Michael Bay is a director whose films split most people. His bombastic style and excessive noisy action sequences, often at the expense of structural logic or character development, have led many to see him as the embodiment of all that is wrong with Hollywood, style over substance, and yet I have always felt that while this is often the case, the hate poured against him was largely unjustified. Directing action is a skill, directing action films doubly so and Bay seems one of the only directors left (aside from James Cameron who has been out of the game for nearly a decade now) able to create memorable sequences and shoot action films that satisfy in terms of destruction, stunts and visuals. All his films from the Rock to Armageddon to Bad Boys 2 stand out amongst all recent action films and there is no director out there who can touch him for visceral thrills and pure carnage.
It is with this in mind that you come to understand why the movie version of Transformers is such a perfect fit for Bay’s style. If the idea of 50ft robots beating the hell out of each other and several city blocks is enough to get you excited, wait until you see it realised on screen. Loud dumb but masterfully enjoyable Transformers is one of the most purely cinematical blockbusters in years delivering on nearly every level and with a readily judged tone that captures the nonsense in a way that is simply fun to watch. It actually makes a refreshing change from the multitude of films lately, sequels like Pirates of Caribbean, Harry Potter and Spiderman 3 that have seen fit to play up the darkness of their stories, the humanity that prevails in pain and loss, here there is little of that and it works, this is not a story that should be told with any level of gravity or seriousness and Bay knows this and this lightness of tone breezes through the film.
The film also benefits from the touch of executive producer Steven Spielberg whose hand can definitely be seen in the suburban family scenes that counter the military posing that makes up the other half of the film. Shia LaBouf excels in his role as the awkward teen charged with saving the world and his winning and infectious performance is another large reason that the movie works so well. In fact early on as we are introduced to his character and the story is set up I almost wished we stayed with it longer, the frequent cutting away to the military investigation felt unwanted and while it was necessary for the plot it was never as engaging or intreguing to me.
Once the film reaches the half way stage however all hell starts to break loose and as the plot unravels and is revealed to be pretty thin, the robots start to take centre stage. ILM have done an incredible job with the effects on this film, in an age where we are swamped by CGI filled movies every other week it takes something really special to stand out from the crowd, and that is what we have here. There is presence and a reality to the effects that has hitherto been impossible and it makes the rather ridiculous premise believable. The characters are well established and the destruction they wreak is unlike anything you would have seen. In fact the opening action sequence of the film would be bigger than most films finale, and it only gets bigger from there onwards. This is definitely a film to see on the biggest screen you can and Bay’s slick style suits the action perfectly, he shoots the robots with a car and attention most wouldn’t and the fact he is not afraid to put the camera right in their faces and slow down the action shows how much faith he has in them as living breathing machines, and it works to draw in the audience and involve them in the action.
The pace is break-neck and the score suitably bombastic, basically you get from the film exactly what you would expect, but in a good way. This is a blockbuster that delivers on the premise of action and effects but that also manages to find a humourous and entertaining tone and toss in some interesting and engaging characters. Yes the plot doesn’t make a great deal of sense and there are unnecessary scenes and characters who don’t really work, but for what it gets right and for how it has been constructed Transformers is a resounding success and may well be Michael Bay’s best film to date. Just don’t take that as a bad thing, you get the feeling this was the film he was born to direct, and for that I am glad.
Loud, visually stunning and ridiculously entertaining this is top-notch action cinema with likeable leads and non stop pace. Striking just the right tone of humour and silliness this is the action film of the summer and a welcome change from the recent flood of sequels. Watch it on the biggest screen you can find.
Michael Bay is a director whose films split most people. His bombastic style and excessive noisy action sequences, often at the expense of structural logic or character development, have led many to see him as the embodiment of all that is wrong with Hollywood, style over substance, and yet I have always felt that while this is often the case, the hate poured against him was largely unjustified. Directing action is a skill, directing action films doubly so and Bay seems one of the only directors left (aside from James Cameron who has been out of the game for nearly a decade now) able to create memorable sequences and shoot action films that satisfy in terms of destruction, stunts and visuals. All his films from the Rock to Armageddon to Bad Boys 2 stand out amongst all recent action films and there is no director out there who can touch him for visceral thrills and pure carnage.
It is with this in mind that you come to understand why the movie version of Transformers is such a perfect fit for Bay’s style. If the idea of 50ft robots beating the hell out of each other and several city blocks is enough to get you excited, wait until you see it realised on screen. Loud dumb but masterfully enjoyable Transformers is one of the most purely cinematical blockbusters in years delivering on nearly every level and with a readily judged tone that captures the nonsense in a way that is simply fun to watch. It actually makes a refreshing change from the multitude of films lately, sequels like Pirates of Caribbean, Harry Potter and Spiderman 3 that have seen fit to play up the darkness of their stories, the humanity that prevails in pain and loss, here there is little of that and it works, this is not a story that should be told with any level of gravity or seriousness and Bay knows this and this lightness of tone breezes through the film.
The film also benefits from the touch of executive producer Steven Spielberg whose hand can definitely be seen in the suburban family scenes that counter the military posing that makes up the other half of the film. Shia LaBouf excels in his role as the awkward teen charged with saving the world and his winning and infectious performance is another large reason that the movie works so well. In fact early on as we are introduced to his character and the story is set up I almost wished we stayed with it longer, the frequent cutting away to the military investigation felt unwanted and while it was necessary for the plot it was never as engaging or intreguing to me.
Once the film reaches the half way stage however all hell starts to break loose and as the plot unravels and is revealed to be pretty thin, the robots start to take centre stage. ILM have done an incredible job with the effects on this film, in an age where we are swamped by CGI filled movies every other week it takes something really special to stand out from the crowd, and that is what we have here. There is presence and a reality to the effects that has hitherto been impossible and it makes the rather ridiculous premise believable. The characters are well established and the destruction they wreak is unlike anything you would have seen. In fact the opening action sequence of the film would be bigger than most films finale, and it only gets bigger from there onwards. This is definitely a film to see on the biggest screen you can and Bay’s slick style suits the action perfectly, he shoots the robots with a car and attention most wouldn’t and the fact he is not afraid to put the camera right in their faces and slow down the action shows how much faith he has in them as living breathing machines, and it works to draw in the audience and involve them in the action.
The pace is break-neck and the score suitably bombastic, basically you get from the film exactly what you would expect, but in a good way. This is a blockbuster that delivers on the premise of action and effects but that also manages to find a humourous and entertaining tone and toss in some interesting and engaging characters. Yes the plot doesn’t make a great deal of sense and there are unnecessary scenes and characters who don’t really work, but for what it gets right and for how it has been constructed Transformers is a resounding success and may well be Michael Bay’s best film to date. Just don’t take that as a bad thing, you get the feeling this was the film he was born to direct, and for that I am glad.
Loud, visually stunning and ridiculously entertaining this is top-notch action cinema with likeable leads and non stop pace. Striking just the right tone of humour and silliness this is the action film of the summer and a welcome change from the recent flood of sequels. Watch it on the biggest screen you can find.
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