STARRING: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Tuturro, Jon Voight, Kevin Dunn, Julie White, Rachael Taylor, Anthony Anderson, Amaury Nolasco, Michael O’Neill, Zack Ward, Travis Van Winkle, Bernie Mac, Peter Jacobson, Rick Gomez, Tom Lenk, Colin Fickes.
WITH THE VOICES OF: Peter Cullen, Darius McCrary, Hugo Weaving, Mark Ryan
DIRECTED BY: Michael Bay
After a new trend of super serious blockbusters, like Godzilla and Pacific Rim, it was nice to return to the Michael Bay mix of comedy and action. Maybe it seems super silly, and it definitely has some silly parts, however… you have to have films like this. Action/Comedies can’t be a thing of the past. Token characters like Anthony Anderson. The silly scene where a simple Nokia phone is transformed into a mini robot… EQUIPPED WITH BULLETS. Correct me if I’m wrong, but wouldn’t the robot be limited to what parts were already included in the phone?
Don’t ask questions.
Admittedly, this film is hard to watch now because Shia Labeouf is batshit crazy, and Bernie Mac is dead (and this is not his finest role). It’s still a fun movie because of scene chewing John Tuturro, and honestly… Megan Fox. She’s perfect for this type of movie. I completely understand why she’s in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, because she’s so totally OK with the silly crap happening around her. She’s almost like a special effect herself.
I think I actually enjoyed this film more the second time around because there hasn’t been a film like this in a while. We’ve been buried with super serious sci-fi films, and dark reboots. The only action comedies are really comedy/action films like 22 Jump Street.
You can hate Michael Bay all you want, but he knows how to set off a pack of fireworks and make them look good. He also can put together a pretty fantastic cast that seems to understand they shouldn’t take their work too seriously.
Also, they went to the trouble of creating a backstory for why the Transformers were drawn to Shia LaBeouf’s character. He wasn’t just some kid who stumbled upon the Transformers. I think we forgot that by the third film. I’m fairly certain this is only my second viewing of the film ever, and I feel like I enjoyed it more the second time around.
FINAL GRADE: B+
