Transformers Badly Transformed: Film Review of Latest Michael Bay Film, Transformers

Starring Shia LaBeouf (Disturbia, The Greatest Game Ever Played), Transformers changes from a teen comedy to a Tom Clancy kind of thriller to a movie about giant transforming robots and their war against other transforming robots. These three elements of the film are all held together by Shia LaBeouf's character, Sam.

The film begin like Armeggedon. We're introduced to an interest cube drifting through space, but that one of the only few innovations in this sequence. Instead of the great voice of Charlton Heston telling the story of the asteroid that hit Earth so very long ago, we get the vaguely familiar voice of Optimus Prime (introduced later) describing the destruction of the Transformer's home world. They throw in some drifting asteroids for good measure, and we already know we're watching a Michael Bay film.

Back on Earth, everything seems to be just like it is today, soldiers are still fighting in Iraq or some third world country with lots of sand, teenagers are still trying everything to impress girls, and Indian people are still the representatives on the phone lines of credit card companies. We're introduced to a group of soldiers fighting what seems to be the war on terror. They're quickly attacked by a chopper. But, this turns out to be no ordinary chopper. With the exception of robots transforming before our eyes, everything about this portion of the film looks and feels like a well-conceived Tom Clancy thriller.