Transformers @ IMAX - One Bang-up Show ZOWIE!!!

Last Saturday treated my family to the Transformers Movie at IMAX, where for an extra 5 ringgit over normal Cineplex tickets you get the real immersion experience of watching a movie on on 5 storey screen with an outta of the world sound system. Bigger than life movies like King Kong and Transformers deserve to be watched at IMAX and I do not regret taking the family to see Transformers there. And for those of you in the rest of the world who has to wait until 4th of July to watch this, I recommend you to see it on IMAX if available.


The thing that surprised me though was the crowd. I initially thought of catching the 2 pm show but surprise! surprise! even though I arrived at the ticket counter at 11:30a.m the show was already sold out so we had to settle for the 5 p.m show. The bugger in this was I asked for middle row seats but I don't know if the ticket counter chick was high or sumtin but she gave us seats three rows from the front that surprised us to heck. Especially since the family had to go in first coz I had to join the long queue at the snacks concession and when I asked the usher where my row was, I was amazed to find the row to be so in front.


But all's well that end's well, as I had mentioned to the Cari forumers that if they wanted to enjoy the movie they might as well see it at IMAX for the immersion experience, and I can tell you that sitting in the third row was really immersion. It fact it was information overload as your sensors could not totally catch up with what is happening on the screen. Imagine watching this scene not only infront of you but over your head and you are actually at ground level of the scene, cranning your necks all around watching the action roll around you. But it was a pity for the little one as she slept through the middle part that was actually a slow moving intermission between the great start and the last battle. I initially thought she was afraid of all the sound and thunder going on but since we took the later show, she actually just had to have her afternoon nap, just like when we watched King Kong!


Anyway the detail we got on screen was great, up to all the blemishes on the actors and actresses skins. I can safely say the IMAX screen was not so kind to Megan Fox who played the heroine. Definitely not as great looking as the pix on the left when on IMAX babe. Anywy about the movie itself, it was a good mix for both the adults and kids as it was not a cheesy screenplay makeover of the cartoon series. Some shades of ID4 but at least not so much chest-thumping jingoism this time as it was not so much the Yanks againts the rest of the world but man surviving by working with machines againts alien technology.


Anyway talking about technology I don't know what the image that the US Armed Forces was hoping to gain from this movie. The impression I got was that their warriors are delinquent as they managed to allow one measly Decepticon to land within their base and trash it the hell out, supposedly without survivors no less even when they had F-22 Raptors on call, trigger happy as they escalated aggression against potential adversary countries without knowing who was responsible for the carnage and dumb as their SEAL do not seem to know there is an emergency telephone number to call on the cellular network instead of going through the call centre and needing credit card numbers if you need to call in an emergency. A jokey moment is a jokey moment but sheesh you dumbassed your own military man. And talking about the Raptors, it is not as if there are so many of them that Starscream can hide out as an extra Raptor in the squadron but the most laughable bit is seeing the multibillion fighters being shot down like flies by Starscream over the city. Man what happened to all the sensors and sitrep of the pilots that you do not know an impostor is screaming down your back to kill you. They should have stuck with the Eagle for Starscream alternative mode as it would have made better sense.

Anyway all in all it was a good movie and most probably we will see it again on IMAX after the heat is off. Hopefully by that time the crowd will be less and we will get better seats so that we can get a better picture of what is happening on screen. The kids like it and it was a great introduction to them to start liking the series. So much that they are fighting who should be Bumblebee and who is Optimus Prime. Anyway cannot wait for the sequel as openly hinted by the ending scene where Optimus Prime called on other Autobots to join them on Earth. Until then to end this on a cheesy note. AUTOBOTS TRANSFORM!