Transformers
The General story: Anyone who was a kid in the 80’s and 90’s
needs no introduction to Transformers. Nor does anyone for that matter. Appealing
most to the imagination of boys, wishing their favourite car would magically turn
into a robot, and whisk them away on an adventure, was the stuff dreams were
made of. Based on a toy line / cartoon that originated in the 1980’s, the 2007
live action film “Transformers” sees the arrival of Autobots and Deceptions on
Earth, battling it out to find the All Spark; a device of immeasurable power.
Caught up in the middle of all this is 17-year-old Sam, who’s just bought his
first car, which turns out to be Bumblebee, one of the faithful soldiers of the
Autobots – the Good Robots for any of
you non-Transformers people.
What influenced the movie: The toys. The cartoon. The evolution of
special effects in the early 00’s. Steven Spielberg saying it could be done,
when no one else thought it could. And of course, Michael Bay. The helmer of
such blockbusters as Bad Boys, The Rock, Armageddon and, err… Pearl Harbor, was
announced as director. Given his spotty track record for big budget action
films, which were mostly all style
and no substance, the Transformers purists of the world were up in arms about
the choice in filmmaker. I had a sneaking suspicion it wouldn’t turn out to be
another flop, because even though Michael Bay makes movies like a kid with a box
of fire crackers in his dad’s garage, he did have adult supervision from Mr.
Spielberg, who let Bay do things his way, but kept him on a creative leash. The
result was a surprisingly good action movie that silenced the haters and won
over most audiences.
How the movie influenced the 00's: As the task of bringing audiences back
into the movie theatre waged on for most of the 00’s, spectacle was the way to
go. And Transformers was nothing but pure spectacle. Sure, it was silly but
didn’t take itself too seriously, and found the balance between humour, heart
and hot Megan Fox. The special effects were some of the best ever committed to celluloid
at the time, and the first films massive success greenlit a sequel instantly.
Being Hollywood, and being Michael Bay, they wasted no time, bringing out the
first two sequels within four years. The films got bigger, louder and dumber,
and gradually, the quality of the series deteriorated. Apparently, the latest instalment
“Transformers: The Last Knight” was so bad,
people were starting to hate the Transformers. Blasphemy, given the original
cartoon held such a special place in the minds of many. But a glimmer of hope
appeared in early 2018, with the first trailer of the spin-off movie “Bumblebee”
showing a return to form and putting the Michael Bay era of Transformers to
rest. Still, the first film had its impact, and clearly paved the way for
movies about robots and humans smashing up shit, ala “Real Steel” and “Pacific
Rim”.
What makes it stand out as a film of the
00's? Transformers isn’t
necessarily bound to it’s time, given the focus is big robots breaking stuff
and lots of explosions. It did launch the career of Shia LaBeouf, who got off
to a stellar start with Transformers and “Disturbia” the year before. Things went
sour for him when his personal problems and continuous disconnect from reality,
made him a star for all the wrong reasons. Once he was done with Transformers,
a few years passed, and the robots returned, this time with Mark Wahlberg in
the lead, hoping to usher in the new generation of Transformers. Those films
lost me, as I didn’t particularly like “Transformers: Age of Extinction” and I
haven’t seen “The Last Knight”. Probably won’t for that matter. Rather, I love
the first film, was fine with the second “Revenge of the Fallen”, and
appreciated parts of the third instalment, “Dark of the Moon”. But personally,
seeing the first Transformers film on screen was a milestone in movies, and in
my own creative exploration, given I was such a huge fan of the cartoon series.
In fact, “The Transformers: The Movie” was the first film I saw at the cinema,
at the age of four.
Impact of the movie still felt today: To be honest, the presence of the Michael
Bay Transformers influx outstayed it’s welcome after the third instalment. What
was once awe inspiring to watch on screen – cars, trucks and planes turning
into robots so seamlessly and realistically – quickly became Old Hat. But the
allure and appeal of the Transformers is still there, and the quality of the
trailer for the upcoming prequel/spin-off Bumblebee, looks promising and hints
at a return to what made the first film so memorable; spectacle, cool special
effects and humour. All evident in the first film, but sadly not as evident in
the sequels.
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