Ok, let’s look at transformers for what it really is…

It’s a film based on a line of Japanese toys. That’s it. But after all that it’s one of the most loved series around, with millions of fans (mostly guys) around the world. Most cult series with massive followings such as Star Trek or Star Wars, if you admit to someone else that you’re a fan, your social status automatically drops to the level of a mutated and diseased squid.

Transformers is different. In the respect that every man under the age of 35 loves transformers and will always respond to their war cry ‘ROLL OUT’. Optimus Prime and his autobots represent the ultimate cool toys, and no other toy line has ever and will ever surpass the transformers.

In 2007, producer Stephen Spielberg and director Michael Bay made the first live action adaption of the transformers. Some fans had been waiting 20 years for this to happen and I think most of us could admit (even though Megatron is a gun and not a plane) that it didn’t disappoint. Even though I usually hate CGI effects, the movie looked great. Cars turned into robots… AND IT LOOKED REAL!!! I do hope I’m not alone in being rather heartbroken to get home and realise that no matter how much I poked my dad’s car that it wasn’t going to transform into a 12 ft tall robot called bumblebee.

With Revenge of the Fallen I have to say that this movie was great too. Even though we only saw some transformers in passing there were so many new ones around, my only complaint being that soundwave wasn’t as involved as I would have liked. But then again ravage was really cool.

But the film has been critically panned, and I mean REALLY panned. Complaints have been made about it being too long, the humour too vulgar, the destruction of some monuments uncomfortable and some transformers representing black stereotypes.

In favour of a few of these things the movie is 2 and a half hours long, and to a 40 year old guy that was never got to play with the world’s greatest toys in his childhood, they won’t really understand the film and two hours must seem like torture. With the humour in the film, it is stupid I have to admit and not exactly what your grandparents would call ‘good taste’.

Although who is this film for? Well it is for the old fans, but then again it’s for kids. No old fan should go in there hoping for a cerebral sci fi movie because that’s never what it was. A child’s sense of humour is pretty silly and deep down every Transformers fan loves the same sort of silly humour. On the subject of it being too long I never felt bored during that film at all. And if I was, you’d know about it.

Without giving away any of the film, there is a scene where the Transformers destroy part of the pyramids. Some critics have said that this was wrong to destroy such a famous monument. In my opinion this is ridiculous, have these people ever seen independence day where the whitehouse is destroyed, the day after tomorrow, deep impact or any disaster movie where plenty of famous monuments are destroyed. But just because those are American that makes it ok I suppose.

On the subject of the racial stereotypes. These are robots, they are not black, white or any colour whatsoever when a joke is made it’s not meant to make fun of any colour at all and when I laughed at the two transformers in question I never thought ‘this is funny because it reminds me of black people’. I’m sure that these people must just have had this sort of thing in mind when they made this observation and I think it says more about the critic than it does about the film.

I have few complaints about this film as I really did enjoy it. But just to nitpick I didn’t like the idea of megatron not being the highest decepticon. As to be fair he is the most badass villain ever to grace a television screen. However, he does blow a lot of stuff up and in one word it looks GREAT!

Other than that there is only Starscream that annoyed me. In the series he was constantly trying to take power from megatron and only kept in place because at the end of the day Megatron was just seriously hard. But in this film, even though there are similarities to this idea, the only thing that could have made Starscream even more of a pussy would have been if he’d worn a gimp mask throughout the film.

All in all I believe that the critics that hate this movie are wrong on this occasion, as it looks to be the biggest selling film at the box office this year, so the the autobots must have done something right. And it has, this film is funny, exciting, full of explosions and full of Megan Fox.

If you were born before 1975 you just won’t understand this film and don’t go to see it because I’m sure you make up the vast majority of the critics that gave it such bad reviews. But if you were born after 1975 go see it and just remember what it was like to be a kid watching Transformers, Beast Wars or any series since. Then sit down in the theatre with your popcorn, your drink and your beloved optimus prime action figure and let the film roll out.

Rating: Four and a half stars out of Five

I liked: Cars turn into robots, great effects, great cinematography, Megan Fox

I disliked: Lack of Soundwave.