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Jumpstarting the franchise
by Syed Tashfin Chowdhury
While comic-book superheros, video games and eighties cartoon hits are invading the big-screen, the biggest challenge that film producers and directors in Hollywood are facing at the moment is at making these movies become a success at the box-office.
The reason is simple. Characters like Batman, Superman, games like Resident Evil, Silent Hills and cartoons like G. I. Joe, Scooby Doo and others had a huge fan following. They live and breathe these characters, keeping tabs on almost every single detail involved with the characters or cartoons. A major segment of today’s global population of movie-goers consists of these people.
When producers and directors overlook this factor, the resulting films are mega-flops like The Punisher, Batman Forever, Daredevil, Elektra and many others. This was not, however, the case with Transformers, the summer 2007 release, which had the franchise’s fans begging for more.
Directed by Michael Bay, the film definitely packs a wallop with ‘almost realistic’ Autobots kicking equally-lethal Decepticon butts. It would be worth me providing a brief introduction about Autobots and Decepticons, to those few who have not heard of them.
‘Transformers’ was a hit cartoon show from the eighties. The story opens up around Sam Witwicky, a typical teenager with typical problems, who comes across a car named Bumblebee that seems to change his life. After some time, he realises that the car is actually an Autobot, a living being that can transform into a car and again to a robot at will.
Soon, Bumblebee ushers in the rest of his Autobot friends into Earth, who themselves can transform into various other vehicles. Their mission is to find the AllSpark, a cube that gives its bearer the power to control the universe, which is currently lost in Earth. They are at war against the Decepticons, who can also transform into various awesome vehicles, aircrafts and even electronic appliances. Soon a fight ensues between the Decepticons and the Autobots on earth, with humanity hanging in the balance.
The movie was successful globally, as Bay and his crew did not shift too far from the story. Besides an all star cast including Shia LaBeouf playing Sam Witwicky, Megan Fox playing his extremely hot girlfriend, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro, Jon Voight and many others, the movie also has mind-blowing special effects, car chases and aerial warfare that will entertain fans and non-fans alike. The film was an international box-office hit, with sequels already being planned.
However, the movie also has its downsides. Some of the characters, like Megan Fox’s, Jon Voight, the computer hackers and others seem to have been deliberately inserted into the plot.
Also, the action sequences, like the one between Optimus Prime and Megatron, may lead to a headache for most audiences as the camera effects seem to be in sync with the blows and the punches. While this was probably done with good intentions, the output was not very effective.
Even so, the movie is worth watching on the big screen, with the crash, bangs and wallops being heard and felt by the audience. While there will always be some who will come walking out of the theatres complaining about how they have wasted two hours of their life, there will definitely be more who will come out wholesomely satisfied with the action, effects, wheels and the babes.
‘Transformers’ is currently being screened at the Star Cineplex. Call 9138260, 9134098 for timings.
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