based on the Hasbro toy line of the same name. Now, my personal history with the franchise started in the '90s with the TV series Beast Wars and its follow-up Beast Machines. Then, in the 2000's, I watched and enjoyed the series Transformers: Armada, Transformers: Energon, and my personal favorite Transformers: Cybertron. Then, when I went online and saw a video by Steven Spielberg announcing a live-action movie based on the Transformers, I got excited. But, then, I saw the official teaser, which confirmed that the film was being directed by Michael Bay instead of Steven Spielberg. But, even with a different choice of director than I initially believed, did I still enjoy the movie?

            Well, believe it ir not, I didn't see the first Transformers in theaters when it came out in 2007. You see, I was fifteen at the time, and my dad and I were in a disagreement over which movie we wanted to see. I, myself, wanted to see Transformers, while my dad wanted to see Live Free or Die Hard instead. Neither of us went to see either movie, but my dad eventually took me to our local Target store to pick up a DVD of Transformers. Fifteen years later, I may have a chance to finally see this movie on the big screen, however, as Fathom Events is hosting a series of Fifteenth Anniversary screenings of the movie Transformers for this month. With that out of the way, let's talk about the movie itself. 

            we open with a narration about a life-giving cube-shaped device called the Allspark aka the Cube, and how a war broke out for control of it, and the Cube eventually made its way to Earth. cut to modern day (2007), and we see a group of US soldiers, including Lennox, Epps, Fig (short for Figueroa), and Donnelly, heading to US SOCCENT Airbase in Qatar, which comes under attack by the Decepticon Blackout, Lennox and his men escape, but are pursued into the desert by another Decepticon called Scorponok. We then cut to a high school somewhere on the American west coast, where teenager Sam Witwicky is giving a family history report on his great-great-grandfather, who took a group of sailors to explore the Arctic Circle. Sam then proceeds to begin showing his ancestor's belonging, all of which he's trying to sell on eBay. His teacher, initially unamused and giving Sam a B-, eventually is convinced to up the grade to an A-, which gives Sam the three A's he needs for his dad, Ron, to buy him his first car, which they get at a used car lot owned by Bobby Bolivia. The car they buy is a used yellow 1977 Chevy Camaro, which Sam takes to a local lake, and he meets his classmate Mikaela Banes and gives her a ride home. 

            Meanwhile, Defense Secretary John Keller hires a number of analysts to crack the signal that Blackout had used to hack the American military defense network, which another Decepticon, Frenzy, uses to successfully breach the network from aboard Air Force One to get files the Decepticons need to find the Allspark. Sam's Camaro, meanwhile, drives off to a nearby train yard with Sam chasing it on his bicycle, and he witnesses it turn into a giant robot and send out some kind of signal to the stars. Lennox and his men, who make it to a local village, are attacked by Scorponok, but are able to reach the Pentagon and call in an air strike against the Decepticon. Eventually, the airships use Sabot rounds, Scorponok is taken down, and Lennox and his men, who lose Donnelly during the battle, are airlifted back home to the States. Meanwhile, Sam's Camaro returns to him, which terrifies him, and he rides off on his mother's bicycle, and runs into a police car, which turns out to be a Decepticon called Barricade, who asks about Archibald's glasses. Sam runs into Mikaela, and the two are saved by Sam's Camaro, who drives them away, with Barricade giving chase. The Camaro turns into its robot form, and the two robots fight, with Frenzy going after Sam and Mikaela, with Mikaela decapitating Frenzy, whose head starts to crawl around, and turns into Mikaela's cell phone. Sam and Mikaela hop back into the Camaro, who upgrades his appearance into a 2007 model Camaro. Four meteors then arrive on Earth, turn into robots, and choose alternate modes to disguise themselves. These are the Autobots, and the Camaro is one of them: and Autobot called Bumblebee. The other four Autobots are Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Jazz, and Ratchet. Optimus gives Sam and Mikaela a history lesson on the Autobots, the Decepticons, their homeworld of Cybertron, the war between the two factions, and how Decepticon leader Megatron followed the Allspark to Earth, crashed in the Arctic, and was found by Archibald, who accidentally activated Megatron's navigation system, inprinting the coordinates to the Cube's location on Earth. 

            One of the analysts, Maggie, copies the signal to be deciphered by her friend Glen, and the two are arrested by the FBI. Sam finds the glasses and he, his parents, and Mikaela are taken into custody by Seymour Simmons and a group of agents of a top-secret government agency called Sector 7. The Autobots try to save Sam and Mikaela, but Bumblebee is eventually caught. Back at the Pentagon, another Sector 7 agent, Tom Banachek, confronts Keller, and tells of how Sector 7 told NASA JPL to report the mission of the Beagle 2 Mars rover as a failure, but the rover transmitted thirteen seconds of footage, before it was destroyed by one of the Transformers. Keller picks up Maggie and Glem from FBI custody, Lennox and his men are collected from Nellis Air Force Base, and all parties are taken to Hoover Dam, where Sector 7 is based and where they are holding both the Allspark and a still-frozen Megatron. Frenzy uses the Allspark to restore his body, and he contacts fellow Decepticons Starscream, Barricade, Blackout, Bonecrusher, and Brawl (who is incorrectly named in the movie as Devastator). Frenzy then begins to thaw out Megatron, and Sam uses Bumblebee to shrink down the size of the cube, which Lennox suggests hiding it in the nearby Mission City. Optimus and the Autobots catch up, as do the Decepticons. Optimus and Bonecrusher fight it out on the freeway, with Optimus defeating the Deceticon. Back at Hoover Dam, Glen, Simmons, Maggie, and Keller reach out to the Air Force to provide air support in Mission City, where the Autobots and Lennox's men fight the Decepticons. Frenzy decapitates himself while trying to kill Keller and the others at Hoover Dam, Bumblebee takes out Brawl, Megatron rips Jazz in half, Lennox finishes off Blackout, and Sam destroys the Cube by forcing it into Megatron's chest. 

            After the battle, Keller informs that Sector 7 is shut down, and the dead remains of Megatron, Bonecrusher, Blackout, and Brawl are disposed of in the Laurentian Abyss. Lennox reunite with his family, Sam and Mikaela are officially a couple, the Autobots decide to make Earth their new home, with Optimus sending a message out to any other Autobots scattered across the galaxy, and Starscream flees Earth to seek out Decepticon reinforcements. 

                Okay, so there's a lot going on in this movie, but I gotta say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. While I have yet to see this movie on the big screen, I did love seeing the Autobots and Decepticons in live-action for the first time, and the CGI used to bring them to life was top notch. The voice cast, which included the likes of Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime and Hugo Weaving as Megatron, was phenomenal. Hell, even as a Transformers fan born well after Generation 1 had ended and Garry Chalk had taken over voicing Optimus, I definitely prefer Peter Cullen's voice. He's the original, he's the best, and he's the right pick for the job. Hugo Weaving, meanwhile, was utterly terrifying as Megatron, as Megatron should be. 

            The human cast, however, is more of a mixed bag. While I enjoyed the likes of Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Rachael Taylor, Anthony Anderson, Megan Fox, Bernie Mac, and Jon Voight, others like Shia LaBeouf, Kevin Dunn, Julie White, and John Turturro were far less tolerable. The writing for these characters was also very much a mixed bag. In one hand, the soldiers were written well, but on the other hand, Sam and his parents were very irritating at times. So overall, I enjoyed this movie in many aspects, and it's a fun first outing for the Robots in Disguise. I definitely still enjoy watching it, and even though I've seen it dozens of times on DVD and Blu-ray, every time I watch feels like the first time. That's how much I love the Transformers. So, I'm giving the movie Transformers a rating of 4.05/5. This is Chuck signing off, and I'll see you guys next time.