24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent story, ok novel., June 1, 2007
This review is from: Transformers (Mass Market Paperback)
When I was growing up in the 80's, Transformers were my favorite toy line and the Tranformers cartoon was my favorite cartoon. As an adult, I find my kids are still into the current iteration of the toy, so I hold this film franchise (that's actually what Michael Bay has called it) to be quite a bit more sacred than other comic movies such as X-Men, Fantastic Four, Spiderman, etc. To me those are great action flicks, but for me Transformers needed to be something more. If the movie follows this book as it should, then I will certainly not be disappointed; but I could see how long time fans might be a bit let down with certain details.
So beyond this point I'm writing a "spoiler free" section and then below that I will detail some more specific info. In neither section will I give away: the ending, who dies, any major turn of events in the plot, etc... However, in both I will talk generally about: flow, character development, general comparisons between what's in this story and what was in the story of the 80's Transformers cartoon.
Before getting into content, I will say that I'm not a huge fan of Alan Dean Foster. I will go light on him because he was given the task to transform a screen play into a novel. He is the reason I give this 4 stars and not 5. I realize his task required him to write inside a box, and to be fair I don't think I've found a novel based on a screen play that I would give five stars to. Still, I felt as if here just as in Alan's prequel Transformers novel "Ghosts of Yesterday", the book seems quickly written and often goes a bit stale in creating imagery. There were times when I just wished I had a copy of the screen play. That's all I'm going to say about his writing style. So on to the review.
First, the book is full of action, but if you're wanting action every five minutes with no plot, then you may be let down. While I'm not sure how the movie will be (Bay might be going after a completely different style here), if the movie follows the book it's going to flow very much like other Michael Bay blockbusters such as Armageddon and The Rock. I feel Michael Bay does an excellent job at blending character development with action, and keeping a consistent pace, but if you don't like Bay's past work, my guess is you will not like the flow of the Trasnformers movie.
If you take the number of pages to this book: 291 and calculate it out for a two hour and twenty minute film (that's a rough guess) there will likely be a very detailed action sequence happening once every 10-15 minutes in the movie (think: Independence Day in term of pace) with the last 30 minutes of the film most likely being almost non-stop action.
Comparing the general story in this book to the Transformers television show, the biggest difference is that the story is told here from a human perspective. While I'm sure this change will upset long time fans, the truth is it makes for much better story telling to relate to people through human characters, this is true of all good science fiction writing. In terms of movies, Spielberg certainly lives by this rule and it works and it works here as well. In a cartoon geared for kids, it's easy to tell the story from the robots perspective, but the cartoon never tried to pull off what this story does, that is (within limits) make you believe Transformers are real for its duration and regarding personality: the Transformers most certainly have it in the book. It's expressed not only through what they say, [LIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD] although there is a good bit of English language communication between Transformers and their dialog is not dry. They are treated as non-organic alien robots with greater than human intelligence able to communicate with us and with full understanding of our technology and how to manipulate it.
As far as the story goes: there are essentially three sets of characters that are apparently not connected in any way (at the beginning of the story anyway) that the story follows and in the movie I assume (in Michael Bay style). We'll see a lot of transitions between these three sets of characters as the three story lines become one. So you have a military group stationed in desert of Qatar with a lead character. You have another group at the Pentagon in Washington with a few lead characters and then you have civilians: Sam "Spike", his friends and family. The most character development goes to Sam as he is really the lead in this story and it's with Sam and his friend Mikaela that we find character growth in this story. We also find a bit of growth (although less pronounced) in Optimus Prime and Bumblebee).
Essentially three plots start out independant and sort of weave together, but it's handled very well. It works and it makes for a real page turner, which I think will translate into a very fast paced movie. If you imagine the grander of Independence Day in terms of special effects "WOW" factor and pace; combine that with the great emotional connection to characters that Spielberg typically brings you get the idea. No, this is not ET or A.I. redone, we're probably not going to see that depth of emotional attachment to characters, but there will probably be more audience emotional attachment to some of these characters than any other Michael Bay film to date and I'm including the non-fans who have no investment going in. It's going to be a great movie, potentially Michael Bay's best film.
This is exactly the kind of story I was hoping for, something more mature than the cartoon I remembered as I kid, yet something accessible to older children. This is probably going to get a PG-13 rating and not aimed at younger kids. There's going to be a bit of sexual innuendo, there's going to be some death of humans and Transformers. Some of the Transformers with personalities will die very violent deaths in this story, so if you're a parent know that this may not be suitable for younger kids.
If you're a die-hard fan feeling like you got cheated. Well, I understand the pain of having something you care so much about be changed by a big budget. But what's really to say? You got your movie back in 1985. That's been done. Regardless of who handled it, Transformers would have had to have gotten an update and a major change in perspective to grow beyond a novelty flick. If it's going to be big budget it has to have mass appeal and I feel this story has that appeal. I think it has the appeal to do what the X-Men movie has done for the comic and what Smallville has done for the Superman comic, that is- give the series a new [better] origin story and a fresh direction. Overall it paid enough respect to the 80's cartoon to make me happy.
[SPOILERS BELOW]
Someone else said Megatron doesn't even show up until the end.... Well, that's true, but there is a very good reason for it. It's a key element in the plot and I think it not only makes sense it works well. You have to keep in mind Transformers is a planned as a trilogy by Dreamworks, this is the first part of a bigger story (they are working on the script to the two sequals right now). But even at that, there's so much going on, we don't need to see Megatron right away.
I love the way the autobots are treated and Bumblebee in especially is very funny and comes to life in a unique way. The rumor has been that he can not speak and while that's true (sort of true), I think what they've done with his communication is very entertaining and cool. The way the relationship between spike and bumblebee is built up is perfect for this story and something they will probably build on in the sequels.
If I could change a few things: I think there should have been more a dynamic between Megatron and Optimus Prime. I would have shown some backstory on Cybertron. This is something they may build on in sequels, but it's not in this story. Also I wish they would have started on Cybertron or at least brought a space view of Cybertron in. In the book we never "see" Cybertron. However, the book does start in space so there is hope for the movie to include Cybertron in the opening shots. Generally, I wish Megatron would have a been a gun. Generally, I have no problem with the reworking/modernizing of the Transformer robots and their disguise modes. Coming into the story I did have a bit of a problem with it, but the thing is, this story is its own thing. It's still very much the Transformers story fans will know at core, but it' also very different from the 80's cartoon.
The book is roughly 300 pages and the big finale occurs in the last 50 pages, accounting for big special effects sense. That means the last the intense action at the end of the movie will be the last 15-30 minutes of the film.... While I'm fine with that, I did feel a bit unsatisfied with the ending. I won't give away who dies, but I will say a major character is apparently dead at the end of the movie... While not a cliff hanger like the second Matrix movie or X2, the Transformers book does end with you expecting a sequel.
I think people who love action movies; the people who never read an X-Men or Spiderman comic, but love the movies will also love Transformers as a great live-action film adaption. I found myself caring very little for example, that Soundwave is not in the movie and that Frenzy is a very strange alien looking thing. If you're worried about the characters changing, I say just give this a chance and don't expect an G1 movie, it's just a new interpretation of the Transformers story and I pretty good one at that.
This story feels very much like the first act of a bigger story.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Ok Book, Die Hard Fans will be Disappointed, June 16, 2007
This review is from: Transformers (Mass Market Paperback)
I just finished reading the book. I will warn you now: There will be spoiler in this review.
The bulk of the book follows three groups of humans with varying degrees of interaction with the Transformers and each other. The main character, Sam, is very weak. He's targeted more at setting a stereotypical nerdy teenager then creating a real person and appealing to a younger audience. Sam had personal struggles that seemed more like they came from a Jerry Springer: Slum Edition. He's likeable enough but completely cookie cutter.
Among the other characters his parents are likable enough but everyone else in Sam's hometown seemed completely oblivious to everything going on around them. His father is one of the most likeable people in this written nior*. He is a strong father figure with solid values and respectable knowledge of family history. His mother, while very loving, is a bit of fruitcake. If you don't believe me, look for some history on Mojo.
The various section of the governmental and military complex(es) was admirably clandestine and well thought out. The executive branch of the government was painted in a less then attractive light and congress wasn't even mentioned. The soldier and governmental employees had clear motives and family matters that anyone could identify with. The soldiers were more believable and far more likable then all of the civilian.
The Transformer themselves gets a remarkably small amount of book time. They usually come in, do something, and then hide. The next 40 pages are dealing with the new deadly situation that was just generated. Yes I know its `Robots in Disguise' but this is sometimes ridiculous. You would think your title characters would get more visibility and development.
The Transformer's character development is horrible. Aside from how they mangled the characters from the original series, the character's personalities are stale. For creatures whose greatest ability is to physically mimic and assimilate their environment they do a horrible job. They seem unable to assimilate basic human speech patterns even though they have recorded trillion of gigabytes of written and verbal language.
I realize they are in a hurry but these creatures have been around for thousands, if not millions of years. Now they get anxious to find the `Allspark'. It seemed like the book reached a point in which the plot had to artificially sped up. Perhaps the original screenplay needed to shorten because of the costs for special effects. If that true then book should have been based on the original screenplay and not the current screenplay because the books suffers greatly.
Finally is the technology. One of the Transformers loses the ability to speak, but he can play any music or recorded message. So - Why - Doesn't - He - Record - Some - Words - And - Play - The - Back - One - At - A - Time? Can't they hook up a Speak-and-Spell to the guy? Maybe a laptop with wifi and a big speaker? I think that lack of vocalizations was a concession from the first draft of the movie script when none of Transformers would have speaking rolls. It really distracting and degenerates the unfortunate character appearance.
The Allspark, The Energon Cube, The Matrix, has one role, to create new transformers. Its no long the storage that mantle of leadership or a storehouse of Transformer knowledge its just a tool. It to can transform for no good reason.
All in all the story is somewhat thin and, many of the characters are Hollywood stereotypes put to paper. Its a good read for a lazy Sunday afternoon but not much else. Die-hard fans will not like the book. Fans may enjoy the movie for its special effects but they will not enjoy the book nearly as much.
* Noir - This book could be classified as noir because there are many mysteries and plot twists within the book.
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