Transformers: How awesome can one movie be!

A couple of days ago I watched the Michael Bay directed "Transformers" film on one of the multiplex movie theatres situated in Thessaloniki, Northern Greece. To cut the long story short I liked it, I liked it a lot, actually that doesnt do justice to how much I liked it, I loved it and I was thrilled after watching it! That is right, I was thrilled, how often can you say that about something I wonder. Being a fairly intelligent individual (albeit a ridiculously modest one, LOL) I can sense already the girls among my readers giggling and whispering "typical male behaviour", "men will always be boys" and all of those cliched expressions that women use when they can't comprehend why men like things like football (oh yeah bloody soccer in the US, lol), cars, action movies, videogames, comics or whatever. So let me cut through all those female misconceptions with my trusty Merc wit and let me start describing the guilty pleasure that was viewing "Transformers".

There are a lot of posters around the web but I liked this one better for some reason... you got to love those chinese letters (enough with the english language I say, heh)

I went to watch the movie in the company of two other guys (all of us "alpha male heterosexuals" I assure you, LOL) in the viewing starting at 9.30 pm. We bought our tickets, got a couple of drinks, sommersaulted to the ceiling and groped woman asses just before we enter the appropriate dark room where "Transformers" was screened (actually we didnt do the latter two tasks since it is a little known fact that I am a gentleman and I dont do things like groping asses, not unless I am overdosed on M and M's or other sweeteners like that, lol). As I entered the room , I saw that 90% of the audience was male (no surprises there then, lol) and I had this strange thought that all of a sudden there was this odd bond between all of us, regardless if I didnt know anyone in person. Most of us were in the age group 24-30, most of us in guy groups of 3-4, most of us anticipating this movie with some sort of probably misjudged but yet totally understandable excitement coming from the depths of our childhood. A childhood when Saturday morning meant watching the "Transformers" cartoon on TV, while in the evening a kid would play merrily with the transformers toys at his disposal, constantly transforming the robots to some sort of vehicle and vise versa, plotting fantasy storylines and surreal space sagas in the confines of his room. It was a time when imagination was still the way to have fun before all the "take away" fun that today's kids experience with videogames, without really using their imagination too much. Anyway, back to the movie thing....

Countless hours of fun for kids of my generation with these toys... Something tells me after the movie the madness will kick in again:)

There were a few girls in the audience, probably some unlucky girlfriends dragged along by childish boyfriends or some poor females that had "one too many" and thought that "Transformers" was a rom-com movie... All girls were wearing the tightest outfits known to man and in any other occassion they would have probably been the centre of attention with lusty male stares mentally undressing them. Still, this wasnt the night for sex male fantasies and clumsy flirting attempts... this was the night to watch the robots transforming and make THAT damn sound, in the process ,that was so ridiculously mesmerising back in the day of the cartoon. As time went by and we were getting closer to the beginning of the movie, I could see a strange air of anticipation building in the movie theatre. At that moment all guys in the audience merged into one collective conciousness requiring just one thing, to watch the bloody Transformers movie!




Here is a trailer to wet you appetite! Despite how it seems all serious and gloom there is a lot of humour in there... it is one of those cases where "appearences are indeed deceiving"...


The movie finally started and I felt a shiver down my spine (I know it is fricking ridiculous, after all I had mediocre expectations of the final product although I had heard really good word of mouth from people who actually watched it...). So the movie kicked in and as soon as I saw the first robot transforming I was in geek heaven I have to say... still that wouldn't be the sole reason why I loved this movie. Now comes the good part... if you strip down the movie to its bare essentials it is about transforming robots that fight eachother off while humans cower like ants and shoot their peashooters in vain. Hardly a concept to grab the audience by the balls then and make them have a hell of a time... After all I am not a Transformers fan in the hardcore sense, just a guy who used to like them when he was a kid... So what really worked then...

Ok, ok I am a guy... what did you expect, transformers in thongs... geez... there is no pleasing some people, LOL!

What made the movie really click and what would make the movie work even for girls I think, is that it doesnt take itself too seriously trying to emulate some sort of space odyssey opus or anything remotely like that. This movie is a comedy at heart! Yes you heard it right, it is a comedy and it is intentionally made this way! I am not talking about unintenional laughs and cheesy situations ( I mean the concept as it is cant get anymore cheesy let's face it, lol). Transformers among all the amazing special effects, the ridiculously cooly choreographed fights, Optimus Prime's noble voice and all that other typical fodder is funny, very funny! The reason it is funny, is because the humour comes from the situations rather than be forced just for the sake of it. Especially, the male human lead of the movie is outstanding at portraying a human being trapped inside all this transforming madness. This guy is very natural, very funny, he has some amazing lines and you just root for him. Really, I cant give the actor Shia LaBeouf enough credit for what he achieved in this movie. He managed not to get outshined by the bloody robots, it is an amazing achievement in this sort of popcorn movie. There is some female eye candy in the form of Megan Fox and Rachael Taylor and there is a US trooper (isnt there always...lol) that will probably appeal to ladies as well, lol. As for Michael Bay his direction is amazing, the best he has done by far and I'd like to wackily compliment him for doing what he does best even better: Relentlessly blow things up and create action pieces of immense originality and tension. Lastly, I 'd like to congragulate the writers of this movie for giving both the human and the robotic leads such well fleshed out personalities, even the robots have a sense of humour you see, heh.


Optimus Prime : Did you ever think we were going to get our own live action movie one day?
Megatron : Not in a million years, I guess Hollywood is really out of inspiration... Thanks fuck I am not transforming into a pistol anymore, that was like uber-lame:)
Optimus Prime: Less talk, more ass kicking please...
Megatron: Amen to that, I'll transform you into scrapyard junk in no time...
Optimus Prime: The script says otherwise... ha,ha,ha,ha


I know the guys among my readers dont need much convincing and they will watch it one way or another but I have this last comment for the female readers: DO NOT be intimidated by the subject matter and diss this movie as "standard male fodder". Among all the "silliness" of transforming robotic behemoths fighting it off there is a great comedy in there with normal characters at the core of it. It would be a shame to miss it... Maybe by the end of it all , you won't be as excited as I am because this franchise means nothing to you but I'll be damned if you dont smile and even laugh a lot during the overall playtime of this blockbuster. Seriously, if you dont see the funny side of it, I will have to work overtime on your humour glands with my future blog entries and try to reactivate them... I find it THAT unlikely not to laugh in this movie!

Oh guys, one last thing, the transforming effect totally owns, it is really something beyond cool how they visualized it on the silverscreen (plus THAT sound is still there, oh yeah!).

So, that is that then, I had a great time watching this movie and I hope the ones among you that haven't watched it already, give it a shot!

Till next time.... DP out!