 Love them or hate them, the Michael Bay-directed 'Transformers' movies have left their mark on a variety of audience members up until this point. You've got the critical side of things, which I'm a part of, pointing out things like how they've all done the exact same, just thing in different ways. It's kind of like comparing how 'Avatar,' 'Fern Gully,' 'Pocahontas,' and 'Dances With Wolves' are all essentially the same story, but they're all executed differently. The difference here, making things a bit worse, is that this is a franchise.
The other side of me, however, still has that inner child going pretty strong, and I can view them all as guilty pleasures at this point. Through the right lens, these can be kinda fun. Again, for comparison, think of the 'Fast' franchise; corny, dumb, ridiculous, but a good time with a bag of popcorn. One of the bigger problems with the franchise has been that its been made mostly for a bunch of testosterone-filled teenage boys, and doesn't necessarily reach out to a mass audience. On top of that, it can all be boiled down to eye-candy (both of the explody and sexy variety) being the only thing that makes them any "good." This, I felt, was a film that did it right for everyone, and is still the best of the live-action 'Transformers' films. With that said, bear in mind that this property wasn't something I was insanely into back in the day; I just appreciated it, so when it came to these movies, I didn't pay much attention to what a lot of the fans said they "got wrong." I just had fun. But none of them had a whole lot of depth at all, and honestly, take a moment to think about how much you gave a damn about any of the lead human characters, in the long-run. Before we get into the human connection, however, the film starts on Cybertron, where the Autobots and Decepticons are at war, and I'd argue it's probably THE scene that fans have been wanting all these years. I may not know a whole lot about this stuff, but I mean, a Transformers fight on Cybertron? I'd imagine to me, that's kind of like saying "there's a scene where Batman kills the Joker!" - it's just an epic moment. Anyway, Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) sends B-127 (Dylan O'Brien) to Earth - a hidden planet on which Optimus hopes to establish a new base of operations for the Autobots. In the struggle, B-127 gets his voice box ripped out, and goes into hiding from whatever Decepticons may be after him. Eventually, he meets and befriends a gear-head type named Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld). They also befriend her awkward neighbour, Memo (Jorge Lendeborg Jr.), who has a crush on Charlie, but thankfully, the love interest doesn't take the front seat here. They actually make the lost bond between Charlie and her deceased father vs her Mom easily moving on the biggest human element of the movie, thus giving us something to care about. In the meantime, Colonel Jack Burns (John Cena) takes an interest in B-127 after he quite literally crashes a training exercise upon landing on Earth. Burns sees him as a hostile immediately, and just needs to capture him, and/or put him down. He, and other soldiers of Sector 7, are visited by two Decepticons, Shatter (Angela Bassett) and Dropkick (Justin Theroux), who claim B-127 to be a wanted criminal on their home planet, and ask permission to use Earth's satellites to track him, complete with a nod to them blowing everyone's 80's minds with presenting them with the idea of the internet. This plays out as more of an 'E.T.' than the same old story of "Autobots must intercept Decepticons before they get hands on foreign power-MacGuffin." Perhaps that's still not entirely original, but it's a shift away from the usual, and a breath of fresh air. Thus far, this has been the only 'Transformers' flick that has gauged all of my emotions, and there's more to this than just a "popcorn movie." It also serves as a soft reboot to the franchise, and a prequel, so in many ways, this could be a good place for anyone new to start. Kudos to LAIKA animator, Travis Knight, for giving us something that's truly more than meets the eye! 4/5
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