Most of the movie talk this summer has been about spiders, ogres and pirates. But I think it’s possible the biggest, baddest movie of the summer has yet to be released.
It stars action figures come to life, metal monsters who look as though they could eliminate all enemies with ease. But that’s not all: They’re armed with so many accessories that each can morph into a Greyhound bus and fix the leak under my bathroom sink.
“Transformers” has an unusual buzz going on around it, something like I recall “Independence Day” having about a decade ago. It feels retro and new at the same time. It’s still three weeks away, and it’s the one that most teens (read: average ticket buyer) want to see next.
They want to see it now.
The Steven Spielberg-produced, Michael Bay-directed “Transformers” has that “whoa” factor going for it. It’s gone beyond the fanboy phase of bated-breath desire.
I see plenty of movies with audiences, but reactions to trailers don’t regularly happen like at a recent radio station advance screening for “Knocked Up.”
Mind you, these ticket-giveaway showings usually draw an extroverted crowd anyway, full of those hoping to have a free movie promo T-shirt launched at them.
But this extended preview of “Transformers” showed a helicopter turn into a robot the size of the BOK tower, another emerge from desert sands wielding what appeared to be giant egg beaters, and yet another climb out of a swimming pool, dwarfing a tiny girl who had this stunned look on her face.
Every actor in the trailer had this look on their face. Everyone in the theater had this look on their face, too, until it was over.
The applause was deafening. Many people stood for an ovation. For a film trailer.
Something big is coming.
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