Revisiting the first three films in preparation for Age of Extinction...whenever I get to see it. As a young boy growing up in the eighties, I was a HUGE fan of the Transformers. I absolutely loved the cartoon(though it hasnt aged well at all), I loved the comics and I had an impressive collection of Transformers toys as well...back when they were actually metal...and awesome. Having said that, I have a love/hate relationship with the Transformers film franchise. Folks love to bash Director Michael Bay and his bombastic, over the top style of filmmaking...but I think he is the perfect fit for this franchise. Michael Bay and company get so much right in these films...but then mar them with the things they get wrong. The problem isnt with the visuals and CGI, for they are consistently stunning and very believable. The problem isnt with the cinematography...though at times the action gets so frenetic that the fight scenes just become one big blur of twisted metal and debris and it feels like the camera has trouble keeping up...though this ultimately goes back to Bays direction. No...the main problems with this series are casting, script and Bays insistence on adding annoying lesser Autobots for comic relief(they single handedly almost ruined Revenge of a The Fallen, along with the equally annoying Autobot twins). Thankfully, Bay corrected part of the problem by dialing back on the annoying Autobots and making a darker, more brooding film with Dark of The Moon. Thankfully, with the latest film, it looks like Bay has started over from scratch and ditched a lot of what frustrated me about the previous films. Recasting was a HUGE step in the right direction, and I cant wait to see how well Mark Wahlberg fits into this franchise. No offense to Shia Labeouf...but his whiny neuroticism was beginning to grate on my nerves(though he is a fantastic young actor and could be genuinely funny sometimes)...he just never felt like a good human lead in these films...although his relationship with Bumblebee was very well developed and genuinely touching. This franchise desperately needs a true human hero, and Wahlberg seems to fit the bill nicely. Im really hoping these changes turn a solid and entertaining franchise into the awesome and epic franchise that it is capable of being...and deserves to be. Dont get me wrong, I genuinely enjoy the first three films...I just see far too many flaws that keep me from saying that I love them. One of the things that Bay absolutely nails with this series is the feeling and tone of the original comics and cartoon. I think thats part of the appeal for me of these deeply flawed but entertaining films...they manage to transport me back to my childhood and recreate that giddy excitement of rushing home after school to watch the cartoon or frantically flipping through the comics at The Cashiers Trading Post every Friday to find the latest Transformers comic and spend my hard earned allowance on it.
Posted on: Sat, 28 Jun 2014 01:51:57 +0000