Critique the Critic

Critique the Critic

The writer Kenneth Turan from the Los Angeles Times wrote about the movie Transformers directed by Michael Bay. He wrote about how the movie was a big advertisement and the screenwriters just wanted to use their technology to make cool actions figures come to life on the screen. His critique of the movie is at the site, Transformers Review. I would have to greatly disagree with Kenneth Turan on the statements he used in his review. Mr. Turan talks about how the whole movie revolved around the Transformers fighting and there was no other story involved in the movie,

“Unfortunately, though he has a way with CGI toys and action set pieces, director Bay does not have a noticeable fit for making human beings come to life. “Transformers’ “ multiple earthling story lines are tedious and oddly lifeless, doing little besides marking time until those big toys fill the screen.”

In the movie Transformers there is much more that goes on than the “big toys” filling the screen. The story starts with a teenage boy, which seems to be almost a joke, but as the story progresses more than just battles emerge. The audience discovers the past behind the huge block in Area 51 and why the Transformers have come to Earth. This discovery is what keeps the audience engaged in the movie, not the action. Although the action does help with engaging the audience, I felt like discovering who the Transformers were through the story of the teenager engaged me in the story. Also, in Mr. Turan’s critique he mentioned the movie as a big advertisement so Hasbro could make more money on the once popular Transformer toys. I think this is false because Hasbro would’ve made the movie more focused on the life of the Transformers on Earth instead of their past. I say this because focusing more on what the Transformers can do will naturally allow the audience’s mind wander. This wandering sets their imagination into effect of what they could do if they had a Transformer. Since the story was focused on more on the teenager and the Transformer’s past, instead of their current abilities, then I would buy into the claim of the movie being an advertisement. Also, in the end of the movie Shi Lebluff destroys Megatron and not Optimus Prime. If Hasbro really wanted their product to succeed beyond the movie, then they would allow Optimus Prime to be stronger, giving the audience more reason to belief the good can defeat the bad through power. But that is not how life works, so Michael Bay put in a real life aspect instead of making the story lifeless into the most crucial part of the movie. Although the movie helped Hasbro tremendously, I felt like the movie was made for a different reason than a total advertisement. Lastly, Mr. Turan states in his article that many of the corny lines in the movie come from the commercials or the cartoons in the 80s. This is true, but he also adds that it takes away from the movie. I would have to completely disagree. I think that the corny line that everyone is familiar with allows the audience to relate the movie directly to their lives. And, the corny lines bring up good memories of playing with Transformers and having a fun time. In Mr. Turan’s critique of Transformers, he makes some very good points. I would have to agree with some of the points, but the main ones I disagree with are the ones that talk about the reasons behind the movie. Overall I felt the movie was good, and this review is opposite of my opinion of the movie.