Transformers

An action film built on machines that change shape. There are two groups. Both come from their own planet and both are looking for the same object; it fell to Earth years ago. Sam is at school. He buys his first car; it is second-hand, strange, and goes out by itself at night. Sam's great-grandfather found something on a polar expedition and coordinates were etched into his glasses; both sides want them. From there the film is a chase. A base in the desert, a dam, a government unit and a city centre. What the narrative is interested in is not machines but adolescence: the first half is about a boy and his car and his attempt to impress a girl, and the comedy comes from that. The military line is the second strand. Real vehicles and aircraft were used through cooperation with the American armed forces. The transformations were a technical leap at the time. Each character was built from thousands of separate pieces and all of them are calculated during movement. The voice actor from the cartoon of thirty years earlier was brought back for the main character, and that was the adaptation's most appreciated decision. The source is a toy line and the cartoon that came out of it. The last section is a long city battle and the film's most criticised feature; during the cuts it is often impossible to tell which robot is which. Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson and John Turturro are in the cast. Michael Bay directed. Who it is for: anyone who wants large-scale, loud action. Who it is not for: anyone looking for character; most of the robots are introduced in a single line and some of the humour is uncomfortable now.