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Director: Michael Bay
Release Date: July 4, 2007
Rating: PG-13
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 The only thing better than catching the first showing of the live-action Transformers film is doing it with 200 other geeks.
Like most fans of the genre, I had my doubts. I was worried when pictures of the various Transformers surfaced with zero resemblance to the 1984 incarnations that covered my Underoos. I bitched about Megatron not transforming into a Walther P38 like the one that sits in my display case (Megatron, not the gun). But about three months ago, I had a revelation that led me to stop worrying and love the beast.
It's stupid to get caught up in continuity discussions with hardcore geeks that dress up like Starscream on their way to their 10th BotCon Convention. The Transformers concept has been rewritten through many toy lines, new generations, and comic books. However, the basic concepts have stayed the same. Autobots are good. Decepticons are evil. Optimus Prime is the John Wayne of my childhood and Megatron is the lovechild of Stalin and Hitler (Shitler?). Bumblebee always makes friends with some human boy and Starscream gets no respect while he secretly plots to be the leader of everything.
This film captures it all and more. No longer do fans of this beloved series have to sit around and have the conversation of "Ya know, it would be cool if they made a live-action film of this." Our childhood dreams have been answered and I'm appreciating the hell out of it.
The film is action packed. The first five minutes has a Decepticon tearing through a military base. There are loads of car chases, explosions, and collapsing buildings with Transformers in the center of it all.
The transforming sequences are glorious. There are some still shots of a car works its magic into a 20-foot robot, but other telephoto shots weave around the transforming robot allowing the audience to get an awesome feel of the immensity and mechanics that make up this alien race.
Shia LaBeouf plays Sam, the kid that gets caught up in the center of everything. The actor is great. On a scale of 1-10, with that punk-ass kid who played Charlie in the original Willie Wonka movie ranking as a 1, then LaBeouf ranks as a 10. He's witty, brave, and the new idol of every kid under 12.
Anyone who's never been a fan or at least seen a few episodes of the Transformers won't appreciate this movie nearly as much as I did. But I could care less since the movie wasn't made for them. Fans of the genre will enjoy nearly a dozen inside remarks and nods to the older series.
The movie wasn't perfect, but what is these days? Considering I've been waiting for this movie for 23 years, the delivery was fantastic. I'll be catching it in the theaters again.
My advice to any fan is throw out your inhibitions about liking this film. Get over the BS like whether or not Devastator should have been a combination of six Transformers merged into one and just enjoy the damn film. You're never going to see graphics and action like this again... until the sequel comes out.
I give Transformers four photon bombs from Galvatron's arm out of five.
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