To coincide with the release of the third installment of Michael Bay’s robots-hitting-each-other franchise, “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” I have compiled a list of the best robotic characters ever to clink and clang on the silver screen. Some we care for, some we love, some we wish would glitch and malfunction, and some we enjoy watching bash each other to scraps, but the electrically-charged hunks of metal listed below have all developed into iconic pieces of moviedom over the years. Without further ado, here are my top ten robots from the world of cinema. Oh, and no, I’m not going to include Johnny fucking Five in this list; Christ, that pile of scraps is annoying.
This was it. Today was the day. It was all going to stop. No one was ever going to laugh at me, or throw things at me, or threaten to beat me with bricks, bats, and Hello Kitty backpacks. Because last week, I watched the Nick Cage movie the Weather Man, about a weatherman (shocker) that finally runs out of fucks to give and starts carrying a bow around wherever he went. And you know what happened? People stopped messing with him.
We are currently living in the age of the superhero movie, a financially-friendly genre that is at present flying its way around cinema screens on what is noticeably becoming a regular basis. With the earth-shattering advances in special effects over the past couple of decades, it’s becoming increasingly easy for super-powered vigilantes to make the transition from the pages of a comic book to being projected on the silver screen, which has resulted in a recent explosion of cinematic offerings from the superhero genre. Just this year we’ve already feasted on Kenneth Branagh’s “Thor” and Matthew Vaughn’s “X-Men: First Class,” and last Friday (June 17) we were presented with Martin Campbell’s “Green Lantern,” which shall be followed by Joe Johnston’s “Captain America: The First Avenger,” released July 22 in the US. It seems you can’t look at your local cinema listings without seeing someone in a cape or a mask or with their skin a funny colour (no racism intended). But what is the history of this genre? Where did it all begin? When did it really become popular? And what is with our current fascination with crime-fighters who have awesome, otherworldly powers?
The words “Liam Neeson” and “badass” go hand in hand like peanut butter and jelly. Neeson is to Ireland what Sean Connery is to Scotland: easily the most badass mofos to come out of their respective states. It would make sense then, that most of Liam’s film roles involve him playing some sort of action hero, whether it be as a Greek God, Lion Christ, or Jedi Knight. Would it surprise you to learn then, that most of Neeson’s “heroic” film roles actually paint him as an evil bastard in disguise?
It must be those evil bastard eyes.
