Overall Impression — Odd, inconsistent tone that veers between cartoon comedy and serious violence. Cool effects, though.
THE FOUR QUESTIONS
Who’s the main character? — Sam Witwicky.
What’s he trying to accomplish? — Save the world by enabling the good robots to defeat the bad robots.
Who’s trying to stop him? — Megatron, as well as certain governmental factions (though they come around to his side towards the end.)
What happens if he fails? — The world falls to the evil Decepticons.
THE FOUR ARCHETYPES
Orphan — Sam is a geek loser at school. Uncool, doesn’t have a car, doesn’t have a girl.
Wanderer — Tries to figure out what’s going on with his new car and all these other vehicles which suddenly are able to transform into giant robots. He eventually realizes that the glasses he’s gotten from his famous explorer grandfather are a key to this puzzle.
Warrior — He goes head to head with the authorities while the good Autobots get more engaged with the bad Decepticons.
Martyr — Sam is willing to risk himself to save Optimus Prime from Megatron.
AND, IN THE END…
I SO wanted to love this movie and ended up only liking it. The sad thing is that I didn’t feel particularly good about myself when that happened. It appealed to that part of me that likes loud noises, big film scores, cool effects…all the surface gloss and glitter. But there’s that other part of me that wants a more involving story with real emotions, and this film didn’t have it.
Compare this to either of Michael Bay’s ARMAGEDDON or THE ROCK. Both superior action movies because we cared about the people in them as well as their relationships.
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