Reviews

I am truly amazed at how little publicity this film has received in the background of attention that has been directed towards the Lord of the Rings trilogy in recent years. The casting and acting is absolutely superb and there is not one character that is under-represented in any fashion. The movie begins with very strong undertones and tells the story of a young boy having to grow up quite suddenly in a world of nobility entangled with treachery, deceit and ulterior motives. This movie has something for everyone, expertly combining plenty of action, fantasy and magic with excellent story telling, romance, humor and revenge. You'll be a "tough nut to crack" if you are disappointed by this masterpiece which unfolds superbly throughout it's 164 minutes of length (yes, that's right, just over two and half hours that flies by without even realizing). Do not miss out on this!!

I just saw this on late night TV this evening and was exceptionally glad that I was doing some brainless work whilst watching it, otherwise this would've been an absolute waste of time. Admittedly, there were a few cheap laughs and a few funny moments, but not an incredible amount of substance is on offer in this film (which is quite a shame considering there is a reasonable amount of talent amongst the credits). To be fair, there were a few interesting twists that were thrown into the mix which kept the audience guessing a bit, but the cheap attempts of humor run quite dry after a while.

The support cast actually seem to be the stars of the show in this feature. The character of Stewie provides a human element to being a criminal and was acted to the best of ability by Tony Nikolakopoulos. Adrian (Costas Kilias) and Hammer (Ryan Johnson) provided a few funny moments, and Marcus (Russell Dystra) keeps the film grounded, whilst Kirsty (Isla Fisher) provides a little eye candy. Nick Giannopoulos - what are you doing?

Seriously, Australian film has GOT to be better than this - I can't believe that this film actually won an award of any sort!!

Well, what a strange film that was indeed... The amount of hype that this movie received when it was released in the cinemas was complete overkill and did not justify the quality of the film, which really should be avoided like the plague. Australian comedy really is much better than this, with this feature being a black spot in Australian film history. I was left wondering "Is that it? Is that all that they could do with the amount of talent in the cast?".

The tag-line of "Population Five" might actually apply to the number of people that may have been left in the cinema by about half-way through the movie after everyone had stood up and departed..... I've got a feeling that the whole production and cast are laughing at the people who actually paid to see the film - I'm sure many people who went to see this in the cinema would have left bitterly disappointed.

There was a bit of a storyline in this film, but it just seemed that the film was trying to squeeze too much out of the limited time utilized. The issues of family and comradeship were dealt with rather well, especially in relation to the main character (Benny G, played by Glenn Robbins), but the film left the audience wanting more from the heavily underutilized cast. And yes, I agree with the other reviewer (sallyforth1) about the ending, which seemed to be written hurriedly within five minutes in an effort to just be done with the project.

Seeing this movie last night down here in Melbourne, I was eagerly anticipating what Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg had done in their recreation of an excellent cartoon series that I passionately followed whilst I was growing up in the '80s. I was certainly hoping that the huge queues were worth the wait!! Be you a fan of the series or not, the introduction to the movie was brilliant and really set the scene so that everyone in the audience knew the basic "history" of how the Autobots and Decepticons came into being, and how they've ended up on Earth. This also ties together very well with Optimus Prime's general demeanour and compassion for humans whilst allowing the audience the opportunity to understand his views concerning the difference between good and evil.

The first scene of battle (perhaps I should change that word to chaos) was set to perfection, showing exactly what the Decepticons were capable of, and also allowing all of the human actors' roles to come into play. Speaking of which, the casting and acting for this movie was absolutely top-notch, from the main stars all of the way through to supporting actors. Shia LaBeouf is proving himself to be quite a fine actor and carries the wit and humour effortlessly throughout the entire film - he will be a star of the future, without a doubt. You will love the depth of well-known actors in this film and can relate to each and every one of them in some way or another. Surprise performances by Bernie Mac, John "Sneaky Sneaky" Turturro, Amaury Nolasco (Sucre from Prison Break) and Anthony Anderson were highly welcomed by the entire audience, which was a sell-out. Every single actor played their roles well and played the role as a hero in their own way.

The character development in the first half of the movie tended to drag "just a little bit", but fortunately this was compensated by the humour - even the parents get into it quite a bit, and the scenes concerning the backyard proved a hit amongst the audience (you'll know what I mean when you see them).

Near the end of the first hour (I think) you really start seeing the movie hitting it's strides - I actually heard a member of the audience say "Yep, it's just kicked up a notch", and it certainly did. The action just doesn't stop until the final credits from that point. Whether you're a fan or not of the cartoon series, you will thoroughly enjoy the film, which has a little bit of everything: action, humour, romance and excellent special effects which will literally blow your mind. It was great to see Optimus' flaming sword make an appearance that doesn't disappoint.

Even the characteristics (and facial expressions!!) of the robots are brought into the film. Jazz's humour and likability, Ironhide's intolerance of humans, Ratchett's intelligence, and Starscream's wishes to be the leader of the Decepticons (whilst always acting subservient to Megatron). Fans of the series - listen for the catch phrases of "Roll Out!!", "Decepticons Attack!!" and "You wanna piece of me?". :-) I particularly enjoyed the use of music at various parts of the film - who would've thought that "Baby Come Back" could have been used so well?

Above all, enjoy, but I would recommend a word of caution though - this film IS NOT for young children at all. I could imagine quite a lot of youngsters ending up having nightmares for a few evenings after watching this film, with Decepticon screams going through their heads (especially when Shia LaBeouf comes face-to-face with one of the Deceptacons).