Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel
Director: Michael Bay
Rating: 4/5
Teenagers Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) and Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox) are caught in the middle of a clash between robot aliens from the planet Cybertron as they search for the energy producing 'Allspaek'.
The decepticons want to use the allspark to bring to life earth's machinery to kill and kill humans, and lead by Optimus Prime the autobots want to destroy the allspark and protect the human race.
Transformers is the live action version of the cult Japanese toy and is the latest in this summer's CGI driven blockbusters. Despite this action movie tag it is quintessentially a love story between a boy and his first car.
And throughout the film Sam builds a relationship with his yellow Chevy Camaro which turns out to be Bumblebee, an autobot.However the story with Sam is a bit shakey.
Sam's grandfather discovered Megatron (Decepticon baddie) while exploring the Artic decades before. His glasses have an imprint of where the Allspark is hidden and they find Sam through Ebay.
This link is placed into the script to try and give it some structure and backbone when really it's good robots v's bad robots. Apart from this the film is superb.
Director Michael Bay and his team effortlessly blend the human action alongside the CGI 30ft robots and this is seen right from the word go as the movie opens with the visually stunning attack on a U.S military base in Qatar where Captain Lennox (Josh Duhamel) is leading his men into battle against, and then tries to escape, an unknown assailant.
From then on the fight scenes get bigger and better until the whole film crescendos with a autobots vs decepticons, Optimus Prime vs Megatron in the final battle.
But with the robot CGI characters it would have been quite easy for the human side of the story to get lost or play second fiddle to the battles scenes.
However this doesn't happen relative newcomer Shia LeBeouf shines throughout with natural comic timing that bring light relief from the action. LeBeouf is the heart and soul of this film as he desperately tries to protect Bumblebee, a star is well and truely born.
Producer Steven Spielberg was so impressed with his performance that he has been cast for Indiana Jones IV.
But unfortubately Megan Fox's character is desperately underused she acts as Sam's love interest and little else. This is unfortunate as it's hinted that she had a criminal record and put her father in jail and all this could have been expanded on.
But many of the cast John Turturro, a government agent, and Kevin Dunn and Julie White, Sam's parents are all used effectively in comedy roles. Yes comedy roles, despite the action movie tag it's incredibly funny.
And Bay cleverly uses foolish government agent characters to have a sly dig at U.S President Bush and his administration.
Overall Bay has produced a knockout movie with a seemingly seamless incorporation of CGI and human interaction along with a well balanced mix of action and comedy.
While in the past Michael Bay has failed at the box office, in particular with Pearl Harbour and The Island, he at last hits the mark with what can only be described as a kick ass piece of cinema that will knock you off your seat.
This summer has seen a string of blockbusters including Spiderman 3, Die Hard 4.0 and Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, but it's surprisingly Transformers that is the absolute must see.
And with a sequel already in the pipeline the Transformers franchise has well and truely been born.
Helen Earnshaw
Tagged in Transformers Michael Bay