Before I went to see Transformers yesterday, I wrote a rant about the New York Times’ review of the Transformers movie written by Manohla Dargis. What the paper is thinking having a snooty avant-garde film critic review Hollywood action movies is beyond me. My basic beef with the review was that her focus was not on the movie itself, but more of a general pan of the genre. It was simply beneath her.
I’m not a movie critic (obviously), and I have no intention of trying to be at this point. So I’ll just attempt to go at it from the general standpoint of the New York Time “review” but I’ll do so from a less “holier than thow” viewpoint and let everyone decide for themselves…
“Big Boom. Big Badda-Boom!”
Those words, made immortal by Milla Jovovich in the movie The Fifth Element, describe the Transformers movie better than I can, which is exactly why it’s not a movie for everyone. If you’re not ready to sit through two and a half hours of constant movement and explosions, don’t go see it. If you think that the idea of giant robots that turn in to cars and jets is lame, don’t go see it.
Transformers was exactly the movie I expected it to be. Anyone who goes to this movie expecting to see Oscar performances is kidding themselves. It’s a science-fiction action-adventure movie staring CGI robots that seem to enjoy beating each other up.
I think it held up well as an action movie. The storyline, which I had read was a jumbled incoherent mess, was pretty easy for me to follow. Big robots lose cube. Big robot bad guys want cube back. Big robot good guys feel obliged to stop big robot bad guys from getting cube. Modern day Earth is the setting and the humans get involved. Throw in a teenage kid who has the hots for a teenage girl, a dozen or so stereotype side-characters (cool army guy hero, overweight computer hacker, etc), lots and lots of explosions and you’ve got yourself a movie!
I grew up watching the Transformers cartoon and I really enjoyed seeing them come to life in CGI. Hearing Peter Cullen reprise the role of Optimus Prime’s voice was a geek highlight for me.
There were two things that bugged me. One was the scene about midway through the movie where the Autobots were waiting outside Sam’s house. This was very out of character and fell short of the laughs it seemed to desperately want. The second was the seemingly slow reaction by the Decepticons to anything in the second half of the movie leading up to the final battle scene. This was a group that acted quickly and strategically at the beginning of the movie and then just kind of waited around for everybody else to catch up.
Bottom line, it was an enjoyable action movie. Don’t expect Shakespeare. Don’t bring your small kids. If your ears are sensitive, bring ear plugs. I won’t be buying the DVD, but I don’t regret seeing it at the theater.
I love your point that this criticts review was a general pan of the genre. I am tired of reading the reviews in Rockfords paper, because for the most part unless the movie is of the oscar potential variaty, the movie is panned. I’m sorry not everyone going to see a movie is looking for the same thing at the same time. And I think we have all seen the movie that had a great script but the acting fell short, or the fantastic cinamatogrophy (where is spell check?) in a movie with a lack luster plot.
As with music, my taste in movies skims all genres. I will never again dis an art form because it is not always to my taste. A great example to this was my claim to hate all rap music. It is not my music of choice but, after hearing more than just the ghetto blasting type of the streets, some has touched me with the talent of the singer as well as the depth of insight of the writer. I will never be a lover of rap but cannot make the blanket statement that it is all bad. Art will always inspire critics, but we all have to look at it closely and not take the word of so called “experts” as gospel. As with our sense of taste, all senses, what we hear. see. and feel are only an interpitation of what we individually enjoy or dislike. I would love to see a critics page that featured reviews by five or so critics whos opinoins come from very different perspectives. ( could be this already exists, but I’m rather sheltered here )
Anyway I loved your review. Maybe you should start a review section here for movies, music etc. Could be interesting.
Love ya Sandi
PS If your wondering why I have so much time this morning for posting comments. I am making Dog food. Yes Tasha is that spoiled. But we almost lost her when they had the recall of pet food, and I guess she is worth four hours every couple of weeks.
I completely understand with the dog food thing. I swear you can’t trust any products to be safe anymore. Did Tasha actually get sick or did the whole scenario just scare you?
As far as the music and movie reviewing, I’ve been tossing the idea around for years to start a review site at thespeakeasy.com (a domain I own) and cover anything “creative” from movies to illustration, music to photography, sculpture to books, architecture to comics, whatever floats my boat at the moment really. Depending on how things go in the next few weeks with the job hunt, I may actually have some time to put something together. Who knows, maybe I can set up others in the family (like you and Coca and Sheila if she’d want) to add their own reviews and articles too…
I would love to have a forum for what I call ” creative criticism ” of any art form.
As to Tasha – She got deathly Ill just about the same time as all the recalls. Her food was never one on the list, but she was throwing up for days and would not eat until I started coxing her with home made food. Thus, I have since been making every thing she eats.