I checked out both of these films recently and had a pretty good time with them. For me Transformers was the more solid and enjoyable of the two actually, and I'm not a Michael Bay fan either. In fact, the only films of his I can hardly stomach are The Rock and Armageddon and even then I have to hold my nose past the cheese factor.

I was really hoping Die Hard 4 would have been more satisfying but the characters, especially the villains, took a backseat way too often to the over the top action when they really should have been more complementary as in the previous films. Even Bruce Willis seemed to play Maclane like a tired, jaded version of the character and lacked the smugness, desperation and edgy bitterness that made him the compelling lead from the previous films.

It was a great, traditional action film though which satisfied the 80's action afficionado in me but it was missing one of the key ingredients of the Die Hard franchise. The cartoonish violence and over the top action sequences has always been previously grounded with an assortment of intriguing, likable secondary characters and charismatic bad guys. At times it seemed to almost hit those notes but the off pacing would kill the mood and energy too quickly and the writers seemed to set up scenes around the next big stunt piece as opposed to having the action serve the story and further the plot. Still, I admit it was fun revisiting an almost lost genre of filmmaking with an old friend who had just enough fire in him to keep the movie rolling and the bullets flying.

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Transformers was kind of like seeing Jurassic Park for the first time and it did a more than adequate job living up to the hype. The spectacle of the giant robots themselves almost completely makes up for any disappointment in the plot and at times corny writing. This has to be the most (on purpose) comedic Bay film to date. The hit or miss humor and cartoonish characters (like Bernie Mac, Anthony Anderson and John Turturro) more or less works to the film's advantage as campy, fun summer fare and you can definitely feel Spielberg's influence as producer during the family scenes.

Surprisingly, Bay's frenetic, free-wheeling, attention deficit editing style is more subdued and saved primarily for the action sequences. I just wish Bay had taken the Transformers themselves a little more seriously and had taken more time to flesh out their personalities, focusing more on the Autobot Vs. Decepticon dynamic. Instead, it's really a movie about *people* with Transformers thrown in it. I understand the necessity and appeal for that approach to have the film seem more realistic and connect with the audience as a whole but unlike CG dinosaurs the Transformers actually had personality and character motivations, at least in the other media I grew up with like the cartoons and the comic books. A little more time with Starscream and Megatron and less time with Jon Voight as the "Secretary of Defense action hero" would have been nice but hearing Peter Cullen as the voice of Optimus Prime somehow almost makes up for any misgivings the film may have had with the characters.

Watching these giant robots beat the crap out of each other demands to be seen on the big screen and the affable and talented Shia LaBeouf does an impressive job of carrying the film and holding his own against the larger than life Transformers... though Industrial Light and Magic were the true stars of this film. Truly amazing work gang!

~J
Joe Corroney.com
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