Max Holland: Transformers (2007) Movie Review

Transformers (2007) is a sci-fi action flick directed by Michael Bay, produced by Steven Spielberg and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It’s based on the popular action toy line from Hasbro. It stars Shia Lebouf and Megan Fox in the leading human roles and also features Peter Cullen and Hugo Weaving in supporting voice roles. It got mixed to positive response from critics but was otherwise a huge hit with audiences and a massive box office success. It spawned a movie franchise consisting of four sequels and a couple of spin-off prequels.

The plot focuses on a war between two clans of sentient mechanical beings, the Autobots and the Decepticons, from the planet Cybertron. The war is centered on the Allspark, an ancient mysterious cube that has the power to bring inanimate technology to life but can also bring an end to it as well as humanity if fallen into the wrong hands. Young teenager Sam Witwicky (Shia Lebouf) gets caught in this conflict due to being in possession of an old pair of eyeglasses (which belonged do his great great grandfather) that have coordinates to the Allspark. This leads to Sam being hunted down and chased by the Decepticons as they want the Allspark to take over the universe. Sam meets and befriends the Autobots and together they come up with a plan to fight off the Decepticons and save the world.

We have a set of different characters. I mentioned the protagonist, Sam Witwicky. There's Sam's love interest Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox), who knows a lot about cars due to her dad being a mechanic (or as she puts it, a "real grease monkey") as well as a convicted car thief. She previously dated a jock bully whom she later dumped, and she and Sam develop a dynamic over the course of the film. Mikaela's car theft skills come in handy throughout the movie as she assists Sam on his mission.

Sam's parents, Ron and Judy Witwicky are the human comic relief. Now we've got the Autobots. Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) is the leader of the Autobots and can transform into a semi-trailer (Optimus Prime resembles his original action figure counterpart pretty closely, albeit with a more updated look). There's also Bumblebee, who transforms into a Camaro and whom Sam encounters at the used car outlet, the former serving as a guardian to the latter. Bumblebee is unable to speak due to his voice chip being damaged in battle but can use his car radio as an alternate source of communication. He's basically the Iron Giant if the Iron Giant were mute and could turn into a car.

We also have Jazz who can turn into a Pontiac, Ratchet who can turn into a Hummer, and Ironhide who's the weapons expert who can turn into a GMC pickup. Then we have the Decepticons who are the bad guys, led by our main antagonist Megatron (Hugo Weaving). Megatron had been frozen for over 70 years and was the one who hatched the plan to get a hold of the AllSpark to take over the universe. After those years, the AllSpark was rediscovered and since then, the other Decepticons, led by second-in-command Starscream, carried on this evil plan, until Megatron is eventually unleashed. That's about the gist of the whole thing.

I saw this in theaters when I was 14 and I really enjoyed it. Rewatching it now, I still have a soft spot for this movie. It's a pretty decent sci-fi action flick with some cool action scenes, funny moments and an interesting lore. It basically plays out like Independence Day but with robots. The acting and directing are decent. It’s not a perfect movie by any means as the storyline is rather formulaic and there’s very little character development. But for what it is, it's quite good.

I can't say the same about the sequels. I kind of liked Revenge of the Fallen, but it was a little overstuffed. I didn't like Dark of the Moon, Age of Extinction or The Last Knight. I really enjoyed Bumblebee and Rise of the Beasts though (Rise of the Beasts is probably my personal favorite of the Live-action CG Transformers movies). I may review those movies in greater detail, but I wanted to focus primarily on the first one. All in all, Transformers (2007) is pretty good, as far as big budget blockbusters featuring giant robots go.

I give Transformers (2007) a solid 7.5/10.

So, have you seen Transformers (2007)? What did you think? Did you like it? Did you not like it? Did you think it was okay? Let me know in the comments.

You can check out my video review on YouTube: