I saw Transformers on the 4th and walked away disappointed. I thought it started out great, then things fell apart about 30 minutes into the movie. More and more unnecessary characters kept getting added to the crowded cast and what was the deal with the eyeglasses??? I really wanted to like this movie, and although it had some good moments, most of it was a loud, confusing, mess of a movie. Any thoughts?

- JJ
www.hollywood-diecast.com (http://www.hollywood-diecast.com)

ILM's FX provide some nice eye candy, but the "story" is strictly kiddie-fare.
Considering the source material, this should come as no surprise.

Call me an old fuddy-duddy, but I long for the good ol' days when the toys, rides, and video games came after the movie, and not the other way around.

I loved it. Mindless robot mayhem, not mindless sequel mayhem!
Seriously, I got what I wanted out of it. The effects and action were so over the top, I didn't give a hoot about the plot. Wrong movie to see if you're worried about that.
I was grinning in the theater the whole time.

Same here, I thought it was a great time. Not that it was flawless, but the good so overwhelmed the bad that I was very happy in the end.

I loved the movie. And this is comming from a newbie to Transformers. Only thing I didn't like was the "wiz kids" what was that all about? Our government calls in teenagers to help with a virus ???? That was the only part of the movie I didn't like. About the "plot holes", This is a movie about giant robots kicking the crap out of each other. Hot Girl, giant robots, Hot girl.....Who cares about the plot.

Is the robot that turns into a boom box innit? If he ain't I ain't goin'.

Is the robot that turns into a boom box innit? If he ain't I ain't goin'.

Yup. He was kind of annoying though.

- JJ

I thought he was amusing (Frenzy, BTW - they did a good job making his name appropriate to the character). How could you not laugh at him casually walking across an open area holding his hand up next to his face so he wouldn't be recognized?

Yup. He was kind of annoying though.

- JJ

In my opinion he was hilairious, I loved him.

My 13 year old son went to see Transformers a couple of days ago and loved it. It made me remember how I used to love to see Godzilla movies at the theatres when I was young.

I saw Transformers on the 4th and walked away disappointed. ...and what was the deal with the eyeglasses???
Well, if you stayed, you'd know. The glasses actually played a part in the movie as a way that the Decepticons tracked down Sam & that they had a "map" burned into them by Megatron.

Is the robot that turns into a boom box innit? If he ain't I ain't goin'.
Yep, there was a boombox, but it wasn't Soundwave. This was Frenzy, who stayed appropriately the same size & didn't "grow".

I loved the movie. And this is comming from a newbie to Transformers. Only thing I didn't like was the "wiz kids" what was that all about? Our government calls in teenagers to help with a virus ???? That was the only part of the movie I didn't like. About the "plot holes", This is a movie about giant robots kicking the crap out of each other. Hot Girl, giant robots, Hot girl.....Who cares about the plot.
Sounds like you had fun, Chief. We'll have to talk when I get home. (See you Wednesday?) As for the wiz kids, I chalk it up to a "Desperate time, desperate measures" thing.
For me, overall I liked it! I was very happy about Peter Cullen being Optimus' voice. There was only about four things I'd change about the flick:
1) The transformations were slick, though I wish they would have left more of the vehicle shape in their 'bot form.
2) The 'bots fighting was too fast. You couldn't hardly see who was who.
3) Megs should have just been down for the count instead of apparnetly dead.
4) Gimmie time... I'll think of something. :)

But overall, I thought it was a great way to spend 2.5 hours.

Well, you only have 2 nits, cause Megatron ain't dead!!
I agree about the vehicle shapes and the ultra fast action. I've watched the trailer in HD and it clears things up, but only a little!

My wife and I and one of our teenage daughters watched it last night. It was a lot of fun and we all enjoyed it. Not being a fan of the cartoon, I didn't care what parts they got right or wrong. It was a lot of fast action with just enough plot to not totally kill my brain cells. I got what I wanted out of it, which was a fun couple of hours spent in the proximity of my family.

Well, if you stayed, you'd know. The glasses actually played a part in the movie as a way that the Decepticons tracked down Sam & that they had a "map" burned into them by Megatron.

I didn't say I walked out of the movie. I meant I was disappointed as the credits rolled. As for the glasses, I just thought the idea of a map etched on the glasses was a stupid idea.

- JJ

I didn't say I walked out of the movie. I meant I was disappointed as the credits rolled. As for the glasses, I just thought the idea of a map etched on the glasses was a stupid idea.
Walked out, walked away, my bad.

Well, you only have 2 nits, cause Megatron ain't dead!!!
How do you figure that? Usually when the eyes go out, it means they're dead.

How do you figure that? Usually when the eyes go out, it means they're dead.

I think we can assume he's not dead because he was merged with the AllSpark. Based on the conversation among the Autobots early in the movie, they didn't know exactly what would happen if a TF merged with it...they assumed death, but it could just as easily be a temporary stasis lock and reformatting.

I was grinning in the theater the whole time.

Yup yup. Me too. I loved it. Even with my gripes ( yeah there are gripes ) it was a roller coaster I'm riding again. Going back to the cartoon and Robotech, big transforming machinery has had a grip on my imagination that nothing has replaced; and seeing them 'live' action scrapping on the big screen is like a big oily testosterone dream come true. The original toon and Beast Wars/Machines were the top rated shows for teen boys all during their runs; so I expect these movies will be too.

Now for the gripes:
- far too many people and screen time for them
- far too little screen time and story involvement for the bots. Minimal interaction between the Autobots themselves, and with the exception of the couple of seconds between Megatron and Starscream, there was almost no Decepticon interaction at all, much less character development. HUGE mistake ! This story is supposed to be about the transformers - not the stupid humans. The Decepticons mostly were treated like machinery instead of real characters.
- I agree the action was too fast and blurry. Did anyone else notice how horrible the film quality was? Particularly noticeable during the scenes inside Sam's house when the bots were 'hiding' outside. The film was so terribly grainy it took our attention away from the actors.
- terrible, terrible cheat not allowing Megatron to even be a part of the film til the last 30 minutes !!
- so what exactly is the All Spark ? Is it the Matrix ? If so, yet another horrible mistake merging it with Megatron instead of Optimus. And still a mistake if it wasn't the Matrix. Merging it with Optimus would have opened the door for the possible restoration of Cybertron. Instead all we got was a seemingly 'dead' Megatron ( might he return as Galvatron ? ) and the possibility of a possibility for Cybertron's restoration with that shard. Where the heck is Benson Yee ? ( look him up )
- biggest gripe - stereotypical trite Spielberg cast. Smarta** kids who save the world, moronic adults, and evil yet moronic government types. Enough already ! Get the humans out of it completely ! I paid to see big bots kicking hiney, not the stupid mother talking about what Sam does in his privacy ! Did she even have a name ? Did any of the humans besides Sam have names ? To me, the fact that I have no idea what their names were demonstrates how little I cared about them. And if you had an artifact that huge robots were fighting over, would you really choose to try and hide it in a city full of people ?!? And how in the heck did they really expect Sam to get away with the cube in a helicopter when Megatron and Starscream were both very fast fliers ?

Did everybody stay for the credits - the last scene with Starscream in particular ?

Megatron DEAD!!??
Didn't you guys ever see the Terminator?

Cheesy but fun. I loved it and had a grin from ear to ear the entire time. One of my favorite parts was "To punish and enslave." Now, if I can only make my Mustang or Honda transform into a giant robot.

My only thought on the humans: words like "Megratron" and "Autobots" sound really cheesy when spoken by them....

Did they imply Meg and OP were brothers? I don't remember that from the cartoon. Or did they mean "brother" in the "brotherhood of robotkind" sense and not in the literal sibling sense?

And where the heck is Soundwave?

Brothers, in that they were all part of the "spark".

And where the heck is Soundwave?
Not enough budget for him! :lol:

I think that Frenzy turning into a boombox was a bit of an homage to Soundwave & the old series. But seriously, a 30 foot 'bot coming out of a boombox? No way anyone would buy it these days.

Incidently, here's something for everyone to think about. In the new issue of Wired magazine (with a bitchin' pic of Op on the cover!), the article states that ILM's computers were maxed out on this flick, operating at about 75 teraquads (yes, I said teraquads!) of space with each frame that contained multiple robots taking up to 38 hours to render.

Each.

Frame.

24 frames = 1 second.


:eek:

Frenzy was one of Soundwave's cassettes in G1.

Not enough budget for him! :lol:

I think that Frenzy turning into a boombox was a bit of an homage to Soundwave & the old series. But seriously, a 30 foot 'bot coming out of a boombox? No way anyone would buy it these days.

True, but just like Megs didn't turn into a Walther P38, they could have made Soundwave a different vehicle, like an AWACS or something. If anything, Soundwave as an AWACS attacking the Qatar base would have been more fitting than Scorponok hacking their computer systems. Just sayin'...

Indeed. With the names & vehicle variety, they could have well done anything!

first, let me say I loved this movie. of all of the summer blockbusters, it's the only one I've seen more than once.

if they had to tinker with the history to make it more believable for today's audience, then what they did wasn't too drastic.

I did miss one element and that was common to most of the earlier generations and that was that the autobots (and the decepticons, too I guess) had their earthly forms picked out for them by the ark's and Nemesis' computers.

giving the robots the ability to pick their own forms, instead of having to live with what they were dealt does take away some potential vulnerabilities. It's what I always like about Megatron was that basically he was a gun who had to be used by someone else. If he had the choice, he would have made himself a bigger, faster jet than Starscream.

and why wouldn't the Autobots also be jets? (I know they got some later on..) It does explain how they could fix their own dents and paintjobs and maybe "update" themselves for the new model year, but I would have liked to see them "stuck" with forms that maybe they didn't prefer.

my 2 energon chips.

Well, I went in not expecting an Academy quality movie. I got out of it what I wanted. From the first moment that OP spoke, I was transported back to the first time I saw the G1 cartoon. I LOVED IT!

Yeah it had too many characters.
Yeah, the Transformers should have had more screen/character time.
BUT I LOVED IT.

My wife on the other hand. Not so much. :rolleyes:

Can't wait to see what they do next.

j

I saw it yesterday. I had a great time, what more can you ask for from a Summer Blockbuster?

'nuff said.

Saw it yesterday and enjoyed it. There was a preview prior to the main feature that had no title. It started with a guy at a party, then there are these weird sounds eminating from outside then several explosions. Anyone have any info on this film other than the write-up in USA Today?

I saw that too. I read there's another americanized Godzilla flick in the works. Trailer reminded me of Godzilla, cuz whatever it is it's big and loud and ripped the head off the Statue of Liberty and tossed it a couple miles...

Trailer reminded me of Godzilla, cuz whatever it is it's big and loud and ripped the head off the Statue of Liberty and tossed it a couple miles...

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/11808/large.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloverfield

Saw it yesterday and enjoyed it. There was a preview prior to the main feature that had no title. It started with a guy at a party, then there are these weird sounds eminating from outside then several explosions. Anyone have any info on this film other than the write-up in USA Today?


I did some research today. It is an untitled film that JJ Abrahms is associated with tentatively called "Cloverfield".
30mil budget. It is a monster movie, but little else is known. I have been damn near obsessed with finding out about this one. Looks awesome.

j

Anybody else notice Nokiabot was based on Unicron ?

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i117/RonH_photos/unicron.jpg

I did some research today. It is an untitled film that JJ Abrahms is associated with tentatively called "Cloverfield".
30mil budget. It is a monster movie, but little else is known. I have been damn near obsessed with finding out about this one.

Rumor has it this is Abram's take on Lovecraft.

Let's hope the movie is as creative as its ad campaign.

Anybody else notice Nokiabot was based on Unicron ?
I doubt it ...
they're saving Unicloud for the sequel!

Heck they could of made Soundwave an IPOD. As for Cloverfield if it is another Godzilla movie the trailer reminds me of the guy fishing and the dock getting torn up. Remember everone wanted to see pics of Godzilla then too.

Heck they could of made Soundwave an IPOD.

Hmmm...

http://www.hlj.com/product/TKT7X-01

and

http://www.hlj.com/product/TKT76743

Hmmm...

http://www.hlj.com/product/TKT7X-01

and

http://www.hlj.com/product/TKT76743

Yeah, how cool are those? My wife is thinking about getting an iPod, so this would be a perfect time for me to get a Convoy dock :thumbsup:

too long. sfx great. fight scenes shot too close
over all, enjoyable

I might be showing my age here or something and I don't know about the performance / safety / "greeness" / etc side of things, but I thought Bumble Bee as the older beat up car looked better than the shiny new one.

The only problem I have with the action scenes was I couldn't always tell who was the Decepticon and wh the Autobot. Jazz didn't last long, but didn't realise it was Jazz until the end of the show.