Transformers

Here it is summer again and the blockbusters are coming out. This is Michael Bey’s newest effort, produced by Bey and Steven Spielberg, and is based on the Saturday morning cartoon about the nefarious Megatron, and the benevolent (but tough) Optimus Prime.
This is not, however, a cartoon. Remember when we were kids (or when I was . . .) and those wonderful monster movies were coming out of Japan? Godzilla and Rodan, Mothra and the Mysterions? We loved those movies, largely because of an ability we had as kids, and of which we have retained little or nothing as adults, which allowed us to extrapolate what we saw and heard, and expand it into what we wanted to see and hear. We watched monsters on visible strings, monsters which were obviously actors in poorly made costumes, live actors with no ability to act whatsoever, bad production quality, the worst models and miniatures in history (most of the military hardware was literally toys purchased retail) and special effects so bad even ten-year olds weren’t fooled. But that was enough. Our imaginations took over and transformed what was on the screen into what we wished to see and through some kind of inner eye, we did see it. We were able to transcend the primitive attempts and turn them into hearts desires. A start was all we needed. The recent Godzilla is a perfect example.
Now, a few directors understand that technology is catching up to imagination. A few. People like Bey and Peter Jackson.
Transformers is the movie kids saw when they watched the cartoons. It is wonderful. The plot (with the proviso that we accept technologically advanced, sentient robots) is extremely well thought-out. The characters are believable and, more to the point, likable; people we can root for, without their being reduced to being caricatures. The side stories are perfect, the romance is kept at its proper level for this kind of movie, and everyone turns in a great performance. John Turturro and John Voight are especially good.
The movie manages to maintain a high level of suspense, with a sense of realism I wasn’t expecting, i.e. a very real, serious emergency with adults reacting just as seriously, and behaving intelligently for the most part, while it gives us moments to breath with humor that is so well timed and placed it is absolutely seamless.
Making the main characters teen-agers was brilliant. Not only does it increase our empathy, but it will draw lots more people to the theaters. Kids like movies about themselves.
But the star of the show is it’s special effects. Perfect, seamless CGI—and lot’s of it. The Transformers and brilliant, “grown-up” versions of their cartoon predecessors. They have emotions, they give us comical moments as they try to interact with humans, and they make us want them to succeed against the bad guys (evil Transformers led by Megatron).
It is edge-of-your-seat fun from beginning to end. I believe it will be too intense for little kids, say under eight or so, but other than that almost anyone can go and find something to like. Not that it matters, but the two female leads (neither of which I’ve seen before) are drop-dead gorgeous. The Army captain is, I have it on good authority, smokin’ as well.
The movie is rated PG-13. There isn’t a cussword in sight, no sexual innuendo at all, much less sex scenes (although there is some romantic innuendo—remember, it’s teenagers), no graphic up-close, personal violence and no gore or blood at all. There is lots of the other kind of violence—the explosive, action-dense, mayhem kind—and no death, other than the bad Robots. A few humans might be presumed to die but only peripherally and at a distance. I highly recommend it to people of all ages. It is as good an action-adventure movie as I have ever seen, and a very pleasant surprise.