Somewhere in this movie is a good story. But thanks to awful direction, that good story is buried in a jumbled, un-entertaining mess.
For the most part, nobody speaks in this movie. They banter. They deliver rapid fire one liners, quips, rather than lines. Crescendo becomes meaningless if everything is a crescendo. Quips, one liners, funny moments become cumbersome when every moment is filled with ironu and poor attempts at humor.
There's a young girl character called something with a z. I can't remember the name. But the actress is awful. She doesn't speak her banter, she poses it. Even when she stands still, she does it in a deliberate way. Everything from her is forced, unnatural.
There are flashbacks and even flashbacks within flashbacks, so it's hard to keep track of an ongoing story. Bay, as usual, makes use of too much slow motion. In one scene, one of the Transformers fires a time slowing weapon. But the effect is lost because it blends into all the other slow motion action. Some people caught in the weapon's range are moving slowly, but everyone moves slowly when there's action. So, um, what's happening?
A lot of the effects look like something out of a theme park attraction. There are lots of explosions, bullets ricocheting, and sparks, but nothing seems close to the people who are the targets of the massive fire power. Once in awhile the action goes to super slow motion (that's why the slo mo weapon is confusing) as something barely misses a ducking and dodging human who shouldn't be capable of moving fast enough to get out of the way.
Transformers roll around, losing pieces of their bodies. The action is shown with an always moving camera, with time jumps, and zoomed in to the point it's impossible to tell how the fight is progressing. Are all those pieces flying off a giant robot important? Is the robot winning or losing the fight? Did that part fly off before now, or is now a flashback, or is it a time jump? Is a robot hurt? Who knows?
Speaking of time jumps, Bay loves to approach a scene then jump past the beginning, into the middle of the action. Someone is walking out of a building, a car approaches, then suddenly the person is inside the car in the middle of a chase scene. There's a lack of continuity. It's hard for a viewer to get his bearings, and thus it's hard to enjoy the scene. WHAT IS HAPPENING!!!!???? It doesn't help that the minds behind this movie pasted Transformers on top of King Arthur.
The whole movie feels rushed, or feels like it has too much cut out of it. Bay makes action in a disjointed way, and the overall movie is delivered in a disjointed way.
It's hard to watch and even harder to like.
Michael Bay makes the song a complicated mess.
Transformers! More than meets the eye. Transformers! Robots in disguise. Transformers!
Autobots wage their battle To destroy the evil forces Of the Decepticons
Transformers!
Autobots are King Arthur's Knights And an evil queen Wants to destroy the Earth But it's called Unicron And there's a chosen one With a moving talisman But there's another chosen one Who wields Merlin's staff It was given to him By the Autobots
1 out of 5 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
Tell Your Friends