Inspired by the online short film “Geweldenaren van Ver,” director Federico Alvarez’s short film (made under a five hundred dollar budget) is yet another tale of indie success that most independent directors can only dream of. Uruguayan director Alvarez posted this short film on Youtube back in 2009 and after the video was posted on rapper Kanye West’s blog, it garnered an immense fanbase, currently has over five million views on Youtube, and Alvarez experienced surprising success, “I uploaded Panic Attack! on a Thursday and on Monday my inbox was totally full of e-mails from Hollywood studios,” said Alvarez.
Now he’s been given a contract by Sam Raimi’s studio “Ghost House Pictures.”
Trust me, if I were asked to watch McG’s treatment of the Terminator franchise I wouldn’t turn it down. Is it one of the best the franchise has ever offered? No. In fact it’s one of the lamest simply because it takes every advantage to flex its PG-13 rating and make sure that everyone but the humans suffer a wicked death. In this version every human is given a bloodless death by robots we’re assured are vicious, merciless, and willing to make their victims suffer a long and painful death. All ounce of suffering we’ve seen at the hands of the machines in previous films is bypassed in exchange for interchangeable special effects and ho-hum action sequences.
The voice work for the transformers is as top notch as ever with Peter Cullen taking to the character with his usual skill as well as Hugo Weaving who is just great as Megatron. Despite my problems with the movie, the massive carnage is quite impressive along with the design of the Transformers themselves who help keep the film afloat at its lowest. Despite not being the worst movie of 2007, there’s no denying that “Transformers” was a clunky mess that had zero direction and almost little appeal beyond the target demographics: 1. People looking for robot smashing and 2. Megan Fox. Both of which were vastly over sold elements with little pay off, come the climax.
