Transformers Reactions Thread - No spoilers until July 4th

[NeoGoomba]

I meant was THAT was why people loved Optimus in the movie. He did what everyone expected of him, the same thing he's done for 20 years. Why rock the boat?

[VF5SS]

I just found the delivery to be so forced and awkward. Like somehow I found Peter Cullen's performance to be more wooden and empty then when he played Optimus twenty some odd years ago. Especially when they had him move into "FANBOY PLEASE LINE NUMBER #5" during some general conversation. Like, "At end of the day Megatron (big pause and total change in inflection) One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall (TM)." Granted, Peter Cullen does a lot of narration for commercials these days so maybe he's not used to regular shit anymore.

[NeoGoomba]

I just found the delivery to be so forced and awkward. Like somehow I found Peter Cullen's performance to be more wooden and empty then when he played Optimus twenty some odd years ago. Especially when they had him move into "FANBOY PLEASE LINE NUMBER #5" during some general conversation. Like, "At end of the day Megatron (big pause and total change in inflection) One Shall Stand, One Shall Fall (TM)." Granted, Peter Cullen does a lot of narration for commercials these days so maybe he's not used to regular shit anymore.

...aww I actually liked that line

[VF5SS]

Well there's no accounting for taste in good movies as this thread has clearly illustrated. Haha.

[NeoGoomba]

Oh...oh yeah? Well, no YOU suck!

[Starglider]

Here are some Rotten Tomatoes ratings (top critics/all critics):

Flushed Away : 75%
Matrix Reloaded : 74%
The Core : 71% / 42%
The Fantastic Four 2 : 55% / 37%
Spiderman 3 : 50% / 63%
Transformers : 43% / 57%
Matrix Revolutions : 37%
Armageddon : 20% / 41%

I confess to being somewhat surprised The Core did so well. However Leena has her own spin on these ratings: 'I would happily watch The Core again if it could ensure that there was no chance of me being ever being exposed to Transformers again'

[Davis 51]

I remember Tim Buckley, the creator of the Ctrl+Alt+Del webcomic, reviewed it. His major complaint was that they were fighting over "a giant sparkplug". I don't think he read quite into the story. He also thought that the robots were too detailed. He said that it was hard to follow everything on screen because there was so much moving in any scene.

Yet Tim Buckley still thought it was a fun movie worth watching. what you said is what he thought BEFORE seeing the movie. Here's the original post by him:

Oh, that's about as much as meets the eye

Man, everyone has been telling me that Transformers is actually a decent movie.

Are you kidding me? Is that even possible? I mean, I really don't have much of a problem with studios changing the appearance of existing brands for movies. I didn't mind the X-men movie costumes, etc. I understand that sometimes things that work in comic books or cartoons just don't work in live-action movies. I'm fine with some changes. If I wanted to see exactly what I see in the comic books anyway, I'd just go read the comic books.

So while I thought the original Transformers designs were great, I don't mind that they changed them. What I do mind is that, from the trailers and promos that I've seen, they all look really ugly now. To me, anyway. It's like there's too much going on there. They're too alien, too busy.

And why do they come to earth? They're chasing some giant spark plug? C'mon guys, just take a trip down to your local AutoZone. You can't tell me Cybertron, a planet full of robots, doesn't have some stores to provide this kind of stuff. Yes, I'm exaggerating, but still.

Yet I've heard good things. So while I had originally intended to see the movie just for kicks, who knows. Maybe I'll enjoy it.

Two days later, he posted this:

I stand corrected

I saw Transformers yesterday. It was very entertaining. The action was great, the humor was actually really funny.

It was a nice surprise.

He went into more detail the next day.

As I mentioned, I did see Transformers over the weekend, and I enjoyed it. Now don't get me wrong, it wasn't really a good movie. But there is a difference between good and entertaining. A movie can be entertaining without really being good.

I still have a problem with the character models. Because while they were not completely atrocious, they were still really complex and busy. So during one of the really cool action scenes, you'd see metal limbs and whatnot flying around, and it was really distracting to the eye. You didn't know what was a leg, an arm, it was all just little gears and wires and complex parts. I understand that maybe the original cartoon/toy designs were too plain for CGI, but I think the movie designs could have used with a bit more armor plating. Just to simplify them a tad, and make overall robot less busy. You want to be looking at the robot as a whole, as a figure, not as a jumble of mechanical parts.

But the action was good, and the humor was surprisingly funny. The movie had a couple of cheesy lines, but most of the one-liners were delivered well and you weren't slapped in the face with them. I could have done without hearing Optimus Prime say"My bad", but lines like that were in the minority.

I would recommend, if you want to catch a movie some afternoon, seeing Transformers. It is an enjoyable 2.5 hours.

Also, Starglider, Rotten Tomatoes can suck on my balls.

[chitoryu12]

I stand corrected on the giant sparkplug, but he still holds generally the same opinion on the models.

[SylasGaunt]

I confess to being somewhat surprised The Core did so well. However Leena has her own spin on these ratings: 'I would happily watch The Core again if it could ensure that there was no chance of me being ever being exposed to Transformers again'

The fact that the Core is rated that high is enough to remind me of why I don't pay all that much attention to Rotten Tomatoes anymore.

[Darth Wong]

Rotten Tomatoes: because you can't trust the opinion of any given well-known critic, but for some reason, you can trust the cumulative herd-mentality opinion of dozens of obscure critics.

[Darth Wong]

Optimus got punked by Megatron and spends all his time spouting retarded wannabe philosophy about the goodness of man. Plus his design looked like shit. So how does he save this crappy movie again?

Because he's cool and fun. Just like the movie is cool and fun. Sorry it didn't live up to your oh-so-discerning hardcore sci-fi fangeek standards. On the way out of the theatre, Rebecca said "It would be so cool to have your own pet transformer, like Bumblebee". That's the appeal of the film right there.

[Ted C]

Because he's cool and fun. Just like the movie is cool and fun. Sorry it didn't live up to your oh-so-discerning hardcore sci-fi fangeek standards. On the way out of the theatre, Rebecca said "It would be so cool to have your own pet transformer, like Bumblebee". That's the appeal of the film right there.

And suddenly Mike starts considering a Camaro (if only briefly).

[VF5SS]

Boohoo people didn't like our shitty movie clearly they must be wrong. I've heard the Core is no cinematic masterpiece, but I've heard it had some fun parts. Transformers seemed to be devoid of any fun parts. And I don't think it was just me who found it to be lacking in good humor, for the most part the theater I was saw it in was silent with the occasional chuckle. Totally anecdotal, so take it for what's it worth. As my partner in podcasting said, "Seriously, this movie lacks the charm and finesse of Independence Day," and I totally agree. Independence Day is a better dumb action movie because at least it's fun and has better plotting. When you can't even jump the bar set up by Independence Day, you're hurting.

[VF5SS]

Because he's cool and fun. Just like the movie is cool and fun. Sorry it didn't live up to your oh-so-discerning hardcore sci-fi fangeek standards. On the way out of the theatre, Rebecca said "It would be so cool to have your own pet transformer, like Bumblebee". That's the appeal of the film right there.

Hey now, my standards for giant robot movies starts at Robot Jox so I don't think I'm that bad. Haha. Frankly I liked the parts with Bumblebee. Like when he started talking to Sam through the radio and clapped when the kids were starting to understand him. Or at the end when he started talking and said he wanted to stay with Sam.

[Mr. T]

My Review:

Was a late-comer to seeing this movie, meant to see it last week but some factors meant my girlfriend and I got to the theatre too late to see it so I saw it yesterday.

Anyways, wow, big surprise. I should state up front that I was never a Transformers fanboy, I had one or two toys of the Transformers as a child and I was vaguely familiar with who "Optimus Prime" was, other then that I knew nothing.

This movie managed a difficult feat in todays Hollywood. It managed to be both an action film and a comedy and genuinely succeeded at doing both. It was enjoyable from finish to end, developed all its characters really well (no small feat, seeing how many characters their actually are) and intertwined all the elements of the story to make it both a personal story and one that had an "epic" scope. This was the biggest question mark for me as to whether or not this film would do well. Before going in to the theatre, the one scene of Transformers I'd seen on TV made it seem like a bit of a ridiculous "Lolz the kid is hiding a big robot in the backyard" and I thought, how the hell are they going to do justice to the awesomeness of the Transformers by making it like this? Well I had my answer by the end of the movie.

A great thing about this film is that it recognizes how ridiculous the idea of giant robots that transform in to cars is, and it uses it to great effect when it plays up the ridiculousness of giant robots in wonderful scenes such as the "Giant robots hiding from mom" scene. It was really refreshing to see them make use of the comedic potential of these robots rather then just making it a "badass robots come to Earth and kick ass" movie.

I was very impressed with the acting that I saw. Another uncertainty I had about this movie was Shia Labeouf. I'd watched him years ago on the Disney channel show "Even Stevens" (one of the very few watchable "family" shows on that channel) and thought he was a great comedic actor with very good timing, facial expressions even then. But I thought lately this hasn't translated very well as he's grown up, not to mention it might not work for the big screen. Well, I'm pleased to say that I thought he was absolutely great in the movie. He carried the lead actor role very well, his amazing timing and his ability to play an "awkward but really likeable" kid was something to behold. Even his action scenes were well done. This might have been a fluke or this guy might be someone to watch.

The robots themselves were really well done, effects were amazing. Myself and others in the audience really did empathize with the CGI characters which is not an easy thing for a film maker to make an audience do (see Jar-Jar Binks). Fight scenes were terrific. The girl in the movie was SMOKIN' HOT theirs something for everyone to love in this movie.

Moreover, my girlfriend liked the movie. The film makers took what should have been one of the most girl repellent movie plots in the world (Robots kicking eachothers ass) and turned it in to a movie that just about every single girl I've talked to has loved.

Was their anything bad? Well, the "gangsta-talking" robot didn't really do it for me. It was obviously meant to be funny but somewhat missed the mark for me. Their might have been a few other nitpicks I had but I can't think of anything else right now.

To sum up; I highly recommend this movie to anyone, young or old, male or female. It is pure awesomenesss [/i]

[DPDarkPrimus]

Starglider listens to what Tim Buckley says, which is basically a warning to the rest of us to ignore him.

[Spanky The Dolphin]

Was their anything bad? Well, the "gangsta-talking" robot didn't really do it for me. It was obviously meant to be funny but somewhat missed the mark for me.

Jazz more or less talked jive in the original cartoon, so for the movie they merely updated him.

[Starglider]

Starglider listens to what Tim Buckley says

You're getting me confused with Davis 51. I'm not a Ctrl+Alt+Del fan (in fact I had to Google to find out who the fuck you're on about), he apparently is.

[Davis 51]

Correction: I listen. I don't agree blindly. He makes a fucking funny webcomic, and that's about as far as it goes. I only brought it up because he was against this film from the start but came around eventually.

[Davis 51]

Also, I was talking about TF07 with my brother, and we have both decided to see it again, only this time we are going to pay very close attention to the F22 fights to see if Starscream really was taking potshots at the big Megs.

[Darth Servo]

Also, I was talking about TF07 with my brother, and we have both decided to see it again, only this time we are going to pay very close attention to the F22 fights to see if Starscream really was taking potshots at the big Megs.

Thats what getting the DVD is for in a few months.

[Davis 51]

Also, I was talking about TF07 with my brother, and we have both decided to see it again, only this time we are going to pay very close attention to the F22 fights to see if Starscream really was taking potshots at the big Megs.

Thats what getting the DVD is for in a few months.

But why wait to see it on my kickin' 50 inch screen when I can see it again on a 50ft screen.

[Darth Servo]

Also, I was talking about TF07 with my brother, and we have both decided to see it again, only this time we are going to pay very close attention to the F22 fights to see if Starscream really was taking potshots at the big Megs.

Thats what getting the DVD is for in a few months.

But why wait to see it on my kickin' 50 inch screen when I can see it again on a 50ft screen.

Well sure, I'm not saying "don't see it again". I plan on seeing it a few more times myself. (note that Best Buy has a "buy a DVD from this shelf, get $5 towards TF movie admission" promotion). I'm just saying you'll probably be able to make the determination of Screamer taking shots at Megs a lot easier when you can hit "pause"

[Davis 51]

Well sure, I'm not saying "don't see it again". I plan on seeing it a few more times myself. (note that Best Buy has a "buy a DVD from this shelf, get $5 towards TF movie admission" promotion). I'm just saying you'll probably be able to make the determination of Screamer taking shots at Megs a lot easier when you can hit "pause"

Well, yea, but it's another thing to watch out for. I get what you are saying though.

[Fingolfin_Noldor]

I watched the show, and if there's one thing I did not like, was the heavy involvement of the humans. It led to a very "meh" ending.

That aside, for a Transformer movie, there was wayyy too little action and pyrotechnics. The robots were rendered well enough, but seriously, there wasn't enough kick ass action, and laser bolts flying.