Primed for Optimum Excitement

Transformers is easily my favorite movie of 2007. It's the only movie in many years I've seen multiple times at the theatre. While Ghost Rider (my second favorite of the year) and Spider-Man 3 have better stories they can't match Transformers for adrenaline and visual beauty. Don't get me wrong, Sandman looks impressive, but Optimus Prime is quite possibly the most awesome feat of computer animation ever put on screen.

One of the biggest questions is how it compares to the Transformers we all know and love. If you're familiar with the cartoons or toys at all the one thing you have to keep in mind is that this movie is it's own animal. It has a unique story with ties and nods to the original but not a strict adaptation like The Green Mile is of Stephen King's book. We've got alien robots from Cybertron that end up fighting their war on our planet. These robots change form - usually a vehicle of some sort - as a means of camouflage and other purposes. In its essence this is the Transformers story, but there is no Arc that crashes with them aboard or anything of that sort. Is that a bad thing? Not really. The cartoons had years of episodes to explore different stories, the movie has to tie everything up (more or less) in a couple of hours. They need something more compact and enough real-world ties to attract the average moviegoer.

On the other hand the details of the story are not that strong. The Transformers are following the Allspark which has landed on Earth. Megatron had located it but was incapacitated before he could retrieve it (it makes me wonder what the other guys have been doing all this time - looking for the Allspark I guess but it seems like a perfect time for the Autobots to strike. Then again maybe there's more story to that than we currently know). The Decepticons have a team on Earth looking for clues to Megatron's fate and the location of the Allspark. The Autobots have been doing the same but have more subtle and less destructive ways of doing it. They've sent a scout to connect with a boy that unknowingly has possession of a map to the Allspark. Once they have confirmation the team travels to Earth to act on that ultimately facing off against the Decepticons.

The whole Allspark concept is not that strong when compared to some stories but really it's not any more far-fetched than the Transformers collecting energon from the cartoon. I think the properties of the Allspark are not very well explained nor are the events that lead to it being on Earth. However, this part of the story is good enough on which to set an action-filled movie.

It's the rest of the story that I don't like so much - at least the code cracking bit. As the Decpticons try to hack the government networks to find information on their missing leader the Dept. of Defense calls in some analysts to figure out what is going on. They don't know, at this point, that alien robots are among them. The star cracker (not to be taken in a racial way) is an Australian girl who then turns to another friend to dig deeper into it. She and her friend are chased and arrested for their efforts and end up locked in a battle against the Decepticons.

I think this whole part of the story is completely unnecessary. I don't much like any of the characters involved in it, everyone around this girl is clueless and inept, she has to take the code away from the high-powered server farm to some guy's Best Buy special machine which has no trouble at all bringing the alien sequence up instantly and cracking it in about 2 seconds. It's funny that I can buy giant alien robots but have trouble swallowing the other bits. It comes down to characters. Without going into a literary apology of characters vs. plot I'll just say that the code crackers dont' sell their plot.

One of my biggest issues with the movie is that we spend so little time with the characters of the Transformers. Most of the Decepticons have virtually no lines and little personality beyond being mean killers. The whole code cracking bit could have been time we spent getting to know the robots' personalities beyond brief introductions. The cartoon had little human involvement; I can understand the need to bring in more of that element to appeal to an audience that aren't Transformers fans already, however, part of why the cartoon was so influential was the strong and distinct personalities brought to life by some of the most revered names in voice acting. In the movie the ones that should have been the stars were often little more than set pieces. If there's anything I would change about the movie that would be it: less code-cracking team, more Transformers - not action necessarily but characterization.

Speaking of characters, how do the Transformers line up with their earlier namesakes? For the most part they are based on the original (or G1) concepts although most have been altered.
Optimus Prime is the leader of the Autobots. You can't have a movie without him. Prime has gone through many incarnations over the years, but the movie takes him back to my favorite form, the big rig - a Peterbilt to be exact. He's a long nose instead of flat which I think works well giving him a larger profile, he doesn't have a trailer that mysteriously appears, and his color scheme is a little more flashy which bothers some fans although I don't much care either way. I think it looks just fine. A big plus for the movie is that the classic voice of Prime, Peter Cullen, is lending his voice once again and does a great job.

Bumblebee is another staple. He's a VW Beetle in his original form but takes the form of a Camaro in the movie. What? How can BB NOT be a Beetle?? I had that reaction like most fans, but after seeing the chase scene with him and Barricade (one of my favorite moments from the movie) I have to say that it would have looked goofy if this were the original BB. I think Bay made the right call changing the style. Something I'm not so keen on is BB not having a voice for the majority of the movie. Here's our one chance to get some real characterization since we spend so much time with him, and the guy can't talk.

Jazz is the the consummate sports car. He's not a Porche anymore which is a little disappointing, but he looks good as a Solstice. Small and agile he doesn't really match what I remember of cartoon Jazz, but his energetic attitude and entertaining quips are in line.

Ironhide is the weapons specialist. He's big, bulky, and armed to the teeth. He's got a rough edge to him that fits. He's a pickup truck instead of a van and black instead of red, but it's not hard to get used to.

Ratchett is the medical technician. In his earlier form he was a van like Ironhide although he was painted up like an ambulance. Now he's a Hummer decked out to be an emergency vehicle. It's an effective design tweak, and I think he looks great.

Megatron is another that is an essential in order to have a true Transformers movie. This time, though, he doesn't transform into a handgun which is really not that great an idea anyway if you think about it. Now he's an alien spaceship. It would have been neat for him to have an Earth form, but the story being what it is it makes more sense to leave him in his original form. Unfortunately Frank Welker isn't the voice for the movie. As much as I like Hugo Waving I wanted Frank. However, after hearing the voice comparisons in the extra features I can see why Bay made the decision he did.

Starscream is the one Decepticon that is closest to his original form. He's a jet, updated to be more modern, but it's a change that works well. He looks good and is a menace in the skies. He's at odds with Megatron much like the original show, but it's not enough.

Of all the designs I think Barricade is my favorite. He takes the idea of Prowl and makes it bad. He uses the illusion of servitude and authority to toy with the minds of those he's after. The slogan "to punish and enslave" is so perfect for this kind of character that I can't help but love it. I think the main reason I'm so fond of him is because he has so much more character than the others. His choice of forms, his perversion of the slogan, and his general style say a lot about him beyond being flatly evil. He's pretty much a new creation for the movie although the name has been used before.

Blackout is probably my next favorite. Again, he's pretty much a brand new creation as far as I can remember of the original line. He's a brutal looking helicopter who takes part in one of my other favorite scenes - infiltrating a military base and going berserk. I love the style of having his blades hang down behind his back. We see a lot more of him than most of the Decepticons so that is probably a large reason I like him so much.

Bonecrusher is pretty awesome, though. He's a specialized military vehicle used to clear mines. He's basically a huge armored truck with a vicious looking claw. When he transforms he stands on his wheels which allows him to basically skate along the roads. He's perhaps the most mindlessly vicious of the bad guys and takes part in my other favorite scene which is battling Prime on the highway. He's not part of the Constructacon team and is a big departure from his original form.

Brawl/Devastator is a small bit of contention. Brawl was a tank, Devastator was the giant robot formed by the Constructacon team. Supposedly the name Devastator was only a misleading placeholder for the true name Brawl, but it's the name used in the movie so I guess that's who they decided he would be. He's a one robot wrecking crew with more armaments than most of his adversaries combined. He's the primary destructive force in the final battle taking humans and pretty much the entire Autobot team to even slow him down.

Skorponok is basically a large robotic scorpion. He's sneaky and deadly but more animalistic than intelligent. This is similar to his original form except he's more on Ravage's scale than a giant city.

Frenzy is the Bumblebee of the bad guys. We see more of him than any other Decepticon. He's kind of based off some original designs and kind of a new creation. The original Frenzy was a tape that was part of a team controlled by Soundwave who was a tape deck. This Frenzy is a radio making him more like Soundwave but his personality is spastic which is completely opposite of Soundwave. He provides a lot of slapstick humor that some find annoying but that I love. I guess I was just happy to see a Transformer getting some real screen time.

There are a number of humans in the story and more recognizable names than I care to go through. We have the crackers I keep talking about, a special ops military unit, a secret men in black-style agency called Sector 7, and the DOD.

The leads, though, are Sam Witwicky - loosely based on Spike Witwicky from the cartoon - and his love interest, the mega-hot Mikaela. Sam is played by Shia LaBeouff, a young comedian who's evidently been in some stuff I've never watched. I didn't have high hopes for him, but I was pleasantly surprised. His energy and humor mixed with youthful intelligence gives Sam a distinctive personality that I don't think anybody else could have done so well. Megan Fox is the lithe young beauty that plays her role with a hard edge while still remaining alluring. I greatly enjoy the performances turned in by both actors.

So far we have enough elements for a decent movie, but what comes next is what makes it really shine. A lot of people complained about Michael Bay being the director. Bay is not and is highly unlikely to ever be my favorite director, but I think he was a good choice for Transformers for multiple reasons. First of all the guy knows cars. He's adept at putting together fast-paced sequences involving all the characters in their vehicular forms. Another plus is his relationship with the military. The use of the vehicles he was able to use as a direct result of that adds a fantastic element to the battles. From a military viewpoint I don't think anyone else could have made the movie as realistic.

Bay's style is not perfect, though. He likes shaky cameras to put the viewer in the middle of the action which works well to heighten excitement, but we get so close that it's hard to follow exactly what's going on. We don't get the opportunity to get a fulfilling view of the robot designs. I spent so much time concentrating on picking out the details of most of the characters from the brief glimpses that I drifted away from the story at times. The movie would have benefited from catering to our desire to gawk at the robots without anything else going on. Give us a transformation to stare at (which we get with some of them but most of them suffer once again from being too close to the action). Once we've had some appeasement time then get back to the mindless action.

Another thing that really makes this movie shine is the incredible graphic work. The sense of realism out of these robots is impressive. It goes a long way into keeping the viewer in the moment rather than screaming "see it's just a movie after all!" I think that's why despite the flaws of the plot I can still enjoy watching this over and over.

CONTENT:
There's a little very mild sensuality mostly just in the emphasizing of Megan Fox's body and some light romance. No sex or nudity at all. There is an out-front reference to masturbation and some mentions of porn. There's a little bit of bad language here and there. The violence is primarily the kind that everybody but robots walks away from - lots of shooting but little dying or even serious wounds, in other words. Most of the deaths are implied or shown at a distance. There's little if any blood. Optimus Prime makes a big deal about the sanctity of life.

DVD VERSIONS:
As with most big new releases these days everybody has their exclusives. There are 2 basic versions (although I'm sure that statement will be outdated before long). There are single disc and 2 disc versions.
Best Buy had a package that included 2 little Transformer toys. One was Prime and the other was one of the red cars, Windcharger or Cliffjumper, can't remember which. I was not impressed with them.

Wal Mart has an extra DVD with theirs. From what I hear it is an animated version of the prequel comic. I might have considered getting that one except that as with all the Wal Mart exclusives I've been seeing it it packaged with the single disc version of the movie. If you want the movie extras you have to choose one or the other as your bonus disc.

Target has the best one. It's a case that transforms into Optimus Prime. Yeah, it's pretty cheesy, but if you' were a big enough fan to rush out and get the movie on its release date then you're probably a big enough fan to enjoy having a transforming DVD case. I'm pretty sure those sold out about the same time the stockboys released their grip so good luck finding one.
In addition to the case the package includes the second edition of the prequel comic. This one focuses a little more on the Decpticons' time on Earth before the movie and includes a character that didn't make it to the movie.
Included with the comic is a special lens that allows you to see hidden codes throughout the book. These codes unlock special features on the Target web site. The book is actually available on line and the codes are easier to read there so I wouldn't worry about getting them out of the book itself.
The best part about Target's package is that it comes with the 2 disc version of the movie. Wal Mart, that's why Target's sold out in a day while yours is still sitting on the shelves. The fans geeky enough to want the exclusives are generally going to be the ones wanting the most complete package available.
There is no other insert with this version of the movie. I don't know about the others.

DVD:
The first thing you might notice is there is a surprising lack of crap that plays before the movie: no previews, few if any warnings, and no disclaimers letting us know that the thoughts and views expressed are not necessarily your own. I’d almost forgotten how nice it was to not have to watch ten minutes of useless nothing before getting to watch the movie I spent $20 to see.

The menus feature some music and animation. Audio is a very nice 5.1, and video is 2.35 Widescreen anamorphic. I didn’t bother to check to see if there is a pan and scan version out there; it’s not worth seeing.

EXTRAS:
While there is a healthy set of extras the creativity of them pales in comparison to a release like Hellboy's director's cut. It's not there isn't some good stuff here, it just feels mass produced rather than someone putting some real effort into it. Kind of like the economy-sized canned stuff instead of a gourmet meal. It's all just video clips with no interaction.

Michael Bay provides a commentary. He tends to go on too long on some things but is generally interesting. He addresses criticism with a note of vindictive humor.
There's a kind of music video even though that's not exactly what it is. It's called "Rise Of The Autobots" and is a short video with a collage of action sequences. The music is "Pretty Handsome Awkward" by The Used. To find it go to the movie credits and skip past the chapter to a reveal hidden menu.
Also on this menu are an Iron Man trailer and the Transformers teaser which is also on the regular trailer menu.
A very short video shows off the Bay Bot, a goofy, custom Transformer (using the Battle Ravage body). To find it go to Our World and press down until a symbol by the main menu is revealed.
Bay has a cameo in the movie, but a much larger one was filmed. The amusing behind the scenes making of the scene is hidden in the Inside the Allspark menu. Press left to reveal a hidden symbol.
Another deleted scene is about a girl getting her dress ripped off. The feature looks at the creation of the scene and features plenty of footage of a woman running around in her skivvies. Go to the trailers menu, to trailer 4, and press right to reveal a hidden symbol.
The last hidden feature is a look at the casting of Mojo. It's an amusing dog feature. Go to the More Than Meets The Eye menu and press up to reveal a hidden symbol.

The rest of the behind the scenes features are divided into groups with a play all for each section. These cover developing the story idea and getting started with it, casting the actors, some funny outtakes, a look at the major actors excluding the voice actors except for Hugo and Peter, stuntwork, military involvement (training, weapons, action scenes with soldiers, etc), locations, a history of the toy line, fans and the franchise, criticism, digital effects design, and lots more.

Perhaps the most interesting ones look at the vehicles used. These focus mostly on the Transformers' alternate modes although some of the specialized military units get coverage, too. Most of the time is with the Autobots. Some of the Decepticons don't get enough time to do them justice.

A scene creation feature looks at Skorponok's design, along with the location, shooting, and effects of the desert battle.

An image slideshow looks at some of the movie concepts. It needs more focus on the robot designs.

The trailers menu contains 3 trailers including the Mars teaser that is on the hidden menu.
There's a lot covered in those features, and a lot of it is very good, however there seems to be too much focus on general appeal without enough for the real geeks like myself. There is little that looks at the designs of the robots or the work that went into creating their complicated transformations. I'm certain I saw a preview that showed an extended version of Bonecrusher's transformation yet nothing like that is on the DVD. The voice actors aren't so much as named in these extras much less discussed. They don't even mention that the voice of Starscream, Charlie Adler, was an actor in the original cartoon series.

FINAL THOUGHTS:
Despite some story weaknesses this is a fantastic movie. It's fun, funny, exciting, and visually stunning. I'm disappointed at the lack of any features looking at the robot designs or voice actors, but at least the release is not barren. If this were any other movie the story problems and lacking extras would affect the rating more, but the simple fact that I was willing to pay to see this movie more than once at the theatre and buy it immediately upon release so I could see it again ensures it gets 5* out of me.