Billion-Dollar Franchise Kickoff Hits Netflix, Changed Movies Forever
By Chris Snellgrove | Published
As a film franchise, Transformers hasn't been above par lately. The best Transformers One box office bomb and live action Animal Awakening it was a middling mess that failed to achieve the critical or commercial acclaim of its predecessors. It's clear that this franchise needs to (ahem) evolve into something better, but until that happens, nostalgic fans will always have the old songs. Example: now you can watch Transformers on Netflix, Michael Bay's original masterpiece that took the world by storm.
Transformers fans have plenty of content to watch on Netflix right now, but there's still something special about this first live-action film. The film tells the story of Spike Witwicky, a high school student whose first car turns into a transforming robot. Soon, the young man is caught in an ancient struggle between rival robots, and whether he can help the hero Optimus Prime defeat the ruthless Megatron will ultimately decide the fate of the world.
While the original stars of Transformers are the iconic robots, fans watching the film on Netflix may be surprised at how many big names are on the floor to represent our human characters. Shia LaBeouf plays Spike, and his girlfriend-turned-partner-in-crime is played by Megan Fox. Josh Duhamel plays a heroic military captain, John Turturro plays a weasel government agent, and Jon Voight plays the Secretary of Defense.
Of course, longtime Transformers fans may be interested in more than meets the eye…specifically, the voice actors behind this Netflix classic. Optimus Prime's original voice actor Peter Cullen returns for his live-action debut, and goes up against Megatron, the evil Decepticon voiced by Hugo Weaving. Fan-favorite trash-talking salesman Starscream, on the other hand, is played by voice acting legend Charles Adler.
While old-school Transformers fans are excited to see the return of Cullen as the Prime Minister, those watching the film on Netflix may have mixed feelings about the new designs for their favorite heroes and villains. Personally, I've never been a big fan of the decision to make all the bots look like robotic insects, and giving Optimus a mouthful just felt wrong for this G1 guy. Some of the new changes are nice, though…I can't deny that the Bumblebee is a lot cooler as a Camaro than a Volkswagen, and Megatron is certainly more intimidating as a fighter jet than a gun to be admired by someone else.
Transformers came out in 2007, the same year Netflix began offering streaming services instead of just shipping DVDs. At the time, the reception was mixed: on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie has a critical rating of 57 percent, with critics mainly praising the action and dismissing the characters as unbelievable. However, it has an audience rating of 85 percent, which shows that the film was loved by die-hard fans of the franchise as well as the general audience.
And that appeal turned (shall we say) into a huge success at the box office. Against a budget of $145-200 million, the film grossed $709.7 million, starting a franchise full of live-action sequels and prequels. That franchise went off the rails almost immediately (the first sequel, Revenge of the Fallenit may be a war crime), but this first film is worth reviewing because it offers the perfect combination of spectacle and sensitivity.
Will you find Transformers to be more than visual when streaming on Netflix, or will you decide that a Michael Bay movie looks like something Ravage left in the Soundwave trash can? You won't know until you “take it out” and spread it yourself. Just think about it for a moment The Matrix: as long as you can forget the bad movies that came out later, you can enjoy this first entry as an almost perfect sci-fi masterpiece.
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