Transformers: For Teenage Guys Only

August 2nd, 2007 | 1 min read

Continuing my summer blockbuster binge, I dropped in to Transformers two nights ago. In sum, I got about what I expected: teenagers who are little more than eye-candy falling in love without any clear reason, large explosions and face chase scenes, and sweet scenes of cars, planes and trucks becoming robots. In other words, all sweetness, no substance.
In other words, it was the sort of movie that is perfectly designed for most teenage guys.
The acting was at best wooden. At worst, I found myself wondering which acting performances were the least robotic: the Transformers or the humans.

Which to me is a little bit sad.

Transformers had a great opportunity to fit the niche of summer blockbusters that were mostly fun, but still thoughtful and well made. The first Pirates fit that niche, as did (I think) Oceans 11. But beyond the flash and shimmer of pyrotechnics, CGI, and youthful romance, there's little to commend Transformers.

Matthew Lee Anderson

Matthew Lee Anderson is an Associate Professor of Ethics and Theology in Baylor University's Honors College. He has a D.Phil. in Christian Ethics from Oxford University, and is a Perpetual Member of Biola University's Torrey Honors College. In 2005, he founded Mere Orthodoxy.

Topics:

Film Reviews/Hollywood

Transformers: For Teenage Guys Only

Related Articles

The End of Choice

Three Godfathers: John Ford’s (Deeply Christian) Christmas Western

Let Me Live Again

Why Christians Need Horror

The Dead Speak!: Reading with the Jedi

Noah: A Theological-Aesthetic Rorschach Test

Lost At Sea, in Space, in the Cloud

Body Politics in the Films of Steve McQueen

Catching Up With Time in the “Before” and “Up” Films

Jackson and Tolkien: Hollywood's Infatuation With Angst

Anna Karenina: The Uncontainable Joy of Redemption

Is Depiction Endorsement? Filmmaker Responsibility in "Zero Dark Thirty" and "Django Unchained"

"Les Miserables": Failed Musical, Successful Book

In Defense of "Les Miserables"

Don't Waste your Blackjack: Holy Rollers and Christian Gamblers

Cowboys and Aliens and Entertainment

Marriage, the Medium, and Friday Night Lights

The Music and Meaning of *Tree of Life*

Tree of Life: A Review by Nathan Hitchen

Under Review: The Lincoln Lawyer

The Polarization of Hollywood

The Culture Wars Played Out in the American Cinema House

Quite a guy that Mr. Fox

Quinceañera is a Good Movie About Los Angeles

Clint Eastwood's Theological Vision

The Music and Meaning of Tree of Life