average life

I like listening to people as they walk out of movie theaters.  When exited the theater after watching Transformers, I heard one nerd tell his nerd friend, “Well, it wasn’t what I had hoped for.”  I also heard complaints about the product placement in the movie (all the vehicles were GM).

Let me first address these two concerns.  To the nerd whose expectations of a faithful retelling on the 80’s cartoon, um… they did the best possible job considering the source material.  I mean, transformers are alien robots who transform into cars.  This is the best it gets.  To those who complain about the product placement (which was never distracting), I find it ironic to use this movie to take a consumer high-road when the original cartoon existed solely to sell toys.  Like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Pokemon, and other kids shows, Transformers was simply a vehicle (no pun intended) for selling stuff.

So is Transformers worth your $10?  Yes.

Like Armageddon before it, Michael Bay’s latest spectacle is a perfect summer movie.  (Don’t get all snobby about Armageddon on me.  You know you watched it in a theater and you liked it.  Heck, you probably got all choked up when Bruce Willis died.)  The story revolves around Shia LeBouf (I don’t know if that is how you spell it, but I don’t care enough to look it up) who is the great grandson of someone important and thereby becomes someone important to big robot aliens who are looking for a big square battery…or something.  Okay, let’s face it.  The plot sucks.  But you don’t care.  LeBouf is great as the teenaged everyman (because we all think of ourselves as teenagers still).  Josh Guy-From-Las-Vegas is passable as The Army Guy.  Heck there is even John Voight with an accent that I think is supposed to be southern.

Bottom line is, this movie has everything a summer movie needs:

1. I likable lead character.
2. A beautiful not-quite-girlfriend-yet-but-will-be-by-the-end-of-the-movie
3. Earth in peril
4. Destruction of a major metropolitan area
5. Smart, funny dialog
6. A couple of fart jokes
7. Funny black secondary character
8. Unbelievable plot
9. John Voight
10. Building-sized robots with built-in rocket launchers.

This film is fun.  You should watch it.  Don’t think you are nerdy enough?  Don’t worry.  You don’t have to be.  There is enough explosions, pretty people, and jokes to keep you interested.  And for those nerds, this will definitely tide you over until Harry Potter is released.

[rating:4/5]