After twenty five years (god has it been that long), the idea of displaying Transformers in a live action movie comes to reality. Michael Bay does fans old and new alike proud in making this the best Transformer movie it can be!

The Good

The Bad

Before I begin, mind you I am a die hard fan for 25 something years, and this movie had a lot of live up to in my eyes. I was distressed for not having Frank Welker as Megatron, but glad Peter Cullen was the voice of Prime. I was anxious to see if controversial director Michael Bay would do this story a decent update and if the special effects would look realistic enough.

Have no doubt I was ultimately surprised by this movie. This movie is Michael Bay’s best work yet and his crowning achievement. The movie itself is told more from the perspective of Sam Witwicky (Shia Labouf’s character) which I like because it gives you a ‘nerdy boy that reminds him of me’ to relate to. The adventure he has with these giant robots is the best way to tell this story.

The action sequences in themselves are utterly amazing! The special effects are mind-blowing! These robots LOOK REAL and act REAL! There wasn’t a moment when I thought there was some fake computer animation. It all played perfectly with the humans and the effects. never let you down for one second. Everything looks perfectly legit and the human players compliment the robot players nicely. Optimus Prime looks amazing, Bumblebee fits his new mold well, and the Decepticons looks scary and ruthless.

You can not blink for a second in this movie’s action sequences. When you think they’re going to cop out and not show you the full Transforming sequence you’re proven wrong as they show you everything from start to finish. The Transformation sequences are beautifully one, perfect in every way. The cinematography is some of Michael Bay’s best work when it can be, but some jagged and shaky action camera movements at its worst. This was my only major complaint that it was sometimes hard to follow what was going on, and during some of the end action sequences it’s hard to find out what exactly is going with the robots.

The whole movie fits together really well, leading you on an epic adventure. The story is well done and makes really good sense, and does the retelling of the new Transformers universe well.

The complaints are minor, but there are some. I wanted more minor characters and just some more close ups of these characters and them just standing around. You see Ironhide and Ratchet quickly and that’s it. You hardly see Jazz and sometimes the amount of complexity with the robots makes it hard to figure out what they’re doing with their motions. Are they throwing a punch or turning around? That and the shaky camera movements can give you a bit of vertigo at times. Bring some Tylenol just in case.

There is a sequence that after it’s done your like ‘okay that was pointless’ but it doesn’t bother you that much cause you see more Transformers. There are a couple of plot holes, but they’re not that much of a concern. You see little of Starscream, and the Decepticons have the littlest of lines. There are times when you do see Transformations you want to rewind the movie again and again to see things more smoothly.

But beyond these minor things, the movie is done exceptionally well. The humor is carefully placed, making scenes that would normally be awkward now humorous, and meaniful. You can tell this movie’s goal was to introduce you to the main characters and setup the stage for a really good sequel.

The new Transformer molds and the new story line are acceptable. Of course the Transformers look more real and more alien, that is fine. The ability to morph into new cars whenever needed is a bit disturbing but not that much. The re-interpretation of the whole series is done very well, leaving you enough of the original flavor of the characters, but updated enough not to look dumb. It’s a good combination of the old and the new.

All in all, as a die-hard fan I was pleasant impressed and blown away by this movie. All in all the movie is a true epic adventure with ground breaking special effects and will make you feel like a kid again. Kudos Michael Bay, I can’t wait for the sequel and thank you for doing Transformers right! I was pleasantly and gratefully surprised and delighted!