Transformers

IMDB
First time viewed: No
Current Release: No
Watched With: Amberly

I can't view this one now without knowledge of the horrid mess that came after it. I remember walking out of the theatre of this one having thoroughly enjoyed it. It was damn entertaining event though there were many parts that made me want to shoot myself. But it's a damn masterpiece when viewed in conjunction with the next instalment. Hopefully the 3rd one will be the best. I can hope can't I?

Michael Bay has a serious military fetish. It just strikes me as odd that Hasbro went with him for Transformers when they already had a G.I. Joe film in development. Now I unashamedly love that first G.I. Joe film but I can't help but wonder what Bay would have done with it, with all his military connections, rather than shoehorning them into this franchise where they aren't needed and easily add an hour worth of excess running time to each film. But this is how things worked out, so now Hasbro has two big military franchises and only one of them feels like a fun kids playtime. Not this one.

It's just so damn serious. And when he tries to inject some humor it's just the worst kind of bad lowest common denominator kiddy crap. And the two side by side make deciphering the target audience an impossibility. Genuine laughs can be had at the ridiculousness of it all. But you can still legitimately enjoy the staggering FX work from ILM and others that are wasted on this franchise.

There's no denying Michael Bay makes destruction sexy. He's also boarding on pedophiliac the way he shoots some of his young cast. But always with the shaky cam. And colours so crushed and processed that everyone looks bright orange.

I don't mind switching off and enjoying the action. But there's so much ridiculousness in between you have to put up with. At least in this first one it's not nearly as incoherent and offensive. That's probably the best praise I can give it.