480: Transformers

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: 187 Let's get to the first film, which is Transformers

[00:00:06] [SPEAKER_00]: from 2007, directed by Michael Bay, Stara Shilabuff, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Rachel

[00:00:16] [SPEAKER_00]: Taylor, Anthony Anderson, John Voyage, on Terturo, pretty big cast.

[00:00:22] [SPEAKER_00]: And the synopsis is an ancient struggle between two Cybertronian races, the heroic Autobots

[00:00:28] [SPEAKER_00]: and the evil Decepticons, comes to Earth with a clue to the ultimate power held by a teenager.

[00:00:36] [SPEAKER_00]: So this one is completely separate from the animated film, this really got Transformers

[00:00:42] [SPEAKER_00]: back on the map and really made it into the franchise that we know it to be today.

[00:00:45] [SPEAKER_00]: So was a huge, huge film at the time.

[00:00:49] [SPEAKER_00]: I remember when it came out and it was very much a big film of my childhood, teenage

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_00]: years, so definitely left an impression for better or for worse.

[00:00:58] [SPEAKER_00]: And I've kept up with this live action series for the most part.

[00:01:03] [SPEAKER_00]: It's not a very good franchise as we'll get to, but it still has a lot of interesting

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_00]: elements and it had been a long time since I'd seen this first one.

[00:01:13] [SPEAKER_00]: I remember having really liked it the last time I saw it.

[00:01:16] [SPEAKER_00]: I've seen it maybe three or four times over the years.

[00:01:21] [SPEAKER_00]: Starting from the beginning and we'll get into Michael Bay as much as possible here.

[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that what makes this movie work, it is a good launching point for sure.

[00:01:31] [SPEAKER_00]: It's not too long.

[00:01:33] [SPEAKER_00]: It's fairly accessible.

[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_00]: It's got good action.

[00:01:37] [SPEAKER_00]: It was really Shia LaBeouf's and Megan Fox's big launch at the time.

[00:01:42] [SPEAKER_00]: And it still has a lot of good fun, a lot of epic moments and the classic Michael Bay

[00:01:48] [SPEAKER_00]: isms, but I feel like as the series has gone on, even though from a more objective,

[00:01:54] [SPEAKER_00]: critical standpoint, this is one of the cleaner, more self contained of all the

[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_00]: installments.

[00:02:03] [SPEAKER_00]: To me, this one almost is kind of boring because of how plain it is, which there

[00:02:09] [SPEAKER_00]: aren't really other franchises where I say that.

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_00]: But I think with Michael Bay, the more bombastic that it becomes, the more

[00:02:15] [SPEAKER_00]: interesting that it is.

[00:02:18] [SPEAKER_00]: And usually that happens when you get sequels.

[00:02:20] [SPEAKER_00]: And so going back and watching this, it's like the character

[00:02:24] [SPEAKER_00]: stuff is okay, surprisingly.

[00:02:26] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, it's really not that offensively bad, but everything is so somewhat

[00:02:32] [SPEAKER_00]: normal for Michael Bay because this was the first that it's a little drier than

[00:02:38] [SPEAKER_00]: I was expecting.

[00:02:39] [SPEAKER_00]: So I still think it's one of the better ones in the franchise.

[00:02:42] [SPEAKER_00]: And if I want to go back and just watch a decent action movie, one

[00:02:46] [SPEAKER_00]: of Michael Bay's better, more digestible films, this is a good one

[00:02:51] [SPEAKER_00]: to go with.

[00:02:54] [SPEAKER_00]: But some specifics, Shaila Buff, it's too bad what's happened to him personally

[00:03:00] [SPEAKER_00]: over the years because I really love Shaila Buff.

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I think he's a great actor.

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_00]: He's not amazing in this, but the writing is horrendous and just

[00:03:08] [SPEAKER_00]: the overall character of Sam Whitwicky is cringe worthy and Megan Fox is

[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_00]: all right.

[00:03:15] [SPEAKER_00]: I think she's grown a little bit over the years as an actor.

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_00]: The look of the movie, this is so like classic 2000s Michael Bay.

[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_00]: Like he looks I mean still now really, but all of his movies for the most part

[00:03:30] [SPEAKER_00]: look like they're shot in the 90s.

[00:03:32] [SPEAKER_00]: They all look like the first bad boys, the rock.

[00:03:36] [SPEAKER_00]: He's someone who even though he is very much an auteur and he has

[00:03:39] [SPEAKER_00]: clearly been very, very successful.

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_00]: He's one of the most successful filmmakers box office wise of all

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_00]: time.

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_00]: So he's definitely doing something right to get audiences in seats.

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_00]: But if we're just purely talking about him creatively, he is one of the

[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_00]: only filmmakers who has been around for a long time who has not really matured.

[00:04:03] [SPEAKER_00]: If you look at someone like Spielberg, Scorsese, like any of the people

[00:04:08] [SPEAKER_00]: who started out 70s, 80s, 90s or even like Tarantino who started

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER_00]: more in the 90s and Fincher as well.

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_00]: They have all grown and matured and changed up their styles to for the most

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_00]: part adapt with the times and really think, alright, how can I improve?

[00:04:27] [SPEAKER_00]: How can I maybe make this a little bit sharper, a little bit smarter,

[00:04:31] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, more restrained?

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_00]: And I feel like Michael Bay, you could really interchange the release

[00:04:36] [SPEAKER_00]: states of these different movies and I would not be able to tell you

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_00]: which one came out when like if I didn't know that already.

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_00]: And everything has to be shot at sunset for the most part.

[00:04:47] [SPEAKER_00]: They're all these low angles and really.

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_00]: His cinematography and direction choices of where to put the camera

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_00]: comes from to me, it seems like whatever looks cool, where have we not

[00:05:00] [SPEAKER_00]: put a camera before?

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't have to make sense for the story.

[00:05:05] [SPEAKER_00]: It doesn't make sense for a character.

[00:05:08] [SPEAKER_00]: It's just, oh, that shot would look sick.

[00:05:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's do that, which, you know, there are worse things.

[00:05:12] [SPEAKER_00]: But it gets worse and worse as time goes on.

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And like there are shots where it would just be a normal dialogue driven

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_00]: scene between two characters and the camera will be at like someone's

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_00]: feet looking all the way up at them.

[00:05:26] [SPEAKER_00]: It serves nothing.

[00:05:27] [SPEAKER_00]: It makes the scenes incoherent.

[00:05:30] [SPEAKER_00]: You don't know what you're supposed to pay attention to.

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_00]: His plots are always convoluted.

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_00]: You can't follow it.

[00:05:38] [SPEAKER_00]: Some others, I don't mean to rag on him too much because

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_00]: there are good things about Michael Bay and I again, I watch what he does.

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm in some ways a fan, but few other things.

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_00]: His sense of humor is probably the worst thing about all this filmmaking.

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_00]: And you can tell he thinks these jokes, which are pretty constant, are so funny.

[00:06:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Like I get to see him like laughing in the director's chair.

[00:06:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Like these are hysterical jokes and they're so I don't mind juvenile jokes.

[00:06:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I have a very childlike sense of humor.

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_00]: So I'm all for stupid stuff, but it's so in your face.

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_00]: So constant that it just becomes like eye roll.

[00:06:19] [SPEAKER_00]: A few other aspects that are very iconic Michael Bay isms are every woman

[00:06:24] [SPEAKER_00]: in his or at least every young woman in his movies look like Victoria's Secret models.

[00:06:31] [SPEAKER_00]: He always shoots them in the most like sexist shallow way possible

[00:06:35] [SPEAKER_00]: and dresses them in the most skimpy way.

[00:06:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Then even Sam Whitwicky's perception or interest in making Fox where it's just

[00:06:47] [SPEAKER_00]: the classic nerdy, oh, this girl is so hot.

[00:06:50] [SPEAKER_00]: Like how am I going to talk to her?

[00:06:52] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm such a nerd and then it's just so like cringe high school boy

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_00]: immature sort of mentality.

[00:06:58] [SPEAKER_00]: And whenever there's interactions between possible romantic partners,

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_00]: it's brutal.

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Then most of his characters have only interests in things like money,

[00:07:12] [SPEAKER_00]: you know, getting rich, getting with Victoria's Secret model like women,

[00:07:17] [SPEAKER_00]: driving cool cars and a few of those things.

[00:07:21] [SPEAKER_00]: And a little increments, that's fine.

[00:07:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Like it's everybody's shallow sometimes everybody like superficial things.

[00:07:27] [SPEAKER_00]: That's just life, but it's in all of his movies.

[00:07:30] [SPEAKER_00]: No matter what the story is, there's always those elements.

[00:07:34] [SPEAKER_00]: I'd say 99 times out of 100.

[00:07:36] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's what really turns me off into really appreciating him more.

[00:07:44] [SPEAKER_00]: But some good elements that make his movies very interesting

[00:07:47] [SPEAKER_00]: and exciting to watch sometimes is the term Bayhem, which is

[00:07:53] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if there's an exact definition, but it's really his

[00:07:56] [SPEAKER_00]: signature style of action where there's constant motion on screen.

[00:07:59] [SPEAKER_00]: And really no one else does action like he does.

[00:08:02] [SPEAKER_00]: And that is something that that's impressive on its own.

[00:08:05] [SPEAKER_00]: Right? You really have created and influenced action a lot in modern blockbusters.

[00:08:10] [SPEAKER_00]: That's not easy to do.

[00:08:13] [SPEAKER_00]: And if you look at these films, if you look at Bad Boys,

[00:08:18] [SPEAKER_00]: he's able to create very dynamic action where, you know,

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_00]: there's stuff in the foreground, middle ground, background,

[00:08:25] [SPEAKER_00]: all moving in different ways.

[00:08:26] [SPEAKER_00]: There's explosions.

[00:08:27] [SPEAKER_00]: There's cars driving this way.

[00:08:30] [SPEAKER_00]: There's planes flying in.

[00:08:32] [SPEAKER_00]: There's stuff that is being alluded to off screen that makes the action

[00:08:35] [SPEAKER_00]: even bigger like in Pearl Harbor, for example.

[00:08:39] [SPEAKER_00]: So that I enjoy.

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, there's time and place where I'm like, this is so freaking cool for sure.

[00:08:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Not only that, but the CGI, even in this film for 2007 looks fantastic.

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Like there are a few little things that aren't as sharp as later films,

[00:08:56] [SPEAKER_00]: obviously, but for 2007 film, the effects look pretty darn good.

[00:09:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Like the transformers look awesome.

[00:09:02] [SPEAKER_00]: All the different pieces and mechanics of all that looks really good.

[00:09:06] [SPEAKER_00]: And then he uses a lot of practical explosions, which that's one more thing is

[00:09:11] [SPEAKER_00]: all of his explosions in his films look like firework explosions,

[00:09:15] [SPEAKER_00]: which that's not really a good thing or a bad thing.

[00:09:18] [SPEAKER_00]: It's just a certain style, identifiable trade, I guess.

[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_00]: But what makes all those elements, besides what I've already talked about,

[00:09:28] [SPEAKER_00]: what makes those elements lesser or makes his overall movies lesser is

[00:09:33] [SPEAKER_00]: he can't just have a 90 minute Bayhem movie.

[00:09:36] [SPEAKER_00]: He has to have a three hour epic with two hours of plot.

[00:09:43] [SPEAKER_00]: And you're so exhausted by the end, like, for example,

[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_00]: watching this movie or watching all of these in a short period of time,

[00:09:51] [SPEAKER_00]: not just one after another, but even in the span of a week is not good for your health.

[00:09:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Like I felt like my eyes were burned off because of the explosions,

[00:10:01] [SPEAKER_00]: the constant looks into the sun, the lens flares.

[00:10:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm surprised I didn't get a seizure when I watched a lot of these

[00:10:08] [SPEAKER_00]: in fairly quick succession.

[00:10:10] [SPEAKER_00]: So that's what's exhausting about Michael Bayes.

[00:10:13] [SPEAKER_00]: He can't just make a short movie or at least nine times out of ten.

[00:10:16] [SPEAKER_00]: He can't.

[00:10:17] [SPEAKER_00]: And you know, it's transformers.

[00:10:19] [SPEAKER_00]: You want to be bigger, but there's a point.

[00:10:23] [SPEAKER_00]: Some other specifics about this one, I think the overall set up with

[00:10:28] [SPEAKER_00]: the transformers kind of coming out of nowhere and then just

[00:10:32] [SPEAKER_00]: the world having to deal with it.

[00:10:34] [SPEAKER_00]: And Josh Doohamel, who plays this military guy, not a huge fan.

[00:10:39] [SPEAKER_00]: I think he's pretty bland and he appears in so many of these.

[00:10:42] [SPEAKER_00]: I just think he's a really lame action hero.

[00:10:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Not say he's a bad actor, but really pretty vanilla.

[00:10:50] [SPEAKER_00]: I do also like the relationship and ongoing relationship with Bumblebee and Sam.

[00:10:57] [SPEAKER_00]: With Wiki, I just like the character or transformer of Bumblebee.

[00:11:00] [SPEAKER_00]: I think that's a really cool choice.

[00:11:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I like the yellow design.

[00:11:04] [SPEAKER_00]: I at least get somewhat invested in that relationship.

[00:11:07] [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's better in the Bumblebee movie, which we'll get to.

[00:11:10] [SPEAKER_00]: But it's all right in this.

[00:11:12] [SPEAKER_00]: And I like the car, the old fashioned car of Bumblebee's.

[00:11:16] [SPEAKER_00]: The scene where Bumblebee rescues Sam in that kind of warehouse factory junkyard

[00:11:23] [SPEAKER_00]: place, I think is a pretty good scene.

[00:11:26] [SPEAKER_00]: And before I forget, another really cringe worthy element, I guess they're

[00:11:31] [SPEAKER_00]: memorable because of how bad they are.

[00:11:33] [SPEAKER_00]: Maybe that's the point.

[00:11:34] [SPEAKER_00]: But Sam Whitwicky's parents are just horrible characters.

[00:11:39] [SPEAKER_00]: Like they're so obnoxious and how they constantly baby him.

[00:11:42] [SPEAKER_00]: And I know that's meant to be humor, but they're terribly written characters.

[00:11:48] [SPEAKER_00]: And it gets worse in part two and three.

[00:11:51] [SPEAKER_00]: The climactic fight with the Autobots and Decepticons in the city really good.

[00:11:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And that goes back to the Bayhem action, which that's a situation where

[00:12:00] [SPEAKER_00]: it works and it's really cool.

[00:12:02] [SPEAKER_00]: And my teenage boy comes out and I geek out over all that.

[00:12:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Another criticism that I even noticed before I even read that

[00:12:11] [SPEAKER_00]: it was a criticism of the general masses is with Michael Bay's signature

[00:12:16] [SPEAKER_00]: camera works, like for example, the iconic one where there's a character on

[00:12:20] [SPEAKER_00]: the ground and they see like a car flying over them or a transformer or whatever.

[00:12:26] [SPEAKER_00]: And there's that very epic swirling aerial shot, which a lot of people have copied.

[00:12:32] [SPEAKER_00]: That is something which hey, that's cool on its own.

[00:12:35] [SPEAKER_00]: But then when you see it in bad boys, when you see in transformers,

[00:12:38] [SPEAKER_00]: when you see it in all these other films that he's done, it's like, dude,

[00:12:43] [SPEAKER_00]: change it up because so many other filmmakers at his stature, at his level,

[00:12:49] [SPEAKER_00]: sure they have signatures, but most of the time they find ways of keeping

[00:12:55] [SPEAKER_00]: it more subtle and not incorporating it into the same exact sequences.

[00:13:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Whereas Michael Bay is all about action.

[00:13:03] [SPEAKER_00]: And so regardless of the situation, he says, all right, well, let's just do it again.

[00:13:06] [SPEAKER_00]: It'll look cool. Again, it's all about what looks cool.

[00:13:09] [SPEAKER_00]: And he doesn't care if he's done before.

[00:13:11] [SPEAKER_00]: And most people don't seem to mind considering how much money he makes in his films.

[00:13:17] [SPEAKER_00]: He also does a lot of not a lot.

[00:13:20] [SPEAKER_00]: It's more so in bad boys, but the signature 360 pan where everything

[00:13:24] [SPEAKER_00]: is swiveling around the room or whatever.

[00:13:28] [SPEAKER_00]: That's all right by itself and iconic, I guess.

[00:13:32] [SPEAKER_00]: So as much as I have hated on him,

[00:13:36] [SPEAKER_00]: already, he clearly does have many identifiable traits that a lot of other

[00:13:41] [SPEAKER_00]: filmmakers can't necessarily say or I could say about them myself.

[00:13:46] [SPEAKER_00]: So for better or for worse, he's memorable.

[00:13:50] [SPEAKER_00]: And sometimes that's all it takes to be successful is it sticks with you

[00:13:55] [SPEAKER_00]: for whatever reason.

[00:13:56] [SPEAKER_00]: It's so bad, it's good or it's so ridiculous or it's so

[00:14:00] [SPEAKER_00]: exaggerated that it works for you, you know?

[00:14:03] [SPEAKER_00]: And yeah, I don't have a lot of other points about this one.

[00:14:07] [SPEAKER_00]: We'll get to we have four more Michael Bay films to talk about.

[00:14:10] [SPEAKER_00]: So plenty more Bay to come.

[00:14:14] [SPEAKER_00]: That one is a heavy three and a half out of five.