[olliejen]

Saw a pre-screening of Transformers last night. I'm too lazy to write a full-blown trip report, so here are various factoids I noted:

1. Megan Fox is ridiculously scorching-hot. Never heard of her before Transformers.

2. Favorite Transformers were Bumblebee & Starscream. Starscream is mostly cool because there are some sequences when he transforms to/from jet to robot in combat in mid-air. Bumblebee gets some pretty cool action sequences and he initially can't talk, so he has to change radio stations to express things. But, its weird that by restricting him that way, he turns out to be one of the more interesting/fun characters.

3. I think a lot of the action shots are shot too close up, like when Optimus & Megatron are fighting hand-to-hand (why would super-advanced robots fight this way?) its hard to tell what's happening because you're viewing it from such an up-close perspective.

4. The humans' dialogue/performances are campy and really pop-culture/quippy. It was a bit much for me to enjoy them all. The Transformers' dialogue is really dorky (esp. Optimus. "Humans are a young species, we must protect them. They deserve the chance to make their own fate") Not that you go to a movie like this for great dialogue, but Optimus is supposed to be this hardboiled, tough general but his character is much truer to the cartoon version.

5. The movie is strangely-paced. There are moments when things seem really tense and then the action dissolves and then there are narrative sequences and then action again.

6. Some goofy casting choices with Anthony Anderson (supposedly a superhacker), Rachael Taylor (also super-hot, and a math/crypto genius by trade) and John Tuturro (supposedly a secret gov't agency head, but he plays it almost like the crazy butler in Mister Deeds)

I probably wouldn't see it again, but it wasn't terrible. I would try to rein in any great expectations; unlike what i thought would be the case, the live-action robots were actually the least of the movie's issues.