I'll take it from the top. Let's start with trailers, since I work on them for a living anyways so I'm always excited to see what's up and coming.
TRAILERS:
Lights dim and the first graphic appears. "From M. Night Shyamalanadingdong" WTF?! my mind goes straight to CRAP! However, "The Last Airbender" could have some potential. It's a Nickelodeon film with M. Night behind the wheel? Could be interesting...or a disaster. He better not screw this up, I'm surprised that Hollywood hasn't blacklisted him yet for making total shit. He lost me after "The Village."
Secondly, Sherlock Holmes! Starring Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law and Rachel McAdams. I CANNOT wait to see this. I was kinda surprised to find out Guy Ritchie is directing it. But I guess I couldn't tell from the trailer it was him, so that's a good sign.
They also showed Aliens in the Attic. Pretty funny trailer. It'll be a good family fun movie. It has the chick from High School Musical. That's really all you need to know about the movie.
REVIEW:
Let me start off by saying this. I didn't go into this movie with ANY expectations. I knew what I was in for. Michael Bay, Michael Bay, Michael Bay. It's written ALL over this movie. With the amount of explosions in this movie, I find it hard to believe that 1/4 of the Earth isn't missing. Story is about Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) moving out of suburbia and going on his own to college. He wants a normal life blah blah blah Mikaela (Megan Fox) fixes motorcycles and ride them. Autobots and Humans form a secret alliance and work together to track and destroy the decepticons. The Decepticons find out that the secret to destroying Earth and once again reigning supreme, lies in Sam's brain (big surprise) blah blah, chasing, explosions. You get the picture.
It's a typical formula. What Bay added to the mix of autobots this time were "the twins" 2 ghetto bots that only equal the annoyance of half a Jar Jar Binks. They bring the comic relief and just make fun of other characters to get laughs. I didn't mind them THAT much. They have big ears, can't read, have wandering eyes and one even has a gold toof. You be the judge about that. Sam's parents are actually a lot of the comedy in this movie. I think they hit closer to home because they bring a more human element to the movie. Also, I remember my parents crying when I moved away for the first time.
If you're looking for a deep, thought-out, intellectual movie that makes you question life? Then this is definitely not the movie for you. It's got something for the kids, the sentimental parents, the gear-loving action dudes and tweens. I think you should see it while it's still in theaters. See it in a good theater because the sound design is ridiculous ILM does a phenomenal job as usual with the special effects. Prepare for the top hits as the soundtrack. I heard Green Day's "21 guns" song 3 times and the instrumentals for Linkin Park's "New Divide" too many to count. Since midnight yesterday, the movie had already made $16 million! That's a scary amount of money for this. It won't beat "Dark Knight" but I'm sure it'll beat "Away We Go." I don't have some hip rating system of my own, but I'd give it 3.5/5.
It's a fun movie with a lot of cheese in it. I think that cutting some of the action sequences shorter would've definitely helped this 2 hours and 40 minute behemoth of a movie feel better. By hour 2 I started to get a little antsy. I leave you with the trailer.
