I never watched the “Transformers” cartoon back in the mid-’80s, it just never appealed to me, but the movies, brought to us by Michael Bay, have been sheer entertainment. Say what you will about the lack of character development or story exposition; these films are what summer blockbusters are meant to encompass; huge spectacles, gigantic robots, and massive explosions. There is a time and a place for Awards Season, but there is also a place for movies such as these, so sit back, switch off your brain, and have fun!
TRANSFORMERS
An ancient struggle between two Cybertronian races, the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons, comes to Earth with a clue to the ultimate power held by a teenager.
The first film in the series introduces us to Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), who is getting ready to graduate high school and whose father buys him an old Chevy Camaro. Sam is ecstatic that he has his own car, but soon after that, he quickly discovers that the vehicle has a life of its own. The car’s name is Bumblebee, and he can transform into a giant, mechanical robot, and while he cannot speak directly as he is mute, he communicates through the use of selected playback of radio and television signals. He and Sam bond, and he introduces Sam to the rest of his robot friends, Optimus Prime, Jazz, Ironhide, and Ratchet. Through them, he discovers an intergalactic war between two Transformer factions, the Autobots, led by Optimus, and the Decepticons, led by Megatron. The Decepticons are after a mystical artifact called the AllSpark, which can give life to new Decepticon Transformers, but Optimus and his team are ready to fight to the death rather than let it fall into Megatron’s hands. With the Decepticons destroying anybody or anything that gets in their way, Sam agrees to help the Autobots. In the process, they are able to rally the support of the U.S. Government, which stands by Optimus and his fellow Transformers. The Decepticons are defeated by the movie’s end, and the Autobots are welcomed to Earth.
“Transformers” is visually spectacular, and even by today’s standards, the special effects and CGI are near-perfect. Paramount sent me all of the Transformers movies on 4K Ultra HD™, and I have to admit, after watching them in this format, viewing them in any other embodiment is almost impossible. For many years, Blu-ray™ was always my choice of viewing movies, but 4K has surpassed it in overall visual and audio quality. If you are considering upgrading to 4K, I would highly recommend it; watching movies such as “Transformers” is what this medium was designed for.
TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN
Sam Witwicky leaves the Autobots behind for a normal life. But when his mind is filled with cryptic symbols, the Decepticons target him, and he is dragged back into the Transformers war.
As with most sequels, where the villain(s) were seemingly wiped out at the end of the previous movie, in many instances, the word ‘Revenge’ sometimes makes its way into the new title: “A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge,” “Jaws: The Revenge,” “Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers, “Revenge of the Jedi,” although technically Lucas changed it to “Return” when he realized the Jedi don’t seek out vengeance, the point is, when the word revenge is used, you go into the film knowing that the bad guy(s) are back and out for blood. As “Revenge of the Fallen” begins, our hero Sam is getting ready to head off to college out of state. He informs his trusty sidekick Bumblebee that he can’t go with him, and naturally, he is heartbroken, but right before he leaves, Sam discovers a small shard of the Allspark from the first movie, and after touching it, he immediately begins to see Cybertronian symbols which he cannot explain. When he lands in college, he meets Alice, a college student who is instantly smitten with him, but as soon as she gets him into bed, she changes, and Sam realizes that she is not human and is, in fact, a Decepticon Pretender, posing as a college student. The Constructicons are able to resurrect Megatron using the stolen shard. A showdown between Megatron and Optimus Prime and his team of Autobots takes place in Egypt at the Giza pyramid complex. Still, just as it looks like Optimus and his Autobots will win, many Decepticons combine to form Devastator, whose sole purpose is to crush all in his path.
While “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” upon its initial theatrical release, was another huge hit for Paramount, it is the least revered and the most excessively overblown entry in the series, at least that was the overall critical consensus, then and now. Honestly, when I first saw it, I wasn’t exactly blown away by it, but like I said about the original film, it’s a sci-fi visual extravaganza that isn’t meant to be taken too seriously. Granted, while that is in no way an excuse to go out and blow anything and everything up, that is precisely what director Michael Bay did, and the film ultimately suffers from too much happening onscreen all at once. The film is outrageously overblown to the point that during some of the big action scenes, because the camera is zoomed in on much of the activity, it is almost impossible to comprehend what we see onscreen; watch “The Bourne Supremacy,” “The Bourne Ultimatum,” or “Jason Bourne” for more examples. Upon watching it on 4K, the first time I had viewed it since 2009, while it is still very cluttered and superfluous, I was able to enjoy it more this time around. Still, in the end, I have to go with the comprehensive general agreement that it is the least-liked entry in the franchise.
TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON
The Autobots learn of a Cybertronian spacecraft hidden on the moon and race against the Decepticons to reach it and to learn its secrets.
The third entry in the successful franchise was a return to form for director Michael Bay. While there are still plenty of robots and big explosions, his use of shaky cam that almost took over “Revenge of the Fallen” has been put aside, but while it is still used, albeit sparingly, this time around, we can comprehend what is happening onscreen. With “Dark of the Moon,” we are told that in 1961, the “Ark,” a Cybertronian spaceship that was carrying an apparatus capable of ending the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons, crashlanded on the dark side of the moon. Then, in 1969, the President of the United States authorized a mission to put a man on the moon, but secretly, the sole purpose was to investigate the crash scene. In the present day, Sam starts work at a new job, and immediately, one of his co-workers, Jerry, informs him about the Ark but is quickly assassinated by the Decepticons. Sam reaches out to Agent Seymour Simmons at Sector 7, a top-secret government agency, and together, they realize that the Decepticons are wiping out people who were connected with or had knowledge of the mission to the moon. After learning about the moon mission, the Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, head there and discover a dormant Sentinel Prime, Optimus’ predecessor, and the Pillars he created to build a Space Bridge between two points to teleport matter. Sentinel, a Decepticon, can teleport hundreds of Decepticons from the Earth to the moon, and once again, both sides must battle it out in Chicago to save the Earth, and mankind, once more.
“Dark of the Moon” feels more like a companion piece to the original “Transformers” than its much-derided sequel, and as a result, it is much more enjoyable. Megan Fox, who played Sam’s girlfriend in Parts 1 and 2, was noticeably absent this time around, and that boiled down to her criticizing director Michael Bay and equating him to that of a tyrant, most notably Adolf Hitler, behind the scenes. Executive Producer Steven Spielberg insisted that she be fired from the project, and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, a Victoria’s Secret lingerie model, was hired as Sam’s new love interest. Megan Fox was not a very good actress and was obviously in the first two movies to serve as eye candy only, and sadly, Ms. Whiteley serves pretty much the same purpose here. In the end, though, this is not Shakespeare; it is a summer blockbuster, so sit back and, like the previous two entries, just have fun.
TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION
When humanity allies with a bounty hunter in pursuit of Optimus Prime, the Autobots turn to a mechanic and his family for help.
With “Dark of the Moon,” I think everyone thought the series was finished, but Michael Bay brought it back to life once more in 2014’s “Transformers: Age of Extinction.” Gone was the previous trilogy’s hero, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), and a big part of that was probably LaBeouf’s very public meltdown over the past few years. From criticizing the Transformer movies and even lambasting “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” in which he starred as Indy’s son Mutt, the actor seemed to be going through a challenging period in his life. Hence “Age of Extinction” was a new chapter in the series. Bay had worked with Mark Wahlberg on “Pain & Gain” the previous year, so he brought him in for this latest iteration of Transformers. The action is moved to Texas, where Wahlberg plays Cade Yeager, a penniless inventor on the verge of losing his house and farm. His teenage daughter Tessa lives with him, and when he discovers a beat-up old truck, he writes it off as just spare parts, but when a government agency named Cemetery Wind finds out about it, and they attack Cade and his daughter, the truck transforms into Optimus Prime, and he helps Cade and Tessa escape. We learn that in the five years since the “Dark of the Moon” events, the U.S. Government now views all Transformers as a threat to Earth and hunts down and destroys any robots left.
Cade, along with Optimus’ help, is able to break into K.S.I. Industries, a private company that melts down the remains of any Autobots and Decepticons that are found for the sole purpose of turning them into Transformer drones, machines that look and sound like Transformers but are controlled by humans instead. With the help of Optimus’ remaining Autobots, they are able to get a sample of this new technology, but not before the new drones chase them. While giving chase, the humans realize that they no longer control the drones and that Megatron has taken them over. In the ensuing chaos, Optimus is captured, along with Tessa, and taken to a giant prison spaceship that hovers over Chicago. Now the remaining Autobots, as well as Cade, and Tessa’s boyfriend Shane, must somehow get on board the ship and prevent it from leaving the Earth’s atmosphere. While this is considered a new beginning in the Transformers saga, it is more or less the same as the previous entries in the franchise. While I like Mark Wahlberg, and Kelsey Grammar makes for a decidedly nasty bad guy, there are times when I found myself missing LaBeouf’s zany and energetic Sam. While there is no mention of him here, in the next and supposedly final installment, “Transformers: The Last Knight,” a quick reference insinuates that he is now dead. Overall, if you are looking for pure entertainment, you can’t get any better than the Transformers films. Intense, animated, and entertaining, they are a great way to spend an evening.
TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT
A deadly threat from Earth’s history reappears, and a hunt for a lost artifact takes place between Autobots and Decepticons while Optimus Prime encounters his creator in space.
“Transformers: The Last Knight” needs to be the final film in the Transformers series. It was loud, fun, and chaotic, everything encompassing a Michael Bay movie, but it was also spreading the little charm the series has left, to the max. Recently, it was announced that both Michael Bay and Mark Wahlberg said they were finished with the franchise, but you know how those things go; when Paramount dangles a nice big, fat paycheck in front of them, they’ll probably return for the next outing but here’s hoping they won’t. There is only so much you can do with giant walking, talking machines, and “Transformers: The Last Knight” should conclude a series that has had as many ups as it has downs, yes “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen,” I am looking specifically at you.
This time, the story introduces us to King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table and discloses that the Transformers have been on Earth for a long time. After helping Arthur and his men defeat the armies of darkness, the Transformers entrust a sacred staff to Merlin, one they say will help prevent Earth from being eradicated in the future by a formidable foe. When Merlin eventually dies, the staff is buried along with him, and it is all but forgotten throughout history. Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) is on the run from the TRF (Transformers Reaction Force), military police whose sole purpose is to track down and eliminate any remaining Transformers as they are now considered not just an enemy of the state but also of the world. Cade, on the other hand, is dedicated to saving them and hiding them from the world, but he is tracked down and summoned to England by Cogman (Jim Carter), a human-sized robot who works for Sir Edmund Burton (Anthony Hopkins), a historian and astronomer who knows a lot about the history of the Transformers, and of what is about to transpire, namely, the end of the world.
Along with Vivian Wembley (Laura Haddock), the last descendant of Merlin, he informs her that she is the only one who can find the staff and prevent it from falling into the hands of a powerful sorceress named Quintessa, the being responsible for creating the Transformers. As the Transformers’ home planet of Cybertron slowly approaches Earth, with the sole purpose of wiping out the world so that they can rebuild Cybertron anew, it is up to Cade, Vivian, and the remaining Transformers to find the staff and prevent an all-out war between Earth and Cybertron.
I think it’s common knowledge that when you go to see a Michael Bay film, he never paints in small, quaint strokes; instead, he blows the shit out of them as he wants to present the biggest, baddest, and loudest spectacle you will have seen all year, if not ever. While he certainly achieves that objective, understandably, everything else falls by the wayside. He is known to work with actors who are more than capable of handling themselves, and one might even consider him a modern-day Ridley Scott if this was the late ’70s or early ’80s, when Scott was renowned for giving his actors very little guidance, focusing instead on the visual aspects of his movies (see “Alien” & “Blade Runner”). “Transformers: The Last Knight” encompasses everything a summer blockbuster demands, explosions, car chases, spectacular visuals and stuntwork, loud music, and sound effects, but even most films of this stature put aside some time for even the smallest amount of character development so that the audience can connect with them, but here, Bay unapologetically gives the Transformers more screen time than their human counterparts, so in a way, he tries to develop machines over humans, something that, inevitably, doesn’t amount to much of anything. A machine can’t be bargained with. It can’t be reasoned with. It doesn’t feel pity, or remorse, or fear! And it absolutely will not stop, ever, until you are dea…oh sorry, wrong movie.
BUMBLEBEE
On the run in 1987, Bumblebee finds refuge in a junkyard in a small Californian beach town. Charlie, on the cusp of turning 18 and trying to find her place in the world, discovers Bumblebee, battle-scarred and broken.
It only took six tries, but “Bumblebee” finally delivers on what a Transformers movie could live up to be. With five films already in the Michael Bay-led franchise, Transformers has managed to rake in only mixed to negative reviews from its fans and critics. With the previous installment, “Transformers: The Last Knight,” not even hitting half of its budget, it had become clear that there needed to be some big change-ups to reinstall faith in these blockbusters based on the Hasbro toys.
“Bumblebee” takes on this challenge by hitting the reset button and taking the audience back to the late 1980s to present an origin story of sorts under the direction of Travis Knight (“Kubo and the Two Strings”).
The film follows 18-year-old Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld), who, since her father’s passing, has been feeling increasingly distant from her family as they’ve done what she can’t, move on. She works on cars all day, hates her job, and listens to The Smiths. It’s on her birthday when she gets a small yellow Volkswagen Beetle that everything begins to change. Bumblebee, sent down to Earth to establish a base for the Autobots, has lost his voice and most of his memory. Once he reveals his proper form to Charlie, the two begin to work together to figure out who he is and where he came from. Now that he’s active, his signal goes out to another Autobot, that gets intercepted by two enemy Decepticons. These two then head to Earth, where Charlie and Bumblebee, with some help from John Cena, must defend their home and themselves.
Despite the movie’s constant need to remind the audience that it’s the ’80s, the film keeps things fun and plays into its tropes. Big crazy adventure movies have their beats and structure that audiences are more than familiar with. They’re the same in every giant robot movie and every superhero movie. What “Bumblebee” does well is it plays into these moments. Between director Travis Knight and the film’s writer Christina Hodson (“Shut In”), there is a clever spin on each of these beats that doesn’t come off as meta or ironic but genuine and fun.
Of course, with any major studio movie, there will be a couple of questionable plot points, a few moments that seem corny, or even a line or two that don’t seem necessary. And, of course, with any film based on something beloved by a big loyal fan base, there will be this underlying want for something to complain about, but with “Bumblebee,” I encourage you to let yourself have fun. It’s not perfect, but it’s a fun movie that will allow viewers to go on the kind of big adventure they imagined when they were kids. This film is one where an audience member’s experience is precisely what they want to make of it. Go on the ride, be a part of the adventure, and let “Bumblebee” show you what “Transformers” has been missing.
Available in a Limited Edition 4K Steelbook™ 6-Movie Collection May 30th
