This week we have the Transformers franchise and to tell you the truth this is another franchise I have never seen before. It came out in 2007, so I was like 8-years-old and I guess my parents didn’t think it appropriate for me to watch a bunch of cars transform into huge robots. I’m happy I finally got the chance to sit down and watch it because I throughly enjoyed it and am excited for the rest of the franchise. The franchise is based off of the action figures from the company Hasbros, which I didn’t know. You learn something new every day. Anyway, here’s what you’re missing if you haven’t seen the movie and don’t plan on it.
Thousands of years ago, the planet Cybertron was consumed by a civil war between the two Transformer factions, the Autobots led by Optimus Prime my duuuude and the Decepticons led by Megatron. The Autobots want to find the All Spark, the source of all Cybertronian life, so they can use it to rebuild Cybertron and end the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons, while the Decepticons want to use it to defeat the Autobots and conquer the universe. Megatron found the All Spark on Earth, but crash-landed in the Arctic Circle and was frozen in the ice. ha loser Captain Archibald Witwicky and his crew of explorers stumble upon Megatron’s body in 1897. Captain Witwicky accidentally activates Megatron’s navigational system, causing his eyeglasses to be imprinted with the coordinates of the All Spark’s location. “Accidentally” in every movie I see someone has to touch something which causes a whole problem in the movie. This guy should’ve just seen Megatron and said “nope I’m out.” But no, we gotta touch things. Sector 7, a secret United States government organization, discovers the All Spark in the Colorado river and builds the Hoover Dam around it to mask its energy emissions. The still-frozen Megatron is moved into this facility and is reverse engineered to advance human technology. *sigh* back to the touching. But this time, it’s worse because the government has to get involved and try to use it for their own good and not just leave anything alone. Once again, can’t just say “nope I’m out”.
In the present day, the Decepticons, Blackout, Scorponok, Frenzy, Barricade, Starscream, Brawl and Bonecrusher—have landed on Earth and assumed the disguise of Earth vehicles and have setup a conspiracy. Blackout and Scorponok attack the U.S. SOCCENT military base in Qatar and try to hack into the U.S. military network to find the location of Megatron and the All Spark. Their mission is thwarted when the base staff severs the network cable connections. While Blackout destroys the rest of the base, Scorponok chases a small group of survivors who have photographic evidence of the robots, but he is eventually repelled. During this battle, the military discovers its only effective weapons against the Transformers’ armor are high-heat sabot rounds.
After Blackout’s failure, Frenzy infiltrates Air Force One to try again to hack into the military network, and in doing so plants a virus. He finds the map imprinted on Captain Witwicky’s glasses, whose descendant, Sam Witwicky, intends to sell on eBay. Frenzy and Barricade begin tracking Sam’s location. The Autonomous Robotic Organism (shortened to “Autobot”) Bumblebee is also on Earth, disguised as a 1976 Chevrolet Camaro, and is bought by Sam while shopping for his first car. Bumblebee helps him woo his crush, Mikaela Banes. Bumblebee leaves at night to transmit a homing signal to the rest of the Autobots and Sam sees him in robot mode. Barricade confronts Sam and demands Archibald’s spectacles, but Bumblebee rescues him and Mikaela.
After Bumblebee upgrades his vehicle form by scanning a 2006 Chevrolet Camaro, they leave to rendezvous with the rest of the Autobots: Optimus Prime, Jazz, Ironhide, and Ratchet—who have landed on Earth and taken the forms of Earth vehicles as well. Sam, Mikaela, and the Autobots return to Sam’s home and obtain the glasses. Soon special agents from Sector 7 arrive and capture Sam, Mikaela, and Bumblebee. These agents were THE most annoying people I have ever seen in so far in this movie. Including Sam’s parents. Mostly the mom. She was BEYOND annoying. But these agents, they want all these answers, which I understand, however, Sam should’ve just told them what Optimus told them and then see where that got him. If the goverment didn’t believe him, then that’s on them. I don’t know.
Frenzy, disguised as a mobile phone, secretly accompanies the group to Hoover Dam and releases Megatron from his frozen state. Locating the All Spark, Frenzy sends an alert to the other Decepticons. And while at the base, Agent Simmons show’s everyone in on this that they have had precise contact with the “Transformers”. And that the Decpticon’s have formed a conspiracy to free Megatron and eliminate humanity. Later, Sam convinces the Sector 7 to release Bumblebee so that he can get the All Spark to Optimus Prime. Frenzy’s virus has shut down government communications, but a pair of hackers manage to establish a signal to the Air Force. The Autobot-human convoy goes to nearby Mission City to obtain a radio that will guide the Air Force’s defense and secure a rendezvous point as a safe destination for All Spark. The Decepticons attack and Bonecrusher, Frenzy, Jazz, Brawl, and Blackout are all killed during the ensuing battle, but Sam manages to ram the All Spark into Megatron’s chest, killing Megatron and destroying the All Spark. Optimus takes a fragment of the All Spark from Megatron’s corpse but realizes that with its destruction, their homeworld Cybertron cannot be restored. No kidding.
Consequently, Optimus sends a signal to other surviving Autobots in the universe, directing them to this new home, Earth, where there can be more of them and The Secretary of Defense and US government soon authorizes this decommission of Sector 7 and has the corpses of the defeated Decepticons dumped into the Laurentian Abyss. The end.
This movie was really cool and I really liked how they focused on them transforming. For 2007, the CGI was actually pretty good for the Transformers. I can’t wait to see how much better it gets as the years go on. I also liked that the Transformers could disguise themselves as other electronic devices on Earth. It kind of makes you wonder/pretend that there are actual Autobots in the “real” world. If you’re interested in watching this film, it’s available on HBOMAX. The lesson I learned from this film: Don’t touch anything.
Next movie: Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
Gabriella Dragone 