Before starting this review I should probably point out that I'm a Transformers fan. Every car I've ever owned has either had an autobot or decepticon insignia on the bumper and I have most of the seasons for the original TV show on DVD. That said, when I first saw the trailers for Transformers I expected the movie to suck because it seemed like there were too many people and not enough robots, boy was I wrong. The movie freaking rocked. The movie had it all; comedy (the kid's parents being typical annoying nosy parents), romance (nerd meets hot girl and impresses her with his cool car), action (soldiers shooting guns, giant robots shooting guns and Optimus Prime vs. Megatron), tragedy (***spoiler deleted***) , product placement (GMC trucks, eBay1), quotes from the cartoon ("Autobots...roll out!" ,"Megatron must be stopped...no matter cost!", "You've failed me yet again, Starscream") and foreshadowing of the sequel. At two and a half hours I thought the movie would be too long but it didn't seem that way at all. I loved it, my fiancée loved it and so did the kids. Definitely the most fun movie I've seen this summer.
I saw it on Tuesday evening and the theater was packed. This may have been because of the current heat wave forcing people out of their homes and into any air-conditioned building they could find or it could have been because the favorable reviews have gotten people curious about the movie. I suspect it was a little of both.
Rating: **** out of *****
Footnote
1Is it me or does it seem like there is a crazy amount of product placement from online services these days? In the past month I've seen eBay featured prominently in movies like 40-year Old Virgin and Transformers. Songs about meeting girls which heavily feature MySpace from mainstream acts like Gym Class Heroes and T-Pain. I've seen Google used repeatedly in movies like The Holiday and Knocked Up...even crazier was when Spider-Man unmasked himself as Peter Parker at a press conference in The Amazing Spider-Man issue #533 then in the very next panel there was Google product placement. The only Microsoft mentions I've seen in pop culture were some teens playing Gears of War in Live Free or Die Hard but the name of the game or the XBox are never mentioned. Our marketing guys have some 'splaining to do.