Transformers, an orgiastic action
extravaganza based on Hasbro’s line of convertible kids’ action toys. Some
likeable characters and early, intriguingly seeded plot strands of clandestine
overlap are sacrificed at the altar of expediency and clash, and in its third
act the movie suffers a tonal blowout, devolving into little more than a furious assault on the
senses. Powered by superlative special effects from Industrial Light & Magic, though, Transformers splays its budget and production value across the screen during almost
every scene, and the high hoo-rah factor should turn out young males in
droves.

Penned by screenwriting tandem Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (The Island, Mission: Impossible III), the film’s story is certainly no more preposterous than
the basic concept mandates. Trading especially on Sam’s home life,
the script locates a few smart points of entry for early pockets of humor, though
a sequence in which the Autobots impatiently hide outside Sam’s house
while he searches his room for a key piece of evidence drags on for far
too long. In fact, after a lengthy first act spent setting up
all the military intrigue, it’s somehow less than thrilling when
Autobot leader Optimus Prime and the other Transformers show up and
actually start talking. The wonderment of the conceit is punctured, and
a few of the robot exchanges come across as hammy, at odds with the established tone.

That said, Bay makes certain that the audience isn’t left wanting
for action, erring on the side of distended, explosive set pieces, as
he did most recently in both Bad Boys II and The Island. Trading in the sort of emphatic, canted close-ups and adrenalized style
that have been his hallmark throughout his career, Bay delivers quick-cut action made up of individually effective, sometimes even iconic shots. The
problem, for those sensitive to matters of rationality, is that Bay, for
all his arguable skill as a conjurer of sugar-rush catharsis,
frequently creates escape through reverse shots rather than any sort of
sensible internal story logic. There is little sense of spatial
coherence, and even less artful massaging of tension. The action, then, becomes the
cinematic equivalent of a false show-and-tell exercise — bravura
demonstration lacking any rooted truth, emotional weight or
involvement. For the full review, from Screen International, click here.