Transformers Review

I went to a preview screening of the new Transformers film last night in Leicester Square. We were treated to drinks in the century club on Shaftesbury Avenue before the screening, icy Mojitos on the roof terrace where we were to collect our tickets. The room - decked out in the finest promo material, impressive ice sculptures, flashy (literally) cocktails and the loveliest canapés were a great start to the event.

The film was quite something. It completely quashed all expectations I had and it certainly isn’t aimed directly at kids. The audience were pretty mixed there were young teens, twentysomethings and seniors. I thought the film was well received by everybody, we even clapped at the end, hardly regular with British audiences. Even though the film is Action Sci-Fi in its genre it isn’t that contrived; the obvious kiss doesn’t even come until the very end (this isn’t really a spoiler because I expect you to be intelligent enough to spot the inevitable).

The films CGI was incredible, to see a truck morph into a giant robot, which then proceeds to speak and be believable, is quite something. The story was well written, making frequent cultural references that were both comedic and poignant. I feel it could be a real comment on how we live our lives through technology, when in fact technology could really be living our lives for us.

The gripping battle scenes in the skyscraper city scape were somewhat reminiscent of 9/11 and I think it has taken this long before it could be done without automatically referencing either the City of New York or the disaster (I do see the irony in this statement). It by far out did Independence Day in the alien action stakes and outclassed Armageddon in its apocalyptic persuasion, The only hammy gruff voiced patriarch spiel came from a faux George W and John Voight as Defence Secretary and who doesn’t love Angie’s Dad?

The ending has been left open for possible sequels which I’m sure will follow with quick succession after most of the merchandise has saturated the market. I just hope it doesn’t get lost in the corporate hype that it has managed to engender before its release. I really would hate it if it sank into the quagmire of Pirates of the Caribbean and the such.

All in all a great transition from cult cartoon classic of the eighties to Twenty-first century slick!

I can’t wait for the buzz about ThunderCats to come about. And if anybody has this idea already…I wanna see that one first too.