Transformers Reviews and Opinions

Lionheart · July 04, 2007, 06:26:02 PM

Quote from: ips on July 04, 2007, 09:21:11 AM
personally, when i become a parent i'll be a lot more willing to expose my kids to issues of sexuality then violence.

i don't understand the concern of sexual innuendo jokes, but lack of concern of people getting killed in various messy ways or robots destroying eachother.

for the record... there is sexual innuendo but no more than you would expect from a story centered around a 17yo teenage boy trying to fit in in highschool. that's what this movie is really about... spike's life - it just happens to get sidetracked when a series of unusual events occur.

Don't get me wrong. Over-the-top, graphic, gratuitous violence doesn't appear in my house either. But at least a certain level of violence can be used to illustrate the battle between good and evil and can show the nobleness of those who fight to protect others. Raunchiness illustrates, well, raunchiness. No redeeming value at all.

Buy I don't want to get into political, politically correct, or other related debates. Just stating an opinion. Stated and done. :)

Pyroclasm · July 04, 2007, 07:43:41 PM

Just got back from seeing it. It was just awesome. The audience I was with thought the same. It seemed everyone laughed & cheered at all the right spots. I will try and see it again on the big screen. That's something I've never done for any movie. Here's waiting for TF2 in another couple of years!

The Pwime · July 04, 2007, 07:57:01 PM

Quote from: Pyroclasm on July 04, 2007, 07:43:41 PM
Just got back from seeing it. It was just awesome. The audience I was with thought the same. It seemed everyone laughed & cheered at all the right spots. I will try and see it again on the big screen. That's something I've never done for any movie. Here's waiting for TF2 in another couple of years!

Agreed, it was plain awesome. I can't wait to see it again. :D

BatWing · July 04, 2007, 08:00:03 PM

its a shame that jazz died even tho i hardly knew him
can't wait for the sequeL!

The Pwime · July 04, 2007, 08:24:03 PM

jazz was portrayed poorly, and did NOTHING anyways, so...meh. :P

MJB · July 04, 2007, 09:26:45 PM

Saw it. Loved it. Go see it.

-MJB

crimsonquill · July 04, 2007, 09:32:09 PM

I saw it today along with Die Hard 4 as a double feature.... 4th Of July needs lots to action and fireworks so these films sure fit the bill.

Transformers was fantastic in my book and very much the reboot required for stepping away from the '80s animated series but modernizing it at the same time. I was quite happy with Optimus Prime even with the flame paint job once I noticed that a mouth-guard appeared during the combat scenes.. because even with them (ILM) needing his mouth for dialogue matching and emotional expressions they did find ways to keep his classic face in the battle scenes. Sure the plot was very thin and they had to focus on Sam more then the robots.. still not sure why though.. must be hard for the "typical" movie goer to relate with cars that emote (Pixar's Cars anyone?) The addition of the soldiers as main characters was quite nice because I was hoping that they would end up taking over Sector 7 and form the Autobot Earth Defence Force in further sequels. I still have no idea what the whole hacker side story was for when they could have just stuck with a few characters discovering the code and have a cameo appearance by Chip Chase as a uber hacker (could have been fun quip on the modern Hacker community). Once the action really started everything else was just put aside from that point and became an eye candy scene after eye candy scene. Once I finally got to take a breath at the end it was just disappointing that after a few hours you just wanted the film to keep going. I'm definitly going to be first in line for the sequels yet to come just to see what characters they bring on screen next.

I also picked up the PC version of the Transformers Movie game which really expands on the film even further (including a few classic characters added just for the game - including Arcee as a motorcycle) but also having Frank Welker doing the voice of Megatron in the game just makes me realize how much I missed it in the movie itself.

- CrimsonQuill

Note: VPMax fans rejoice the PC game allows me to access the voices in the game to use for future packs if anyone is interested in using them.

Night Dragon · July 04, 2007, 10:58:29 PM

Quote from: crimsonquill on July 04, 2007, 09:32:09 PM
I also picked up the PC version of the Transformers Movie game which really expands on the film even further (including a few classic characters added just for the game - including Arcee as a motorcycle) but also having Frank Welker doing the voice of Megatron in the game just makes me realize how much I missed it in the movie itself.

I got two questions on the movie that CQ made me think about.

~ How well does Hugo Weaving do voicing Megatron?

~ Does Bumblebee get his voice back in the movie?

Verfall · July 04, 2007, 11:09:30 PM

Quote from: Night Dragon on July 04, 2007, 10:58:29 PM
Quote from: crimsonquill on July 04, 2007, 09:32:09 PM
I also picked up the PC version of the Transformers Movie game which really expands on the film even further (including a few classic characters added just for the game - including Arcee as a motorcycle) but also having Frank Welker doing the voice of Megatron in the game just makes me realize how much I missed it in the movie itself.

I got two questions on the movie that CQ made me think about.

~ How well does Hugo Weaving do voicing Megatron?

~ Does Bumblebee get his voice back in the movie?

You can't even tell it's him. Alot of people think they took welker's and his voice and combined em together. Let's just say, it's perfect for the version of megs they have.

And yah, B get's his voice back at the end, but it's "hoarse" to some degree.

Mr. Hamrick · July 05, 2007, 03:47:38 AM

i think Bumble started to get his voice back after he fell on the powerlines but not sure at one point he did for good

detourne_me · July 05, 2007, 05:23:39 AM

the game is pretty good too, i just started playing it, and its seems to runs a bit better than spidey 3. my pc is getting old :(

captainspud · July 05, 2007, 05:09:21 PM

I liked it. It's the stupidest movie I've seen in a long, long time, but as I've been saying for a while-- if there's one movie Michael Bay can do right, it's Transformers. :)

XStream · July 05, 2007, 08:32:05 PM

I saw the movie on July 4t and totally Loved It! My wife wasn't all that excited about going, but after the movie she said that she really enjoyed it. I thought that the CG was great, I thought the actors did fairly good jobs, and the cheese was humorous. I hated the whole "mouth-thing" on Prime, but I got over it quick. The movie will definately support a couple of sequels (those who left the theatre early, Starscream escapes into space). Characterization might have been rushed (or none), but it introduced movie-goers to a whole new franchise of Transformers. Megatron was fantastic in my opinion. I was impressed with the voice actor. He was as evil as the original, and was definately feared by the Autobots.

I too was hoping for something that didn't toe the line of sexually crude humor... but I guess they felt that the audience needed it. I was hoping for something that I could take some of my younger nephews to, but I wouldn't feel comfortable with taking them. And I was kinda caught off gaurd when people in the theatre laughed when Megs flicked the man.

Overall I loved the movie. It met and exceeded MOST of my expectations.

One question: :spoiler:

What happened to Barricade? My wife says that he was taken-out early in the interstate scene? I didn't notice this happen...

Pyroclasm · July 06, 2007, 03:38:26 AM

Quote from: XStream on July 05, 2007, 08:32:05 PM
One question: :spoiler:

What happened to Barricade? My wife says that he was taken-out early in the interstate scene? I didn't notice this happen...[/color][/b]

[spoiler]They didn't show what happened to him. Bonecrusher pushed himself in front of Barricade during the highway scene, and then encountered Prime. Barricade's role in the movie just ended. There has been speculation on the Transformers boards that he and Bonecrusher both fought Prime, but that Barricade's scene was simply cut. This is backed up by the novelization, Prime's lateness to the main battle, and Barricade's door which could be seen when they are dumping the dead chassis in the trench. Unless they add his scene back in the DVD (Hopefully along with correcting the "Devastator" typo.), it would leave him open for return. Then again, when I saw where they were choosing to get rid of the bodies, the thought of Megatron building his underwater base (as in G1) immediately sprang to mind. Oh, and about Starscream, according to his toy's repaint bio, he flies into the upper atmosphere to remain hidden for now. If you recall, TFs can only be picked up on radar if they wish to be.[/spoiler]

Ajax · July 06, 2007, 07:56:35 PM

Just saw it today. Really good movie, though I will miss Jazz. Some of the side stories like the hacker one were a bit unncessary and cut into the robot v robot action imo. Like previously said, can't wait for TF2.

I'm sure Star Scream is going out to find reinforcements or something.

What I want to see for TF2.

Optimus singal gets picked up by a few Autobots, adding more to their squad. (Maybe two or three)

It is then revealed that there is something or another that can restore Cybertron but it would be at the cost of the earth.

StarScream comes back with his own team, since we all know he considers himself the true leader and only obeys Megatron due to strength diferrences.

They fight over it, both sides wishing to bring back Cybertron (though the Autobots either don't know the consequences or one of their members choose to misinform them).

Final fight scene occurs and they destroy the device, realizing it's costs are too high. (throw in some parrallels to humans destruction of rain forest/artic/etc and you have a movie)

Near the end they show the singal being recieved Unicron who begins to move toward Earth. Thus bringing about TF3 where he comes to consume Earth and brings back Megatron, uses the remaining Deceptacons, and his own forces.

BatWing · July 06, 2007, 09:01:28 PM

and and
megatron might transform into galvatron eh?

Ajax · July 06, 2007, 09:40:33 PM

Nah. I just want to see a planet eating entity done right since FF2 screwed it up.

BTW Megan Fox reported to MTV that they are writing the script for TF2 and Micheal Bay has stated he is open to directing a second one (take it as you wish).

Anyone know what that werd JJ Abrams trailer was about? I've heard it's the new Godzilla movie (since die hard fans swear it's the same roar from the original movie) and others have mentioned it being the Voltron movie (the thing destroying everything being a robeast).

GogglesPizanno · July 06, 2007, 10:32:31 PM

QuoteAnyone know what that werd JJ Abrams trailer was about?

The JJ Abrams movie (from what Ive read) is supposedly some kind of cthulu-like monster like film involving prophecies and the end of the world but done blair witch style through camcorder POV stuff from people trying to survive. The viral marketing campaign kicked into gear with the following sites:

http://www.1-18-08.com/
http://www.ethanhaaswasright.com/
http://ethanhaaswaswrong.blogspot.com/

There may be more but these are the ones Ive read about thus far.

Kommando · July 07, 2007, 12:21:04 AM

Quote from: GogglesPizanno on July 06, 2007, 10:32:31 PM
QuoteAnyone know what that werd JJ Abrams trailer was about?

The JJ Abrams movie (from what Ive read) is supposedly some kind of cthulu-like monster like film involving prophecies and the end of the world but done blair witch style through camcorder POV stuff from people trying to survive. The viral marketing campaign kicked into gear with the following sites:

http://www.1-18-08.com/
http://www.ethanhaaswasright.com/
http://ethanhaaswaswrong.blogspot.com/

There may be more but these are the ones Ive read about thus far.

I only got past the first puzzle on the middle link there. I'll probably give the other one another go later. Interesting video if you figure it out.

BentonGrey · July 08, 2007, 10:06:32 PM

I saw this and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'll be posting my more in-depth thoughts tomorrow. In short, there were a lot of things I wish they had done differently, and the transformers designs are still ugly, but the movie was still a lot of fun.

MJB · July 09, 2007, 12:47:04 AM

I have a question.

[spoiler]My family and I left right after the Starscream scene during the credits. Did we miss any additional scenes after that? If so would someone be kind enough to describe them to me/us?[/spoiler]

-MJB

zuludelta · July 09, 2007, 02:56:03 AM

I second MJB's request... left right after the Starscream-blasting-into-space-scene (it was 1:00 AM, and I had to catch the last train back to my place), anything else happen afterwards?

Loved the film (and I'm saying that as a lapsed Transformers fan... I was more of a GI Joe/Bionic 6 kid), and my only complaint (if you can call it that) is that they needed to dial back Megan Fox's hotness factor... I couldn't properly focus on the robot action when you had the Transformers and her on-screen at the same time :lol:. And I loved John Turturro's Agent Simmons, hilarious tongue-in-cheek stuff (and I really appreciated all those little wink-wink nods to fans of the old show).

Mr. Hamrick · July 09, 2007, 03:07:38 AM

there were a couple of snippits with Sam's parents playing off the whole "there was no alien invasion" thing with a joke about that "if there were the government would tell us" which kinda fell flat.

i saw those as I was heading out so I don't know if anything came after that.

Ares_God_of_War · July 09, 2007, 01:48:53 PM

besides those 2 things there was nothing. I stayed the whole credits and it was just sam's parents and starscream blasting off.

BentonGrey · July 09, 2007, 05:23:10 PM

Okay, here's my thoughts...I know you were all waiting with baited breath! ;) Anyroad, like I said, I really enjoyed it. My Dad and I went to see it, and we had a good time. I've got to say, hearing Optimus' voice on the big screen just about gave me a case of the fanboy giggles. When he said 'the line' to Megatron, I literally stamped my feet in pure nerd rapture. Also, Hugo Weaving did an exceptionally good job as Megs, I was thoroughly and pleasantly surprised by just how well he captured him. I thought the kid who played Sam did a great job with the whole movie, and I think his part was written pretty well too.

Now, all that said, there are a LOT of things I wish they had done differently:
[spoiler] Like I said earlier, the TF designs are just plain ugly. Aside from the fact that I wasn't fond of them, I don't think they worked nearly as well on screen as they could have. They were WAY too visually complex, so in every scene where there is even partially rapid movement, you can barely tell what the heck is going on. Is Iron Hide standing on his head, or is that his foot? You know? That also led into the second problem I had with their look. You couldn't tell any of them apart. Optimus stuck out, but the rest all sort of blended together. Bumblebee was mostly yellow, so that helped, but I couldn't even tell who Megatron was unless he was shown next to something I could tell his size from. I was glad to see the 'mouth guard' on Prime, but I don't really get why they couldn't have just left him like that the entire movie, I mean, they did the voice syncing in the cartoon with just the movement of his guard, why not in the movie? Plus, and I imagine that they did this for budgetary reasons, they kept cutting away from the action every time it gets interesting. I mean, we didn't even SEE the final fight between Prime and Megs.

Now, the story:

By the end of the movie, we knew just about NOTHING about the TF's, although we knew PLENTY of Sam and what's her face. We get a little character development with Prime, but not really that much. When Jazz dies, it hardly even mattered because we didn't know ANYTHING about him. I understood that it wasn't going to focus on the TF's much, but for heaven sakes, it hardly focused on them at all! Most of them got, at best, one line of dialogue. [/spoiler]

I would have liked to see something (surprise, surprise) closer to G1, but with an ending like the first story arc of the Dreamweave TF comics. You could cut out 90% of the human characters, especially all the soldiers who did nothing but act tough for half the freakin' movie, use Sam as an introduction for the audience into the Autobots (like Jubilee in the Xmen toon) and take the story from their with the government scrambling to figure out what is going on.

BatWing · July 11, 2007, 05:41:22 PM

anyone read the transformers prequel comic?
it tells u how bumblebee got his voicebox crushed by megatron and the allspark
and where bumblebee was on mars and stuff

anyone notice that when starscream blast off into space, he was a different jet?
he transform into another jet while shooting the other jets
then then blasts down on megatron with the other jets

thanoson · July 11, 2007, 11:46:43 PM

did he really? I was wondering what happened to him in that exchange.

BatWing · July 12, 2007, 05:12:09 PM

yeah he did
they didn't show him transform into one of those jets but if u look closley at the end of the movie, you could see that hes a different jet.

GrizzlyBearTalon · July 12, 2007, 05:43:33 PM

I loved this movie it was pure nerd bliss!

Pyroclasm · July 12, 2007, 06:11:22 PM

Starscream was an F-22 Raptor. He fights other F-22s. There are three squadrons of human piloted F-22s. He fights one squadron, then high tails it out of there with them in pursuit. One or both of the other squadrons attack Megatron. In the end, Starscream is STILL an F-22 Raptor.
Him firing on Megatron is something "conspiracy theorists" are trying to drum up in various TF forums as well. That is not in the style of a Hollywood blockbuster or even of Michael Bay. Everything has to be spelled out. Starscream firing on Megs is wishful thinking, but did not happen.
If you want to really hear the low-down about every nuance in the movie, you should check out a site like www.seibertron.com where the people discussing the movie have probably seen it more times than number of days it has been out.