[Marshmallow]

Ok, so like, the first half of this movie is basically The Love Bug, but Herbie can also turn into a big robot and beat up other robots? And then the second half was about the boring American government doing a bunch of shit I don't care about, oh and also we get to see big robots everynow and then. Then they have a big, long, dissapointing fight at the end of the movie and the shitty kid saves the day instead of the transformers like they should.

Colour me DISSAPOINTED.

I really wanted to enjoy this move, and I'm great at enjoying dumb action movies, but fuck. What a missed opportunity. I wanted to see transformers, not the fucking love bug.

[another god]

Dear Select Button,

Unlike pretty much everyone else in the world, you will not like the Transformers movie. Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Me
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interdimensional

[rf]

[Marshmallow]

Pretty much, yeah. Also, pretty much the rest of the world are idiots, unlike SB.

[Toptube]

[Hot Stott Bot]

[PianoMap]

Just saw it.

...

I will say this: It's Michael Bay's best movie.


...take that as you will.
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[Kipple]

[Renfrew]

It was alright. Some thoughts:

Rocket Jump- LOL

Jazz dieing- NNNNNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Optimus cutting that Decepticreep's head off- Priceless

The lack of anyone calling anyone a Decepticreep- dissappointing

Ironhide not saying anything about busting any deceptichops- disturbing

Shaya LeBeouf killing Megatron- NOT IN MY TRANSFORMERS MOVIE

Optimus being completely pathetic when fighting Megatron- lol wut?

I think that there should have been more Autobots. Everything was so lopsided during the big fight. They even had to just pretend that the police car Decepticon never existed, just to try and even the numbers up a little. Did anyone else notice his vanishing act? Also: why did almost all the Decepticons have to die? When do all the bad guys ever die?
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[PianoMap]

[Renfrew]

ALSO: I noticed that at least three times day turned into night very, very quickly.
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[Baron Patsy]

[Hot Stott Bot]

[kazuo]

[scratchmonkey]

I'm going to use this thread to tell the greatest Transformers-related anectode ever:

So, Co-Worker #1 (who happens to be African-American, as the kids say) and Co-Worker #2 (whose father is a white Englishman) are discussing Transformers the Movie (the original).

Co-Worker #1: And did you notice that they kill off all the black Transformers? (Note: as has been stated earlier, this is not true)

Co-Worker #2: Wait, how can Transformers be black? They're giant robots!

Co-Worker #1: You just listen to them, man! C'mon, don't tell me that [list of Transformers who are black here] don't sound like black people!

Me: Wait, those are all Autobots. Are none of the Decepticons black?

Co-Worker #1: I guess not. Although Megatron definitely has negro tendencies.

...

Also, I'm not going to pay money to see this because I don't like Michael Bay movies, even The Rock. Sorry and feel free to wedge this into the "SB doesn't like fun and fun things are rad" box that seems to get dragged out everytime somebody might have differing opinions on whether they enjoyed something or not.

[Hot Stott Bot]

Transformers was more in the direction of Bad Boys II-style Bay than The Rock-style Bay.

[Felix]

[Westacular]

[Westacular]

People trying to say that SB is the exclusive fun-hating minority here aren't paying much attention.

Skimming places like rotten tomatoes, it becomes pretty clear that there's basically just two reviews for this movie:

Review 1 (a.k.a. the positive review): "The plot is confusing and full of holes, but the action and special effects make it an amazing spectacle that's a lot of fun. A lot of the jokes misfire, but there's enough that work to make it enjoyable."

Or simply: "Chaotic but fun."

Review 2 (a.k.a. the negative review): "The plot is utter nonsense and the special effects, while well produced, are undermined by Bay's need to edit every action sequence into a seizure-inducing, rapid-fire sequence of poorly framed extreme closeups. The incessant attempts at comic relief fail both because they aren't actually humourous, and because the movie never actually creates tension to relieve."

Or simply: "Too chaotic to be fun."

There's pretty much no one arguing that the plot in the second half actually makes any sense, that the dialog isn't largely rotten, or that the production quality of the special effects aren't top-notch. The areas of contention boil down to whether the action is comprehensible and whether the humour is passable.

Rotten Tomatoes currently shows that high-profile ("cream of the crop") reviewers are 72% positive while the rest of the reviews are only 52% positive. Interesting: experienced film critics are less bothered by the faults.

[Marshmallow]

I saw it again with some other friends, since I wasn't gonna pay and it might be more fun with these guys.

I enjoyed it more this time. I actually quite like the humour, but it's true that it could have been used better to relieve tension at points. Anyway, still not enough transformers, and they needed way more depth. It all feels very shallow. I'm kinda hoping they make a sequel that actually give all the transformers some actual personality and depth.

Also, don't you think it would be cooler if megatron talked in cyberlanguage the whole time until optimus is like Megatron! and then he'd like turn around and say his first english word.... PRIIIMMEEEE!!!! that would be so badass, they should just let me direct this movie.

[PianoMap]

[Westacular]

Cycle: Yeah, that would be badass.

I'm pretty much in the same boat: I'm curious it I'd enjoy it somewhat more on a second viewing, but I'm refusing to pay to see it a second time on principle. Really I just want to watch that action at the end to see if I can make sense of it when I'm more alert and know what to expect.

I too am hopeful that a sequel will give some depth and screentime to the robots. The big-picture backstory to the film is OK (what little there is of it); I've no problem with them building on that further. With a sequel they'll be forced to focus more on the robots, because that's the only story that will make sense, that's the only way they can outdo the original (always mandatory for a sequel) and because that's what everyone who's watched the movie are asking for.

With any luck we might even get a film where the shooting script wasn't painfully rushed and (if we're really lucky) the director has the patience to tell a story. (That last part is probably asking too much.)
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Wii: 8631 7977 8603 8071

[Marshmallow]

[Ebrey]

My brothers, deep characters were totally unnecessary to this movie. Most of the cast were either recognizable robots or recognizable actors who instantly established a connection with the audience. It was brilliant to cast great actors who are as washed up as the franchise itself, like Voight and Turturro. The only valid complaint is that a few of the human characters were unnecessary (we could have had one analyst rather than 3 analysts and Arthur Anderson).

It would be a tragedy if the sequel isn't directed by Bay.

[Marshmallow]

Actually, I didn't see much of Transformers as a child, so I didn't make a connection with many of the robots. And I was dissapointed with the ones I *did* recognise. A movie can't survive on nostalga alone!

[DonMarco]

[another god]

[Renfrew]

What always interested me was that the Transformers crash landed on Earth millions of years ago, woke, up, and immediately just started fighting again, paying as little attention as possible to the fact that they were on an alien world inhabited by little people.
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[negativedge]

I quite seriously have no idea how anyone could enjoy this movie on any level.

[chevluh]

[Hot Stott Bot]

[another god]

[Axelay 2]

So my friend convinced me to see the movie...

I will say the designs of the robots did grow on me and for the most part, I think they worked well. Having Cullen as Prime was good too.

But I think this is the kind of movie the general population can enjoy if you just want to see a dumb popcorn movie and/or haven't graduated high school yet and/or don't know anything about Transformers. Er, I'm not trying to insult anyone here, it's just a general statement.

That being said, it's just another uninspired example of tired Hollywood formulas being repeated again for the umpteenth time.

Even as an action film, the Transformers did practically nothing for the first 2 hours involving Transformers (there was only one brief robot on robot fight during that time).

And I really don't know how anyone can say they grasped exactly what was going on in the last 20 minutes of fighting, because aside from readily identifiable characters like Prime, Megatron, BB, and Starscream, it's almost impossible to be able to tell who's doing what to who because we don't know half of the Decepticons and Bay didn't seem confident enough to hold a single cut for more than 3 seconds 95% of the time. It was a total mess.

No one's gonna change their opinion of the film, I know, but I really would hope people would want a little more. If not comprehensible action sequences, at least a slightly better back story, and black characters who aren't semi-offensive (or just offensive) stereotypes. And would it be nitpicking to say, it's just lazy to make creatures that live on a planet with no atmosphere and travel through space (we even see Starscream) be vulnerable to freezing?

[showka]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akNJ6S2UqsE

[CubaLibre]

I don't really understand these complaints about "hey there is not enough Transformers in my Transformers movie."

Nigga no one cares about the Transformers. No one cares about giant living robots engaged in intergalactic civil war. They care about kids in high school who look sort of like them, when they were in high school. They also care about shit blowing up. So, when shit has to blow up, the Transformers are around to do the job. Otherwise we're gonna watch high school kids.

This is an ENDURING PRINCIPLE OF HOLLYWOOD MOVIES. It has always been this way and will always this way, because regular (read: most) people care about other people more than any science fiction you care to create.
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Let's Play, starring me.

[another god]

Haha, nerds
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interdimensional

[boojiboy7]

[haze]

I can see how lots of normal non-scifi-fans will love it, my mom sure did (I'm not a Transformers fan, though I felt ashamed for the first half of the movie, wondering if I had made a mistake) but it seems odd that so many geeky types on the internet have consistently been calling this the BEST MOVIE EVER.

heh it's pretty good but not that great. outside of this SB thread, and the reviews, it looks to me this movie's getting just a tad overrated.


okay I'll never get any attention without being controversial. THIS MOVIE SUCKED!! BUT YOU'RE A FUN-HATING LOSER IF YOU HATED IT!!

[showka]

[negativedge]

[boojiboy7]