Ah rip-off cinema. Taking a films title, slightly altering it, and releasing a totally unrelated movie using that title is a sure fire way to make some dosh, right? Some gullible idiot will thing "Transmorphers? Isnt that out at the cinema? Ill have that!". And some gullible idiot will thing "Transmorphers? I could review that for my blog! I'll have that!".
Let me start off saying that I hate Transformers. I liked the TV show, but I felt the movies relyed too much on special effects and the humans, rather than robots. In fact, that describes most of Michael Bay films- taking a good concept, then ruining it. Anyway, the point is I sat down to watch Transmorphers with hesitation. "This film will be worse than Transformers. God help me" I thought to myself as I pressed Play. Well, you know what? Transmorphers is an okay film, and I'd rather watch it than Transformers, or any other Bay film.
The storyline is pretty basic. Robots invade Earth, force humans underground, humans find way to defeat robots, go defeat robots. It's a very cheesy sci-fi, but it holds itself up with a degree of effort on the directors part. The effects are shit, the acting is wooden, but you always get the feeling that the director was trying to go for something here. Every now and again he'd have split shots, showing different characters. Although they kinda fall flat, you can see what he was going for, and you have to respect the man for going against established conventions to try something new. The directing in Transformers, for example, is very safe. It doesn't try anything new, it just does action standard shots and is very basic. I'd say the directing in Transmorphers is better simply because you feel the director wants to try and make something out of what is just a rip-off movie.
The acting, as said before, is wooden as hell. A lot of lines are delivered with a degree of uncertainty on the actors part, and one line in particular (Theres a bogey on my ass!) conjured up images in my mind that I don't think were intended. However, the main character (played by...Matt Wolf, I think) was badass. The acting wasn't perfect, but you knew this character was badass. He was likeable, a renegade, and you can't help but feel a teeny bit of compassion at the end where something spoiler-licious happens. I dunno, maybe I went in with low expectations, but I liked the characters in this movie. The acting wasn't great, but the characters were. Better than Shia Labeuf running around trying to fuck Megan Fox anyway.
Now, Transformers is a film that got by entirely on effects. So a rip-off movie must have some fancy effects up its sleeve as well, right? Well, no. Not really. In fact, I've seen work handed in for a college workship (not even an assignment!) with better effects than this. Really pulls you out the action to see a videogame cutscene start fighting with the characters. But hey, the budget for this film was probably 70p, so I can't complain too much.
Wait, yes I can, this was a commercial release. Get a better effects guy next time, okay guys?
Now, really, this is a film that will always be judged by the title. No matter how surprisingly good this film is, the fact it presents itself as a blatent rip-off of Transformers will always make it crap in the eyes of fans and critics. Which is a shame, a different title and a few more months in editing and we'd have a bonafide cult classic here. But unfortuantly we're left with an okay title that will always be buried under rip-off accusations. Oh well.
Let me start off saying that I hate Transformers. I liked the TV show, but I felt the movies relyed too much on special effects and the humans, rather than robots. In fact, that describes most of Michael Bay films- taking a good concept, then ruining it. Anyway, the point is I sat down to watch Transmorphers with hesitation. "This film will be worse than Transformers. God help me" I thought to myself as I pressed Play. Well, you know what? Transmorphers is an okay film, and I'd rather watch it than Transformers, or any other Bay film.
The storyline is pretty basic. Robots invade Earth, force humans underground, humans find way to defeat robots, go defeat robots. It's a very cheesy sci-fi, but it holds itself up with a degree of effort on the directors part. The effects are shit, the acting is wooden, but you always get the feeling that the director was trying to go for something here. Every now and again he'd have split shots, showing different characters. Although they kinda fall flat, you can see what he was going for, and you have to respect the man for going against established conventions to try something new. The directing in Transformers, for example, is very safe. It doesn't try anything new, it just does action standard shots and is very basic. I'd say the directing in Transmorphers is better simply because you feel the director wants to try and make something out of what is just a rip-off movie.
The acting, as said before, is wooden as hell. A lot of lines are delivered with a degree of uncertainty on the actors part, and one line in particular (Theres a bogey on my ass!) conjured up images in my mind that I don't think were intended. However, the main character (played by...Matt Wolf, I think) was badass. The acting wasn't perfect, but you knew this character was badass. He was likeable, a renegade, and you can't help but feel a teeny bit of compassion at the end where something spoiler-licious happens. I dunno, maybe I went in with low expectations, but I liked the characters in this movie. The acting wasn't great, but the characters were. Better than Shia Labeuf running around trying to fuck Megan Fox anyway.
Now, Transformers is a film that got by entirely on effects. So a rip-off movie must have some fancy effects up its sleeve as well, right? Well, no. Not really. In fact, I've seen work handed in for a college workship (not even an assignment!) with better effects than this. Really pulls you out the action to see a videogame cutscene start fighting with the characters. But hey, the budget for this film was probably 70p, so I can't complain too much.
Wait, yes I can, this was a commercial release. Get a better effects guy next time, okay guys?
Now, really, this is a film that will always be judged by the title. No matter how surprisingly good this film is, the fact it presents itself as a blatent rip-off of Transformers will always make it crap in the eyes of fans and critics. Which is a shame, a different title and a few more months in editing and we'd have a bonafide cult classic here. But unfortuantly we're left with an okay title that will always be buried under rip-off accusations. Oh well.
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