Transformers Reactions Thread - No spoilers until July 4th

VF5SS · Post by **VF5SS** » 2007-07-21 03:52pm

Wow that's all really fascinating, too bad none of it was actually in the movie.

Davis 51 · Post by **Davis 51** » 2007-07-21 05:51pm

VF5SS wrote:Wow that's all really fascinating, too bad none of it was actually in the movie.

Then you should probably read Ghosts of Yesterday. Not the most stellar writing, but a fairly solid book. Goes into great detail about the robot characterizations.

VF5SS · Post by **VF5SS** » 2007-07-21 06:13pm

Davis 51 wrote: Then you should probably read Ghosts of Yesterday. Not the most stellar writing, but a fairly solid book. Goes into great detail about the robot characterizations.

Uh no. Last time I checked, most movies don't require you to read a book just to get character details. Shouldn't that be in the movie?

Davis 51 · Post by **Davis 51** » 2007-07-21 06:22pm

VF5SS wrote:
Davis 51 wrote: Then you should probably read Ghosts of Yesterday. Not the most stellar writing, but a fairly solid book. Goes into great detail about the robot characterizations.
Uh no. Last time I checked, most movies don't require you to read a book just to get character details. Shouldn't that be in the movie?

The book could probably be it's own movie.

And take that 28 foot pole out of your ass. Geez, this is what I get for suggesting a book that might explain some things.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2007-07-21 06:31pm

While I did enjoy the movie, I do agree that maybe an additional draft or two to the screenplay could have led to some improvement with flow, plot, and characters.

VF5SS · Post by **VF5SS** » 2007-07-21 07:34pm

Davis 51 wrote: The book could probably be it's own movie.

And take that 28 foot pole out of your ass. Geez, this is what I get for suggesting a book that might explain some things. :P

Only when you take off the "OMFG THIS MOVIE WAS AWESOME" glasses :p

Davis 51 · Post by **Davis 51** » 2007-07-21 08:24pm

VF5SS wrote:
Davis 51 wrote: The book could probably be it's own movie.

And take that 28 foot pole out of your ass. Geez, this is what I get for suggesting a book that might explain some things.
Only when you take off the "OMFG THIS MOVIE WAS AWESOME" glasses :p

It was indeed awesome, but not flawless. For example, I still want to know what happened to Barricade, and more Megs-Starscream dialogue wouldn't have hurt. Also, I do agree that the subplots were left a little untidy, but for a first movie, I think it did a very good job.

Now they better have Shockwave and Soundwave in the sequels.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-07-21 08:45pm

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:While I did enjoy the movie, I do agree that maybe an additional draft or two to the screenplay could have led to some improvement with flow, plot, and characters.

There is no worse copout than 'zomg read teh novlz'. Sure, it's Micheal Bay and people expected incoherent, stupid bullshit (ps step into this room marked INCINERATOR it is the weakest incinerator in history). But defending a movie with a threadbare plot by saying 'it's in the novels' is fucking bullshit. The movie could *really* have used less slapstick pratfalling Optimus Prime and more plot and exposition.

Can any *really* take 'my bad' klutz Prime 'find it now RAAAR I care not for detection by local authorities' when he moralises about choice? I fucking can't. Oh wait, it makes sense if you already know who Optimus Prime is and you ignore the forced comedy bullshit!

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2007-07-22 01:48am

Stark wrote:The movie could *really* have used less slapstick pratfalling Optimus Prime and more plot and exposition.

Depends on your target audience. Maybe I'm just not as plugged into the "no-life sci-fi fangeek who desperately wants his favourite form of entertainment to be taken more seriously" demographic as I should be, but I took my wife and kids to see some harmless summer entertainment and they liked the silly humour in the film. Of course, I never jumped onto the "OMG TPM sucked shit because it did not validate my childhood fandom in the eyes of serious filmgoers" bandwagon either, so I assume I'm simply not plugged into the correct zeitgeist. Perhaps you were hoping for something more along the lines of the pomposity of "The Matrix"?

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2007-07-22 02:01am

Giant robots beating the crap out of each other is serious business and should not be taken lightly.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-07-22 02:20am

Darth Wong wrote:Depends on your target audience. Maybe I'm just not as plugged into the "no-life sci-fi fangeek who desperately wants his favourite form of entertainment to be taken more seriously" demographic as I should be, but I took my wife and kids to see some harmless summer entertainment and they liked the silly humour in the film. Of course, I never jumped onto the "OMG TPM sucked shit because it did not validate my childhood fandom in the eyes of serious filmgoers" bandwagon either, so I assume I'm simply not plugged into the correct zeitgeist. Perhaps you were hoping for something more along the lines of the pomposity of "The Matrix"?

I hear you, but this isn't 'zomg they misused my magical friend Prime'. It just doesn't make sense that this 'they deserve the right to choose for themselves' moral guy is also a Three Stooges-style 'whoops stepped on ur fountain sorry lol' guy. Outside any nerd silliness it's weak characterisation. I think it was good that they didn't simply import the old characters: Ironhide being focussed on their mission and not Prime's moral crusade was both refreshing and allowed some useful exposition about Autobot goals. Of course this isn't a problem if it's supposed to be Shrek-level silliness (not that there's anything wrong with that) but the movie seemed pretty earnest.

DPDP wrote:Giant robots beating the crap out of each other is serious business and should not be taken lightly.

Pfft who needs consistent characters when you have teh robotz and teh boobz, am i rite?

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2007-07-22 02:28am

Stark wrote:I hear you, but this isn't 'zomg they misused my magical friend Prime'. It just doesn't make sense that this 'they deserve the right to choose for themselves' moral guy is also a Three Stooges-style 'whoops stepped on ur fountain sorry lol' guy. Outside any nerd silliness it's weak characterisation.

Are you attempting to suggest that someone with strong moral principles cannot possibly destroy a decorative lawn ornament and then (gasp!) shrug it off as an insignificant mistake in the greater scheme of things?

I think it was good that they didn't simply import the old characters: Ironhide being focussed on their mission and not Prime's moral crusade was both refreshing and allowed some useful exposition about Autobot goals. Of course this isn't a problem if it's supposed to be Shrek-level silliness (not that there's anything wrong with that) but the movie seemed pretty earnest.

The film clearly intended to use levity at numerous points.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2007-07-22 02:41am

Darth Wong wrote:Are you attempting to suggest that someone with strong moral principles cannot possibly destroy a decorative lawn ornament and then (gasp!) shrug it off as an insignificant mistake in the greater scheme of things?

No. I'm saying I thought the characterisation was mishandled - 'humour Prime' was right after he was introduced, so we go from 'big quest we're the good guys' to 'zomg hide in the balcony instead of just staying in vehicle mode'.

I felt the whole 'urgently seeking spectacles' scene was pretty poorly handled all round, really: there was obvious urgency, but it was unquestionably played for laughs instead of tension. The changing of gears between this and the later focussed, brutal Prime was pretty jarring for me.

The film clearly intended to use levity at numerous points.

That's really my problem, I guess: the movie switched (in the middle of action, sometimes) between 'humour' and 'earnest'. It's half Shrek and half Bay blockbuster, and I think it would have been better to pick one and stick with it.

DPDarkPrimus · Post by **DPDarkPrimus** » 2007-07-22 03:42am

Stark wrote:
DPDP wrote:Giant robots beating the crap out of each other is serious business and should not be taken lightly.
Pfft who needs consistent characters when you have teh robotz and teh boobz, am i rite?

How were the characters in the film inconsistent?

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2007-07-22 05:07am

I liked the humour, when it worked. The lawn scene didn't bother me at all, since we're not exactly talking about super stealth ninjas here: Prime & co are giant alien robots on an urgent mission. The only bit that fell flat was Bumblebee's "leaking".

What did bother me is that about half the film was spent not being a Transformers movie. What did the hackers add, beyond the completely superfluous radio scene? What did the Sector 7 flunky add? Why spent half an hour setting up a cliché teenage crush subplot when it means you don't have time any more to properly introduce the villains? The idea of Bumblebee helping Sam with his love life is actually a really good one, but the way they handled it was so...dull.

I still think the movie as a whole is good and I'm happy I saw it. It's just that it made a few very easy-to-fix mistakes that would have made it tighter, more fun and less annoying.

Braedley · Post by **Braedley** » 2007-07-22 09:23am

Bounty wrote:What did bother me is that about half the film was spent not being a Transformers movie. What did the hackers add, beyond the completely superfluous radio scene? What did the Sector 7 flunky add? Why spent half an hour setting up a cliché teenage crush subplot when it means you don't have time any more to properly introduce the villains? The idea of Bumblebee helping Sam with his love life is actually a really good one, but the way they handled it was so...dull.

This is the very reason that one of my friends that went to see the movie with me didn't like it. He wanted more robots, less teen drama.

VF5SS · Post by **VF5SS** » 2007-07-22 09:50am

Stark wrote: The movie could *really* have used less slapstick pratfalling Optimus Prime and more plot and exposition.

I think this movie could have used a little less exposition since they essentially repeat the entire setup for the movie at least three times. I know the plot of this movie pretty thin, but I don't need to see Prime's Power Point presentation of Megatron. I also don't think that being a summer blockbuster excuses the bad editing, bloated runtime, and the weird action movie/ kids movie dichotomy. Like, the humor seemed a bit too juvenile (G to PG sorta range) for a movie where a guy gets stabbed by a giant robot scorpion (clearly pretty PG-13 to R). The Phantom Menace is a pretty good movie. Who cares what The Matrix did?

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2007-07-22 09:58am

Just got back from seeing (hooray for Paramount fucking over the UK), and it was, in a word, awesome.

However, I would have liked more exposition e.g. Megs on Cybertron, more Megs and Starscream bickering and Bonecrusher to not bloody suck.

The musical score was great too and stuff like TRANSFORMING NOKIA/XBOX and "I bought a used car that was an alien robot. Who knew?".

Grand Moff Yenchin · Post by **Grand Moff Yenchin** » 2007-07-22 12:14pm

ArmorPierce wrote:The one thing that I don't get by that theory is if that was starscream's intent, why did he fire on the f-22s in the first place?

My biggest problem is that by SoD it is a good idea to think over, but SoD or not we're watching a movie here, by movie logic it seems that they should've at least shown that Starscream kind of gleeing or something more obvious rather than counting fighters to show that he was backstabbing.

ArmorPierce · Post by **ArmorPierce** » 2007-07-22 12:59pm

I actually enjoyed the lawn scene. The part that I found the funniest is when sam said that they had to hide and they turned into vehicles and so there was 4 cars and a truck in his back yard and Same said something like that's not going to work. lol.

Parts that I think that could have been left out, sector 7, particularly the parts with bumblebee "leaking" and the part where it was said that the entire technological advance made in the 20th century was due to the studying of megatron. I found it both cheesy and cheapened there ability to fight back "Oh the only reason they could damage them at all is because they researched their technology"

Post by **K. A. Pital** » 2007-07-22 01:00pm

My girl was literally trembling during Optimus Prime transforming and when Starscream brought down those F-22s, she's a technophile.

Given I'm a technophile too, we were totally blown away... again (we've seen "Transformers" around 5 times by now).

Yeah, more Megatron and Starscream. And give us larger transformers in the next movie.

P.S. Bonecrusher did not suck. It's just that 1 on 1 transfights in this movie are rather short, and they needed to show that Prime totally overpowers a low-rank decepticon just as Megatron easily killed off Jazz.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2007-07-22 03:30pm

True about Bonecrusher, though he needed more screentime. At least he got to flip several cars on the highway, something I'd loved to have seen in a traffic jam outside Birmingham yesterday.

And while Bay hasn't signed on just yet, he has ideas. Namely a Nimitz Transfomer. Yeah, you read that. Maybe Bruticus can stomp all over a city too.

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2007-07-22 04:04pm

Admiral Valdemar wrote:True about Bonecrusher, though he needed more screentime. At least he got to flip several cars on the highway, something I'd loved to have seen in a traffic jam outside Birmingham yesterday.

And while Bay hasn't signed on just yet, he has ideas. Namely a Nimitz Transfomer. Yeah, you read that. Maybe Bruticus can stomp all over a city too.

Broadside!

I wish they had stuck to Brawl for the tank. Imagine Devastator as a real-life construction vehicle gestalt...

Bounty · Post by **Bounty** » 2007-07-22 04:05pm

UBBCode failure. Sorry.

Broadside!

SAMAS · Post by **SAMAS** » 2007-07-22 04:18pm

Tidal Wave!