Movie Review – Transformers (2007)

Back in the 1980s, the Transformers were some of the coolest toys in a market that also included He-Man: Masters of the Universe, G.I. Joe, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

It was simply an awesome decade when it came to both cartoon shows and the corresponding action figures.

For me, the Transformers was in its prime back in the 1980s, during the first generation of the show and its robotic characters.  The show had a strong fan following, the toys were hot sellers, and in 1986 there was The Transformers: The Movie, an animated film that took place between seasons two and three of the television show.

It wouldn’t be until twenty-one years later when the transforming robots would return to the big screen.  And they did so in a BIG way.

Released in 2007, Transformers returned the mighty robots to the big screen in the form of a big budget, live-action blockbuster.  It’s a science-fiction film filled with action and thrills.

Directed by Michael Bay, Transformers stars Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky, a teenager who inadvertently becomes involved in the war between the Autobots and Decepticons.  Co-starring in the film are Megan Fox as Mikaela Banes; Josh Duhamel as William Lennox; Tyrese Gibson as Robert Epps; and Jon Voight as U.S. Secretary of Defense John Keller.  Hugo Weaving provides the voice for Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons, and Peter Cullen reprises his voice role of Optimus Prime from the original Transformers television show.

Transformers (2007) – (c) DreamWorks Pictures

Transformers begins with Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen) narrating the story and telling us about his home planet of Cybertron as well as something known as the Cube.  Nobody knows where the Cube from, but it was responsible for sparking life on Cybertron.  The Cybertronians initially lived peacefully, but eventually there was a war that would ultimately consume the whole planet.  The Cube was then lost to the furthest reaches of space.

The Cybertronians scattered themselves throughout the galaxy in search of their precious Cube.  Some of them want to use its power to end the war and rebuild Cybertron, while others want to use it to raise an army and conquer the galaxy.  We know that the Cube has crash landed on planet Earth.  It’s just a matter of which group of Cybertronians finds it first, the heroic Autobots or the evil Decepticons.

Fast forward to day.  In the Middle Eastern country of Qatar, an MH-53M Pave Low IV helicopter is heading towards a U.S. military base.  The only problems are that A) The pilot of the Pave Low is not responding to radio communications, and B) The helicopter has the tail number 4500X, only 4500X was shot down several months ago.

Colonel Sharp (Glenn Morshower) scrambles two F/A-22 Raptors to intercept the helicopter.  They do so and escort it to the military base.  Upon landing, a heavily-armed security team surrounds the helicopter as Colonel Sharp orders the aircraft to power down and surrender.  Instead, the helicopter transforms into a fierce humanoid robot called Blackout.

Transformers (2007) – (c) DreamWorks Pictures

Blackout singly handily fights against and destroys the security force and nearly all of the military base.  At one point it rips open the command center and begins hacking into the military’s secure network and file system.  When Colonel Sharp realizes what the machine is doing, he uses an axe to cut the hard line and stop it.  During the attack, a second robot detaches from Blackout and quickly burrows into the sand.

A small group of Air Force special forces soldiers, led by Captain William Lennox (Josh Duhamel) and Technical Sergeant Robert Epps (Tyrese Gibson), is able to evade Blackout.  They flee into the desert before the rest of the military base is destroyed.

Transformers (2007) – (c) DreamWorks Pictures

In the United States, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) is a high school student.  He’s basically a dweeb, somebody who the girls ignore and the athletes bully.  In his history class he gives a presentation about his great-grandfather, Captain Archibald Witwicky, an explorer who made an unknown discovery in the Arctic Circle.  His exact discovery was never published, but whatever it was, it drove him insane.  Sam shows the class some of his great-grandfather’s artifacts, but his presentation turns into a sales pitch.

Transformers (2007) – (c) DreamWorks Pictures

After school, Sam’s father, Ron Witwicky (Kevin Dunn), takes him out to purchase his first car.  Ron takes Sam to a sleazy car dealership where the lead salesman, Bobby Bolivia (Bernie Mac), ultimately sells Sam an old but still sporty Chevy Camero.  There’s something odd about the car though.

Transformers (2007) – (c) DreamWorks Pictures

Sam takes his car and tries to impress his classmate, Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox), but instead manages to embarrass himself in front of Mikaela’s athlete friends.  Sam’s Camero seems to know what’s happening and communicates to Sam through the radio and stereo system.  Sam ultimately gets a second chance at talking to Mikaela, and this time he does much better.  He’s able to talk her into letting him give her a ride back home.

Meanwhile, word of the attack in Qatar has finally reached the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.  U.S. Secretary of Defense John Keller (Jon Voight) conducts a briefing and states that the objective of the attack was to hack the U.S. government’s network.  The attack was stopped but they’re going to attack the network again.  He assigns some of the best computer signal analysis programmers in the country to figure out who was responsible for attacking the network and what they’re going to do next.

Transformers (2007) – (c) DreamWorks Pictures

On the presidential aircraft Air Force One is a nimble little robot named Frenzy.  It’s able to disguise itself as a small music player.  Frenzy is able to gain access to the lower section of the 747 and access the computer system.  Alarms sound as Frenzy hacks into and infiltrates the secure computer network.  It’s able to locate a classified item known as “Project Iceman“.  The server hard lines are cut before Frenzy can finish his download through the files.  As we see, “Project Iceman” is somehow connected to Captain Archibald Witwicky and whatever he discovered in the Arctic Circle in 1895.

When Secret Service agents make their way through the cargo hold, Frenzy easily defeats them.  He then slips out of Air Force One after it makes its landing.  Frenzy then hooks up with his partner, Barricade (disguised as a police car).  Using the computer in the police cruiser, Frenzy discovers the connection between Archibald Witwicky and that of teenager Sam Witwicky, who still has some of his great-grandfather’s items listed for sale on eBay.  The two robots then go off in search of Sam Witwicky so that they can complete their mission.

Transformers (2007) – (c) DreamWorks Pictures

At home, Sam Witwicky hears his car start and then suddenly drive down the street.  Thinking that somebody is stealing his Chevy Camero, Sam jumps onto his bike and gives chase.  He calls the police and gives them live updates of his chase.  Sam continues following his car to a junkyard where he watches his car transform into a large humanoid robot and then send some kind of signal into the sky.  When the police arrive Sam is arrested for making a false police report.  His father later bails him out of jail.

Transformers (2007) – (c) DreamWorks Pictures

Out in the desert, the Air Force soldiers find refuge and attempt to phone for help when the Scorponok, a robot in the form of a giant scorpion, attacks them.  The soldiers attempt to hold off the Scorponok’s attacks while Captain Lennox uses a phone to call for help.  The Air Force responds and sends a pair of A-10 Warthogs to attack the Scorponok.  When their attack fails an AC-130 Spectre gunship orbits overhead and uses its powerful cannons to attack the robot.  Part of the Scorponok’s tail breaks off and the Scorponok finally digs underground and retreats.

After the attack, the special forces soldiers are quickly flown back to Washington along with the part of the robot that attacked them.

Transformers (2007) – (c) DreamWorks Pictures

At the Pentagon, Maggie Madsen (Rachael Taylor), a computer analyst, believes that the hacker is much more sophisticated and powerful than the military believes.  She sneaks some of the data out of the Pentagon and takes it to her friend, Glen Whitmann (Anthony Anderson), for further analysis.  Her suspicion proves to be correct.  Just as Glen is able to start decoding the mysterious signal, the FBI raids his home and arrests him and Maggie.

Back at his parents’ house, Sam is surprised when his Chevy Camero returns.  He thinks that the car is stalking him, and Sam tries to flee.  The car chases him.  Somehow Sam runs into Mikaela and she gets swept into the brief chase.  The chase ends in a garage when a police car stops Sam.  The police seem a bit off and then Sam realizes why.  The police car is really Barricade.  It transforms into human form and attacks Sam.

Transformers (2007) – (c) DreamWorks Pictures

Instead of killing him, Barricade wants Sam to hand over his great-grandfather’s eyeglasses.  Sam escapes and runs away as Barricade chases him.  Sam’s Chevy Camera comes to the rescue and drives Sam and Mikaela away from Barricade.  It’s not over though as Barricade transforms back into a police car and gives chase to the Camero.

The chase ends in a different warehouse.  Sam and Mikaela run away as the two cars transform back into fighting robots and battle each other.  Frenzy is released from Barricade and tries to attack Sam.  The robot disguised as a Camero ultimately beats Barricade, and Sam and Mikaela are able to defeat Frenzy.  However, Frenzy is not destroyed and he disguises himself as Mikaela’s cell phone.

The robot changes back into a Camero, takes Sam and Mikaela to a new location, and even upgrades its disguise as a newer model of the car.  The two teenagers watch as several more robots fly through the Earth’s atmosphere and make crash landings.  All of the robots arrive in their protoforms before disguising themselves as vehicles.  They all disguise themselves as cars trucks, and then rally at Sam and Mikaela’s position.

The leader of the group of robots is Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen).  He’s joined by Jazz (voiced by Darius McCrary), Ironhide (voiced by Jess Harnell), and Ratchet (voiced by Robert Foxworth).  The Chevy Camero turns out to be Bumblebee.  Optimus Prime is disguised as a Peterbilt 379 semi-truck cab, Jazz is a Pontiac Solstice, Ironhide is a GMC Topkick pickup truck, and Ratchet is a yellow Hummer H2.  Together, these robots are part of the Autobots.

Transformers (2007) – (c) DreamWorks Pictures

Optimus Prime explains that they are there on Earth to look for the AllSpark, a device that can bring life to mechanical objects.  It’s the Cube that we saw in the introduction of the film.  The Autobots need to find the AllSpark before Megatron does.

Optimus explains that Cybertron used to be a peaceful planet until they were betrayed by Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons.  A war began that ultimately consumed the whole planet.  When the AllSpark was lost to the stars, Megatron followed it to Earth.  It turns out that it was an accident that Captain Witwicky found Megatron’s frozen body in the Arctic.  Witwicky accidentally activated Megatron’s navigation system which, in turn, caused the coordinates of the AllSpark’s location on Earth to be imprinted on Witwicky’s glasses.  It’s the same pair of glasses that Sam Witwicky was trying to sell on eBay to raise money to purchase a car.

As to how the Autobots know about the coordinates being imprinted onto the eyeglasses, that’s not explained.  What we do know is that the Autobots know about the glasses and that it was linked to Sam’s eBay account.

Optimus warns that Megatron will use the AllSpark to create a new army of machines to crush the human race and conquer the galaxy.

Transformers (2007) – (c) DreamWorks Pictures

The Autobots take Sam and Mikaela back to Sam’s parents’ house so that he can find his great-grandfather’s eyeglasses.  The giant robots have to hide from Sam’s parents as they become suspicious to their son’s behavior.

Just as Sam locates the glasses, agents from a secretive government program called Sector 7 arrive at the house.  Seymour Simmons (John Turturro), the lead Sector 7 agent, arrests Sam and his parents along with Mikaela after learning that they had come in contact with the Autobots.  A short while later the Autobots come to the rescue and free Sam and Mikaela from the Sector 7 agents.

Transformers (2007) – (c) DreamWorks Pictures

The rescue operation goes well until more agents from Sector 7 arrive as backup.  Most of the Autobots transform into their disguises, and Sam and Mikaela remain with Optimus Prime.  Optimus tries to hide with them under a bridge, but it doesn’t go well and Bumblebee ultimately comes to their rescue.  The eyeglasses from Sam’s great-grandfather fall and get left behind as Sam and Mikaela and Bumblebee are captured by Sector 7 agents.  Once the agents leave, Optimus Prime locates the glasses with the coordinates to the AllSpark.

Transformers (2007) – (c) DreamWorks Pictures

Back at the Pentagon, U.S. Secretary of Defense John Keller has his hands full when a virus takes down the government’s communication system.  Tom Banachek (Michael O’Neill), the leader of Sector 7, takes this time to explain to John Keller about what’s really happening.  Banachek explains that Sector 7 was created in secrecy by President Hoover over eighty years ago.  He then shares some video footage from a Mars lander that allegedly crashed.  It really didn’t.  Instead, the Mars rover recorded brief footage of itself being destroyed by a massive robot.

The image of the robotic creature on Mars is identical to the one that’s believed to have destroyed the military base in Qatar.  Banachek believes that the robots know that they can be hurt by the military’s weapons, so they shut down the government’s communications so that they couldn’t coordinate an attack against them.  John Keller takes that information and has the military to prepare for an imminent attack, using any means necessary to communicate and spread the word.

The film transitions out west as Sector 7 transports Sam and Mikaela along with Maggie Madsen and Glen Whitmann, the two computer analysts who were captured by the FBI.  The four of them along with Secretary of Defense John Keller and Bumblebee are taken to the Hoover Dam.  Captain Lennox and his men from the Air Force special forces have also arrived at the dam as well.

Transformers (2007) – (c) DreamWorks Pictures

Not far from the Hoover Dam, the remaining Autobots gather and decide what to do next.  While some of them want to rescue Bumblebee, Optimus Prime insists that it’s a wasted effort.  He knows that the Decepticons are racing for the AllSpark.  If the Autobots can reach it first, then they can stop the Decepticons and save the humans on Earth as well.

Transformers (2007) – (c) DreamWorks Pictures

At the Hoover Dam, everybody is led inside of the structure to learn what it has really been hiding for all of these years.  The agents from Sector 7 show them “Project Iceman,” also known as NBE-1 (NBE = Non-Biological Extraterrestrial).  However, when Sam Witwicky sees NBE-1 he recognizes the frozen robot as Megatron.  It turns out that much of today’s technology has been reverse-engineered after studying NBE-1.

It also turns out that the Cube (a.k.a. the AllSpark) is also hidden underneath the Hoover Dam.  It was discovered in that location back in 1913.  President Hoover had the dam built around the Cube as a way of preventing its energy from being detected from anybody or any alien species.

Since arriving at the Hoover Dam, Frenzy has escaped from Mikaela’s purse and changed back into its robot form.  It follows the people and also discovers the AllSpark.  Frenzy then alerts Starscream (disguised as an F/A-22 Raptor) who then calls for the other Decepticons to rally at that point.  Barricade and Blackout answer the call along with Bonecrusher (disguised as a Buffalo H military vehicle) and Brawl (misnamed as Devastator??? — disguised as a modified M1 Abrams tank).

Starscream arrives first and launches an attack against the dam’s power system.  Frenzy then uses the computer system to stop the cryo system that has kept Megatron frozen for all of these years.

Transformers (2007) – (c) DreamWorks Pictures

Knowing what’s about to happen, Sam has the special forces soldiers “convince” the Sector 7 agents to free Bumblebee.  The agents reluctantly do so.  When Bumblebee reaches the Cube he’s activates a mechanism that causes the Cube to shrink in size so that it’s easily portable.  Captain Lennox thinks that they should hide the AllSpark in the nearby town of Mission City so that Megatron and the Decepticons cannot find it.  They race away from the dam just as Megatron warms and comes back to life.

Megatron (voiced by Hugo Weaving) easily breaks free from the dam.  When Starscream (voiced by Charlie Adler) informs him that the humans have taken it, Megatron becomes upset with his second-in-command.

Agent Simmons remains behind at the dam along with Secretary of Defense John Keller and Maggie and Glen.  They work on using the outdated equipment to try to send a message to the Air Force, and get some air power into the skies.  They have to do that while fighting against Frenzy and keeping him away from the equipment.

Transformers (2007) – (c) DreamWorks Pictures

Meanwhile, the rest of the Autobots join Bumblebee and the soldiers, and they race to Mission City.  They’re intercepted on the road by Bonecrusher, and Optimus Prime quickly transforms back into his humanoid form to fight him.  The two massive robots fight one another on the roads while civilian vehicles crash and wreck around them.  Optimus draws his sword and ends the fight by beheading Bonecrusher.

Transformers (2007) – (c) DreamWorks Pictures

The soldiers arrive in Mission City and quickly spot an F-22 flying overhead.  They quickly realize that the jet is really a Decepticon.  The Autobots try to provide cover as Starscream attacks them with missiles, injuring Bumblebee in the attack.  Brawl then arrives and also starts attacking the Autobots and soldiers, beginning a massive battle in the streets of Mission City.  When Megatron arrives, he grabs Jazz and then kills him by ripping him in half.  The battle escalates when Blackout also arrives.

Transformers (2007) – (c) DreamWorks Pictures

Captain Lennox has Sam take the AllSpark and go to the roof of a certain building where a Blackhawk helicopter will take him and the AllSpark to safety.  The rest of them will stay on the streets and keep fighting the Decepticons.

Optimus Prime arrives in Mission City, and he and Megatron have the mother of all battles.

Meanwhile, Sam races through the city as he’s chased first by Starscream and then by Megatron.  At one point the AllSpark starts bringing other machines to life, turning them into fighting robots.  This happens to a car, an X-BOX gaming system, and even a drink vending machine.  Sam then reaches the designated building but Megatron follows him inside of it.

While that is taking place, Mikaela uses a tow truck to help move the injured Bumblebee.  She uses the truck to give him mobility.  With the help of the soldiers, Bumblebee is able to attack and kill Brawl.

Transformers (2007) – (c) DreamWorks Pictures

On top of the building, Megatron confronts Sam and corners him at the edge of the roof.  He wants Sam to give him the AllSpark.  When Sam is knocked off the roof by Megatron’s attack, Optimus Prime catches him in mid-air.  Megatron jumps down to attack them, and everybody falls to the street below.

On the ground, Optimus Prime tells Sam to push the AllSpark into his chest.  Doing so will cause a chain reaction that will destroy the AllSpark at the cost of Optimus’s life.  He’s willing to sacrifice himself to save the human race from the Decepticons.  Both Optimus and Megatron rise to their feet and continue with their battle.

Nearby, the soldiers are still fighting against the Decepticons.  When they see Blackout walking over to aid Megatron, they call in an air strike to take him out.  Blackout notices the soldiers and turns to attack them.  Captain Lennox races towards Blackout on a motorcycle and then slides underneath the robot, attacking him with a grenade launcher as the F-22s launch missiles at him.  Blackout is killed in the attack.

Transformers (2007) – (c) DreamWorks Pictures

Before the F-22s can launch a second attack against the Decepticons, Starscream attacks the Raptor pilots, destroying most of their aircraft.  The remaining Raptors attack Megatron, and the special forces soldiers do so as well.  When Megatron is weakened, Sam pushes the AllSpark into Megatron’s chest, destroying the alien robot and leader of the Decepticons.

After the battle Mikaela uses her car mechanic skills to restore Bumblebee’s ability to talk.  He tells Optimus Prime that he wishes to stay and continue protecting Sam Witwicky.

Transformers (2007) – (c) DreamWorks Pictures

Back in Washington, Secretary of Defense John Keller announces that Sector 7 has been disbanded.  The remains of the defeated Decepticons are then dumped into the Laurentian Abyss in the Atlantic Ocean, a place almost four miles deep underwater.

Transformers ends with Optimus Prime saying that since the AllSpark is gone they cannot return life to Cybertron.  He and the other Autobots are going to stay on Earth, and other Autobots throughout the universe are welcome to join them.

In a scene during the credits we see Starscream fly into space.

So is Transformers a good movie?

Despite some issues here and there, I thought that Transformers was a pretty cool science-fiction film that brought the classic action figures to life in a really big way.

The story in the film was good, the Transformers themselves looked awesome, and many of the action scenes were really slick.  The special effects in particular looked really good in this film.  It’s sheer awe watching the robots transform to and from their “disguised” modes.

My one problem with the robots was that when they were in their humanoid form, many of them looked the same, especially with the Decepticons.  During several moments it was hard to tell who was who in the action scenes.  It would have helped if some of the robots had a more distinguished look to make them stand out better from one another.

Otherwise, the robots themselves looked great in this film.  I just would have liked to have seen more of the Decepticons.

For the human characters, the biggest annoyance was that of the main character, Sam Witwicky.  Personally, I think that Shia LaBeouf is annoying as hell, and his character certainly reflected that as well.  Nearly every moment with him on the screen is a cringe moment.  Even Megan Fox did a better job in this film than he did, and that certainly says a lot.

Sam’s parents were equally annoying as well.  Having them there for comic relief is one thing, but being believable is something completely different.  I’d rank them as fairly low in both categories.

Transformers (2007) – movie trailer

When you remove some small annoyances here and there as well as some standard Hollywood clichés (this is a Michael Bay film after all), Transformers is a good science-fiction and action film.  It’s a toss up whether or not this film delivers justice to the classic toys and cartoon show, but on its own it’s a good film.

The legacy of the Transformers continues on for several sequels (including another one being released in May of 2014) and even a major 3-D thrill ride in Universal Studios Florida.

TRANSFORMERS: The Ride – 3D is a 3-D simulator ride that takes you straight into the world of the Transformers.  The story for the ride involves the Decepticons trying to steal the AllSpark from NEST and the Autobots.  All of your favorite Transformers make appearances, including Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Megatron, Ravage and Starscream.  There’s a particularly awesome scene involving Devastator.  In the end, TRANSFORMERS: The Ride – 3D is an awesome thrill ride, especially for fans of the Transformers movies.

Optimus Prime – “My name is Optimus Prime. We are Autonomous Robotic Organisms from the planet Cybertron.”
Ratchet – “But you can call us ‘Autobots’, for short.”

———————

Ironhide – “Why are we fighting to save the humans? They’re a primitive and violent race.”
Optimus Prime – “Were we so different? They’re a young species. They have much to learn. But I’ve seen goodness in them. Freedom is the right of all sentient beings. You all know there’s only one way to end this war: we must destroy the Cube. If all else fails, I will unite it with the spark in my chest.”
Ratchet – “That’s suicide! The Cube is raw power, it could destroy you both!”
Optimus Prime – “A necessary sacrifice to bring peace to this planet. We cannot let the humans pay for our mistakes. It’s been an honor serving with you all.”

———————

Megatron – “I am… MEGATRON!”

———————

Optimus Prime – “It’s you and me, Megatron…”
Megatron – “No, it’s just ME, Prime!”
Optimus Prime – “At the end of this day, one shall stand, one shall fall!”
Megatron – “You still fight for the weak! That is why you lose!”