Transformers: The Story So Far

Now I know what some of you may be thinking. Why the hell am I doing another installment of Rhode Island Movie Corner’s ‘Story So Far’ series, in which I go over the events in a franchise’s previous outings to catch people up on the overall story in time for the latest installment of that series, for… Michael Bay’s Transformers films? These films have NEVER been known for their writing, so why am I doing it for a series that’s been all over the place plot-wise? Well, first off, for obvious reasons; the new Transformers film, Transformers: The Last Knight, is coming out this weekend so this is meant to tie into that film’s release. And to be honest, I couldn’t think of anything else to do for it. I mean, there’s no way in hell that I could’ve done an ‘In Defense’ post for these films because I’d just be laughed off the internet if I had even attempted that. So instead, I figured that by doing this, I’ll be saving some of you folks the trouble of having to re-watch the previous films, which I will be doing. Because as I’ve made it clear in the past, I am a fan of these films; yes, even the critically-maligned sequels. Obviously, though, I’m in the extreme minority on that. However, despite being on par with the Star Wars prequels as one of the most critically despised franchises in recent years, these films still manage to be huge hits at the box-office, with the last two entries even going over $1 billion worldwide. Thus, it seems to me like no matter how much critics and film buffs rag on them, a lot of these folks will still go watch them regardless of their hatred for them. With that in mind, hopefully, this is helpful in some way, shape, or form; if not, well… I don’t know what to tell you because I’m no miracle worker. Thus, let’s look back on the ‘infamous’ saga that has been Michael Bay’s Transformers series.

(Disclaimer: I’m aware that quite a few other websites and YouTube channels have done exactly what I’m doing now, from Collider to io9 to Screen Junkies. With that in mind, I’d like to assure you, folks, that there was absolutely no intent on copying what those other sites have done in their respective posts/videos that recap the events of these films. Heck, as someone who does like these films, I’d say that this does give my post a different spin to it compared to others.)

TRANSFORMERS (RELEASED: 2007)

The film opens with narration from Optimus Prime (voiced by the character’s original voice actor from the 1984 TV series, Peter Cullen), the leader of the Autobots, a group of ‘autonomous robotic organisms’ from a planet named Cybertron who can transform into any mechanical object that they’ve analyzed, hence the name of the series, Transformers. Optimus explains that their planet had been destroyed following a long and intense war with a rival faction known as the Decepticons, led by the evil Megatron (voiced by Hugo Weaving). Part of the war was over an ancient Cybertronian artifact known as the AllSpark, a cube-like object that contains the power to create life by giving the Transformers their ‘soul’ AKA their ‘spark’. When the planet was destroyed, the Cube was lost as well, leading to both sides traversing across the galaxy trying to find it. It isn’t until quite sometime later when both sides learn that the Cube now resides on the planet Earth. In the present day, Decepticons Blackout and Frenzy attack a U.S. military base in Qatar and Air Force One, respectively, to acquire information about the Cube’s whereabouts. This information comes courtesy of an old pair of glasses that an old explorer named Captain Archibald Witwicky (W. Morgan Sheppard) wore when, on a mission into the Arctic Circle in 1895, came across the body of Megatron, who had crash landed on Earth when he tried to find the Cube. Witwicky’s encounter with Megatron led to the cube’s coordinates being imprinted on his glasses.

Back in the present, Archibald’s great-great-grandson Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) ends up buying his first car; an old 1976 Chevrolet Camaro. However, he soon discovers that the car is in fact one of the Autobots, Bumblebee, who can only communicate via radio/TV recordings due to damaged vocal cords (He does have a few spoken lines at the end of the film, in which he’s voiced by Mark Ryan, but then goes back to using radio/TV audio to speak in the subsequent films) and has been appointed the role of being Sam’s guardian. After being pursued by several Decepticons who are looking for his great-great grandfather’s glasses, Sam and his classmate/love interest Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox) come across the other Autobots; Optimus, first lieutenant Jazz (voiced by Darius McCrary), weapons specialist Ironhide (voiced by Jess Harnell), and medical officer Ratchet (voiced by Robert Foxworth). The Autobots inform them of Megatron’s plans to use the AllSpark to create a new army and take over Earth. But when the two go to get Archibald’s glasses for them, they are arrested by a government group known as Sector Seven, led by agent Seymour Simmons (John Turturro), that has been monitoring alien activity on Earth for several years. When the group ends up at Sector Seven’s headquarters, hidden inside the Hoover Dam, they discover the still-frozen Megatron AND the AllSpark locked away inside it. However, the Decepticons soon start to attack, allowing Megatron to awaken from his frozen slumber. With the aid of a group of Army Rangers who had survived the attack on the Qatar base, including Captain William Lennox (Josh Duhamel) and Sgt. Robert Epps (Tyrese Gibson), Sam, Mikaela, and the Autobots head to the nearby Mission City to try and get the AllSpark away from Megatron.  

During the intense battle that follows in Mission City, the protagonists manage to defeat most of the Decepticons. However, Bumblebee ends up losing his legs after an attack from Megatron’s second-in-command Starscream (voiced by Charlie Adler) and Jazz is torn in half when he tries to fight Megatron. Bumblebee ends up giving Sam the AllSpark as the latter tries to get it away from Megatron. But Megatron soon comes after Sam, resulting in him being saved by Optimus, who tells Sam to push the Cube into his chest to destroy it, even though it would mean his death as well. Sam instead forces it into Megatron’s chest, killing him. Thus, with the AllSpark destroyed, save for a small shard that Optimus collects from Megatron’s body, the Autobots end up taking refuge on Earth. The U.S. government disbands Sector Seven and the remains of the deceased Decepticons are disposed of (for now, at least) in the Laurentian Abyss. The only surviving members of the Decepticons are Starscream, who escapes into space, and Barricade, who would later cameo in the third film where he is killed by human soldiers during the big final battle in Chicago… and yet, he is apparently set to return in the new film despite this. Ah well, anyway, Sam and Mikaela begin a new relationship and Bumblebee opts to stay with Sam. The film ends with Optimus sending out a message to his fellow Autobots who are still out there, “taking refuge amongst the stars”, to join them on Earth. “We are here… we are waiting…”   

TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN (RELEASED: 2009)

First off, let me answer the one question that I’m sure you all have right now… yes, Revenge of the Fallen has a plot. I know that it may seem unfathomable, but the critically reviled second installment of this Transformers series did indeed have one. It’s just that the film doesn’t get into it until more than halfway through its 2 ½ hour runtime; trust me, I legitimately timed it when I re-watched this film in 2014 prior to the release of Age of Extinction. Anyway, the film begins two years after the events of the first film. The Autobots have joined forces with the U.S. Military to form a special task force known as the Non-Biological Extraterrestrial Species Treaty (NEST) to deal with any surviving Decepticons still on Earth. During their latest mission in Shanghai, one of the Decepticons that they’re hunting, Demolisher, warns them that “The Fallen shall rise again”. When they get back to base, National Security Adviser Theo Galloway (John Benjamin Hickey) scolds them for the chaos that they’ve caused in Shanghai and suggests that the reason why Decepticons are still on Earth is that they’re hunting the Autobots. He also suggests that perhaps it is time for the Autobots to leave Earth once and for all so that humanity will no longer be attacked by the Decepticons. Meanwhile, the Decepticons steal the AllSpark shard that Optimus took from Megatron’s body and use it to revive their fallen comrade at the bottom of the Laurentian Abyss. Once resurrected, Megatron heads into space to meet with his master, The Fallen (voiced by Tony Todd), an ancient Decepticon who seeks to conquer the planet that he had tried to take over once before. Because as we see in the opening scene, which is also noted by Optimus in his traditional opening narration, Transformers existed on Earth long before the events of the first film and The Fallen was one of them.

Meanwhile, Sam is about to head off to college in Philadelphia. However, this also means that he’ll be leaving behind Bumblebee (because freshmen can’t have cars on campus) and Mikaela, who he promises he will stay faithful to but has trouble when it comes to saying the three words that truly matter (‘I love you’). While getting ready to make the move to college, Sam comes across a second AllSpark shard that was lodged within the clothes that he wore during the battle in Mission City. When he inspects it, he is suddenly inundated with Cybertronian information. After dealing with a bunch of kitchen-appliance Transformers that came to life via the shard’s power, which also results in his house being destroyed in the process, Sam gives the shard to Mikaela for safe-keeping. Once he gets to college, however, this new information that he has starts to materialize via symbols that he starts to see all over the place. But when Optimus comes to warn him of the impending threat, Sam insists that he wishes to live a normal life and that “this isn’t [his] war”. Soon, though, Sam, Mikaela, and his eccentric roommate, conspiracy blogger Leo Spitz (Ramón Rodriguez) are captured by Megatron and the Decepticons, who try to extract the information that Sam has from his brain. The Autobots manage to come in and save them just in time, but during the subsequent battle in a nearby forest, Optimus is killed by Megatron. With no one left to stop him, having previously noted that only a Prime can do so, The Fallen begins his plan of world domination and demands that Sam is delivered to him with the information that he has.

This forces Sam into hiding with Mikaela, Leo, Bumblebee, and Autobot twins Mudflap (voiced by Reno Wilson) and Skids (voiced by Tom Kenny). Sam deduces that the symbols that he’s seeing are a map that leads to a new source of Energon, the Transformers’ energy source. Leo then proceeds to bring them to someone who could help; a rival blogger known as ‘Robo-Warrior’. As it turns out, ‘Robo-Warrior’ is Agent Simmons, who now works at his mother’s deli since the disbandment of Sector Seven. It is through Simmons that the group learns about the Seekers, a group of ancient Transformers that still reside on Earth. They end up finding one, Jetfire (voiced by Mark Ryan), at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. and revive him with Sam’s AllSpark Shard. Although they are initially concerned to find that Jetfire is a Decepticon, he informs them that he has since switched sides. Likewise, Wheelie (also voiced by Tom Kenny), a Decepticon spy that had tried to steal the AllSpark shard from Mikaela and was subsequently brought along for the ride, switches sides as well once he learns about this new information. After transporting them all to Egypt, Jetfire informs them that The Fallen seeks to restart an Energon machine known as the Sun Harvester that absorbs energy from stars. And in this instance, he plans to use it on Earth’s sun. Jetfire also instructs them to find the Matrix of Leadership, the artifact that is used to start the Sun Harvester but can also be used to revive Optimus… which also basically makes this film a live-action adaptation of 1986’s The Transformers: The Movie since the Matrix appeared in that film as well and there was also a scene in which Optimus dies after a battle with Megatron.

Sam and the group then travel to Petra (AKA where Indiana Jones found the Holy Grail in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade), where the Matrix of Leadership is supposedly located in an ancient tomb made from the bodies of the Primes who had first stopped The Fallen from destroying Earth back in the day. While they do manage to find the Tomb and, supposedly, the Matrix, it evaporates into dust in Sam’s hands when he tries to pick it up. Meanwhile, they manage to convince Lennox and the NEST team to fly Optimus’ body and the other Autobots out to Egypt, despite not really having the means to revive Optimus just yet. Of course, the Decepticons then proceed to attack them, resulting in another long and intense battle. During this fight, Sam is supposedly killed by Megatron; however, in death, he is approached by the Primes who inform him that he’s earned the right to use the Matrix. Thus, he is revived and the Matrix materializes in his hands, which he immediately uses to revive Optimus. Jetfire then volunteers to sacrifice himself so that Optimus can use his parts to defeat The Fallen before he’s able to start his machine. Optimus does so, destroys the Sun Harvester, hidden within one of the Pyramids at Giza, and then kills The Fallen. Megatron and Starscream then proceed to flee the battle but vow that they will return. Victorious once again, the Autobots and their allies return home. Sam returns to his normal life and his relationship with Mikaela stays strong, especially after he finally tells her ‘I love you’… for now, at least. Which brings us to…

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON (RELEASED: 2011)

After helping the Autobots stop the Decepticons from taking over the world twice, Sam has since graduated from college and is gearing up to find a new job. However, it’s revealed that Mikaela has broken up with him for ‘reasons’ (i.e. Megan Fox was basically booted off production after an incident in which she called Michael Bay ‘Hitler’). Luckily, for Sam, he’s found a new girlfriend in Carly Spencer (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley), an assistant curator. Sam manages to get a job at a telecommunications company, Accuretta, later learning that his employers had gotten a letter of recommendation courtesy of Carly’s flirtatious boss, Dylan Gould (Patrick Dempsey), who happens to be one of the company’s board of directors. The stress of this close relationship between his girlfriend and her boss, along with the disappointment of being nothing more than a mail carrier at work, begins to put more and more pressure on Sam, who wishes that he was out there working with the Autobots instead and doing stuff that truly matters. Meanwhile, the Autobots and NEST have continued to monitor alien activity on Earth while also assisting the military in other global conflicts. On their latest mission to the abandoned facilities of Chernobyl, they come across a fuel cell which Optimus recognizes from an old Autobot ship known as the ‘Ark’.

The film’s opening sequence reveals that during the final days of the war on Cybertron, the Ark, captained by Optimus’ mentor Sentinel Prime (voiced by Leonard Nimoy), was severely damaged in battle and subsequently crash-landed on the Earth’s moon. Once this is discovered by NASA in 1961, they use the iconic Apollo 11 mission to the moon as a cover for investigating the crashed ship. Inside it contains the comatose Sentinel and a series of artifacts that he created known as the Pillars, which can teleport matter between two points via a space bridge. Optimus and the Autobots then proceed to collect the Pillars from the Ark and revive Sentinel with the Matrix of Leadership. While this is going on, Megatron and the other Decepticons, who know about the Ark and have apparently laid a trap for the Autobots, start to eliminate various humans who were involved in the manned missions to the Moon to investigate the Ark. When Sam and Simmons, along with Simmons’ personal assistant Dutch (Alan Tudyk), investigate further into the matter, they learn that the Decepticons have already collected several other Pillars from the Ark and were simply waiting for Optimus to revive Sentinel, the only one who knew how to use them. And to make matters worse, Sentinel then reveals that he has joined forces with the Decepticons in their plot to use the Pillars to transport Cybertron to Earth and use Earth’s resources to rebuild their planet. He then kills Ironhide and uses the Pillars to bring several Decepticons hidden on the Moon to Earth. When Sam tries to warn Carly, they learn that Dylan is also in league with the Decepticons. Carly is taken prisoner and the Decepticons coerce the world’s governments into forcing the Autobots to leave Earth to allegedly prevent any future conflicts. However, the Decepticons then proceed to destroy the Autobots’ departure ship and invade Chicago to begin the process of transporting Cybertron to their current location.

Sam, meanwhile, embarks on a personal mission to save Carly with the aid of Epps, who had left NEST after the events of Revenge of the Fallen, and some other former members of the task force. While initially overwhelmed by Decepticon forces, they are eventually saved by Optimus and the Autobots, who reveal that they weren’t on the main section of their ship when it was destroyed. Sam manages to save Carly and the group begins to fight back against the Decepticons, later aided by Lennox and NEST once they’re able to successfully infiltrate the city. During the battle, they manage to temporarily halt the Pillars’ transportation process until it is restarted again by Dylan. The subsequent confrontation between him and Sam results in the former being killed when he gets electrocuted by the main Pillar. The Pillar is then subsequently destroyed by Bumblebee, preventing the transportation of Cybertron from occurring and resulting in the planet’s apparent destruction. Meanwhile, Carly manages to convince Megatron to turn against Sentinel by making him believe that Sentinel will overtake him as the leader of the Decepticons if they succeed in rebuilding Cybertron. Megatron then attacks Sentinel before he manages to kill Optimus, who then proceeds to kill Megatron by removing his head and spine from his body. Optimus then kills his former mentor, bringing an end to the devastation in the Windy City. Sam and Carly reunite and affirm their love for one another while the Autobots once again embrace Earth as their home. And thus, Dark of the Moon officially concluded the arc of Sam Witwicky, the boy who became a vital part of an intergalactic war when he bought a car that turned out to be an alien robot (“Who knew?”). But this ultimately wasn’t the end for this series, as it continued in a new direction in…

TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION (RELEASED: 2014)

Age of Extinction served as a ‘soft reboot’ of the franchise, focusing on new characters while still taking place after the events of Dark of the Moon. Since the big battle in Chicago, the truce between the Autobots and the U.S. government has ended, as the former now find themselves hunted by an elite black ops group known as Cemetery Wind, led by government official Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer), who views all Transformers as a threat to mankind, and field agent James Savoy (Titus Welliver), who claims that he lost a sister during the Battle of Chicago. They’re also aided by a neutral Cybertronian bounty hunter named Lockdown (voiced by Mark Ryan) and immediately establish themselves as a serious threat when they find and execute Ratchet, who refuses to reveal the location of Lockdown’s primary target, Optimus. Meanwhile, in a small town in Texas, widowed inventor Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) struggles to make a living and provide for his teenage daughter Tessa (Nicola Peltz), who’s about to go off to college. When he and his business partner Lucas Flannery (T.J. Miller) come across an old, rundown semi-truck in an old theater, the three learn that the truck is, in fact, Optimus, who was severely wounded after an encounter with Lockdown in Mexico City. This then results in them being attacked by Savoy and Cemetery Wind, but they all manage to escape with the help of Tessa’s boyfriend Shane (Jack Reynor), a rally car driver. During their escape, however, Lucas is killed by Lockdown.

Now fugitives, Cade and company, along with Optimus, meet up with the surviving members of the Autobots; Bumblebee, commando Hound (voiced by John Goodman), tactician Drift (voiced by Ken Watanabe), and paratrooper Crosshairs (voiced by John DiMaggio). They discover that a robotics company named K.S.I. is working with Cemetery Wind in their efforts to eliminate the Autobots. In return, K.S.I. CEO Joshua Joyce (Stanley Tucci) is given a rare metal alloy, which he and his associates call ‘Transformium’, to build his own robots. This includes Galvatron, who was created via data from the deceased Megatron (fittingly enough, Galvatron is voiced by Megatron’s original voice actor from the 80’s animated series, Frank Welker, who will finally voice Megatron in The Last Knight after the character had been portrayed by Hugo Weaving in the original trilogy), and Stinger, modeled after Bumblebee and touted as a ‘superior’ model to Bumblebee’s annoyance. After infiltrating K.S.I., the group is attacked by Galvatron and Stinger, as the former conveys some of Megatron’s sinister qualities and subsequently breaks free from Joyce’s control. Eventually, Lockdown enters the picture and takes Optimus prisoner, claiming that he plans on bringing Optimus back to those who created him, the ‘Creators’ AKA Lockdown’s superiors. Tessa gets captured as well, resulting in Cade, Shane, and the Autobots having to save her and Optimus before Lockdown’s ship leaves Earth per the agreement that he had with Cemetery Wind, who are given a device referred to as a ‘Seed’ that they subsequently give to Joyce, who intends on using it to create more Transformium. After saving Tessa and Optimus from the ship, along with dealing with a few enemy forces in Chicago, the protagonists learn that the ‘Creators’ used these Seeds to terraform planets and create Transformium, which also resulted in the destruction of all life forms on the planets that they used it on.

After convincing Joyce of the Seed’s dangerous capabilities, the group heads to Hong Kong to get it away from Lockdown and Cemetery Wind. Meanwhile, Galvatron, now fully reincarnated as Megatron, takes control of the other robots in K.S.I.’s inventory, fully intent on using the Seed to take over the world. After initially being outnumbered by the Decepticons, Optimus and the Autobots manage to gain a leg up on them with the aid of ancient Transformers known as the Dinobots that were previously imprisoned on Lockdown’s ship, with Optimus riding Dinobot leader Grimlock, who transforms into a Tyrannosaurus Rex, into battle. Meanwhile, Cade manages to kill Savoy as revenge for all the harm that he and Cemetery Wind have caused to him and his daughter. After the group manages to get the Seed to safety and away from Galvatron and Lockdown, Optimus ends up in a fight with the latter. Cade and Attinger get involved as well, resulting in the latter being killed by Optimus, who had previously vowed revenge against the human responsible for the deaths of his comrades. Optimus then manages to kill Lockdown with the aid of Cade, Tessa, and Shane. Galvatron then proceeds to retreat, once again vowing that he’ll return. And thus, with his faith in humanity restored thanks to Cade and his family, the film ends with Optimus heading off into space (with the Seed in tow) to finally confront his Creators. In his final narration, he warns them to “Leave planet Earth alone…” and that he’s coming for them, thereby setting up the events of this week’s new release, Transformers: The Last Knight.

And, thus, that’s the ‘Story So Far’ for the Michael Bay-directed Transformers films. Thanks for following along and you can expect a review of Transformers: The Last Knight sometime in the next few days. Given my track record with this franchise, I’m predicting that I’ll probably be one of the few people crazy enough to like it even when it inevitably gets slammed by critics. Only time will tell…

The Fate of the Furious (2017) review

I think it’s safe to say that when the original Fast and the Furious came out in 2001, not many people figured that it would eventually lead into one of the biggest film franchises in recent years. And yet, here we are now at the eighth installment of the Fast and the Furious franchise. Seriously, it’s crazy to see how far this series has come since its early days. Who would’ve thought that by the time that its fifth installment came about in 2011, the franchise that had always attracted a mixed-to-negative response from critics would manage to turn things around and start to do just as well with critics as it’s always done with audiences? Whether it’s due to the shift from street racing to action heist plots or the addition of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson as fan-favorite Luke Hobbs, the series has seen a major increase in both critical and commercial success thanks to its most recent outings. Case in point, the most recent entry, 2015’s Furious 7, became the first film in the series to gross over $1 billion worldwide. Of course, part of the reason for this was that the film was impacted by the death of franchise star Paul Walker halfway through shooting. Thus, the film ended up becoming a poignant send-off to one of the series’ original stars, while still being another enjoyably over-the-top entry in the series. But the story isn’t over yet for Dominic Toretto and his crew. Now under the direction of F. Gary Gray, fresh off 2015’s smash hit Straight Outta Compton, the crew finds themselves up against their most intimidating adversary yet, one of their own, in The Fate of the Furious. Yes, you may snicker at that title, but if you’re a fan of Fast and the Furious, you’ll be pleased to know that this film features more of the same great over-the-top action that this series is known for.

Things have been going quite well for Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew ever since the events of Furious 7. No longer having to worry about dealing with anyone that’s trying to hunt them down, they’ve been spending most of their time living in peace, with Dom enjoying his honeymoon with his wife, Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), in Cuba after she regained her memories of their marriage in the previous film. However, when the team is called in to steal an EMP device from a military complex in Berlin, they are surprised when Dom shockingly betrays them by taking the device and getting their ally, Diplomatic Security Service agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson), arrested by the local government. As they soon come to find out, Dom is in cahoots with the most elusive cyberterrorist on the planet, Cipher (Charlize Theron), who unbeknownst to them has managed to coerce Dom into working for her thanks to a crucial ace in the hole. Thus, Letty, Hobbs, and the rest of the crew; fast-talker Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson), tech expert Tej Parker (Ludacris), and hacker Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), find themselves in a difficult situation as they’re now forced to combat their longtime friend. With the aid of their old ally, government agent ‘Mr. Nobody’ (Kurt Russell), the team embarks on their latest mission; to take down Cipher before she instigates nuclear war and to, hopefully, get Dom back on their side. They even gain an unexpected ally in their old nemesis, Deckard Shaw (Jason Statham), who they had imprisoned at the end of Furious 7.

Well, seeing how this is the eighth entry in the franchise, I’m well-aware that I’m just repeating myself at this point when it comes to talking about these films. Let’s be honest, folks, eight films in, you know exactly what to expect from this series. You’re not going to get anything Oscar-worthy out of this film’s straightforward ‘stop the bad guy from doing something terrible’ plot. But, of course, that’s not what you’re here for. You’re here for the ridiculous and yet still all-around awesome action sequences that defy all logic and physics with characters who are basically superheroes at this point. And, of course, this film has plenty of that to go around, including an epic chase through New York City involving an army of cars remotely controlled by Cipher. Seriously, though, if you’re one of those who scoffs at the sight of Dwayne Johnson pushing away a torpedo (that has been fired by a submarine) with his bare hands or Vin Diesel managing to finish a street race all while his car is almost entirely on fire, then this film isn’t for you. But, for those who are fans of the series, this doesn’t disappoint when it comes to delivering exactly what this franchise is known for. But, at the same time, it’s all handled with solid execution from a directing standpoint. F. Gary Gray, who’s no stranger to action films having directed the 2003 remake of The Italian Job (which, fittingly enough, starred Charlize Theron and Jason Statham), handles the action well and the film’s overall tone is probably the most consistent that it’s ever been at with this series since Fast Five. In other words, it’s a well-balanced mix of fun, over-the-top action and light-hearted banter with just enough dramatic heft in there that never overshadows the previous two aspects. Because at this point, the franchise is very much self-aware when it comes to not trying to be something that it isn’t.

And, of course, it wouldn’t be a Fast and Furious film without arguably the most definitive aspect of the franchise (yes, even more so than the action), family. Yes, despite the scandalous feud between stars Vin Diesel and Dwayne Johnson that clearly isn’t ‘just a publicity stunt’ and this film’s big plot-line of Dom going against his family, the camaraderie amongst the cast is as strong as it’s ever been. And the big reveal surrounding Dom’s actions, without giving anything away, are, surprisingly, well-handled. It isn’t anything too outlandish like I know some were assuming when the first trailer came out. Instead, it manages to tie in with the whole ‘family’ aspect quite well. Of course, the rest of Dom’s crew is just as solid as they’ve ever been, from Tyrese getting a lot of the best humorous moments as Roman to Dwayne Johnson being his usual badass self as Hobbs. Hobbs also gets quite a lot of memorable scenes with Deckard Shaw, as Jason Statham thankfully gets a much more substantial role this time around. Sure, the idea of him becoming an ally to Dom’s crew may seem like a major stretch considering that, in the last film, he killed their crewmate Han but I’ll admit that I’m interested in seeing how they handle this going forward. Plus, it does lead to one super entertaining action sequence that he’s directly involved in. And then, there’s the main villain Cipher, who most certainly ends up being one of the series’ best villains. Charlize Theron plays the part excellently and while she does spend most of the film monitoring the action instead of being out in the field (which may come as a disappointment to some given Theron’s clear skill in terms of fight sequences as evident from Mad Max: Fury Road and the upcoming action thriller Atomic Blonde), her ability to coerce Dom into working for her makes her an entertainingly cold villainess.  

I won’t lie, folks… this may have just become my new favorite entry in the Fast and Furious franchise. I’m kind of reeling at the surreal nature of that statement; I just said that about the eighth (eighth!) installment of the franchise. The only other instance in film history where that was even remotely possible was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 back in 2011… and that’s not even my favorite entry in that series, so this is a first for me. But, as a fan of this franchise (at least since the fourth film), this delivered on everything that you’ve come to expect in a Fast and Furious film. Yes, it’s just as simply plotted as its predecessors. And yes, the action is insane… and yet it’s still so damn awesome. Somehow, someway, the filmmakers are continuing to raise the bar in terms of the crazy stunts that this series is known for. And despite what I just said about the film being just as silly and over-the-top as its predecessors, its handling of the whole ‘Dom going rogue’ storyline is surprisingly well-handled. Yeah, it easily could’ve gone a lot worse but the way that they handle it does make sense once you realize the specific reason why Dom is forced to go against his team. Pair all that with the same great over-the-top action and the strong camaraderie of its cast and you have another super entertaining action thrill ride. And with a record-breaking weekend at the global box-office in the books (over $532 million to be precise), this series clearly isn’t slowing down. And you can bet that I’ll be looking forward to the next two installments of this apparent new ‘trilogy’ that the filmmakers are implicating is being set up by this film.

Rating: 4.5/5

(P.S. As it turns out, my next post on here will be the 500^th post that I’ve published on Rhode Island Movie Corner. With that in mind, stay tuned for an extra special post to celebrate this momentous occasion.)

Furious 7 (2015) review

In some ways, it’s still hard to believe that the ‘Fast and Furious’ franchise has now been going on for more than a decade. At first, it was just a simple street-racing franchise that, while consistently commercially successful, never were big hits with critics. But then, to everyone’s surprise, it suddenly became one of the biggest film franchises in recent years. Having not been a ‘fan’ of the series in its early years, the fourth film, 2009’s ‘Fast and Furious’, was the one that first got me interested in the series, even though in retrospect I realize I’m kind of in the minority when it comes to liking that film. Ultimately though, the series really started to shine with the fifth entry, 2011’s ‘Fast Five’, the first entry in the series to, to everyone’s surprise, do really well with critics. There were many reasons for this upgrade in quality. There was the return of many of the series’ former leads, resulting in the series’ first true ‘ensemble’ cast. There was the overall shift in regards to the series’ plots from street-racing to heists. And of course, there was the very welcome addition of Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson in the role of DSS agent Luke Hobbs. Just like that, the franchise became relevant again, soon followed by an equally awesome, and arguably better, follow-up in 2013 in the form of ‘Fast and Furious 6’, the first entry in the series that I was genuinely looking forward to. There’s no better way to say it; those last three movies made me a ‘F&F’ fan.

Now Dom and his crew (or, to use a more proper term, ‘family’) are back for the seventh entry (yes, seventh) of the ‘Fast and Furious’ franchise, ‘Furious 7’. This time, however, the film is under a different director (a first since 2003’s ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’). James Wan, who has mainly been known for his work on horror films like ‘Saw’, ‘Insidious’, and ‘The Conjuring’, takes over directing duties from Justin Lin, who had directed every entry of the series since 2006’s ‘Tokyo Drift’, for this new film. But of course, as we all know, that isn’t the biggest headline surrounding the film. Sadly, a more tragic one is. On November 30, 2013, while on break from shooting the film, series lead Paul Walker was killed in a single-car accident. Filming was only half-done at the time of his death so the production was temporarily put on hold so that the filmmakers could figure out a way to finish the film without Walker. As a result, ‘Furious 7’ now serves as not only a tribute to one of the series’ biggest stars, but also as the final film for Walker’s character Brian O’Connor. Needless to say, the film really delivers on representing Walker’s legacy with the franchise. But of course, this is also a ‘Fast and Furious’ movie and even with the change in directors, ‘Furious 7’ still succeeds in being a dumb and over-the-top but ultimately fun as hell action film that knows exactly what it is and doesn’t try to be something it’s not.

At the end of ‘Fast and Furious 6’, former street racer/criminal Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and his crew; Brian O’Connor (Paul Walker), Dom’s sister Mia (Jordana Brewster), Dom’s girlfriend Letty Ortiz (Michelle Rodriguez), Tej Parker (Ludacris), and Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) had finally returned home to the States after helping DSS agent Luke Hobbs (Dwayne Johnson) take down Owen Shaw and his crew in London. However, not long after, they soon find themselves being hunted by Shaw’s older brother Deckard (Jason Statham), who seeks revenge against Dom and co. for what they did to his brother. As it was revealed in the post-credits scene for ‘Furious 6’, Deckard was the one responsible for the death of Han (Sung Kang) in ‘Tokyo Drift’ which, for those who are new to the franchise, is actually this new film’s immediate predecessor being that it takes place after the events of the fourth, fifth, and sixth films. He follows that up by injuring Hobbs and nearly killing Dom, Mia, and Brian when their house is destroyed by a bomb. Not wanting to have to deal with another funeral for one of their family members, Dom and his crew team up with the government, specifically agent ‘Mr. Nobody’ (Kurt Russell), to find a computer program known as ‘God’s Eye’, developed by hacker Megan Ramsey (Nathalie Emmanuel), that would allow them to track anyone on Earth through digital devices. In return, the gov’t will allow Dom and the crew to use it to track down Shaw.

I mean, at this point, you should definitely know what you’re getting yourselves into when you watch these movies; this is the seventh entry in the franchise after all. You don’t watch them for the plot, that’s for sure. In fact, the MacGuffin they’re after in this film is actually unnecessary to their goal (I’ll explain why in a little bit). But of course, that’s not what these movies are all about. By now, the filmmakers have become very much aware of what these movies are; dumb fun, and they just roll with it. ‘Furious 7’ is no exception. Despite the fact that he’s not really as experienced in regards to directing action compared to someone like Justin Lin, James Wan does a really good job for his first major action film. The action sequences are just as crazy and physics/logic-defying as ever. This is a film where cars drop out of a plane, one super-fancy and super-rare car jumps between skyscrapers, and the characters constantly find themselves doing death-defying stunts. Of course, pretty much all of these stunts would be implausible in real life but who cares? And like I said before, at this point who even cares about the plot? It just serves as a way for Dom and crew to keep doing these awesome stunts. But even with the minimalist plot, one common theme that has basically been the defining trait of the whole franchise since the very beginning is the concept of family, which is even more relevant in this one given the death of Walker.

Without spoiling anything major, he is given a really fitting and touching send-off that is guaranteed to make even the toughest folks cry. The camaraderie amongst the main leads, from Walker to Diesel to Rodriguez to Johnson (by the way, some fans may be a little disappointed to know that Hobbs’ role in this film is much more diminished then it was in 5 and 6 given that he’s taken out of commission early on by Shaw for most of the film) to Gibson to Ludacris and so on and so on. And in my opinion, this is the greatest strength of the franchise; the fact that the relationships between the main characters feels very much genuine. Like with the last film, this entry also benefits from some fun additions to the cast, from Russell to Emmanuel to Djimon Hounsou, the latter of whom plays a mercenary who Dom and crew keep running into. As the main villain, Statham definitely brings the right intimidating presence in the role but ultimately he’s rather underused in some cases. Remember that whole thing I said earlier about the whole MacGuffin of the film being unnecessary? Well that’s because Shaw literally shows up for every major set piece in the film. So really Dom and crew didn’t even need that program to find Shaw because he always manages to find them first. He may be the older brother of Owen Shaw, but in the end the younger brother is still the best ‘F&F’ villain to date.

‘Furious 7’ probably won’t convert over anyone who isn’t a fan of the franchise. Like its predecessors, it’s over-the-top, stupid, and full of logic-bending, physics-messing, and death-defying stunts. But that’s why they’re so damn entertaining to watch and ‘Furious 7’ is once again proof of that. Yeah the plot is pretty weak, with the whole MacGuffin that the team is looking for being ultimately pointless in the grand scheme of things, but as I’ve said plenty of times in this review, who seriously goes into a film like this looking for top-quality writing? ‘Furious 7’ is just loads of fun while also maintaining the strengths of the most recent entries of the franchise, namely the great camaraderie of its cast and perhaps most importantly its keen sense of fun. I’ll admit that part of me kind of misses Justin Lin’s presence behind the camera but overall James Wan does do a really solid job for what was his first major foray into the action genre. And of course, I guarantee you that you’re going to be crying when this film ends as the characters, the franchise, and ultimately all of us say goodbye to Paul Walker. Regardless of what you thought of him as an actor, it’s clear that he was, above all else, a good man and he will be sorely missed. ‘Furious 7’ not only succeeds at being what the ‘Fast and Furious’ movies have become in the last few years but by also serving as a touching tribute to Walker’s legacy.

Rating: 4/5

#ForPaul

'The Fast and the Furious' (2001-2013) Series Retrospective

Despite the tragic death of series star Paul Walker in a car crash back in November 2013, ‘Furious 7’, the seventh (yes, seventh) film in the ‘Fast and the Furious’ series hits theaters this week. Seriously, who would’ve ever thought that a film series that’s primarily about driving cars and ridiculous stunts would be successful enough to produce seven films? Most film franchises never get that far and even if they did, the films would really start to get bad after a while. But it’s surprisingly the opposite case with ‘The Fast and the Furious’ films; they’ve actually gotten better as the series has gone on. I’ll admit that I never really paid much attention to the franchise during its early years. The only major element of it that was I familiar with at the time was the multiple arcade game spin-offs, including the original ‘Fast and the Furious’ arcade game and its many follow-ups, including one for ‘Tokyo Drift’ and two ‘Super Bikes’ games that in hindsight don’t really connect to the series that much at all; hell, the second game doesn’t even carry the film series license. But anyway, I digress. I remember that it was after watching the Super Bowl commercial for the fourth film that I actually started to become interested in the franchise. I didn’t see the fourth film in theaters but I did watch it on HBO and since then… I have to admit I’ve actually become a fairly big fan of the franchise. So today, in honor of the seventh film’s release and in memory of Paul Walker, I’m looking back upon this beast of a franchise, from its humbler beginnings to its more recent bigger-scaled efforts. It’s time to ‘Ride or Die’ as we look at the ‘Fast and the Furious’ films.

THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS (2001)

As someone who was first introduced to the franchise through its later installments, I must say that it’s fairly interesting to see how far ‘Fast and Furious’ has come since it first started 14 years ago. Like with the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise, this is definitely a case where the series definitely got better over time. That isn’t to say that ‘The Fast and the Furious’ isn’t entertaining; it has a nice energetic pace that perfectly matches the, for lack of a better term, fast nature of the story and a lot of the car stunt sequences are pretty good. But with that said, you still have to admit that the film is a definite case of style over substance. Sure, this film’s not completely brain-less as there are some actual/legitimate bits of character development here, namely between the main characters, street racer/criminal Dominic Toretto and undercover cop Brian O’Connor, and Vin Diesel and Paul Walker work off each other really well. But suffice it to say this is not a movie that you go into expecting great writing. In fact, as many people have already pointed out, this is basically just the street racing clone of ‘Point Break’. Despite this, the first ‘Fast and the Furious’ film is still a fairly entertaining popcorn flick even if, in some cases, it’s become a little dated. Ultimately, though, it would take some time (about a decade to be specific) before this series really started to shine.

Rating: 3.5/5

2 FAST 2 FURIOUS (2003)

First I’ll give you a few seconds to laugh at that hilariously ridiculous title… done? Okay, moving on… so now we come to the second film in the series, this one being directed by John Singleton, who had previously been nominated for two Oscars for his work on his 1991 film ‘Boyz n the Hood’. As for ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’, however, unfortunately it ends up being the weakest entry in the franchise. Now despite what I just said, that doesn’t mean the film isn’t entertaining, because it is. Once again, a lot of the car stunts are really cool, especially the first highway chase and the scene near the end involving a whole mob of cars coming out of one warehouse. Leads Paul Walker and Tyrese Gibson have nice camaraderie with one another, with Gibson in particular being a real stand-out due to his great comedic ability which was put to even greater use in future films. Ultimately though, ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’ suffers from some fairly mediocre writing. Now to be fair, these films have never been known for their writing anyway but here it ends up being rather dull and generic, with a mediocre anti-climax and a generic villain. Plus, something I didn’t mention in my review of the first film is that both of these films have some rather poor/obvious CGI used during some of the racing scenes, namely during close-up shots of the drivers. Thankfully, this was improved upon in future installments. ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’, ultimately, is my least favorite entry in the franchise. I don’t think it’s bad, but like I said earlier, we still haven’t gotten to the series’ best installments yet.

Rating: 3/5

THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT (2006)

After the first film which featured all four of the series’ main group of leads and the second film which only featured one of them, now we have ‘Tokyo Drift’, the only entry in the ‘Fast and Furious’ series not to have any of the main leads of the series appear in a major role, save for a pretty awesome cameo by Vin Diesel at the end. Because of this, ‘Tokyo Drift’ has basically been regarded as the most forgotten entry in the series, made even more evident by the fact that it’s the lowest-grossing entry of the series at the box office. But… it’s actually the most underrated of the series and, dare I say, I have to agree with my friend Augie in that I think this is even better than the first film. Sure, this film may not have Vin Diesel or Paul Walker but its cast gets through it pretty darn well without them. Plus, like with ‘2 Fast 2 Furious’, this film does give us another standout character that would later become a major character in future films, in this case Han (Sung Kang), despite the fact that he actually dies during the events of this film. So why does he come back in later films? Well that’s because, despite the fact that this was the third film released chronologically, it actually takes place after the events of the fourth, fifth, and sixth films, hence why Han appears in those films. ‘Furious 7’ will be the first film in the series set after the events of this film. Yeah… wrap your head around that one.

So what’s the main reason as to why this film works so well? It’s because of director Justin Lin, this being the first entry in the series that he directed. He gives the series a much needed boost in quality in terms of direction while also giving the series an edge that, in some cases, the last two films sort of lacked. This film also has the added benefit of being set in a cool locale, Tokyo, meaning that this film does manage to stand out even without the main leads in it thanks to its great visual look. The whole concept of ‘drifting’, which is pretty cool, really lends itself well to the fun action sequences that you’ve now come to expect from this franchise. So overall, ‘Tokyo Drift’ is the one entry in the series that really deserves more attention than it currently gets. If anything, you shouldn’t ignore this entry in the series just because Vin Diesel and Paul Walker aren’t in it. Sure, it may not necessarily be one of the series’ best, but it’s still really entertaining. This was the first entry of the series that really showed promise that the series could improve and you can thank Justin Lin for that as he managed to make an incredibly memorable ‘Fast and Furious’ film without any of the series’ main leads. But this would set the stage for those leads to make one heck of a return to the franchise they helped start in the first place.

Rating: 3.5/5

FAST AND FURIOUS (2009)

After nearly a decade since the first film’s release back in 2001, the main four leads of the franchise; Diesel, Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, and Jordana Brewster all reunited for a new film in the franchise, ‘Fast and Furious’, the second entry in the series to be directed by Justin Lin. But unlike the following two entries in this series, ‘Fast and Furious’ has been the least successful of the series in terms of critical response despite its commercial success at the box office. It only has a 27% score on Rotten Tomatoes… but overall I disagree with that rating. This is my third favorite entry in the series to date and I as noted in the intro, this was the first ‘Fast and Furious’ film that I ever saw, albeit on TV, not in theaters. This of course was after I had watched the Super Bowl commercial for the film, the first time that I really began to show interest in the franchise having initially not paid any attention towards it during its initial run. Overall I view it as being similar to the first film but with much stronger direction. Like I said before, Justin Lin gave the series new life and now with this fourth film, it has really started to shine thanks to the return of the main cast after they didn’t play a major part in the second and third films. So with that said, why then is this one not as liked by a lot of people? Well, from what I can tell, it’s because they feel the movie is ‘too serious’ for a ‘Fast and Furious’ film. And for the record I do see where they’re coming from.

The plot of this film revolves around Dom returning home to LA after learning that his girlfriend Letty (Rodriguez) has been ‘murdered’ (I use the term loosely because, well, you’ll see why when I start talking about the sixth film), looking for revenge against those who were responsible. This results in him crossing paths once again with Brian, who’s going after the same people for the FBI. Last year’s ‘Need for Speed’ was a similar situation, being more serious than both it needed to be and quite frankly what it was capable of being given its premise of street racing. But here, I didn’t mind too much when the film got serious because I do feel that there was some legitimate motivation for Dom and Brian to stop the villains unlike with previous villains in the franchise. Besides, there’s still a lot of awesome car stunts, from the opening tanker sequence in the Dominican Republic to the final chase scene taking place in the underground tunnels between Mexico and the U.S., though in the case of the latter, I am aware that there was definitely a lot of CGI used in that sequence, even though for the most part it at least looks a little better than it did in the first two films. Regardless, this is still a ‘Fast and Furious’ movie; it’s silly and over the top but still really fun to watch. Now that the main cast was back, it was time for the series to go off in a new direction which ended up taking us all very much by surprise.

Rating: 4/5

FAST FIVE (2011)

I think it’s safe to say that we were all surprised when we saw that this film, the fifth entry in a series that was more successful with audiences than it was with critics, was actually getting really great reviews from critics. It has a 77% rating on RT, way higher than any of the previous four films (which were rated 53%, 36% twice, and 27%, respectively). And suffice it to say… they’re right. At the time of its release, ‘Fast Five’ immediately made a name for itself as the best entry in the series. It achieved that by making the radical move of straying from the formula that had defined the series since the beginning though ultimately it ended up being the right move. Instead of its focus being on street racing, ‘Fast Five’ opts for a heist storyline a la ‘Ocean’s Eleven’ and ‘The Italian Job’. Seriously, there’s only one ‘street race’ in this entire film and they don’t even show it happening; they cut away from it before it starts. The second major change is that, unlike the previous films which only centered around 2-4 characters at a time, this is the first in the series to have a true ensemble as the film reunites Dom and Brian with nearly all of their primary allies from the previous films; Roman (Tyrese Gibson), Han, Gisele (Gal Gadot), Tej (Ludacris), etc… And third, and most importantly, there’s ‘The Rock’.

Yes folks, the addition of Dwayne Johnson in the role of DSS agent Luke Hobbs, who’s out to catch Dom and his crew, is quite frankly the best thing that could have ever happened to this series. Johnson really stands out amongst the members of the cast in what is simply a stand-out role. But with that said, this is probably the first entry in the series where the cast in general really shines. A key theme of the whole series has been ‘family’ and you really do see that with this cast as proven by their excellent camaraderie with each other. The action sequences are much more fluid than earlier films and of course, we got more fun and, in some cases, insane action sequences to enjoy. There’s the opening scene where Brian and Mia break Dom out of a prison bus, there’s the first fight between Dom and Hobbs, and who can forget the scene where Dom and Brian literally drag a frigging safe through the streets of Rio. And yes, at this point, the series has really begun to defy all sorts of physics but with Lin’s solid direction, a terrific cast, and most importantly a real sense of fun, ‘Fast Five’ easily stands out amongst the six ‘Fast and Furious’ films that have come out. Again, who would’ve ever thought that at the time of its release, the fifth film in this series would ultimately end up being the best up to that point?

Rating: 4.5/5

FAST AND FURIOUS 6 (2013)

For my original review of the film posted on May 23, 2013, click the link provided below;

(http://rimoviecorner.blogspot.com/2013/05/fast-and-furious-6-2013-review.html)

At this point, I think it’s safe to say that this series has now realized exactly what it is; it knows it’s silly and over-the-top and it doesn’t care. It just rolls with it and doesn’t try to be something it’s not. That’s the best way I can describe ‘Fast and Furious 6’; it’s ridiculous, fast-paced, and it keeps defying physics with every action sequence it does. Plus, this film pulls quite the heck of a retcon by having it be revealed that Letty survived the events of the fourth film, albeit being affected with amnesia in the process. But it’s still just so damn entertaining to watch. The same positives that I noted for ‘Fast Five’ are once again present here; a terrific ensemble cast that has terrific camaraderie, another batch of awesome action sequences (the tank chase, that fancy flip car, the whole finale on the world’s longest runway involving a crashing plane, etc…), and so on and so on. But at the same time, there are some things in this film that I feel actually do improve on the previous film. For one thing, this film has quite frankly the best villain of the series to date in the form of Luke Evans’ Owen Shaw. His whole philosophy of regarding the members of his crew as ‘expendable’ is a cool contrast to the ‘family’ dynamic of Dom’s crew. Another great addition to the cast is Gina Carano as Hobbs’ assistant Riley. Her fight scenes with Rodriguez are some of the most badass moments in the entire film. Because of ‘Fast Five’, this was the first entry in the series that I was really anticipating and sure enough it did not disappoint in the slightest. In fact, this in, is my opinion, the best ‘Fast and Furious’ film to date.

Rating: 4.5/5

Ranking time!

6. 2 Fast 2 Furious

5. The Fast and the Furious

4. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

3. Fast and Furious

2. Fast Five

1. Fast and Furious 6

Transformers Trilogy (2007-2011) Reviews: Michael Bay Retrospective Part 2

A few days ago, I looked at the almost-complete directorial filmography of Michael Bay from his first film, 1995’s ‘Bad Boys’, to his most recent, 2013’s ‘Pain and Gain’. I say ‘almost complete’ because I skipped over a certain trilogy of films that he directed between 2007 and 2011 because I wanted to save these three for another post that would be published a little bit closer to the debut of Bay’s newest film, which just so happens to be the follow-up to the trilogy of films that I’m looking at today; Michael Bay’s live-action Transformers trilogy based off of the toy line and subsequent media franchise developed by Takara Tomy and Hasbro. This new film, ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’, is the fourth film in the series but features a brand new cast of characters taking over for the cast of the original trilogy, taking place a few years after the events of the third film. It is also reportedly set to be the first in a new trilogy of films however it’s unclear if Bay will return for the next two films, meaning that it’s likely that this will be Michael Bay’s last Transformers film (and on that note, without saying anything further about it, I already know how a lot of you would react to that if that happened considering the typical reception towards these films).

Now I’m going into this new Transformers film with an open mind and that is due to the three films that precede it or, as I like to call them, the most hated film trilogy since the Star Wars prequels. Sure, the first film got decent enough reviews from critics but then came the sequels, both of which have been universally bashed by pretty much everybody in the world. So to those who really, really dislike these movies… prepare to disagree with me quite a bit. Now I’m going on record and saying that when I was younger, I really enjoyed all three of these films and I even passionately defended the two sequels against their harshest critics. Did I think that they were perfect? Absolutely not, but at the same time, I never thought that they were the worst films in the world and I’ve heard plenty of people declare them to be the worst films of all time which for the record I find to be a little too much exaggerated, just like the whole thing that I mentioned last time about Bay being the ‘worst director’ ever. But you see… this is where things start to get interesting for this is actually the first time in a few years since I’ve seen all of these films. I’m very interested in seeing if they hold up as well as I had once thought of them. Will my opinion of them change? Well, you’re just going to have to keep reading to find out.

But first, I’m adding in a little bonus and will be starting this retrospective with a review of the ‘first’ Transformers film… and no, it’s not the one that Bay directed.

THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE (1986)

Easily one of the most famous cartoons from the 1980’s, ‘The Transformers’ ran for four seasons as it followed the war between the two factions of alien robots known as the Autobots and Decepticons. Midway through the series’ run, there came ‘The Transformers: The Movie’, which some like to refer to as an 84-minute toy commercial. In a way, it probably is but even with that in mind, there are still some pretty interesting aspects about this movie that do make it worthwhile to check out. For one thing, most of the Autobots in this film are actually killed off, including Optimus Prime, which I’m pretty sure must’ve come as a major shock for fans of the show. As for that scene where Prime dies, while I never really watched the original series that much (though I did watch a few episodes before watching this movie), I will admit that this scene is a legitimately sad moment. You really have to give this movie credit; it has major cojones for killing off most of the characters that audiences had grown attached to through the TV series. Because of this, a new set of characters were introduced in this film and became the new main characters of the TV series for the rest of its run.

This movie also has some pretty good voice acting from the likes of Judd Nelson as Hot Rod (who’s sort of the Luke Skywalker of the film… yeah, this film has a lot in common with ‘Star Wars’, by the way), Leonard Nimoy as Galvatron (the revived form of Megatron), and Orson Welles in his final film role as Unicron. While it has been reported that Welles wasn’t too enthusiastic about the project, his voice (which for the record had to be synthesized in post-production because it was very weak when he recorded the dialogue… he died only five days after he finished working on the film) actually is a really nice fit for the role of the planet-sized Transformer. In fact, I would really love to see Unicron appear in the live-action Transformers movies. That would be awesome. As for this film’s soundtrack, which is the very definition of an 80’s film soundtrack, there are a lot of good tunes in the film though at the same time, some feel rather distracting at certain points like during some of the fight scenes. Still, ‘The Transformers: The Movie’ is a pretty solid animated film and while I may not have grown up watching the original TV series this is based on, this will definitely serve as a nostalgic trip down memory lane for those who did.

Rating: 4/5

TRANSFORMERS (2007)

When it first came out in 2007, the first live-action ‘Transformers’ film received generally decent reviews from critics. I mean to be more specific, not all of the reviews were positive but at the end of the day the reviews for this film were much better than the reviews were for its two sequels. However, I kind of get the feeling that the reaction towards this film became a bit more negative after its sequels came out. I really don’t get why that is because, I’m just going to say it… this is a great movie. Nearly a decade after its release, this film still holds up incredibly well. The biggest reason for this is that most of the problems that a lot of people had with the sequels aren’t as big of a problem in this film. The writing is pretty solid in regards to establishing the lore and the main characters and while the film may focus more on the human characters more than the Transformers themselves (something that I’m well aware has been a major disappointment for fans of the franchise), there are at least a few decent character arcs in this film (I’ll get into why that becomes a problem later on in the series when I get to the third film) so it’s not like the human characters in this are completely bland. The acting, for an action movie, is solid enough in this one and in the lead role of Sam Witwicky, Shia LaBeouf actually does a pretty good job here, again mostly because his character does have a solid arc and in this film LaBeouf actually does manage to make the character sympathetic and relatable.

As with any Michael Bay film, the action sequences in this are fantastic and amidst all of the CGI in this film (which for the record is still really good CGI), you do have to appreciate the fact that there were also quite a lot of practical effects in this film as well. My personal favorite sequence of the film would have to be the opening scene where the Decepticon Blackout attacks the U.S. Military at their base in Qatar. This to me was a phenomenal way to start off the movie though again all of the action scenes here are excellent. Also, while this film may be nearly two and a half hours long, the pacing in this is actually pretty good and I never felt that the film dragged at any point. So, with all of that said, the first of Michael Bay’s ‘Transformers’ films still holds up very well upon re-watch and if I were to rank my Top 10 favorite films from 2007, I guarantee that this film would have easily made my Top 10 as I find it to be one of the best action/sci-fi films of this past decade. Even if you didn’t like this film’s sequels, one thing is for certain; this film doesn’t deserve the same hate as those films because it truly is the best of the trilogy and as such, I believe that it is one of Michael Bay’s best films, if arguably not his best.

Rating: 5/5!

TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN (2009)

I know that last time I said that I believe that ‘Pearl Harbor’ was Michael Bay’s most hated movie because it was based on an actual event in U.S. history and not a toy franchise aimed at kids. But you know the more that I think about it… really there’s no denying it. I think it’s safe to say that ‘Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen’ has to be the most universally despised summer blockbuster in recent memory, if not all time. I mean, not even the ‘Star Wars’ prequels, for as reviled as they are, got this much criticism. I guarantee you that it will be very hard to find someone who actually likes this film and I’m not talking about the few critics who gave it positive reviews when it came out. I mean someone who actually really likes this film in the five years since it was released… well, guess what… you’ve already found one of them. Now before any of you stop reading this post (and let’s be honest, I’m fairly certain some of you have already done that once you read that I did like this film), let me be clear about something. While I do still really like this film, I don’t necessarily ‘love it’ as I too agree that it has some noticeable problems but to me these problems aren’t really the ones that everyone likes to point out (and believe me, they have done so quite a lot these last few years).

Obviously the main problem with the film lies within the writing but while some have said that this movie’s plot is incomprehensible and that it makes no sense, I feel that it’s a different problem entirely. For you see, the first half of this film is actually quite aimless. There is ‘some’ remnants of a plot in this part of the film, but they literally don’t explain what it is that the Decepticons are looking for, the Matrix of Leadership (the same object that the two factions fought for in ‘The Transformers: The Movie’, by the way) until halfway through the movie (believe me, I’ve timed it; just under one hour and thirty minutes). I mean, that is quite amazing actually that a film this big in scale could go on for nearly one and a half hours and yet have nothing much going in regards to developing the plot. I mean, they do indicate that the Decepticons are looking for a new source of Energon, the Transformers’ main source of energy, but again that doesn’t really become relevant until the movie’s half-way over. But really when it comes to this film’s shortcomings in the writing department, I mostly attribute this to the fact that the filmmakers had to deal with the Writers Guild of America strike that took place from November 2007 to February 2008 so I can see how it makes sense that this film ended up being a little rushed because of that. I bet that if they didn’t have to deal with this strike then the movie could’ve possibly turned out to be much better.

But with all of that said, why then do I still like this movie? Well, to put it bluntly, it’s the main reason why I like most of Michael Bay’s films in the first place; I still found this movie to be very entertaining and again I was never bored by it, though I will say that the final fight in Egypt does go on quite a bit too long. It’s still an awesome action sequence but it could’ve really been trimmed. I never really felt angry while watching this film, and that’s saying a lot considering the multiple aspects of the film that have negatively received by almost everyone who’s seen it, one of the most infamous being the twin Autobots Mudflaps and Skids for ‘embodying racial stereotypes’. Now, I never want to address anything racism-related when it comes to movies because quite frankly I just don’t want to do it so I’m not going to say anything further about these characters. So in short, while I don’t think that this movie is perfect and ultimately the first of Bay’s ‘Transformers’ films is the highly superior movie, I don’t think this one is as bad as a lot of people put it out to be. And hey, if you don’t like it, that’s fine; I’m not trying to spite anyone here by saying that I like this movie. I’m just saying that I still enjoy this movie and most of the problems that people had with it didn’t really bother me that much.

Rating: 3.5/5

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON (2011)

So even though ‘Revenge of the Fallen’ got trashed by critics and audiences, it was still a big success at the box office, meaning that those who really hated it… apparently saw it more than once, which I find quite a bit odd because why then would these people see it again if they hated it so much. This becomes even more peculiar when discussing the next film, ‘Dark of the Moon’. Now the reviews for this film were a bit better than the previous film but for the most part they were still rather negative… and yet this film grossed over $1 billion dollars worldwide. While I’m always glad to see films do successful at the box office, I’m still wondering how this one managed to get into the billion dollar club. Because again, I’ve heard plenty of people say that they hated this film, some of whom hated it just as much as the last film. Well, with that said, if these people hated it so much… why then did they apparently see it at least twice in theaters? It just makes no sense. Now, I was one of those people who did see this movie twice in theaters (both times in 3-D… which was actually well-worth it by the way because while I’m aware that a good chunk of the film was post-converted into the format, at least seventy percent of the film was shot in 3-D so the film was at least intended to be filmed that way) but unlike a lot of people, I did like the film when I first saw it. Having watched it again, I still like it. I like it more than ‘Revenge of the Fallen’ but still not as much as the first film.

This film thankfully improves on the story problems that plagued the previous film. This time, the plot for the film was actually pretty interesting, revolving around how an old Cybertronian spacecraft that had crash-landed on the moon resulted in the Apollo 11 mission, which in this movie was a cover so that the ship could be properly investigated. The ship contained the original leader of the Autobots, Sentinel Prime, and his inventions, a bunch of Pillars used to create a space bridge to transport matter between two points. After Sentinel Prime is awakened, he is then revealed to be working with the Decepticons so that they could restore their planet Cybertron to its former glory. I must say that this whole plot development with Sentinel was actually a pretty interesting one because his betrayal was genuinely unexpected and we did see that it affected Optimus quite a lot because he trusted Sentinel so much. I thought this was all handled very well and that Leonard Nimoy did a great job voicing Sentinel. Though as some have already pointed out, there is kind of a glaring issue when it comes to the first three ‘Transformers’ films; for you see, all three of these films literally have the exact same general plot-points; the Decepticons are looking for an artifact so that they can win the war, Sam Witwicky ends up getting involved in one way or another, etc. Hopefully ‘Age of Extinction’ doesn’t follow the exact same beats as these three films did.

But whereas the story for this film was better than in the last one, this time it comes at the expense of good character development. As I said before, I found that the first ‘Transformers’ film actually did have a decent amount of character development, which is quite impressive actually especially when considering the fact that this is a film about giant robots fighting each other. But basically all of those arcs were already completed after that film so by this point, it becomes rather pointless that a lot of these characters are still around after their arcs were already completed in previous films. Like remember in the first film how Captain William Lennox (Josh Duhamel) was trying to get home to his wife and their newborn daughter? Well, while Lennox does still play a major role in the action for the next two films, his family is never seen again for the rest of the series. As for his friend Epps (Tyrese Gibson)… well, in this film Epps literally doesn’t show up until halfway through the movie. I’m guessing this might’ve been because Gibson was also working on ‘Fast Five’ at the time, but still these two are just there to be a part of the final battle and really nothing else.

Then we get to Sam Witwicky whose character arc was already completed in the first film so at this point he really has nowhere to go having already helped save the world twice. I’ve never been that critical of Shia LaBeouf’s performances in these three movies, but here I will agree that he does start to get a bit too annoying but again, that’s just because he quite frankly doesn’t have much to work with in this. There are multiple times in this movie where Sam complains about how he should be working with the Autobots and not having to live a normal life instead… even though at the beginning of the second film, he was actually looking for things to return to normal for him. Why all of this changed… I have no idea. This movie also kind of hastily switches girlfriends on him, though this is mostly because of a behind-the-scenes incident where Megan Fox reportedly called Michael Bay ‘Hitler’, resulting in him and Spielberg kicking her off the project, replacing her with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. Though to the filmmakers’ credit, this change is actually handled pretty well considering the whole situation they were in and while I’m not saying that Whiteley does a ‘great’ job in this, I actually like her more than Fox because I felt that her character Carly came off as being more likable and that her and LaBeouf actually had pretty good chemistry.

But one of my biggest problems with the film actually isn’t anything within the actual film itself. It is actually in regards to how the film was marketed. Before the film came out, I remember watching interviews where the cast and crew were saying that the film was going to be much more serious in tone. Bay even said that the film was going to be like ‘Black Hawk Down’ but with ‘Transformers’… which could’ve been really, really cool. But guess what… that’s not the case with the final product. It’s just another Michael Bay ‘Transformers’ film that does have a fairly large-scale final battle but doesn’t have the emotional depth that those involved were claiming that it had. I feel that some of the main characters should have died in this. Now, the death of Ironhide did work because it was unexpected, but aside from him, only a few of the protagonists are killed off. Maybe they could have killed off Lennox or Epps if only just because, like I said earlier, they were just there to be a part of the action; they already went through their character arcs. But nope… instead, the majority of the main characters survive just as they did in the previous films. This movie tried to be much more serious and while I do give it credit for attempting to do so, it could’ve done a lot better in trying to establish a more serious tone.

But yet again, I never found the film to be boring. The final fight in Chicago is easily the highlight of the movie, which is greatly benefitted by the 3-D. This fight thankfully never feels like it drags at any point which as I said earlier was the main problem with the finale of ‘Revenge of the Fallen’. And yes, the majority of the action is actually reserved for the finale whereas the first half hour of the film is mostly reserved for the story but even then I still found the movie to be pretty engaging. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again… Michael Bay’s movies are never boring. So ultimately, I feel that ‘Dark of the Moon’ is a superior sequel to ‘Revenge of the Fallen’ but due to some issues it’s still not as good as the first film. I do kind of feel like this movie got some unfair flack, if only because I feel that some were a little biased towards it because of their hate for ‘Revenge of the Fallen’. I’m just going to say it… this film is not ‘Revenge of the Fallen’. It is easily better than that film but again, if you still don’t like this film that’s fine. I still really enjoyed ‘Dark of the Moon’ and I’m eagerly waiting to see ‘Transformers: Age of Extinction’. I know I said earlier that I’m going into that film with an open mind, but in reality I’m actually really excited for it and that is because I love this trilogy of films.

Rating: 4/5