More Than Meets the Eye!

So I went to see Transformers with my wife last night, and I'll start with her reaction. But first, you have to understand, my wife knew absolutely nothing about Transformers going into it, and was less than thrilled to be there. In fact, she was a last minute addition when one of my friends punked out (you know who you are). She is also the type, no matter what movie it is, to get up to go to the bathroom at least 3 times during the movie.

For Transformers, however, she never once got up to go, and was literally on the edge of her seat for the entire last half. Her knowledge of the Transformers immediately after the movie, while not deep, was more than enough to enjoy the movie, which is good. It means kids and people unfamiliar with the mythos can jump right in. That's pretty hard to do.

Once it was over, I told her I was going to go see it again, and she told me I was only allowed to if she could go too. This was huge. I knew how I had seen the movie and how much I enjoyed it, but to be able to see it through a pair of eyes that were fresh and had absolutely no expectations was amazing. This movie has even pushed her over the edge for buying a flat-panel HDTV for our house, because as she said "We can't watch that on our 27" piece of crap, that can only be watched on a big screen."

As for me....

This movie was more than I could have ever imagined. It was like all my Saturday mornings watching the cartoon then playing with my Transformers toys brought to life. It was simply the coolest thing I have ever seen on a movie screen. That's easy to say about the "summer blockbuster" but I am a harsh movie critic. I am the type to get up and walk out after 20 minutes of crap. I am the type to nitpick a movie to death in my eyes. But not Transformers.

From start to finish, they keep the movie moving along and have you fairly well interested in the action. The side story about the All-Spark and why they had come from Cybertron was explained well and then kinda left alone until it was needed for the movie. This was nice because this is where long movies can get bogged down, is in storytelling that isn't necessary. Here they did just enough and then got back to the giant robots, which is why everyone is really there.

And probably the most amazing thing about the whole movie? The fact that Megan Fox is standing there on screen and I can keep my eyes off her because everything else going on is just so much cooler. Standing next to Optimus Prime she just kinda fades into the scene. She looks really good in the movie, but just doesn't hold a candle to a 30 foot realization of my boyhood imagination.

For the people who say it is just another action movie with shit blowing up and special effects, and little to no acting, I say they are terribly wrong and are either too high strung, unwilling to suspend disbelief, or just plain bad critics. Military scenes are always tough on a non-military action movie. Soldiers act funny compared to everyone else, but here they are portrayed pretty well. Shia LeBouef, who plays Sam Witwicky, is the heart and soul of this movie, and if played by someone else, it might not have been such a good movie. He is funny, but not stupid. He is sincere, but not sappy. And the interaction between him and Fox comes off very nicely, you can actually imagine the hot chick at school falling for a doofus like Sam.

And finally, though not true acting, the performances put on by the voice actors and the CGI guys to make the robots seem so lifelike was awesome. The Decepticons were as evil as you could expect them to be, and the Autobots were wholesome and good-hearted like they should be. But it was the little things, the funny sayings, Megatron flicking a human with his finger and sending him flying, things like that that made it come to life. I guess the best way to say it is they didn't act like the robots that they are.

I am not going to post any spoilers, as there aren't really any big ones, and I am not going to talk about the next movie and where they left this one so that is possible. All I am going to say is go see this. If you are having any doubts whether it can live up to your expectations, go see it. It will far surpass any expectation you might have.

P.S. Instead of all the normal pictures I would post, each image on here is a link to a wallpaper, if you are into that kinda thing. Click on the image to enlarge, then right-click and Set as Desktop Background...

CG




Update: I forgot to give credit to Transformers World for all the wallpapers. There is a lot of cool stuff there especially for Transformers cartoon lovers.