A
big budget ($150 Million) summer action film
based upon a 1980's animated TV show based on a toy line from Hasbro that was released in 2007. Directed by Michael
Bay and Produced by Steven Spielberg. It has just about the perfect blend of action and story. Sure it has
lame, cliched dialogue and some bad acting but it also has Megan
Fox to act as a counter-balance to distract teenage boys and the male audience in general.
This film centers around a race of friendly
alien robots called the Autobots, led by Optimus
Prime fighting an age old
war between their archenemies, the Decepticons, led by Megatron. In search of the AllSpark, the
war is brought to the planet
Earth where Sam Witwicky, played by Shia LeBeouf, must intervene to aid in the Autobots quest and save himself, his family and the whole human race.
What's most remarkable about this film is the detail that went into the CGI robots (Nominated for an Academy Award although it didn't win) and the
solid foundation that it paved for future Transformer films.
Over the course of it's Theatrical Run, it grossed over $319 million in the U.S. (Domestically) and $389 Million overseas (Foreign) for a Worldwide Box office draw of $708 Million. Despite the overwhelming commercial success, it was a critical
bomb earning an overall 57% "Rotten" rating on Rotten Tomatoes and an overall
61% on Metacritic. The latter rating actually equates to generally favorable reviews on their review aggregator. It was succeeded in 2009 by Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
