Transformers movie thread for people who saw it (spoilers within)

Galvasean

SofaKing wrote:

I hear there is a prequel novel - is it worth getting ?

I hear it aint great.
Theres also a prequel comic, probably easier and quicker to read. Not sure if the storylines are the same though. i heard the novel is set during the Cold War.
The comic is good enough, big fans only though.

GWolf

The prequel novel is decent enough. I like Starscream in it

syklops

faceman wrote:

1. character building - we all knew that bumblebee and prime were the main focus in this one to establish the characters. They will obviouslty have big parts to play in the sequels too. Plus they appeal to a wider audience.

Robots beating each other up appeal to a wider audience. 45 minutes of developing sam(or Ladiesman147) and the girl he fancies, and his relationship with his dad, and his grandfathers exploring, and how much he wants a car yada-yada-yada, does not. If/when I get the dvd, ill be fast forwarding through alot of that.

faceman wrote:

2. yeah according to producers and Bay this came down to cost. They also again wanted to appeal to the wider audience.

The transformers is the name of the movie, at worst I want to see character development of the Transformers, at best I want to see a bit of transforming, and a bit of fighting.

faceman wrote:

3. i liked the transforming scenes alot.

Remember when you had the toys, and you were transforming, you remember extending the legs, and flipping out the sides etc. In the cartoon it was the same, transforming was slow but you could see what was happening. Its not quite the same, but in the (good) batman moves, him putting on his suit was an exciting part of the movie, and it was done slowly and methodically. In the transformers movie, for the most part it was a bit of a blur and Hey! you have a robot!

faceman wrote:

4. Blackout's scene at the start establishes how strong the decepticons are against us humans. As did starscreams dog fight with the F22's. We didnt really need to see it again, the point was made. Its decepticons vs autobots we paid to see!

His transforming I have to say I liked, it was slow, and you could see him turn from helicopter into a robot. But he seemed to be fighting mainly armed personnel on foot with light arms. Why didnt the strike aircraft or Air Defence systems attempt to shoot him down, after issuing the warning before he landed? Sure they were beaten, but thats hardly a surprise when you have guys on foot with 40mm grenade launchers, and M1A1 assault rifles. As for starscream's fight with the F-22's. Again I want to make the point. It was 6 f-22's, not a squadron. A large scale engagement, and him still surviving, would have been more impressive for the viewer, and more demoralising for the defending forces "We put everything we had at him and he kept coming. Now what do we do?" <-- enter the Autobots .

faceman wrote:

5. I agree. (As did the glasses size when prime picked them up!)

Glad we agree on something.

faceman wrote:

6. You dont have kids obviously!

No, I am an original Transformers fan. As was the entire audience in the cinema when I went to see it. I was by far the youngest at 23, There were alot of guys in their thirties reliving their youth going to see transformers. Jokes about "Sams happy time", doesn't float my boat. Sorry.

faceman wrote:

7. a tad over-analytical for a summer blockbuster. Its a sub plot and ultimately who cares!

Die Hard 4.0 is a summer blockbuster, and I think the hacking sub-plots rocked. If you look at the computer screens in DH4, alot of it were actual shell accounts on unix-based machines. Again, the people going to TF when I went, were all adults, alot of them in well-paid technical jobs. The group I went with spend most of their time in a Unix shell. Some of the group shrugged it off, and said "Thats hollywood". Others, myself included, were not impressed. After all the money that was spent on it, it would be nice to get it right.

faceman wrote:

8. another sub plot. I thought john was funny given the material we had to work with.

It was a very long sub-plot, and turned the movie into a bit of a farce.

faceman wrote:

9. bar the teen angst rock music (im old school meself), i thought the music was great.

I cant really remember the music. And considering I am a very eclectic music fan, thats a bad sign. I do remember the bit of classical that some one mentioned, and it was good, but the Song at the end sucked. Don't know what it was.

faceman wrote:

10. this was for plot progression. Obviously sam wouldnt be able to afford a concept camero so they had to somehow start the relationship. He could hardly win it in a raffle or bump into bumblebee in the local boozer. When the relationship had been established he converted into the flashy model which will sell quicker from the toy shelves!

Sam has a cool looking Camero, that turns into a robot. What more would anyone want? The old looking camero was the first of the Movie transformers I bought. Its currently in car form under the monitor for my BSD box, and it looks cooler, than a brand spanking new Camero Custom. You expect a new james bond type car to have hidden features. You dont expect an older car.

BlitzKrieg

Die Hard 4.0 is a summer blockbuster, and I think the hacking sub-plots rocked. If you look at the computer screens in DH4, alot of it were actual shell accounts on unix-based machines. Again, the people going to TF when I went, were all adults, alot of them in well-paid technical jobs. The group I went with spend most of their time in a Unix shell. Some of the group shrugged it off, and said "Thats hollywood". Others, myself included, were not impressed. After all the money that was spent on it, it would be nice to get it right.

Exploding hard drives?

Starscream was not 'chased off by humans'. He just decided to leave and let Megatron get killed. Im guessing (as usual) he wants to be Decepticon leader and will return in #2.
As for Barricade Spoiler:

Optimus Prime kills him. The scene was cut due to time constraints. I assume it will be on the DVD)

I have no doubt he wanted megatron dead, hence why I didnt give the humans a point for him

but he still never gets in a fight vs an autobot, and with the exception of a *rumoured* (according to wikipedia) cut scene that unless confirmed by Bay remains non canon that still leaves the decapticons getting their ass kicked more by humans then by autobots.

I think today's VG cats sums up best some the crticisms being voiced here:

Rev Hellfire

Must say I thought was ok, nothing special to write home about, but certainly not as awful as I had been lead to believe. I agree that the military seemed to effective by far which removed any sense of real danger from the film.

Must say my favourite moment was Megatron saying disgusting (of something similar) and flicking the bystander he landed beside away like an annoying bug.

faceman

Rev Hellfire wrote:

Must say I thought was ok, nothing special to write home about,

lol, there are about 4 threads directly about the film on boards!!!

constitutionus

SofaKing wrote:

Regarding the so-so soundtrack. There was, I thought, a truly fantastic orchestral piece (anyone agree?) accompanying the arrival of the Autobots and their crash-landings on Earth - loved it! Shame whoever scored it didnt't lean more to this and away from the rock-ballads (Bay's influence I guess).

the soundtrack was far to "bay-ish" for my liking but i agree about that score. and i really liked the orchestral decepticon theme when frenzy was hacking airforce one. thought i dectected strains of the old 86 movie decep theme in it.

i liked the film and ill admit the human element with the military was essential if we were going to have any reality to the film. i just wish more of the army got killed. still its worth remembering were basically talking about two transformers basically bringing the US army to a standstill (blackout and screamer, the only guys to actually fight humans, the rest were either fighting each other or being shot at) so in the sequel thats a dead cert now it be nice if the do a G2 comic and actually have the deceps as an ARMY . of course we need to focus on the main characters so as not to lose the plot but the great thing about TF is theres so many bit characters that it'd be a shame not to have a sweeping field of bots and deceps that'd never get the time of day anyway getting ready to lay down some serious devestation againts each other .

considering this film cost half the price of spidey it may not be impossible.

one other thing though lads, this is TF, who says anyones dead? prime has a shard of the allspark, you think he's not gonna try using it to resurrect jazz? and i cant see bay hiring weaving for ONE film so megs is coming back too. hell if any of you have read the comics death in TF is as about as permanent as jean grey's is in x men! i mean come on, jazz gets ripped in half and he's dead where frenzy gets his head cut off and he's fine?
i reckon theyre all coming back and i wouldnt be surprised if bonecrusher is rebuilt and teamed up with the rest of the constructicons to form devestator. it certainly give them motivation to go after prime. funnily enough the sequel should be alot better than the first !

Vokes

Maybe Autobots will build Autobot City with the shard piece - that'd be cool.

And leave Jazz dead (would be a cop-out to bring him back i think) and bring in 2 new Autobots who've caught Prime's signal.

Galvasean

BlitzKrieg wrote:

but he still never gets in a fight vs an autobot, and with the exception of a *rumoured* (according to wikipedia) cut scene that unless confirmed by Bay remains non canon that still leaves the decapticons getting their ass kicked more by humans then by autobots.
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Well he swoops down and shoots up Ironhide and Ratchet before flying off. I got teh impretion that Starscream is very powerful but was holding back quite a bit. Maybe in number 2 he'll show us what he's really made of.

BlitzKrieg

I thought Starscream would be more of a exploitive character. If he see's an autobot being an easy target he would attack but if its a fair fight or superior numbers he will probably run.

Quick check

Was it Starscream or Brawl who blows Bumblebee's legs off its off screen i know but it happens just after one of the two attack.

faceman

BlitzKrieg wrote:

Was it Starscream or Brawl who blows Bumblebee's legs off its off screen i know but it happens just after one of the two attack.

starscream

Rozie

Just got back from it.

Entertaining but underwhelming. Most people seem to be very delusional - there is no classic banter between Megs and Starscream. Starscream is barely a character. He has one line and doesn't even speak in Cybertronian.

I've never cringed so much in my life as I have for the first half of the movie. The puns are painful.

The designs are even worse moving - between them and the shaky camera work, I can't figure out what's going on. I had no idea quite how bad the shake cam would be. The Barricade/Bumblebee fight is a blurr.

Optimus Prime was pretty spot on. Bumblebee still seemed a lot like Bumblebee, but he had some very stupid moments too. Frenzy was a surprisingly entertaining character.

The human characters just weren't interesting. And they weren't "Intentional" stereotypes either.

It really wasn't a great film. I prefer the 1986 movie for all it's faults.

Rozie

faceman wrote:

when has hollywood not given us an action film like that with some ****ty ending! You post is confusing tho, on one hand you say you enjoyed but on the other you are slaughterin it!

They were simply thrown together and exact copies of the G1 designs, not tweaked for live action.

Look up Michael Smith's Nissan Transformer and tell me with a big budget that wouldn't have worked.

faceman

Rozie wrote:

Look up Michael Smith's Nissan Transformer and tell me with a big budget that wouldn't have worked.

its blocky and awful. just doesnt work

MarkHall

After the Binaltech lines I think it would have worked really well.

The girls I saw it with enjoyed it but said that the robots we all too Samey to tell appart.

Demonique

syklops wrote:

5. The robots seemed to change in size quite a bit. When they are hiding in the garden, they are able to fit under the porch, but later they seem much larger. [/COLOR]

Only Jazz hid under the porch and he was the smallest Autobot, the rest were around the sides of the house out of sight of anyone looking out the window

Demonique

constitutionus wrote:

other thing though lads, this is TF, who says anyones dead? prime has a shard of the allspark, you think he's not gonna try using it to resurrect jazz? and i cant see bay hiring weaving for ONE film so megs is coming back too. hell if any of you have read the comics death in TF is as about as permanent as jean grey's is in x men! i mean come on, jazz gets ripped in half and he's dead where frenzy gets his head cut off and he's fine?

Well, there's a rumour going around that Jazz will be getting a new alt-mode in the sequel, Starscream will definately be coming back from wherever he jetted off to with reinforcements. Megatron will most likely be coming back.

faceman

Demonique wrote:

Well, there's a rumour going around that Jazz will be getting a new alt-mode in the sequel, Starscream will definately be coming back from wherever he jetted off to with reinforcements. Megatron will most likely be coming back.

i doubt jazz will return. If starscream and megatron comes back, expect them to have new looks so new toys can be sold.

Rozie

faceman wrote:

its blocky and awful. just doesnt work

The movie designs are messy, overcomplicated and awful. just doesn't work.

I'm sick of this bull**** pissing on what Transformers has been for the last 25 odd years.

Transformers would not have been successful if those general designs could only have worked in a ridiculous fantasy Wonderland, which is what you're suggesting. They had to work in real life on some level because that's where the cartoons and comics were set, a version of our reality.

You're talking pure rubbish. The entire aesthetic did not have to be changed so drastically. The Nissan transformer is fine.

You would NEVER have said that before the movie designs were revealed and people were pressured into liking them. Why? Because nobody said it before. Everyone claimed to be thinking it, but I see little to no evidence.

You really must hate the blocky, awful Transformers that have come before and been much better loved. Either that, or you're talking out of your ass and saying exactly what the hype wants you to.

kaimera

What nissan transformer?

_Kaiser_

kaimera wrote:

What nissan transformer?

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=BMVTgnW1_Pw

Vokes

Its the Citroen transfomer I htink Rozie means.

Demonique

SofaKing wrote:

Its the Citroen transfomer I htink Rozie means.

No Nissan TF is different, its not a commercial, its fanmade, it shows a yellow Nissan racing along he transforms into a G1 looking autobot and then spins and backs out of shot

Vokes

Ahh, the one Kaiser200 posted above. Looks decent.

Ger_Hankey

Went to see it again over the weekend, have to say I like it more this time around. I understand what Rozies is saying about it being hard to make things out, but I think its more to do with bad editing than bad designs really. too many off-camera bits.
I have to say I really liked the prime/bonecrusher fight, except it was too short. It really does show you don't f**k with Optimus prime.

faceman

Rozie wrote:

The movie designs are messy, overcomplicated and awful. just doesn't work.

I'm sick of this bull**** pissing on what Transformers has been for the last 25 odd years.

Transformers would not have been successful if those general designs could only have worked in a ridiculous fantasy Wonderland, which is what you're suggesting. They had to work in real life on some level because that's where the cartoons and comics were set, a version of our reality.

You're talking pure rubbish. The entire aesthetic did not have to be changed so drastically. The Nissan transformer is fine.

You would NEVER have said that before the movie designs were revealed and people were pressured into liking them. Why? Because nobody said it before. Everyone claimed to be thinking it, but I see little to no evidence.

You really must hate the blocky, awful Transformers that have come before and been much better loved. Either that, or you're talking out of your ass and saying exactly what the hype wants you to.

Watch your tone. Your response doesnt really deserve a reply but i will put some comments.

for a start, the vast majority of people who went to see transformers, loved the transformers. I dont know what pressure or hype you are talkin about.

The cartoon was a cartoon. Blockly characters cos thats what's easier to draw. Thats why cartoon characters have 3 fingers. Its easier to draw and does not have to reflect reality. Rozie, its a cartoon. Thats right a cartoon. grow up.

If you want to think that the nissan transformer imitation is better than what we saw on screen then thats fine. Couldnt care less. Now go back and play with your toys.

Oh do you want to give us all a laugh and explain what you mean by what transformers has been "over the last 25 odd years"?

Zombrex

Demonique wrote:

No Nissan TF is different, its not a commercial, its fanmade, it shows a yellow Nissan racing along he transforms into a G1 looking autobot and then spins and backs out of shot

Both this one and the Citron one look like Transformers, unlike the ones in the movie TBH

rudie-

really enjoyed it, gotta say,

megan fox = babe

what i didnt like about it was the product placement, not the cars and what not, i expected that, more the full screen shot of the 2gb san disk SD card (anyone else notice this?), or whipping out your shiney new HP or mac book pro. that crap aint cool.

6 out of 10, a fun film but not timeless, and will never be a classic. its just a bit of fun./

chin_grin

just saw it there the weekend gone. gotta say as a no-brainer action flick its the dawgs. but thats all it is. a no-brainer.

as a fan of the original transformers (and who went out and bought the rerelease of the 80's movie!) i gotta say it was faithful to a point. i think the designers tried to pack too much "padding" on the machines. i would've liked em to be less chaotic. With the wobbly camera work for the fight scenes (bourne supremacy comes to mind) my head was hurting!

and yes...go megan fox....wow. pity Rachael Taylor (the aussie) didnt have more screen time either.

as far as the soundtrack goes, the song thats playing when bumblebee is being dragged/pushed is the Smashing Pumpkins new one 'doomsday clock', and the song at the end is 'Minutes to Midnight' by the queens of teen angst Linkin Park (you can tell i aint a fan!). both songs dealing with the end of the world, who knew?!

i came out of the movie really wanting to join the navy.

i'd give it an enjoyable 7/10. its not a noodle scratcher or wont have you locking yourself in a dark room questioning the meaning of life, its just eye candy.

- oh, and dont lose the tag to collect your brain on the way out. you'll have to wait till everyone else collects theirs.

Rozie

faceman wrote:

Watch your tone. Your response doesnt really deserve a reply but i will put some comments.

for a start, the vast majority of people who went to see transformers, loved the transformers. I dont know what pressure or hype you are talkin about.

The cartoon was a cartoon. Blockly characters cos thats what's easier to draw. Thats why cartoon characters have 3 fingers. Its easier to draw and does not have to reflect reality. Rozie, its a cartoon. Thats right a cartoon. grow up.

If you want to think that the nissan transformer imitation is better than what we saw on screen then thats fine. Couldnt care less. Now go back and play with your toys.

Oh do you want to give us all a laugh and explain what you mean by what transformers has been "over the last 25 odd years"?

Thanks for paying absolutely no attention to what I just said, and regurgitating the same points that the post you quoted was in response to.

Don't bother replying if you don't have anything new to say.

However, any sad **** that stoops to using GROW UP or GET A LIFE, since 2 or 3 words strung together in place of a real argument is SO much more mature than arguing properly, doesn't deserve my attention any further. Nothing gets to me more than that.