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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Transformers: the Movie (dir. Michael Bay, 2007) - SPOILERS

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12:17 / 24.07.07

I was informed the cost of animating the Transformers alone was 40 million. I'd like to see more character development around the different Transformers' storylines. I never did get a good feeling of personality from this Starscream. I think (as may have been mentioned upthread) only Optimus, Bumblebee, and to some extent Frenzy, really seem to be personalities. Bumblebee's muteness gives him a somewhat pet-like quality blinking big soulful neon blue eyes at Sam. Though I really did enjoy his physical presence getting up off the containment slab.

Regrettable Juvenilia

01:14 / 25.07.07

Flyboy: did your Optimus Prime moment (besides the general amazingness of big screen Prime and Peter Cullen's performance) have anything to do with freedom is the right of all sentient beings?

Nah, it was the bit where he popped his flaming sword thing and fucked up Bonecrusher right in the fucking face.

04:10 / 25.07.07

I wish they got in the more Jet Jaguar mode with giant robots fighting for little kids and the planet. Anyone see the remblence between Jet Jaguar and the Green Goblin. Jet Jaguar was one of my favorite Giant Robot films when I was a kid when seeing Godzilla versus Megalon. I wish the kid was in the robot or controlling the robot like Mazinger or Robotech. I liked the movie though as a popcorn movie it was very enjoyable. I wonder what will happen in Transformers 2? And the newer Transformers. Will they make a sequel? I hope so....

13:26 / 25.07.07

Nah, it was the bit where he popped his flaming sword thing and fucked up Bonecrusher right in the fucking face.

I second that, though the "they are a young race" speech did it for me too.

12:25 / 26.07.07

I just wacthed the movie for the scond time yesterday, and this time I paid attention to the human characters, and I have to admit: the movie (Michael Bay?) is a bit racist. What's up whit all this American black people and jokes about disfuntional families? (though the Cops spoof was kinda funny,in a sick way)

As for Starscream leading the F-22s in Megatron's direction, it is not clear. there were several groups of jetfighter converging to the city, anyone of them could have hit Megsy (they were all flying between buildings)

And, Kali, Bumblebee did not speak because he was "hurt in battle", and Ratchet was "still working on it", making it sound like it is a ongoing problem of his, so it was not in the landing nor after landing he got mute.

My favourite Decepticon is Frenzy... Hope parte II brings in Laserbeak, Ravage, and Rumble.

The Natural Way

20:05 / 01.08.07

Right, okay, this film was a steaming pile of sexist, racist, babyish, tasteless (as in naff), boring, rubbish shit. I'm not sure I have to defend this position, really. Transformers love is far more contentious.

The Natural Way

20:08 / 01.08.07

I'd like to see more character development around the different Transformers' storylines

I'd like to have seen anything good. Anything at all. Improving this one aspect would still leave you a million miles away from a good film.

21:46 / 01.08.07

Anyway. My favourite part of the film or, at least, the most memorable was Barricade pinning Sam and shouting, "ARE YOU LADIESMAN127?!". It perfectly captured the comedy-horror of the situation. You're being chased for reasons you can't guess and then, suddenly, there's a police car with legs screaming in your face.

ARE YOU LADIESMAN127?!

The Natural Way

14:48 / 02.08.07

What a memorable moment that was.

Pyewacket The Elder

21:47 / 02.08.07

Well I just got back from a second viewing to check my reaction to the first....

I agree Pigsy, an absolute mess in virtually every way.

Pish plot developments
Two dimensional characters with no reason to be on screen.
Lack of internal Logic to the N'th effing degree.
Primes stupid 'on his chin' mouth, makes him look like a bloody leprechaun...
Transformers that look like Go-Bots...
Chliched Yoof-Hackers and lone hacker genius (see Die Hard 4.0).
Ridiculous words coming out of Primes mouth (They are a young and violent race"...ah yes because the 'Formers are really sorted on the universal love front? PRIME HAS AN INTELLIGENCE OF 10 GODDAMNIT! I KNOW, IT SAID SO ON HIS BOX WHEN I WAS 6!
Aforementioned racial stereotyping for 'comedy'.
FUCKING EBAY as a plot device (see Casino Royal, FUCKING TEXTS AS PLOT DEVICE fer crying out loud)
Clumsy comedy robots!! "WHEEEE MOMMY I JST DID An SHIT + NOW 'm GUNNA GO ON YOUTUBE AN CALL PPL FAGS LOL."

I DID think Sam and his family were actually excellent and there were moments when the potential of a great film, in the universe next door, could be glimpsed. The easily entertained will forever utter the mantra of "Well if you just take it for what it is...it's quite good hEH HEH LOOK AT THE PURTY LIGHTS!".

No. Its. Not.

You ARE allowed to expect better no? If not then lets all just give up and go back to scratching our arses and picking ticks off each other for entertainment.

I'm all for throwaway fun, just-for-the-sake-of-it, action films but who says they can't be done well?

Michael Teenage-Mutant Ninja Autobots Michael Bay obviously.

Proper critique coming when if I can channel the bile that will spew forth into constructive gobbets of sense.

14:52 / 03.08.07

that's all very good and well, but he stabbed something in the face with a sword.

The Natural Way

14:55 / 03.08.07

At which point a very bad film did not become good.

15:02 / 03.08.07

I'm loving your hate

Pyewacket The Elder

16:33 / 03.08.07

I'm loving your hate

It's not hate...just childhood love polarity-reversed by a pink Tachyon beam shot from Michael Bay's groin-laser straight into my brainmeats.

Oh no, you're right...I hate it.

The Natural Way

17:16 / 03.08.07

I sincerely believe that, apart from the odd actual moron, the vast majority of people posting about how great the film was didn't really enjoy it very much at all. Lame invocations of "Yeah, but there was cool action!" or "But there were giant robot turning into planes and cars!" just don't convince me, even if you've allowed them to convice you, guys.

18:12 / 03.08.07

I went in expecting something, it was pretty much what I expected - dialogue that made no point, characters that made no impact and plot that made no sense. I was therefore not disappointed or impressed. It's a film about a toy line that became a cartoon that became a comic. Optimus Prime stabbed someone in the face, which was the most impressive action moment, Starscream's mid-air transformation and attack of the other planes was second - the rest was a bit messy. The script had funny moments, but seriously, I wasn't expecting much.

18:14 / 03.08.07

I will say though, that calling people morons for enjoying a big bang film is a bit harsh. It's a summer movie - they are rarely good, regardless of the pedigree of the people involved. If you are waiting for big summer films to be anything but big summer films, then you're probably waiting for the wrong thing.

18:33 / 03.08.07

I think that's absolute balls, Benny. There have been a number of very good blockbusters over the last few years, so it patently isn't asking too much to demand, or even expect a little more.

Haven't seen Transformers, however I suspect my sympathies would rest with Pigs'.

18:39 / 03.08.07

I really did enjoy the movie. I have no problem with anyone disliking it or panning it throughly but please don't make assumptions about the people who enjoyed it. I find that really disrespectful and rude and not on topic of the thread itself. If you want to find a study about why certains kinds of films or even this specific movie appealed to some folk and not others feel free to start another thread.

18:47 / 03.08.07

Have to disagree with you then Boboss - most summer films are sold on the idea that they are big films and that studios have poured a lot into them, not that they are great films.

19:06 / 03.08.07

But there were giant robot turning into planes and cars! Woo-hoo!

Regrettable Juvenilia

19:57 / 03.08.07

Well, with time having passed I think there may have been more things wrong than right with this movie, and I do agree with Boboss that summer blockbusters can be good, in the sense of actively better than Transformers. However. This:

I sincerely believe that, apart from the odd actual moron, the vast majority of people posting about how great the film was didn't really enjoy it very much at all.

...is still dickish. It has always been dickish. It has repeatedly been agreed on Barbelith and across the world that it is dickish. "You don't really like that band/song/film/TV show/book/individual/sexual practice, you're just lying/in denial/fooling yourself/trying to look cool/anything other than somehow actually DISAGREEING WITH ME!" has always been, is and will always be, forever and ever more, amen, straight up 100% dickish. Any time I have done it, I was being a dick.

Don't be a dick, Pig.

ONLY NICE THINGS

20:00 / 03.08.07

Look at the sheeple. Eating gray sludge, sitting on the grey bus that will take them to see Transformers. Pretending to like it.

Baaaaa.

BAAAAAAAAA!

21:15 / 03.08.07

>>>Well, with time having passed I think there may have been more things wrong than right with this movie,<<<

It took me about two days. When I walked out of the theatre I was abuzz with stimulation, but then 48 hours later I was going over it in my head and came to the understanding that it's pretty much a giant piece of shit.

ONLY NICE THINGS

22:15 / 03.08.07

It's interesting, isn't it? I still think I enjoyed some of the giant robot bits - Prime and Bonecrusher in particular, although the final battle seeemed overlong and odddly _static_ - the players hurtled athletically into position to stand about twenty feet from each other, discharging their guns. A huge amount of the rest of it is becoming poorer in my memory, and to be honest I wasn't sold on it at the time. Much as I love Bad Boys, I fear the time may have come to acknowledge that Michael Bay really, really sucks.

Having said which, I've been watching some of the old Transformers TV cartoons, and they really are cocking atrocious.

Shiny: Well Over Thirty

06:01 / 04.08.07

>>Well, with time having passed I think there may have been more things wrong than right with this movie,<<<

It took me about two days. When I walked out of the theatre I was abuzz with stimulation, but then 48 hours later I was going over it in my head and came to the understanding that it's pretty much a giant piece of shit.

In a way though that doesn't really mar it as a piece of entertainment, does it? I mean if one can see it and enjoy it a great deal at the time, does it really matter if at some point after one concludes it was actually piss-poor?

08:22 / 04.08.07

In a way though that doesn't really mar it as a piece of entertainment, does it? I mean if one can see it and enjoy it a great deal at the time, does it really matter if at some point after one concludes it was actually piss-poor?

but when viewing it as a movie, and comparing it to other movies and not just other entertainment, it doesn't fare too well imo.

10:33 / 04.08.07

Bah, I pretty much knew this would be crap. I haven't even seen it yet but there's a dvd that someone has erm....got hold of and lent me, and it's just been left because I've had more interesting stuff to watch. Will watch some later but I doubt I'll have anything to post back here about. As soon as I heard of the film I just thought 'special effects, no story.'

19:21 / 04.08.07

>>>n a way though that doesn't really mar it as a piece of entertainment, does it? I mean if one can see it and enjoy it a great deal at the time, does it really matter if at some point after one concludes it was actually piss-poor?<<<

I liken it, in what may be a slightly flawed metaphor, to a rollercoaster. It's exhilarating as you're experiencing it, and when it's finished you're pumped up and excited, but shortly after the adrenaline fades you're left with nothing really lasting out of the experience. Does that mean it's invalid as entertainment? No, but it does mean that its value as entertainment is fleeting at best. I've seen a lot of movies that I've really enjoyed, and two days, two months, two years later I *still* really enjoyed them. Those are the good ones.

Transformers is not one of those movies.

Pyewacket The Elder

21:20 / 04.08.07

I've had a few days to reappraise my views and, as mentioned, channel my experience into some kind of serious critique.

SO... taking into account all that janky-wank I learned on a Media and Cultural Studies degree about analysis of media texts using ridiculous outmoded models of philosophy... here is the summation of my thought < SPOILERS > - sorry chaps, no Marx or Freud in the following< /SPOILERS >:

T O T A L S H I T E.

Shiny: Well Over Thirty

06:47 / 05.08.07

I liken it, in what may be a slightly flawed metaphor, to a rollercoaster. It's exhilarating as you're experiencing it, and when it's finished you're pumped up and excited, but shortly after the adrenaline fades you're left with nothing really lasting out of the experience. Does that mean it's invalid as entertainment? No, but it does mean that its value as entertainment is fleeting at best. I've seen a lot of movies that I've really enjoyed, and two days, two months, two years later I *still* really enjoyed them. Those are the good ones.

Transformers is not one of those movies.

I guess I agree with that more or less as well as with most of the other rationally expressed criticism of the film - I mean I severely doubt I'll bother watching it again until it's on TV. I guess where I differ is that I don't really mind - there's room in my life for a couple of big dumb fun short-term enjoyable action movies a year I guess. In this instance this is especially the case since I fully expected I'd hate the thing from start to finish on first watch, so enjoying it quite a lot on initial watch is still comparatively a big win.

17:33 / 05.08.07

Benny, I don't understand your response. I was taking issue with the idea that to have an expectation that a blockbuster might actually be good is wrongheaded. I mean, seriously, that's just silly because some of them are good, and, you know, I think we really should demand something better when we're presented with shit.

On Pigs point, I know that I've made a number of attempts to persuade myself that I've enjoyed films that I actually haven't over the years. There are all sorts of reasons why I have done this. I would be surprised if a number of other people posting in this thread haven't done the same. Whether they've done it in this instance is another question, however.

That said, I think I'd draw the line at describing anyone who disagrees with me a moron.

17:34 / 05.08.07

There are all sorts of reasons why I have done this.

The point being that to do so doesn't (necessarily) make you a sheeple-person.

The Natural Way

09:11 / 06.08.07

Sorry, I really don't think anyone posting the love on this thread are morons. I was just being combatative. Whereof one cannot know, perhaps one should not speak, but I can't help feeling that Transformers is one of those films that people really want to like and, resultingly, might become apologists for. I really wanted to like it, but, to my mind, it very quickly became unforgivable.

"There are more to these humans than meets the eye..."

Laughable, bathetic rubbish.

ONLY NICE THINGS

09:20 / 06.08.07

It struck me as interesting that for many of the Generation 1 kids, this is really their first exposure since the 1980s, because it is the first product with a high enough profile really to break the surface.

However, there has been a pretty much constant stream of Transformers media product coming out for at least the last decade - Beast Wars/Machines, Energon, Cybertron, Armada - of widely varying quality, not even to mention the comics, which have covered a number of contexts but which are currently led by a Furman-written, basicaly G1 story. So, rather than seeing it as a big-guns stepping up of a toy-selling campaign that has ben ongoing for quite a while, it was seen as the revival of the G1 golden age - which was, lest we forget, largely not very good at all.

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