Transformers

[John Hartigan]

(Firstly, I have to say I think it's pretty amazing we got such a big movie like this a whole week before the Americas. W00t!)


I'm going to keep this fairly brief. I'm not a Transformers fan. That's not to say I can't sympathize with some of the complaints against this film, given my experience with Comic Book movies I know all too well what it's like to have someone ****ing with something you love, least of all Michael Bay of all people, but frankly, you know what? Get over it. I watched Transformers when I was younger too, and really all I can remember is cool looking robots that could turn into cool looking vehicles, who battled eachother in cool-looking ways, and that's about all MOST people remember of it, so get over it. The actual movie goes alot deeper than just this, of course, but not by too much. The point I'm trying to make is tonight Transformers invoked that innerchild in me who doesn't give a **** about deep characters and just wants to be Wowed, and to see things he hasn't seen before. I was not disappointed.

Whoever did the marketing for this thing seriously deserves a blowjob or something. I know the Trailers were trying to show as little of the actual Transformers as possible, but after all of the TV Spots depicting the same action scenes over and over and over again I began to wonder - but boy was I wrong! More than meets the eye, indeed. Transformers is the epitome of the Summer Popcorn flick; sure, some of the more 'name' actors are moreorless on auto-pilot (HAH!), and it's probably got more gapeing holes than Paris Hilton, but God strike me down if I was not entertained. That is something that neither Emo Parker or Jack "One-Note" Sparrow had achieved yet, and like 300, I think it's because Transformers never pretended to be anything it wasn't. You know exactly what you're going to get when you purchase the ticket and take the ride, and a thrilling ride it is. I guess in this day and age, you just have to appreciate that kind of honesty.

**** / *****

[Andrey83]

Great, thats just what I hoped for. Good ol' fun :)

[FranklinTard]

very interesting...

[Sora Kahn]

This movie isg oing to get bashed. I don't think critics are smart enough to understand a story about robots.

[Ewok Droppings]

This is probably my most anticipated movie of the year. I can't wait to see this next week! :)

[SnoBorderZero]

This movie isg oing to get bashed. I don't think critics are smart enough to understand a story about robots.
I agree, if they can't even fully enjoy Live Free or Die Hard (currently at 73% on RT) there's no way they're gonna fall for a Michael Bay robot movie.

[Labadal]

http://au.movies.ign.com/articles/800/800121p1.html

Advanced review of Transformers courtesy of IGN.

Pretty much as expected: Some of the best effects in recent times, but average plot/dialogue. I'm still excited about it though.

[Charbz]

watched it, here in sydney best movie this whole year. hands down...and i anit even a transformers freak. story wise alright you can compare it to x-men 2 and special effects were prob the best, since T2

[John Hartigan]

By the way I'll save you guys some trouble and say that Yes there are scenes during the credits. I didn't stay the whole way through though, but I caught all of 'em before the main credits rolled.

Two of some reporters talking to Sam's parents, and a third of Starscream escaping into Space.

If there were any more someone else can update this.

[redman]

The effects were mind blowing but i didn't believe I was watching a transformers adaptation.

Pros


Effects - superb. Lives up to all the hype

Shia - He kept this movie together. A real talent


Cons


Story - doesnt hold to the mythology at all.

Characters - There just wasn't enough (in terms of screen time) of the Transformers and too many human characters. The TF's that you know and love e.g Starscream, Jazz, Ironhide, Ratchet etc. had little if any lines. Bumblebee only starts to speak right at the end of the movies for god's sake. plus, you only get to see Megatron talk/act in the final 30 mins. Because the TF's had so few lines, the voice actors had no chance to show their talent.

Aesthetics - Although the effects are great, I just didn't feel like these things on screan were Transformers. They had no similarities to the old designs at all, so u bearly knew who was fighting. Just a bunch of metal flailing around.


But hey, this is from the point of view of a TF fan. If you have little knowledge of the series, then you will be entertained. I'll admit i liked some aspects of the film, its just frustrating to see the potential of such a great idea squandered by people who have no knowledge of what has come before it in the original series.

5/10

[Jonin]

Saw this today, and after a mixed season of blockbuster hits and misses, I had my expectations firmly in check. Given the downward spiral of Michael Bay's recent films, I wasn’t sure how this material would fare in his hands. After exiting the screening however, I must say that I was mostly satisfied and hugely entertained. Bay brought his game; offering an experience that transcended the weakness of the script in visceral thrill and emotional connection.

The kinetic action and epic spectacle that are characteristic of Bay’s directorial efforts, in my mind, somewhat lent itself to the subject matter here. I could easily imagine a telling of the story of the Transformers and their intersection with humanity that could easily have degenerated into something mindless and absurd. Bay’s film comes close to this, significantly at times, but ultimately the strive for a more realistic telling, the believability of the CGI, and resonating performance of LaBeouf, creates a worthwhile cinematic foray.

Shia LaBeouf certainly confirms his status as a persuasive talent, not that he hasn’t done this already of course. But here his comedy convincingly succeeds and indeed the connection between him and Bumblebee really augments the drama. But for me, this did lead to the film overall becoming a composite of unequal parts. For the first act and most of the second, we are drawn into the picture through LaBouef’s character, but when he is sidelined as all the Transformers come to the fore and godzilla it out, the film relinquishes clarity. The spectacle takes over, and because our identification in the story is lost so does some of our engagement with the conflict and action.

With so many characters and named stars, one can sympathize with the inherent difficulty of sustaining something coherent as far as a plot is concerned (the mess of X-Men 3 comes to mind). It is easy, also, to see why Bay surrenders basic story-telling elements to create cinema that is expansive in its visual effects and grand-scale action. No victory without sacrifice, is the Witwicky motto, and Bay seems to direct in similar fashion.

The victory he secures, however, the CGI-driven spectacle, is phenomenal. Every time you see Bumblebee or Prime transform or the numerous robotic battles ensue, its hard to deny the flood of adrenaline and sheer excitement that is evoked. In this regard, Bay certainly doesn’t disappoint.

Sure, the central plot shows itself to be weak, unable to frame and deepen the action; often becoming, at best, a mere retelling of previous Bay films simply substituted with robots. But if you can get over this, theres still plenty to take in and enjoy. Seven out of ten, for me.

Oh yeah, and did anyone else hate Frenzy and his Gremlin-like antics?

[adt100]

Empire magazine has just reviewed Transformers and given it 4 stars. I hadn't really expected that!

Alhtough thoghut it odd that in the trailer they make a note of it being "A Michael Bay film" because for me, that is a sure way of putting many people off!

I used to love the cartoons as a young child, but can actually remember little of them. I have more recolections of thundercats, he-man etc. I did have plenty of the toys though!

Hope it's not some typically gung-ho 'america is the greatest country on earth' type affair.

[John Hartigan]

Hope it's not some typically gung-ho 'america is the greatest country on earth' type affair.

I didn't think so, but I'm sure someone will manage to project that somewhere onto it. There's one early scene on Air Force One where Bush is actually made light of, too. Bay also makes light of Armageddon aswell, I liked that.

Any talks of freedom come from Prime (which leads into the obligatory "Autobots! Roll Out!"), and it's about saving humanity and the world, not just America.

[ddel54]

I for one will see this movie opening night and I sure would like to know who rated the movie 1 without either seeing it or putting up a review u cowards

[John Hartigan]

100% (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/transformers_the_movie/) on RT so far. I'm sure it'll go down but still, it's worth noting.

[Sora Kahn]

Wow, critics understand robots. Who knew.

[djimon123]

iam glad people are enjoying this movie for what it is a fun action movie


i think the topc creator said it best" relieving your inner child and being WOWED" is the best summary of what i feel you should feel when you go to these movies



its movies like Fantastic Four ROTS and Live Freee or Die Hard and this movie were its movies that are not supposed to be thinking movies and well brought out complext stories itsjust mean to entertain us with the special effects and the funny one liners thats all


i hate how people go into summer movies wanting to see serious boring ass movies instead of going into them to feel like a kid and have some ****ing fun for crying out loud !!!!!!!!

[FranklinTard]

elitist response: wallow in your ignorance!!

[SaltyDog]

Wow, critics understand robots. Who knew.

Some critics are saying "Transformers" is a WET DREAM for fan boys, but, there are already some reviews on the way that say it is dumb and load and resembles a GM commercial more than an action flick.

[djimon123]

who cares if its dumb???? its supposed to be an action film


its not like michael bay is trying to win an oscar

[SaltyDog]

who cares if its dumb???? its supposed to be an action film


its not like michael bay is trying to win an oscar

TRUE...

[JasonLV]

I saw this last night in Las Vegas ans by far the best movie out this year. It was AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! I will go see this a couple more times

[Sora Kahn]

Some critics are saying "Transformers" is a WET DREAM for fan boys, but, there are already some reviews on the way that say it is dumb and load and resembles a GM commercial more than an action flick.

Alright cool. For a second there, I thought they were actually going to understand robots.

[moviebuff801]

^^ Critics never seem to fully understand fan-fueled movies like these...especially when they come out during the summer. An example, IMO, would be Pirates 2 last summer. Bottom line, it's what the fans think that really counts.

[Fanible]

^^ Critics never seem to fully understand fan-fueled movies like these...especially when they come out during the summer. An example, IMO, would be Pirates 2 last summer. Bottom line, it's what the fans think that really counts.

That's not exactly the best of examples, considering majority of critics and fans were on the same page for DMC. Average critic score was 6 / 10... average user score was 6.7 / 10. Not exactly a vast difference.

[PsYkOoOoO]

If you are left with ten dollars this summer, and you intend to spend it on a movie that is going to be worth the money, spend it on Transformers. Because this is the ultimate summer movie there is right now, the kind that requires minimal brain activity, the kind of movie-going experience that is all about the visual impact and extravagance. Transformers is all about robots, explosions, more explosions, and more robots. This is not a movie that is going to win Academy Awards for Best Picture or whatever, but a movie that is out to satisfy the audience on a lazy Saturday afternoon such as this one. Strap yourself in, because Transformers is going to take you on a ride that will transform your cinema experience literally, at the very end.

Ever since the announcement was made for a live-action Transformer film, I had my doubts initially about the possibility of it all. However, with Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg helming the film, it was hard for it to go terribly wrong. Most of the doubts that arose were utterly shattered when the very first trailer of the movie appeared online, and the expectations all across the world and cyberspace was deafening. Everybody wanted to watch Transformers, and everybody had their hopes blowing through the roof and going sky high. Most movies fail to meet such expectations, like the hype that surrounded the released of Spider-man and Pirates earlier in the summer. When your expectations are THAT high, it is not difficult to see yourself missing the bar and falling back down to where you came from. So the pressure was on Bay and Spielberg's shoulders to deliver. And to calm down those fanatics out there, trust these two men when they say that their movie is going to be awesome. Because they kept to their word, and the movie was awesome.

As a fan of Transformers since I was a child, I collected those plastic toys that transformed from a car to a robot often. I had a whole box of Transformers, and even a set of alphabets and numbers that could transform into robots as well. It was the cartoon I watched most often when I was a child back in Taiwan, when the robots were dubbed in Chinese, which was confusing to me when I found out that they spoke English in Singapore instead. Being new to the language, I watched the English version of Transformers as a kid for its action, and not much for the storyline. It's not that I didn't want to get involved, but because I simply could not understand what they were saying. However, the explosions and the fighting got me hooked to the television every weekday afternoon, despite it being too violent for children that age. Which is probably why I lived my life remembering the robots but not their names or the storyline - which sort of disqualifies me as a fan but, I guess as long as I was a fanatic as a child, it counts.

Now, you may think that a movie adapted from Hasbro toys are going to be a movie for children. After all, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles flopped at the box office because it was targeted for children, and adapted from a children cartoon. However, like I mentioned before, in the hands of Bay and Spielberg, not a lot of things can really go wrong. Even the little alterations that they did to the storyline as well as the design of the robots did not occur to me as anything significant in the course of viewing the film. Because seriously, nobody wants to see boxy robots - like the ones from the original cartoon - fighting each other on screen with laser beams that can blast through walls and rocks but not nearly as much damage as each other. And of course, nobody is going to want to see Megatron transform into a gun either. It's going to be like Darth Vader transforming into a light saber, it is simply not going to work on screen. Oh, and seriously. Stop complaining about Optimus Prime's lips. They worked. Not to mention all the classic lines from the cartoon, they are there too.

So armed with an army of technicians from Dreamworks, Bay and Spielberg crafted this film about robots beating the hell out of each other, and the end product was an excited two hour ride that proved the tag line of the film: Everything changes. Booking the tickets three weeks before the actual release of the film was a wise move, because the crowd in the morning at The Cathay stretched all the way from the box office to the escalators. Ahmad and I met up at ten in the morning, and even then the place was already rather crowded with excited crowds, all trying to get tickets to the first screening of Transformers this weekend. Sitting in the theater, I was very much surrounded by people who were obvious fans of the cartoon. So when the stars of the Paramount logo started to fly into frame with altered sound effects, there was a piercing silence in the crowd and the air was thick with anticipation.

Transformers tells of the story of - well, robots kicking each others' ass basically. In between the intense battles, we get the humans messing around each other and some making a fool out of themselves. The story begins with an US military base in Qatar being attacked by an unknown MH-53 Pave Low helicopter, which transformed itself into a robot that unleashed electromagnetic pulse that managed to wipe out the whole camp. The survivors of the attack - trailed by the deadly Scorponok of the Decepticons - tries to make contact with the Pentagon through the desert wastelands. In America, Shia LaBeouf plays a 10th grader named Sam Witwicky, an ordinary teenager who works hard at school as well as at home to buy his very first care and hopefully, earn the liking of the girl from school, Mikaela, played by Megan Fox. Sam becomes entangled between the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons due to the 'giant ice snowman' his great-great grandfather found in the arctic in the early 20th century. It was the frozen body of the Decepticon leader Megatron, who was sent to Earth to find the Allspark - an energy cube that is capable of transforming ordinary machines into robots - to create his army of robots to take over the universe. Somehow, the location of the Allspark became engraved on the glasses of Sam's great-great grandfather during the discovery of Megatron, and the heirloom was being passed down to him with the secret lost to all - save for the robots which was heading to Earth to seek out the glasses which Sam placed on eBay for sale.

That is basically what you need to know about the story, and all you need to do for the rest of the movie is to sit back and watch those robots bring each other to pieces one by one. As a child, I've always wanted to see robots tearing each other apart, and I was not allowed to do that at all with my own toys at home. So to see them do so on a giant screen was a dream come true of sorts, especially in a movie made by two masters of film-making, it made the dream even sweeter. And of course, it has Megan Fox. Oh. My. God.

Allow yourself a few minutes to imagine the kind of action you are going to expect from a movie like that, and that is probably what you will see and more in this summer blockbuster. Aside from all the punching and all the kicking, we see rockets flying everywhere and laser guns being shot with limitless ammunition at each other. Not to mention the flying tanks, the exploding buildings, the cars being thrown off expressways, the F-22 fighter jets crashing into buildings after being shot down by Starscream, and not to mention my favorite shot: Megatron - as a Cybertronian jet - crashing through an office building in slow motion with Optimus Prime. Though it echoed somewhat of the horrors during 9/11, at least the bad guys got what they deserved in the end, unlike the reality. I liked Megatron's design alteration in this film, from a handgun to a space jet of sorts. And the movie-makers paid tribute to the original design by giving Megatron a giant rocket in the movie that transforms out of his arms. THAT was the ultimate weapon in the whole movie, aside from Ironhide's duel cannons.

Just when you think Michael Bay directs the best car-chases - which he does - nothing beats a car-chase at 100 miles an hour, and having the cars transform into robots at the very same speed. Watch out for Ironhide's split second improvising as his vehicle almost gets into the way of a helpless passerby in the middle of the warfare. He totally showcases the power of his cannons and the slow motion action here was just utterly brilliant. Not to forget the other representatives of the Autobots, which include Jazz - the Pontiac Solstice, Bumblebee - the Chevrolet Camaro, which is also Sam's guardian, and Ratchet the Hummer H2.

On the side of the Decepticons, we have the already mentioned Megatron and his partners. Starscream the F-22 Raptor, Barricade the Saleen-modified Ford Mustang police car, Frenzy the twin-speaker radio which also acts as the hacker of information, Bonecrusher the Buffalo(Mine-protected vehicle), Blackout the MH-53 Pave Low, Scorpnok the mechanical scorpion and Brawl the M1 Abrams. Amongst these bad guys, they all have their moments of brilliance on screen, but Megatron is really the big boss of them all. He has the coolest weapons, the most intimidating looks, and probably the most menacing one as well. It is a shame that the directors included so many robots in one movie, because so many of them, including the ones from Autobots, had so little screen time and lines. Most of them were one-liners, and some of them didn't talk at all. I liked Bonecrusher and the way it literally forked cars out of his way on the expressway. But as soon as he appeared on screen, he also disappeared under the hands - or sword - of Optimus Prime. That was quite a disappointment, but I guess with such a huge CGI cast, it'd be hard to focus on every one of them. Besides, by killing off robots it'd also mean less CG to deal with, and more money saved.

Aside from all the adrenaline pumping action, there is also a strong sense of humor in the film. The best part of the humor shines through in the first act of the movie, from the beginning till the point whereby Sam discovers his car's hidden talents. A hilarious scene includes the Autobots in the carefully tended front yard of Sam's house, trying to move around as quietly as possible without Sam's parents noticing them at all. But of course, transforming themselves into cars and parking them on the front lawn wasn't the best way to disguise, so they had to hide around the corners and under the front porch to stay out of the suspicious eyes of the parents. Ironhide's comments about the parents had me burst out in laughter - though it was obviously not shared by Optimus Prime who shot Ironhide down - figuratively. Not to mention how Bumblebee communicated with Sam and Mikaela through the songs played on the radio, because his voice box was damaged and left unfixed.

This movie is all Michael Bay, and it is an obvious one. Like everybody out there predicted, this movie does have the usual Michael Bay flaws stamped all over. We have pointless human interaction scenes that were a minute or two too long, we have scenes that are sometimes too far fetched even for a movie about robots from outer space. However, amidst the battling robots it becomes easy to forgive Michael Bay for these mistakes and move along with the storyline. Like I said before, this movie was never made to please the academy, but to please the fans and the bunch of audiences out there who have been craving for a live-action Transformers film. As long as we get to see robots being blown up, we care little if their human counterparts are well-developed or not. The movie totally blew me away, with the non-stop action towards the end of the movie, which can only be fully appreciated if the movie is watched in slow motion. Simply because the robots transform too fast and fought too swiftly at times, it is hard to take in all the imagery and information all at once. Like that speed at which Michael Bay filmed those scenes, the action comes quick and ends even quicker, leaving you in your seat and breathless.

So, like I said, if you have ten dollars right now and you have no idea how to spend it, spend it on this movie. It is going to blow your clothes off in the theater, and the grip it has on you is not going to let loose until the credits start to roll. Make sure you do stay back after the first few minutes of the credits to catch critical scenes that may lead to a sequel, despite the awful song choice - Linkin Park - in the background. Watch this movie, because whatever your pre-conceived idea may be of it, Transformers is going to transform your idea. After all, like the robots, there is more than meets the eye.

So what the hell are you waiting for?

Autobots, transform and roll out!

8.5/10

[Deexan]

Man oh man, that's the biggest review i ever saw!

Just a shame we brits are left waiting a few weeks before its release yet again...

[badgonegood]

I will most likely skip this one. Transformers have never interest me and I never had a toy either so.... just another summer blockbuster to me. Effects look good, but so does the effects in nearly every other movie this summer.

[Matrix_Fan]

I'm seeing this sucker at the Archlight in Hollywood. I'm still debating whether I should do a video review, or a really long review. Oh, well. You guys/girls will get my answer on the 3rd or the 4th of July.

[moviebuff801]

That's not exactly the best of examples, considering majority of critics and fans were on the same page for DMC. Average critic score was 6 / 10... average user score was 6.7 / 10. Not exactly a vast difference.

Like I said, Pirates 2 was a good example in my personal opinion.

[NightWarrior]

Surprisingly, Transformers is getting great reviews especially for a Michael Bay film. So this thread is for critics reviews. Feel free to post any reviews from the critics for this movie.

Positive Reviews
http://www.darkhorizons.com/reviews/transformers.php

http://movies.ign.com/articles/800/800501p1.html
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/click/movie-1165257/reviews.php?critic=1&sortby=default&page=2&rid=1644352
http://www.popsyndicate.com/site/story/transformers/
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film/reviews/article_display.jsp?&rid=9431
http://www.montrealfilmjournal.com/review.asp?R=R0001116
http://emanuellevy.com/article.php?articleID=6058
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/click/movie-1165257/reviews.php?critic=1&sortby=default&page=3&rid=1644348
http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117933974.html?categoryid=31&cs=1
http://crunchonthis.com/2007/06/29/transformers--a-fantastic-voyage-through-geekdom.aspx
http://www.reelzchannel.com/moviedetail.aspx?movieId=225447&tab=review#931
http://www.canmag.com/nw/8190-transformers-review
http://www.cinemablend.com/reviews/Transformers-2362.html
http://www.urbancinefile.com.au/home/view.asp?a=13228&s=Reviews
http://www.smh.com.au/news/film-reviews/transformers/2007/06/28/1182624031194.html

Negative Reviews
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/click/movie-1165257/reviews.php?critic=1&sortby=default&page=1&rid=1643677
http://filmfreakcentral.net/screenreviews/livefreeortransform.htm
http://www.thehotbutton.com/today/hot.button/2007_thb/070629_fri.html
http://www.infilm.com.au/reviews/transformers.html

[bbf2]

Here's my review:

http://www.dailybruin.com/dbtv/2007/jun/30/305/

[SaltyDog]

Looking at the current mixed and all over the board ratings by our brilliant CS members I am wondering if it will be as big a boxoffice bonanza as the buzz indicates. ???? Maybe that is why they moved the film up to open on MONDAY instead of the 4th.

[Matrix_Fan]

Mixed reviews never really stop an anticipated film from making tons of money.

[Andrey83]

edit: lost meaning after merge.

[droidguy1119]

Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Gobots
Transformers shakes, rattles, rocks, rolls...and sucks

When Peter Cullen's bassy voice first broke through the speakers at my screening of Michael Bay's Transformers, I got it. I admit it: I've never seen the cartoon, but the geeky thrill that one gets from hearing something from their childhood is infectious, and I could feel it through the audience. Unfortunately, that's the only part of Transformers that works. For the first time, Bay not only indulges his most bombastic, commercial tendencies but ignores tension-building, character development and consistent tone while also pandering to just about every corporation who could toss a buck into the undoubtedly massive budget. I sure hope everyone working at DreamWorks got a free Chevy.

By way of his new car, Sam Witwicki (Shia LaBeouf) finds himself in the middle of an interstellar war between Autobots (the good guys) and the Decepticons over a cube called the Allspark, which caused a war on their home planet. Yes, that's the whole plot, which gets stretched thin over the course of Transformers' 144-minute runtime, as if Bay thinks the way to launch a franchise is to save every single thing aside from the origin story for the sequels. The movie makes desperate grabs at subplots involving scientists and Sam's love interest (Megan Fox) but the characters and performances are so mind-numbingly boring that none of it sticks. Not even John Turturro chewing scenery so hard it's like he's trying to eat the whole movie manages to register. LaBeouf tries his best (he's the strongest in the film by a mile), but he's just another human to set the scale for the summer-movie destruction.

Too bad the Transformers are boring too. There are bits of action scenes that are cool but Bay shoots them with almost too much realism. The film has no daredevil, reckless spirit, no interest in entertaining with its computerized mayhem. All that seems to have been important was that the robots blended seamlessly with intricately pre-planned camera moves, explosions and sightlines, despite lots of shaky camera to give the picture a "real" look. Worse, when the robots tussle (which is actually not often), there are so many gears and wheels and mechanical bits that it's hard to tell which end is up in Bay's shoved-in-a-blender, ultra-close-up directing style. Everything else looks pretty much like a car commercial, especially a scene late in the movie where the Autobots drive along an isolated desert road. Worst of all, one of the Decepticons (I don't remember which one) is a misstep of Jar Jar Binks level proportions, an annoying, chittering, "comic relief" robot that one could swear George Lucas was involved with.

But what do I know? The audience at my screening ate it up like it was buttered popcorn. Maybe it's not important for movies to have personality when it comes to summer entertainment. I don't think I've seen a more commercially minded, factory produced movie in a long time, and it's more than the fact that the show (and by definition the film) are based on a line of toys. It's as if every shot had to be stamped "PAID FOR" before leaving the studio, and nothing sucks the fun out of a film like a subliminal demand for more money. But that's progress for you: in the 80's, they were just selling action figures. Now they're selling sports cars too. Perhaps they'll leases in the lobby.

Stars (out of four): *1/2

Starring Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Jon Voight and the voice of Peter Cullen
Written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman | Directed by Michael Bay
DreamWorks Pictures/Paramount Pictures (2007) | 144 Minutes
Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action violence, brief sexual humor, and language

[Sora Kahn]

Wow. They kind of understand robots. Incredible.

[Frizzo the Clown]

*threads merged*

[Sora Kahn]

Now droid, if you could handle Clark Kent, you could handle Binks and a stupid robot.

[Dracula]

who cares if its dumb???? its supposed to be an action film


its not like michael bay is trying to win an oscar

He wasn't trying to win an oscar for Bad Boys, Bad Boys 2, or Armageddon either. I doubt the Wayans Brothers were trying to win oscars for White Chicks or Little Man. Low ambitions does not excuse stupidity, neither does fanboy nostalgia. I must ask why people are so willing to excuse plot holes and whatnot from Transformers just because "I just want to see robots fighting". Is Batman & Robin all right simply because you "just want to see batman fighting" I think not.

I for one have never seen an episode of those stupid 30-minute commercials that were only made to sell toys to kids, nor did I ever own one of those toys. To me this is just a Michael Bay movie with an completely stupid concept.

[Sora Kahn]

Dude the way the critics are right now, they wouldn't understand Moby Dick.

[Dracula]

Dude the way the critics are right now, they wouldn't understand Moby Dick.

There are miles and miles and miles of difference between moby dick and the transformers. One was the singlular vision of a great author, the other is the souless creation of the marketing comitee of some toy company.

Can you guess which one is which?

[Frizzo the Clown]

There are miles and miles and miles of difference between moby dick and the transformers. One was the singlular vision of a great author, the other is the souless creation of the marketing comitee of some toy company.

Can you guess which one is which?
Would I render your point null and void if I told you I had an Ahab action figure? ;)

[Dracula]

Would I render your point null and void if I told you I had an Ahab action figure? ;)

only if it was made before the book was even a gleam in Melville's eye

[JasonLV]

Have people forgotten it was a comic from Japan first...then it became a cartoon and toy

[Dracula]

Have people forgotten it was a comic from Japan first...then it became a cartoon and toy

not true, according to wikipedia:
The Transformers began with the 1970s Japanese toy lines Microman and Diaclone. The former utilized varying humanoid-type figures while the middle presented robots able to transform into vehicular modes, with the latter robots mimicking everyday electronic items or replica weapons. Hasbro, fresh off the success of the G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero toyline, which utilised the Microman technology to great success, bought the Diaclone toys, and partnered with Takara.[2] Jim Shooter and Dennis O'Neil were hired by Hasbro to create the backstory, the latter of whom christened Optimus Prime.[3] Afterwards, Bob Budiansky created most of the Transformers characters, giving names and personalities to many unnamed Diaclone figures.[4] The primary concept of G1 is that the heroic Optimus Prime, the villainous Megatron, and their finest soldiers crash land on pre-historic Earth in the Ark and the Nemesis before awakening in 1984.

[John Hartigan]

He wasn't trying to win an oscar for Bad Boys, Bad Boys 2, or Armageddon either. I doubt the Wayans Brothers were trying to win oscars for White Chicks or Little Man. Low ambitions does not excuse stupidity, neither does fanboy nostalgia. I must ask why people are so willing to excuse plot holes and whatnot from Transformers just because "I just want to see robots fighting". Is Batman & Robin all right simply because you "just want to see batman fighting" I think not.

I for one have never seen an episode of those stupid 30-minute commercials that were only made to sell toys to kids, nor did I ever own one of those toys. To me this is just a Michael Bay movie with an completely stupid concept.

I didn't know what to expect when I walked into it, honestly, but whatever shortcomings Transformers has I'm willing to overlook because I had a damn good time with it. I can't say the same thing about any other Summer movies this year, so far. And I'm not in the minority thinking this here either, considering the flick has a 73% Fresh rating on RT, and an IMDb rating of 8.4/10, which is not only impressive but also makes it Michael Bay's best film to date. You can of course say that you don't care about other peoples' opinions, and rightly so, but I guess you'd actually have had to see the movie before forming your own opinion of it, right? :rolleyes:

I normally don't feed trolls, but your elitist and cynical attitude bugs me. So what if it's based on toys? Those 'stupid' toys have spawned a multi-platform, multi-billion dollar empire that's managed to stay consistently popular for over two decades now. What other franchise, besides Star Wars, could say the same thing?

[SaltyDog]

Hey, what is it with Drizzt and claymore and proesti, or whatever. Is it there job to diss and destroy. or what.

[myword]

Caught it over the weekend. Opened here (in Singapore) last Thursday. Odd thing is "Live Free or Die Hard" (otherwise known locally as "Die Hard 4.0") opened on Friday. No guesses for who'll come out tops for the weekend.

Sadly I didn't enjoy "Transformers". I'm not a fan so I can't really tell you what elements they managed to successfully translate to the big screen but as a movie it fails to succeed. Sure it's amped with big bangs and visual wizardry but at the same time it's also all over the place.

Don't wanna bore you to death with an indepth review here. But if you'd really like to read my thoughts feel free to (http://alcatsar.blogspot.com).

[Dracula]

And I'm not in the minority thinking this here either, considering the flick has a 73% Fresh rating on RT
67% and dropping

, and an IMDb rating of 8.4/10, which is not only impressive but also makes it Michael Bay's best film to date.
We'll see where that score ends up when it actually opens. I doubt all 4500 of those voters were actually invited to screenings, I suspect most of them are fanboys jumping the gun.

You can of course say that you don't care about other peoples' opinions, and rightly so, but I guess you'd actually have had to see the movie before forming your own opinion of it, right? :rolleyes:
I have nothing but respect for other people's opinions. The movie hasn't opened yet and most of the people here are just talking about their level of antisipation, which in my case is very low.

Those 'stupid' toys have spawned a multi-platform, multi-billion dollar empire that's managed to stay consistently popular for over two decades now. What other franchise, besides Star Wars, could say the same thing?
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Pokémon, G.I. Joe, Harry Potter, Barney, The Muppets, Sesame Street, Lord of the Rings, Spider-Man, X-Men, Superman, Batman... do I need to go on?

[Ashift30]

I went with my 14 year old son. I wasn't expecting much. I found myself actually enjoying this mindless film. My kid loved it. He pointed out some suttle differences from movie to his perception of "Transformer History" and had some good laughs.

Shia was very good in this movie. He held the movie entertaining. Without him it was just going to be a goofy cgi flick. He added acting street cred to the flick.

It actually has me really waiting to see him in Indiana Jones. I think he can pull off that role.

[Sora Kahn]

Um, can somebody give me a list of the actors who voice the robots?

[Ewok Droppings]

Um, can somebody give me a list of the actors who voice the robots?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformers_(film)#Autobots

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformers_(film)#Decepticons

[Sora Kahn]

^Thanks. I'm looking forward to seeing this. I might do a double header. See this and Die Hard.

[Darth Maul]

LOL a guy on rotten tomatoes said it was better then sex ;p

[ilovecandace]

LOL a guy on rotten tomatoes said it was better then sex ;p

LMAO .. if it is .. man i think i might croak and die

[Darth Maul]

LMAO .. if it is .. man i think i might croak and die

does that mean you cant wait for the movie?

[ilovecandace]

does that mean you cant wait for the movie?

..what so i can die.. lol i cant wait ..im honestly hyped for it... its wierd but it being better than sex lol lmao i doubt it

[Darth Maul]

same here bud

[ilovecandace]

im going to see it in like 5 and half hours woop woop ....

[Darth Maul]

Have fun

[cg124]

I'm seeing it tonight with some friends. They want to dress up for fun...I very much decline

[iv3rdawG]

Seeing it tomorrow.

[SaltyDog]

same here bud


Now wait a minute. You have rated the film 10 stars out of 10 and you haven't even seen it. Where is your integrity, Darth.

[Darth Maul]

Now wait a minute. You have rated the film 10 stars out of 10 and you haven't even seen it. Where is your integrity, Darth.

hehe, i feel that even though i haven't seen the film its going to be a 10/10 :csgrin: Im seeing it tomorrow at 7 am

Don't count it if u wish but thats what I will vote when i get back anyways. Ill put up a review after words tomorrow.

[SaltyDog]

hehe, i feel that even though i haven't seen the film its going to be a 10/10 :csgrin: Im seeing it tomorrow at 7 am

Don't count it if u wish but thats what I will vote when i get back anyways.

Well, by midnight tonight the Reviews on this film will be "ROTTEN" Or less than 60 percent. Probably the reason it will be a blockbuster.

[Darth Maul]

Well, by midnight tonight the Reviews on this film will be "ROTTEN" Or less than 60 percent. Probably the reason it will be a blockbuster.

Ive learned sometimes to not trust what rotten tomatoes says, theres been times when they said the film sucked and I liked it. Right now its at 64 percent fresh and chud rated 7.5 out of 10 and CS has rated it a 9.5 out of 10. So reviews seem jumpy. The movie is 2hrs 24 mins..... man i cant wait to see this..

[ddel54]

Well, by midnight tonight the Reviews on this film will be "ROTTEN" Or less than 60 percent. Probably the reason it will be a blockbuster.

Does anyone here really listen to any Reviews Rotten gives? they seem to hate every movie

[Darth Maul]

Does anyone here really listen to any Reviews Rotten gives? they seem to hate every movie

They gave ratatouille a 100 percent fresh :rolleyes:

[iv3rdawG]

Which it deserved. It was a great film.

[Sora Kahn]

Yeah....sure it did. Amazing how they understand a rat but can't understand a robot or a turtle.

[Darth Maul]

Which it deserved. It was a great film.

ya i liked it too, just saying they dont give every thing a bad review.

[Sora Kahn]

Critics are so dumb I'm amazed that actually understood Ratatouille. They should've been complaining that none of the minor secondary characters got enough screen time.

[MissLadyVenus]

The effects were mind blowing but i didn't believe I was watching a transformers adaptation.

Pros


Effects - superb. Lives up to all the hype

Shia - He kept this movie together. A real talent


Cons


Story - doesnt hold to the mythology at all.

Characters - There just wasn't enough (in terms of screen time) of the Transformers and too many human characters. The TF's that you know and love e.g Starscream, Jazz, Ironhide, Ratchet etc. had little if any lines. Bumblebee only starts to speak right at the end of the movies for god's sake. plus, you only get to see Megatron talk/act in the final 30 mins. Because the TF's had so few lines, the voice actors had no chance to show their talent.

Aesthetics - Although the effects are great, I just didn't feel like these things on screan were Transformers. They had no similarities to the old designs at all, so u bearly knew who was fighting. Just a bunch of metal flailing around.


But hey, this is from the point of view of a TF fan. If you have little knowledge of the series, then you will be entertained. I'll admit i liked some aspects of the film, its just frustrating to see the potential of such a great idea squandered by people who have no knowledge of what has come before it in the original series.

5/10

WOW!! Amazing!! We had the same exact opinion. I can see why Tom DeSanto had so many gripes about the script. The monologue was pretty terrible, IMO. There were some ultra cheesy lines but for the most part the Robots REALLY stole the show and practically saved it from being a crapfest.

When you take way ILM and the 'Bots the movie does not hold up well.

5/10 as well but I'd say that the FX are so fantastic it could be bumped to a 7 just for the eye candy alone.

BRING ON SOUNDWAVE for the Sequel!! :)

[FranklinTard]

hehe, i feel that even though i haven't seen the film its going to be a 10/10 :csgrin: Im seeing it tomorrow at 7 am

Don't count it if u wish but thats what I will vote when i get back anyways. Ill put up a review after words tomorrow.

you've got some problems....

[Darth Maul]

WOW!! Amazing!! We had the same exact opinion. I can see why Tom DeSanto had so many gripes about the script. The monologue was pretty terrible, IMO. There were some ultra cheesy lines but for the most part the Robots REALLY stole the show and practically saved it from being a crapfest.

When you take way ILM and the 'Bots the movie does not hold up well.

5/10 as well but I'd say that the FX are so fantastic it could be bumped to a 7 just for the eye candy alone.

BRING ON SOUNDWAVE for the Sequel!! :)

The movie is called Transformers, if you took the bots away then it wouldnt be transformers unless its a documentary on transvestites in the USA. That our how "transformers" as in the stuff they sell at hard ware stores are made.

[MissLadyVenus]

The movie is called Transformers, if you took the bots away then it wouldnt be transformers unless its a documentary on transvestites in the USA.

Agreed, but it doesn't excuse having a VERY weak storyline and bad monologue.

:redface:

[Darth Maul]

Robots beating the **** out of each other how hard is it to mess up?

[MissLadyVenus]

Robots beating the **** out of each other how hard is it to mess up?

Sadly, there's not as much of that as I expected. Plus, I want better for my favorite iconic characters.

'Scuse me for having a better understanding and appreciation for my icons. ;)

[Darth Maul]

Well you made it sound like it was a complete flop. So they didn't mention anything for hinted anything towards the history of the transformers? I haven't seen the movie yet and ya I do have an understanding of the transformers series. My question is are you a Transformers Puritan? thats all i need to know. If so then I understand you're point.

[Darth Maul]

you've got some problems....

why do I have problems? cause ill c it at 7 am?

[Sora Kahn]

WOW!! Amazing!! We had the same exact opinion. I can see why Tom DeSanto had so many gripes about the script. The monologue was pretty terrible, IMO. There were some ultra cheesy lines but for the most part the Robots REALLY stole the show and practically saved it from being a crapfest.

When you take way ILM and the 'Bots the movie does not hold up well.

5/10 as well but I'd say that the FX are so fantastic it could be bumped to a 7 just for the eye candy alone.

BRING ON SOUNDWAVE for the Sequel!! :)

Wow. No kidding. Of course, they saved the movie. It was THEIR MOVIE :rolleyes: . It's not called 'Transformers' for nothing.

[Darth Maul]

Wow. No kidding. Of course, they saved the movie. It was THEIR MOVIE :rolleyes: . It's not called 'Transformers' for nothing.

:)

[MissLadyVenus]

Wow. No kidding. Of course, they saved the movie. It was THEIR MOVIE :rolleyes: . It's not called 'Transformers' for nothing.

Sadly, I didn't see much of the Transformers as much as I expected to, way too much Human (which was written badly) storyline for my taste. I hope they keep down more of that in the sequel.

[Matrix_Fan]

http://soulgook.com/bonecrusher/hates/TF%20Haters.png

[Sora Kahn]

Oh no. Are you saying they pulled a Singer and have it where the hero and villains are barely in the movie? Well, that's just great. My excitement has reduced.

[FranklinTard]

why do I have problems? cause ill c it at 7 am?

well that sure, and you voted a 10 before it even came out. you are aware tyrese gibson was cast in this right?

[Darth Maul]

Oh no. Are you saying they pulled a Singer and have it where the hero and villains are barely in the movie? Well, that's just great. My excitement has reduced.

I bet you will be blown away just like TMNT

[Darth Maul]

well that sure, and you voted a 10 before it even came out. you are aware tyrese gibson was cast in this right?

you are aware its giant robots kicking the **** out of each other?

[Matrix_Fan]

Oh no. Are you saying they pulled a Singer and have it where the hero and villains are barely in the movie? Well, that's just great. My excitement has reduced.

I bet when you see the movie, you'll compare Megatron to Lex Luthor.

[Darth Maul]

I bet when you see the movie, you'll compare Megatron to Lex Luthor.

LOL DO A BARREL ROLL

[Matrix_Fan]

*does Barrel roll*

There, happy now? I just killed my cats while doing the barrel roll. I hope you are satisfied.

[Darth Maul]

*does Barrel roll*

There, happy now? I just killed my cats while doing the barrel roll. I hope you are satisfied.

Those Poor Kittys!

[SaltyDog]

Does anyone here really listen to any Reviews Rotten gives? they seem to hate every movie

Well, let say i look to see what certain critics say. For instance, when Claudia Puig of USA Today says its a good movie you can feel assured the movie will SUCK and vice versa. She gave this film a positive review. So take it from there. Of course, my kid will probably love it and I have to sit through this for two hours and 20 minutes. UGH.

[Chessh2936]

does ANYONE know what movie trailer that was RIGHT before Transformers, it just said " Produced by JJ Abrams" and gave no title?

[Matrix_Fan]

The title is Cloverfield. It's most likely a working title though, since it wasn't present on the trailer(so I hear). I hear it's a great trailer, I can't wait to see it in front of Transformers.

[halo7]

Oh no. Are you saying they pulled a Singer and have it where the hero and villains are barely in the movie? Well, that's just great. My excitement has reduced.

Thats actually not how it is at all. So..


Transformers is a great summer action blockbuster. I would say it rivals and maybe even surpasses Independence Day in their respective category of action adventure.
Some people will complain about the weak plot and how it is "all action". Those people need to lighten up and just have fun. Transformers is great for people who like to have fun at the movies. This isn't to say Transformers doesn't have its share of problems. It is about 20 minutes too long and sometimes it is difficult to tell who is fighting who(but not always). The action isn't really all that difficult to follow unless you have bad vision. Everything happens really fast but I could generally follow what was going on. I really wanted a great summer blockbuster out of Transformers and it gave me what I wanted. Excluding Shia as Sam Witwicky a lot of the humans are pretty uninteresting. Megan Fox is hot and John Turturro is crazy. But they are all pretty simple characters. As expected the Transformers themselves are the stars of the movie with top notch effects and plenty of jokes to crack.
The movie is suprisingly humorous pushing it more into the realm of action comedy more than the trailers would lead you to believe. Transformers will please fans especially since it delivers Optimus in the best possible way. He was the best part of the movie. Transformers will be remembered for its big effects and its blockbuster status. Its not really more than meets the eye. But its still very very entertaining.

8/10

[Dracula]

hehe, i feel that even though i haven't seen the film its going to be a 10/10 :csgrin: Im seeing it tomorrow at 7 am

Don't count it if u wish but thats what I will vote when i get back anyways. Ill put up a review after words tomorrow.

remind me to never believe anything you ever say again.

[Boiiinng]

This was a bad movie. I'm not sure if it even deserves a review, because I honestly don't think I just watched a movie. I will start with a paraphrase of my favorite Mark Twain quote: "The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense." This film didn't. I didn't care about any character, human or robot. Plot-related action was offscreen or hidden. Dialogue was junior-high school level. Editing and cuts were done by a blind person. I think it's funny how a lot of people in support for the movie say that the cartoon was just a long commercial for the toys, but that's exactly what was presented with the movie, if it can even be considered a movie, along with the most annoying and boring human interaction scenes I have seen since Tomb Raider. Michael Bay, as a director, did not care about this movie, and it shows. He cared about The Island, and as a fan of that film so do I. I have found the same with my own artistic profession. I don't put the extra effort into something I don't care about.

I am being generous with my rating because I respect the skills of ILM bringing the only toy I ever collected to the big screen. I just wish I had watched a completed movie, not a loose collection of dailies. It really seemed like they ran out of time on the set and had Kenny from On The Lot put together what they had.

6/10

[Darth Maul]

remind me to never believe anything you ever say again.

O Dracula, I don't do this to every film. Im just very hyped about this one. So what I like a movie so much that I gave it a great rating. Sorry I cant bend myself to you're ways Dracula. I don't do this to every movie, its just this one especially because of what its all about. Giant Robots kicking the **** out of each other. You don't like a lot of people do you? Because you're such an intellectual person that no one can be as good as you are, especially when it comes to movies. If you're mad at me because of that then thats a bunch of bollocks in my opinion. These days people are too damn serious about movies especially when it comes down to ratings its rated R boo hoo. O and in short everyone who walks into Transformers for an intellectual movie then you're wrong! Its not American Beauty so what, its not realism so what?, sometimes you need **** blown up and awesome fight sequences to relax and enjoy you're self. For once in you're lives just enjoy the damn movie for what it is and not pick it apart like its Good Will Hunting or something. This message is just a rant i guess. I just think its stupid for ppl to be upset with the way i like to rate movies.

[werebadger]

10/10 Awesome, can't wait to see it again!

[iv3rdawG]

Darth Maul, I think Dracula said that not only because you rated it a 10/10 but because you haven't even seen the movie yet..

[Darth Maul]

I think Dracula said that not only because you rated it a 10/10 but because you haven't even seen the movie yet..

I know he did im just ranting, ive had a really rough day to day. This happens to me when I get really exited about a movie. People always judge a movie before it comes out! give it negative ratings and what not before they even see it! but when i say i look forward to it! 10/10. People get pissed. Wheres the love man?

[halo7]

Darth Maul, I loved Transformers. But you are being ****ing stupid.

[Darth Maul]

Darth Maul, I loved Transformers. But you are being ****ing stupid.

Ill just stop. Sorry for being a moron.

[Dracula]

So what I like a movie so much that I gave it a great rating.
You havn't seen it, you have no way of knowing whether or not you like it.
Sorry I cant bend myself to you're ways Dracula.
My ways? I think seeing a movie before you give it a score is a fairly normal expectaition. I for one don't think this movie will be very good, how would you react to me going ahead and giving it a 1 without seeing it? I would never rate a movie a I haven't seen, especially not with a hyperbolic score like a 1 or a 10.

I for one went in to Spider-Man 3 fully expecting it to earn a very positive review, I'm glad I didn't go ahead and give it a ten before even getting to the theater.


I don't do this to every movie, its just this one especially because of what its all about. Giant Robots kicking the **** out of each other.
Take for example the 1998 Roland Emerich version of Godzilla. That was a movie about a giant lizard destroying a city. Souds awesome right? Sounds like there's no way they could **** that up, right? Sounds like somthing you can feel free to give a ten without seeing it, right? Wrong, that movie sucked, I see no reason to believe Transformers will be any better.


You don't like a lot of people do you?
I don't dislike people, but when they do stupid s**t like rating a movie they havn't seen I'm still going to call them out.


Because you're such an intellectual person that no one can be as good as you are, especially when it comes to movies. If you're mad at me because of that then thats a bunch of bollocks in my opinion. These days people are too damn serious about movies especially when it comes down to ratings its rated R boo hoo.
I do take movies very seriously, sue me. Movies are my main passion in life and don't take them lightly. Frankly if I have to have minimal enthusiasum for the like of Transformers in order to fully enjoy something like Citizen Kane, then so be it.


O and in short everyone who walks into Transformers for an intellectual movie then you're wrong! Its not American Beauty so what, its not realism so what?, sometimes you need **** blown up and awesome fight sequences to relax and enjoy you're self. For once in you're lives just enjoy the damn movie for what it is and not pick it apart like its Good Will Hunting or something.
There are plenty of great action movies out there. Die Hard, Aliens, Hard Boiled, Terminator 2, Spider-Man 2, 300. These are great pieces of entertainment and they are well crafted and thoughtfull at the same time. They are great genre cinema, and if Transformers is indeed as good as those then I stand corrected, but I don't see any reason why it will.

In closing, if you have a right to be enthusiastic about this thing to the point where you can vote in the poll without even seeing it, the I also have every right to be unenthusiastic about it as well.

[Darth Maul]

You havn't seen it, you have no way of knowing whether or not you like it.

My ways? I think seeing a movie before you give it a score is a fairly normal expectaition. I for one don't think this movie will be very good, how would you react to me going ahead and giving it a 1 without seeing it? I would never rate a movie a I haven't seen, especially not with a hyperbolic score like a 1 or a 10.

I for one went in to Spider-Man 3 fully expecting it to earn a very positive review, I'm glad I didn't go ahead and give it a ten before even getting to the theater.


Take for example the 1998 Roland Emerich version of Godzilla. That was a movie about a giant lizard destroying a city. Souds awesome right? Sounds like there's no way they could **** that up, right? Sounds like somthing you can feel free to give a ten without seeing it, right? Wrong, that movie sucked, I see no reason to believe Transformers will be any better.


I don't dislike people, but when they do stupid s**t like rating a movie they havn't seen I'm still going to call them out.


I do take movies very seriously, sue me. Movies are my main passion in life and don't take them lightly. Frankly if I have to have minimal enthusiasum for the like of Transformers in order to fully enjoy something like Citizen Kane, then so be it.


There are plenty of great action movies out there. Die Hard, Aliens, Hard Boiled, Terminator 2, Spider-Man 2, 300. These are great pieces of entertainment and they are well crafted and thoughtfull at the same time. They are great genre cinema, and if Transformers is indeed as good as those then I stand corrected, but I don't see any reason why it will.

In closing, if you have a right to be enthusiastic about this thing to the point where you can vote in the poll without even seeing it, the I also have every right to be unenthusiastic about it as well.

Fair enough. But don't go off saying that you wouldn't believe me anymore just because I rated a movie before it came out. Like you said, you walked into Spider-Man 3 thinking excellence, why can't I feel the same? Next time i wont vote early. But do you understand what i am saying?

[carnage4u]

1st. I always see all these rotten tomato comments.
They only time I usually agree with them, is when a movie has below a 20% or so. Its just something that bad no matter who you are.. Otherwise, I just dont care about their ratings.


I saw this tonight, and my gut reaction, is I enjoyed my time in the theatre, I was impressed with a lot of the effects, The story was not very much there, but I didnt go in excpecting much of that.


I will say, at times, it was hard to tell some of the autobots,deceptions apart, and they really needed to have thembattle each other, much earlier in the film.

I knew this would center on the humans, and was overall ok with it, but it could have used some more action between the two factions earlier in the movie, and a little more content with the deceptions.

I did like a lot of the actors in the movie, and as a fan of just watching transformers do there things, i know im giving this somewhere around a 8/10 for just pure enjoyment and fun that it was.

[SaltyDog]

This was a bad movie. I'm not sure if it even deserves a review, because I honestly don't think I just watched a movie. I will start with a paraphrase of my favorite Mark Twain quote: "The difference between reality and fiction is that fiction has to make sense." This film didn't. I didn't care about any character, human or robot. Plot-related action was offscreen or hidden. Dialogue was junior-high school level. Editing and cuts were done by a blind person. I think it's funny how a lot of people in support for the movie say that the cartoon was just a long commercial for the toys, but that's exactly what was presented with the movie, if it can even be considered a movie, along with the most annoying and boring human interaction scenes I have seen since Tomb Raider. Michael Bay, as a director, did not care about this movie, and it shows. He cared about The Island, and as a fan of that film so do I. I have found the same with my own artistic profession. I don't put the extra effort into something I don't care about.

I am being generous with my rating because I respect the skills of ILM bringing the only toy I ever collected to the big screen. I just wish I had watched a completed movie, not a loose collection of dailies. It really seemed like they ran out of time on the set and had Kenny from On The Lot put together what they had.

6/10

This is pretty much what the LA times said about the film as well. No character identity whatsoever, inadequate script, and just about toy minatures falling over each other. I might just skip this one.

[Matrix_Fan]

This is pretty much what the LA times said about the film as well. No character identity whatsoever, inadequate script, and just about toy minatures falling over each other. I might just skip this one.

So, you decided not to make up your own mind and let some one else do it, huh?

[SaltyDog]

So, you decided not to make up your own mind and let some one else do it, huh?

Well, I really not into this flick to begin with. But I did say i just MIGHT skip it so work up your own assumptions.

[SaltyDog]

Well, I really not into this flick to begin with. But I did say i just MIGHT skip it so work up your own assumptions.

BTW, give us a feel if this movie is going to be really huge. Were the theatre filled to capacity tonight Monday. Just curious.

[gabrielangel]

This is pretty much what the LA times said about the film as well. No character identity whatsoever, inadequate script, and just about toy minatures falling over each other. I might just skip this one.

Good idea, because I don't see ANY way that YOU would have anything good to say about the movie.

I loved the movie.

If you think it might be good, then you will almost certainly like it too.

Now if you already think it's crap and have been whining on about that for awhile, then PLEASE don't see the movie. Do yourself and others that favor.

We mindless fans that enjoy this movie don't want to sit next to someone who is gonna complain and shake their head the whole time.

Not everyone will like this movie, but people that have been excited will enjoy it.

8/10

[Darth Maul]

Good idea, because I don't see ANY way that YOU would have anything good to say about the movie.

I loved the movie.

If you think it might be good, then you will almost certainly like it too.

Now if you already think it's crap and have been whining on about that for awhile, then PLEASE don't see the movie. Do yourself and others that favor.

We mindless fans that enjoy this movie don't want to sit next to someone who is gonna complain and shake their head the whole time.

Not everyone will like this movie, but people that have been excited will enjoy it.

8/10

PWNED

[nine1wing]

well its 1:12 am just got back from seeing the movie. SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

well I don't know what to think I gave the movie an 8 but now I wish I gave it a 7. I"m gonna just throw out my opinions of the movie, no real order. I grew up watching the tv show back in the 80s the biggest thing I don't remember is optimus prime being such a P#ssy. I was waiting to see this great finale showdown and got nothing.

I usually judge a movie (and I don't really know how to explain it) is if it can give me the chills or gives me like an adrenline rush. The only time I got the chills is when prime first showed up. and that was it. The ending itself was kind of weak, WHY is optimus prime such a P&SSY in the movie, I felt bumblebee was stronger. I was hoping to see more of an airforce vs. starscream. The one thing the movie did right was it established a bond between sam and bumblebee.

I HATED!!!! Frenzy, why in the hell did they make him or I guess his character act or say childish things, the younger kids who were with the parents laughed everytime he was on screen, and his screentime was more then wanted. The whole time he was onscreen he reminded me of those stupid repair droids in the phantom menace, (hit him on the nose)

The cgi was incrediable, but...... when their fighting you don't know whos who, hell when megatron killed jazz I didn't know who got killed until prime named him at the end. Shia made the movie he was pretty funny. Oh thats another thing I felt they made the movie alittle to humerous.

I guess thats it, like I said I felt like I was led on for 2 plus hours expecting something really dramacic (action wise) was going to happen and got nothing. Yes there was alot of shooting but the way it was shot it was just a blur. The camaro, saleen mustang, chase was cool, but the fight was pretty short. I really thought the highway scene was going to lead into something bigger but it turned out short.

anyways take it for what its worth, I personally wouldn't see it again in theaters, I would see die hard 4 again. I am hopeing for a transformers 2.

[Ewok Droppings]

OK, just got back from seeing this. I'm not a die-hard fanboy of TFs so I didn't really worry about the differences. I thought this movie was excellent! The one complaint that I have is that the fight/action scenes often used close-ups and shaky camera angles too much. It felt to me like this was Bays way of cosmetically making things work, when really I would have much rather seen the fight from a distance and not up close. The shaky camera thing is annoying no matter what movie it's used in.

Now that Megatron is dead and supposedly in the bottom of the sea - I wonder what they will do for a sequel. Also, without the All Spark, where will the story really go?

Great action, great times.

9/10

[FVD]

Well I saw this last Thursday and my my was I blown away. Sure I was very sceptical towards this movie but man had I no idea this movie was gonna be bloody damn funny also. Shia LeBeouf carried himself very well in this movie. He did a remarkable job with what he was given. Once I saw Optimus Prime and the first words uttered by Peter Cullen I just marked out like I was 10 all over again. :D

I didn't recognise Hugo Weaving's voice as Megatron but still he did a pretty good job. Still wish Welker was picked though but I'll live with it.

The action, the effects all very good. Also loved Bernie Mac in the film. Damn he was at his hysterical best. Bravo. Also loved Megatron flicking some innocent bystander as if he/she were a bug. Very nice. Sad for Jazz to die though. Didn't get enough screen time. :(

The Allspark concept ain't too bad I suppose. Better than that Minicon crap from recent times.

Score: 9/10

So for the next movie can we have Prowl, Cliffjumper, Trailbreaker and possibly Hound? Or how about Wheeljack, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe? :D

Decepticons bring on Skywarp and Thundercracker. Let's see that air armada. After seeing that Frenzy I suppose Soundwave won't be considered anymore. :( And how about an updated Megatron appearance. It's possible.

Damn imagine after seeing the size of Bonecrusher can you imagine the size of Devastator should the other Constructicons make an appearance. He'll be huge. :omg:

Can't wait to see it again. I know I most certainly will.

[nine1wing]

well its 1:12 am just got back from seeing the movie. SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

well I don't know what to think I gave the movie an 8 but now I wish I gave it a 7. I"m gonna just throw out my opinions of the movie, no real order. I grew up watching the tv show back in the 80s the biggest thing I don't remember is optimus prime being such a P#ssy. I was waiting to see this great finale showdown and got nothing.

I usually judge a movie (and I don't really know how to explain it) is if it can give me the chills or gives me like an adrenline rush. The only time I got the chills is when prime first showed up. and that was it. The ending itself was kind of weak, WHY is optimus prime such a P&SSY in the movie, I felt bumblebee was stronger. I was hoping to see more of an airforce vs. starscream. The one thing the movie did right was it established a bond between sam and bumblebee.

I HATED!!!! Frenzy, why in the hell did they make him or I guess his character act or say childish things, the younger kids who were with the parents laughed everytime he was on screen, and his screentime was more then wanted. The whole time he was onscreen he reminded me of those stupid repair droids in the phantom menace, (hit him on the nose)

The cgi was incrediable, but...... when their fighting you don't know whos who, hell when megatron killed jazz I didn't know who got killed until prime named him at the end. Shia made the movie he was pretty funny. Oh thats another thing I felt they made the movie alittle to humerous.

I guess thats it, like I said I felt like I was led on for 2 plus hours expecting something really dramacic (action wise) was going to happen and got nothing. Yes there was alot of shooting but the way it was shot it was just a blur. The camaro, saleen mustang, chase was cool, but the fight was pretty short. I really thought the highway scene was going to lead into something bigger but it turned out short.

anyways take it for what its worth, I personally wouldn't see it again in theaters, I would see die hard 4 again. I am hopeing for a transformers 2.

Just wanted to add this now that its morning, me description makes it sound bad, I just want to say the movie isn't bad, its just not great. Also for anyone that didn't stick around for the credits, you get to see starscream fly out to space

[JokerNick]

haven't seen it... but based on Megan Fox and her assembly line body, I will give it a 9/10.....

[Ewok Droppings]

haven't seen it... but based on Megan Fox and her assembly line body, I will give it a 9/10.....

I thought Rachel Taylor was smokin' hot, but Megan Fox was only alright - not as good. Rachel Taylor was the bigger hottie IMO. :)

[redman]

WOW!! Amazing!! We had the same exact opinion. I can see why Tom DeSanto had so many gripes about the script. The monologue was pretty terrible, IMO. There were some ultra cheesy lines but for the most part the Robots REALLY stole the show and practically saved it from being a crapfest.

When you take way ILM and the 'Bots the movie does not hold up well.

5/10 as well but I'd say that the FX are so fantastic it could be bumped to a 7 just for the eye candy alone.

BRING ON SOUNDWAVE for the Sequel!! :)

haha i was so annoyed that they didnt include Soundwave. Call me crazy but i wanted more Decepticon characterization. How many lines did the decepticons have in total? maybe 5 lines?

So many great voice talents and no lines to speak.

At least have a little banter between Starscream and Megatron. They're always fighting; like an old married couple.

Hopefully the sequels will flesh out the TF's a bit better and leave the human characters in the background for once.

There is a reason why there were very few humans in the original series - because the TF's had great personalities and could make every scene worth watching. I didnt get that feeling watching the TF's in this movie. They were more like monuments to behold rather than characters.

[halo7]

I dunno for what its worth the Autobots got a lot of speaking lines. Whenever they were explaining everything to Sam and Hot girl. It made me think back to the old cartoon. I was never a huge fan(I watched every episode of the "Beast" series though) but I still felt that nerd beacon go off in my head when they talked.

[slinger]

Here's my review:

http://www.dailybruin.com/dbtv/2007/jun/30/305/

Loved the mispronouncing of Shia's last name.

[FranklinTard]

did someone openly admit to being a mindless movie fan? yikes...

[ddel54]

Does anyone know that trailer for that J.J. Abrams movie?

[the elmo zombie]

did anyone else laugh their asses off at the scene at hoover dam with frenzy and the other people shooting at each other from seperate sides of a desk. it had the exact same camera movement of a very simaler scene in bad boys 2. almost like michael bay was making a joke out of his older movies.

[iv3rdawG]

TRANSFORMERS

Anyway, insane movie. You can totally tell that it's Michael Bay. But for a summer blockbuster action film, thats just the right thing. Just a whole lot of fun, Shia did a great job and just sitting there watching the movie I was thinking to myself, "Man how did they make this?" props to ILM. 8.5/10

[DVDAVE]

did anyone else laugh their asses off at the scene at hoover dam with frenzy and the other people shooting at each other from seperate sides of a desk. it had the exact same camera movement of a very simaler scene in bad boys 2. almost like michael bay was making a joke out of his older movies.

Dude I was thinking the same thing.

As far as the movie it rocked, I am seeing it again.It is Just a plain old fun movie, It makes you feel like a kid again.
8.5/10

[iv3rdawG]

Does anyone know that trailer for that J.J. Abrams movie?

Ya.. what about it?

[Sora Kahn]

Did you guys think this was better than I, Robot and Independence Day?

[ddel54]

Ya.. what about it?

Sorry I meant to say does anyone know anything about this movie.....but found the thread that tells me all i need to know

[Boiiinng]

Did you guys think this was better than I, Robot and Independence Day?

No way. Not even close.

[Boiiinng]

did anyone else laugh their asses off at the scene at hoover dam with frenzy and the other people shooting at each other from seperate sides of a desk. it had the exact same camera movement of a very simaler scene in bad boys 2. almost like michael bay was making a joke out of his older movies.

Frankly, I think he was making the whole movie as a big joke.

[Sci-Fi-freakz]

The J.J. Abrams trailer is for a star trek movie.

[Matrix_Fan]

Did you guys think this was better than I, Robot and Independence Day?

In more ways than one.

[Sora Kahn]

did someone openly admit to being a mindless movie fan? yikes...

I don't know, was he SR fan?

[gabrielangel]

It was better than I, Robot in my opinion. The CGI was much better than Independence Day, but it couldn't match the story.

As far as future TF movies: things that are destroyed can be put back together. Just remember what happened to Prime in the cartoon movie/end of the series.

I do agree that I didn't like the shaky camera/extreme close ups so much. There was so much CGI that they had to take some short cuts I'm guessing.

I have free passes, so I WILL be seeing this again and it will be a must own DVD (for me). It's not gonna be any easier waiting for the sequel.

[Matrix_Fan]

Transformers

Directed By Michael Bay

Running Time: 2 Hours and 24 Minutes

You all knew this was coming. After months of talking about it, Transformers is finally here, and so is my review. So, is it everything I expected? Is it a crushing disappointment? Or is it...more than meets the eye? Read on.

Our story begins with young Sam Witwickey (Shia LeBouf), an average teenage nerd who's trying to get a car, along with Mikaela(Megan Fox), the girl of his dreams. After getting 3 A's from school, along with a fee of 2000 dollars, Sam has finally convinced his dad to buy him a car. Of course, they go to a used car lot, filled with POS cars, save for one. A Camero that seemingly appeared out of nowhere. After managing to get the car, strange things begin to happen. One night, the car disappears, and Sam gives chase. What he discovers is the last thing he ever expected, the car can transform into a 15 foot robot. It is soon found out that this robot is one of many robots known as the Autobots, cybernetic warriors of their home planet Cybertron. The group consists of Bumblebee, Ratchet, Ironhide, Jazz, and their all powerful leader Optimus Prime. They seeked out Sam because he has a pair of glasses that can lead them to a powerful cube known as the Allspark. Unfortunately, they're not the only ones looking for it.

Meanwhile, a group of Army soldiers are attacked by a robot that can transform into a helicopter. This robot(known as Blackout) lets loose another mechanical being that's similar to a scorpion(Scorponok). These two, along with Starscream, Bonecrusher, Devastator, Frenzy, and Barricade, are known as the Decepticons. They seek out their leader, Megatron, and the Allspark, so they can have unlimitless power, and take over the universe. Will they succeed? I'm not telling you.

The film features an all star cast that features Shia LeBouf, Megan Fox, Tyrese Gibson, Josh Duhamel, and John Voight. In terms of robots, we got Hugo "Agent Smith" Weaving as Megatron, and the awesome Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime.

I've been a fan of the Transformers since I was 8 years old. I watched episodes on old VHS's and spent most of my time renting the 1986 Transformers animated film from Blockbuster. It's been a long time coming, but I was finally able to see a live action version of Transformers in all it's big screen glory. So, was it worth the wait?

The film is something I can describe as "The Iron Giant meets Bad Boys II". It's a story about a boy and his robot, with an ass load of action sequences and explosions. A word of warning, should you decide to see this film, bring an icepack for your ass. Because from the first minute to the last, this film will kick your ass all the way to the back of the theater. The film was absolutely mind blowing, never has my jaw dropped so many times in one movie. I can spend a whole paragraph talking about how amazing the visual effects are. Michael bay has done the unthinkable. He has a film, made with a small(compared to other summer blockbusters) budget of 150 million dollars, and made it look like a 300 million dollar movie. Not even Spider-Man 3 has effects this good. There will be moments where you will actually think the robots are actually there. It was so good in fact, that I no longer thought of them as CGI creations, but as living thing on the screen, and that a hard feat to pull off. The last one that has done that for me was King Kong back in 2005, and before that Gollum from the Lord Of The Rings movies in 2002 and 2003.

The acting all around is very good, to great. Shia once again remains a strong presence on the screen, giving the character wit and charm that makes him extremely likable. Megan Fox does a surprisingly good job in her role, which could've been nothing but eye candy if given to a less capable actress, but she pulls it off by delivering a character that holds her own in different situations. John Turturro hams it up as an agent of the top secret organization Sector 7, he mostly ends up the butt of some jokes, but was good and never annoying. Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson both play off each other very well with their roles as army soldiers trying to survive this event, making both characters very believable.

The action scenes and the music, I must describe together, because they both went together like magic. The action is many, each one topping the last. There are car chases, fist fighting, gun fighting, explosions abound, and just plain awesomeness unleashed on the screen. The action is absolutely incredible, the last 40 minutes of the movie is worth the ticket price, because what shows up on the screen is just crazy, no holds barred destruction that takes out most of downtown LA in glorious fashion. To talk about it can only spoil it. However, it all comes together with a brilliant music score that gets stuck in your head, while at the same time, pushing you to the edge of your seat. The music is visceral, exciting, and sometimes very moving in some spots. The score is done by Steve Jablonsky, who also did music for The Island and Steamboy, and once again delivers and epic score that should be heard again and again.

The film is a roller coaster ride of a movie from beginning to end. It's big, loud, fun, exciting, and one that you wished never ended. For me, it was so good, I saw it twice. I saw the film twice in one day, at the Archlight, on a digital screen, with a booming sound system. I recommend going there to see this. If not, go to another nice theater.

I have to give major props to Michael Bay. Not only has he made his best film to date, but he made a film based off a toy line, that can appeal to everybody. Not only is this one of the greatest adaptations of anything ever, but the film holds it's own as a kick ass science fiction blockbuster. The film is the definitive summer movie. Better than Independence Day, better than Godzilla, better than any other summer film before it.

So in conclusion, move over Spidey, walk the plank Pirates, go to hell Shrek, retire Fantastic Four, and take a break Die Hard, because the best movie of the summer, has arrived, and it's name is Transformers.

Grade: 10/10

[SaltyDog]

I didn't think so, but I'm sure someone will manage to project that somewhere onto it. There's one early scene on Air Force One where Bush is actually made light of, too. Bay also makes light of Armageddon aswell, I liked that.

Any talks of freedom come from Prime (which leads into the obligatory "Autobots! Roll Out!"), and it's about saving humanity and the world, not just America.

So may i ask just what is wrong with America being the greatest country on the planet EARTH.

[FranklinTard]

dont answer that john, its a trick question. salty loves goading people into patriotic debates.

but matrix you gave this a 10/10? does that mean its the perfect movie? or just the perfect summer movie?

[Matrix_Fan]

Both

[nine1wing]

SHOILERS AHEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For some of you giving this movie a 10 I just don't understand how you decided that. The story and acting alone should drop that a point at least. Prime got his ass kicked twice, there was nothing special at the end fight. The whole time I"m waiting for a scene where prime gets fed up and goes ape sh$t and nothing. Instead he gets whooped some more. What kind of cheap ending is this, sam stuffs the cube in megatrons chest? lol please that was crap. I can't count how many times megatron should and could have killed him. This movie was a solid 7 at best and thats because of the cgi. Frenzy was annoying as hell. As for the weaponary of the transformers I was kindof disappointed. There isn't one action scene that stood out where I was like oh my gosh I wantt to watch that whole scene again. Like the shoot out in the first matrix, the finale saber duel in ROTS, Gandolph and that big fire demon. I could list alot more. Hell even the scene in spidercrap 3 where harry and peter beat each other in the mansion.

As far as summer movies go this is how I would rate them
Diehard 4
Oceans 13
POTC
Transformers
Spiderman3

[Diablo]

Wow that was insanely amazing.. Can't wait to see this again.

[IanTheCool]

just saw this today, and i didnt really expect much from this movie, but came out really liking it. it was very exciting, and the CGI was top-notch. and it seemed like every time a transformer was even seen on screen i jsut thought to myself "whoa, cool". and shia lebouf, or howeevr you spell it, was actually quite a good actor, giving by far the best performce. expecially compared to john turturro, who was just horrendous with his hamming it up every time the camera was on him.
i think one thing michael bay did with this movie which was a vast improvement with his other movies was he kept the sappy charactor crap out of it a lot more, cause really, hes horrible at actually making the charactors real people. and any scene here where he did try to do taht was an eye roller, but at least there were a lot fewer of those moments than in pearl harbour or armageddon.
i agree on the shaky cam being a mistake. a movie like this is much more enjoyable when the action going on is actually coheisive and coherent. but i guess to sum up this movie in one word it would be: cool. watching the transformers in live action was just plain cool. and i liked that they focused more on the transformers than the "human element" and that the only human the movie really cared about (sam) was actually able to pull of being in the spotlight.
now, im not going as far as some people are, saying its the "best movie ever" and other comments i heard walking out of the theater, cause its no where close. but i will admit that i really wanted to hate this movie, but found taht i really liked it. its definitly a wild ride, if nothing else.

[djimon123]

this movie was a hell of alot better than I,Robot.....i dont know what you were smoking

[FranklinTard]

Both

bold statement, ill be checking it out tomorrow. hopefully the theater isn't elbow to ******* filled.

[prizm]

Michael Bay was the perfect guy to make this movie.
You go see this type of movie for the spectacle and the giant robots, but you are entertained by the little things like the humor in the movie, the little jabs that Bay takes at himself, and you know he doesn't take it that seriously, and frankly that should be how anyone takes it. At it's core it's just a giant robot movie with big loud explosions, car chases, great villains, good guys you can actually cheer for.
And as is typical in a Michael Bay movie, there are moments of sadness that kind of try to get an emotional response out of you, although in this case it doesn't work as well as it does in some of his other movies, but it is still pretty effective.
The movie has touches of the fanboy geek stuff that you would want to and dare I say expect to see in this sort of film, but at the same time, there are changes that have to be made, and were made for the better I think, where things do not follow exactly to a "t" what the fanboys will want, and thus they will ***** and moan about rather loudly. To be quite blunt here, that is a good thing. You do not make a movie like this to just appeal to fanboy shut ins, you make it as entertainment and to try to as wide an audience as possible. On this count, Bay succeeds in crafting what is perhaps the apex of what is or should be called a "summer movie blockbuster"; it will all be downhill from now on, as I do not see any movie matching the sheer spectacle of Transformers for many years to come, if at all.

This is why we go to movies. This is the type of movie that large screens and massive sound systems are made for. My only gripe is the rather puzzling choice NOT to release it on IMAX; which would have made this a truly transcendent and magnificent experience.

It is giant freaking robots. On a large screen. I felt like a little kid again, on the edge of my seat, giddy with excitement while watching it.
I hope it makes billions of dollars. I loved this movie.

[Dracula]

Did you guys think this was better than I, Robot and Independence Day?

those aren't very high standards.

[Papa]

I went to go see it today, but it was sold out for the night. Will try and see it some time this week.

[Matrix_Fan]

My only gripe is the rather puzzling choice NOT to release it on IMAX; which would have made this a truly transcendent and magnificent experience.

Not only that this film should have been on IMAX, but the last half hour/ 45 minutes of this movie should have been in 3D. That would've been an absolute trip!

[iv3rdawG]

I actually saw it in DLP and it looked amazing. I was a little mad that it was in a smaller theatre because of it but it was worth it.

[Knerys]

those aren't very high standards.
Oh come on. ID4 was awesome.


As for this movie, it was a campy, cheesy, cgi bloated popcorn flick. But oooooooooooh was it cool. It was nice to sit back and just have a mindless romped and live like you were 7 again. Yeah the dialogue was juvenile and no will be winning any oscars for this one but as a summer blockbuster, this movie has all the right moves. The action sequences were crazy, the cgi was practically flawless and the way the tranformers transformed was slick as hell lol. I never really watched the cartoon as a kid, (I was a Voltron girl), but I had a great time.

8/10

[Boiiinng]

I actually saw it in DLP and it looked amazing. I was a little mad that it was in a smaller theatre because of it but it was worth it.

You want smaller for DLP. The bigger the screen the more pixelated it becomes, especially for a movie that wasn't actually shot in digital.

[Matrix_Fan]

I saw it in digital projection at the Cinerama Dome at the Archlight, and it looked stunning.

[droidguy1119]

The J.J. Abrams trailer is for a star trek movie.Incorrect. The trailer they played is for a movie that Abrams is only producing, not directing, it is currently code-named "Cloverfield".

[RedVader 2004]

Did you guys think this was better than I, Robot and Independence Day?

I have seen it but will give full review tomarrow but its is better then I. Robot but better then ID4 i have too see it again. For i liked it alot. But Transformers is Bays next to best Film next to The Rock.
The Rock in my opinion is Bays best film but wow this was a great summer film.
Again full review tomarrow.

[Tolkien]

Transformers was theee LAMEST most unbelievibly AWESOME, totally ACTION PACKED film of the year. I cringed at the sight of talking lip-filled autobots and I awed at the non-stop action sequences which gave me a headache because it was soooo hardcore. I know this doesn't make sense, but that film didn't either. It didn't make sense to me because I hated it and at the same time loved each and every moment of it. BumbleBee just rocked! Megan Fox??? I have no idea who she is... But she's got my attention now.

A HARDCORE 9/10 from Me.

[Evilution]

Being a huge G1 fan, I went into this movie with a very low expectation. After seeing it last night, I walked away...slightly satisfied; but can't deny the fact that a lot of people (especially children) had fun with the movie--hell, it even garnered applauses at the end.

As much as I dislike the designs because they were hard to distinguish in robot form during long shots, I thought they looked great in certain scenes. I liked Jazz the best because he somewhat resembled his G1 form and subtleties like hopping on his hands before transforming made me giddy.

I could do without the scatological humor; the old shows and the comics did fine without piss jokes. Could a movie be guilty of too much comedy? Too many jokes were being thrown around like the Rapture was nearing and only a handful worked (but when it worked, it worked surprisingly well). The garden scene was a little too silly and personally I felt that the Autobots were out of character behaving like children as oppose to being the fine disciplined warriors we all grew to love. Frenzy was just plain terrible--just more forced comedy. And his design? Well, you couldn't tell his head from his ass.

"One shall stand and One shall fall." Prime's iconic line from the animated movie made me weep with joy; but alas, as much as I enjoy seeing and hearing Prime waxing heroism, Megatron constantly made Prime his "Bee-yotch". The big blue and red had nothing on old Megatron. But man, Prime's blazing sword against Bonecrusher scored points alone for referencing the blazing battle axe in season one.

I never paid much attention to Shia LeBeouf and his earlier works, but he really brought some personality to this movie. He added a natural charm to his character and I was rolling with him from the beginning.

Sure I had some problems with this movie, but the good marginally outweighed the bad and I ended up having fun in the end.

7/10

What the hell happened to Barricade? You know, the Decepticon Police car. He was heading off to meet up with the Decepticons to greet Megatron but you don't see him after that?

[Evildooer]

http://static.flickr.com/61/163661954_2eb98f82e5_o.jpg

First off I wasn't a Transformers nerd as a kid, and was more of a Thundercats, GI Joes, and Masters of the Universe fan. I did enjoy watching the cartoon, and liked the show! Don't get me wrong, I was just more into those other shows, and never really became a big Transformers Nerd.
Oh, and Silver Hawks were real cool to!

You people here who are 30 or older might remember the Silver Hawks... Anyway I always thought that the Transformers would make a cool movie even if I wasn't a big fan of it.

My only hang up was would they get it right!? Could they get it right? I mean Hollywood is known for violently raping my childhood as it is!

Many times I have gone to the theaters to watch a re incarnation of something I loved as a child to only walk out angry, and bitter.

Now like I said I liked Transformers but tonight Michael Bay managed to do something which so many have failed at in the past!

He got it right!!!! Simple as that! Every character trait these characters had in the show was captured with such beauty! I have never been a big Bay fan either... Down right hate some of his work to be honest but tonight he was able to really set himself up there with the elite directors of our day, and he made a fan out of me.

Transformers was both a delight on the eyes due to the wonderful eye candy but also a fun ride all the way threw action wise. The movie doesn't skip a beat from start to finish, and actually manages to tell a very good story with intresting characters both human, and robotic along the way.

One thing that really made me happy was the well written humor, and not just some corny, campy or too over the top sort of stuff.

The writing was witty, well delivered, and actually intresting!
I was worried that some of the humor would go a bit to far, and turn the movie kinda campy, and I heard a lot in the press about how funny it was so I was a tad worried, and fears of something as bad as JAR JAR BINKS would ruin this movie for me also ran all threw my mind!

But Michael Bay eased my fears because when it's funny; it's very funny, and yet it manages to still keep the serious tone of the action that your watching.

I really had not seen Shia LaBeouf act much before other then the movie Constantine but he to did a bang up job with his role, and I can say that he made a fan out of me after this movie, and now I'm 10X more pumped up about Indiana Jones 4!

In short Michael Bay got it right! He did it! He did what I thought might not be able to be done! I loved the movie it was by far the best I have seen all year, and yes even tops 300! Which was also stunning!

I do have a few complaints here, and there but that's the fanboy in me I guess... Truth is that they will never, and I mean NEVER make a movie based on a comic or cartoon, and make it 100% like it's cannon... That's something we have to just live with.

I really don't want to go into detail to much because I don't want to give ANYTHING away with this movie, and ruin what other wise will be a special experience if they are big fans going in. I really do believe that this is one of those movies best watched without knowing a whole lot of info pre hand.

After watching the movie I can see just how great the marketing was. If you noticed they kept showing a lot of the same footage over, and over in the trailers, and tv spots, and net clips ect...

This was because they didn't want to spoil all the fun, and believe me there're lots of fun stuff to watch in this one.

Transformers begins with the reason for the alien robots' existence. How the all important AllSpark (essentially the life giver) was lost into the vacuum of space after the robots divided between good and evil. Falling onto Earth, a handful of these entities travelled the galaxy to find this all important device. Great premise.

Visually, the film is astounding. ILM have outdone themselves once again and have again raised the bar. There is no studio that could have done this movie as well as ILM NONE!

While yes in a way this is your typical Michael Bay movie, with lots explosions, a lot of bullets flying everywhere, and a lot of people getting killed aswell as robots.
Bay manages to carve out such a wonderful film that like I said really does deliver home the goods.

The cast of this movie is where it really shined in a way that I thought not possible I mean this cast is thin on paper.. A bunch of no names, and a kid who is starting to get hot in hollywood but really has not done anything this size yet! But the entire cast did a great job, and kuddos go out to them.

Shia LaBeouf (Sam Witwicky), Josh Duhamel (Cpt. Lennox), Tyrese Gibson (Sgt. Epps), and even Megan Fox (Mikaela) delivered surprisingly well, and Jon Voight was also very good in the movie, and it's great to have an actor of his caliber in a movie like this with so many young actors... Oh, and let me tell you the cameos in the movie were fantastic!

John Turturro as Agent Simmons was just hilarious, and again makes me ask why this man isn't a bigger comedy star in Hollywood!?

Anthony Anderson also has a very funny role in the movie, and does a wonderful job as comic relief.. This includes probably the funniest police interrogation scene I have ever seen on film! Oh, and the game him, and his brother are playing when his character is introduced will leave you in stitches!

So the few, and small changes in the movie were fine by me, and I welcome the sequels, and who knows! Now that they announced that Thuundercats, and Masters of the Universe have been greenlite to be made maybe they will get those right also! (well I can hope can't I? heh)
heh maybe one day they will get off their ass, and make a Silver Hawks movie!

So in closing! I rate Transformers a perfect 10/10

[Carnage Escobar]

Did you guys think this was better than I, Robot and Independence Day?

Hard to say actually. I, Robot is my favorite sci-fi film in recent memory next to Minority Report. ID4 was the s**t when it came out 11 years ago. And watching Transformers reminded me of my childhood and why we go see summer blockbusters. Guess only time will tell.

Michael Bay was the perfect guy to make this movie.
You go see this type of movie for the spectacle and the giant robots, but you are entertained by the little things like the humor in the movie, the little jabs that Bay takes at himself, and you know he doesn't take it that seriously, and frankly that should be how anyone takes it. At it's core it's just a giant robot movie with big loud explosions, car chases, great villains, good guys you can actually cheer for.
And as is typical in a Michael Bay movie, there are moments of sadness that kind of try to get an emotional response out of you, although in this case it doesn't work as well as it does in some of his other movies, but it is still pretty effective.
The movie has touches of the fanboy geek stuff that you would want to and dare I say expect to see in this sort of film, but at the same time, there are changes that have to be made, and were made for the better I think, where things do not follow exactly to a "t" what the fanboys will want, and thus they will ***** and moan about rather loudly. To be quite blunt here, that is a good thing. You do not make a movie like this to just appeal to fanboy shut ins, you make it as entertainment and to try to as wide an audience as possible. On this count, Bay succeeds in crafting what is perhaps the apex of what is or should be called a "summer movie blockbuster"; it will all be downhill from now on, as I do not see any movie matching the sheer spectacle of Transformers for many years to come, if at all.

This is why we go to movies. This is the type of movie that large screens and massive sound systems are made for. My only gripe is the rather puzzling choice NOT to release it on IMAX; which would have made this a truly transcendent and magnificent experience.

It is giant freaking robots. On a large screen. I felt like a little kid again, on the edge of my seat, giddy with excitement while watching it.
I hope it makes billions of dollars. I loved this movie.


Well said. And yes it does suck that it's not in IMAX. That seriously would be the ultimate movie-going experience if it were in IMAX. But hell, the theatres in my theatre are practically IMAX screens themselves.

I went to go see it today, but it was sold out for the night. Will try and see it some time this week.

Yeah, it got pretty crazy earlier today at my theatre. 5 screens, 2,150 seats. All COMPLETELY sold out.

[ruban]

Transformers was theee LAMEST most unbelievibly AWESOME, totally ACTION PACKED film of the year. I cringed at the sight of talking lip-filled autobots and I awed at the non-stop action sequences which gave me a headache because it was soooo hardcore. I know this doesn't make sense, but that film didn't either. It didn't make sense to me because I hated it and at the same time loved each and every moment of it. BumbleBee just rocked! Megan Fox??? I have no idea who she is... But she's got my attention now.

A HARDCORE 9/10 from Me.


Interesting how you say you liked it and hated it at the same time. I felt that way sans that high rating.

The movie was terrible. I liked the Transformers, even if they were a tad bit overly complex. The action was great. The effects were great. Everything else was your typically lame, cliched Bay fluff and I'm tired of it.

Pearl Harbour had the same formula except Transformers gets away with it because its Transformers.

Screw that. It's Pearl Harbour in a robot suit.

I hate the scapegoat people use that the dialogue and plot has to suck because its a Bay film. Can he not make a competent movie without sacrificing all that makes a great film great?

Robots that we loved as children being represented in glorious CGI fashion does not make a great film.

I love fighter planes and war-era movies too but PH is nowhere to be seen on my movie list...

5/10

[Ewok Droppings]

So, I'm wondering if this will be the top grossing box office show this year since the big 3 trilogy movies were a little disappointing.

[moviefan2]

Transformers seemed to take long in development. A lot of the material could be cut to make it shorter. However, I did have a good time watching the movie last night. I am sure there is going to be a Transformers 2 next summer.

In terms of moviemaking it isn't Citizen Kane or The Godfather. For an summer action flick, it is a 6 out of 10. Bay's film is summer fluff and shouldn't be considered seriously like Citizen Kane.

Die Hard 4 was great except for the F22 scenes near the end, which could have been done differently.

Would I own the dvd? Maybe not. I would more likely own Live Free or Die Hard.

Summer movie rank to date:
1. Live Free or Die Hard (Die Hard 4)
2. Transformers

[droidguy1119]

People keep using the summer movie argument "It's not Citizen Kane, but..." Yeah, well, it also has to be entertaining, on any remote level before that applies. I'm amazed at how many people are gobbling this movie up...

[teewee1432]

saw this last night and had an amazing experience. First when my friend and I got to the theater we were about to get our tickets when we noticed a sign taped to the ticket box window. It said Transformers on IMAX screen. This movie wasn't even supposed to be in imax, but the theater we went to did it their way and put it in imax and i cant tell you how excited we were so we gladly paid the extra money and saw this with a capacity crowd in imax. This was one of the first times i've ever been to a theater and I saw people with transformer t shirts on and everything. I usually see that stuff on tv. People were cheering and clapping throughout especially after optimus prime started talking myself included, and at the end the whole audience clapped for a while. I've never experienced anything like that this experience was amazing we had an awesome time.

I loved this movie. I loved the cameos especially the Bernie Mac cameo, anthony anderson was funny as well. Shia is becoming a good actor and I see a bright film career for him. The action was great and the special effects were top notch. 10/10

[ruban]

People keep using the summer movie argument "It's not Citizen Kane, but..." Yeah, well, it also has to be entertaining, on any remote level before that applies. I'm amazed at how many people are gobbling this movie up...

Ignoring the bad to focus on the good. Rampant fanboy rationalism at its best (or worst).

[Dracula]

Oh come on. ID4 was awesome.
Hell no, that movie was mediocre at best. I'd say I, Robot was acctually the better of the two. (that's not saying much)


So, I'm wondering if this will be the top grossing box office show this year since the big 3 trilogy movies were a little disappointing.

spider-man 3 may have been dissapointing, but it still made mad money. This is going to have to sweat bullets to catch up with SM-3's $882,602,779

[Ewok Droppings]

People keep using the summer movie argument "It's not Citizen Kane, but..." Yeah, well, it also has to be entertaining, on any remote level before that applies. I'm amazed at how many people are gobbling this movie up...

I'm surprised you're being so hard on it. It's not meant to win Oscars for storyline, it's meant to be fun entertainment. It was certainly entertaining.

[halo7]

People keep using the summer movie argument "It's not Citizen Kane, but..." Yeah, well, it also has to be entertaining, on any remote level before that applies. I'm amazed at how many people are gobbling this movie up...

Ignoring the bad to focus on the good. Rampant fanboy rationalism at its best (or worst).

We are not ignoring the bad. We are simply stating that we know it is there and just don't care since it has the same problems most summer blockbusters has but is still mindblowingly entertaining.

It certainly isn't fanboyism in my case. As I said the most of my knowledge pertains to Beast Wars. Before I saw the movie the only two Transformers I knew were Optimus Prime and Megatron. I couldn't tell you if they stayed true to the franchise or not because frankly I have never seen an episode of the original series. But I was very, very entertained for the sake of entertainment. The movie was a lot of fun. A lot of the dialouge and story wasn't even THAT bad to be honest. It was just nothing special(excluding some of the humorous dialouge that worked very well). It is this years Independence Day which like it or not was built on the same logic and "here to entertain only" values of Transformers.

[Dracula]

We are not ignoring the bad. We are simply stating that we know it is there and just don't care since it has the same problems most summer blockbusters has but is still mindblowingly entertaining.

It certainly isn't fanboyism in my case. As I said the most of my knowledge pertains to Beast Wars. Before I saw the movie the only two Transformers I knew were Optimus Prime and Megatron. I couldn't tell you if they stayed true to the franchise or not because frankly I have never seen an episode of the original series. But I was very, very entertained for the sake of entertainment. The movie was a lot of fun. A lot of the dialouge and story wasn't even THAT bad to be honest. It was just nothing special(excluding some of the humorous dialouge that worked very well). It is this years Independence Day which like it or not was built on the same logic and "here to entertain only" values of Transformers.


There are lots of movies that exist only to entertain, Epic Movie for example existed only to entertain, that doesn't mean it gets a free pass for being stupid. All of Michael Bay's previos films have had the same goddamn philosophy and many have built him up as the anti-christ. Why does this get away with being a stupid summer movie while Armageddon doesn't?

[halo7]

There are lots of movies that exist only to entertain, Epic Movie for example existed only to entertain, that doesn't mean it gets a free pass for being stupid. All of Michael Bay's previos films have had the same goddamn philosophy and many have built him up as the anti-christ. Why does this get away with being a stupid summer movie while Armageddon doesn't?

The difference is that Epic Movie failed at entertaining since it didn't deliver anything. Transformers delivered fun entertainment. Armageddon was better than most people make it out to be anyway.

Happy now?

[ruban]

The difference is that Epic Movie failed at entertaining since it didn't deliver anything. Transformers delivered fun entertainment.

You don't have to be a fanboy to ignore the bad, or in your case a quasi-fan passing it off as "mindless summer fun."

Transformers delivered entertainment at shallow levels. It was enough to displease my movie experience while you had a higher threshold and that's fine. It's the part of the debate where we don't see eye to eye.

You accept the problems and I do not.

[iv3rdawG]

From CS!
Transformers Sets New Tuesday Record!
Source: ShowBiz Data, Edward Douglas
July 4, 2007

After making over $8 million in Monday preview screenings, Paramount/DreamWorks' Transformers brought in $27.5 million in its first full day according to estimates, easily setting a new Tuesday box office record over Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest's $15.7 million made last year. It has grossed an impressive $36.3 million in just 28 hours.

The Warner Bros. comedy License to Wed made a less than spectacular $2.2 million its opening day.

[IanTheCool]

People keep using the summer movie argument "It's not Citizen Kane, but..." Yeah, well, it also has to be entertaining, on any remote level before that applies. I'm amazed at how many people are gobbling this movie up...

yeah, i definiltly agree with you there. its like everyone whos given a good review for it has been asying "sumer fun" or something like taht to defend their decision, which is a little tiring. i mean, saying that i did like the movie. i may not have the best reasons for it, and with all honesty i may end up not liking it when i watch it the second time. i was simply taken in by the special effects and i also think going in with very low exdectations may have been a reason why i liked it too, it was surprisingly better than i thought it would. so i know i dont have the best reasons for this film. lol

[Matrix_Fan]

From CS!
Transformers Sets New Tuesday Record!
Source: ShowBiz Data, Edward Douglas
July 4, 2007

After making over $8 million in Monday preview screenings, Paramount/DreamWorks' Transformers brought in $27.5 million in its first full day according to estimates, easily setting a new Tuesday box office record over Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest's $15.7 million made last year. It has grossed an impressive $36.3 million in just 28 hours.

I just read that. I'm so happy. I thought it was going to make 15-18 million on tuesday, and when read 27.5 million, I was like "WOW!". Hope the movie will get strong legs and make even more.

[DVDAVE]

I am no Michael Bay Fan or even a die hard Transformer fan, but can it just be that alot of people are just enjoying the film, I don't understand why that is so hard to believe. I really enojoyed the film and my opinion is not biased as I already stated that I am not a Transformer fanboy. People have different tastes and to the people who are saying that we are justifying our reviews by saying it was simple summer fun, then making bogus absurd statements that films like Epic Movie is made also to soley entertain are completly wrong. True Transformers is made to be simple eye candy for the summer but the difference between this and movies like Epic Movie is that Transformers delivers what everyone wants out of a movie that is about giant Robot Aliens. The movie KICKS ASS, if you don't like it fine post your review and move on but alot of people including myself like this movie it doesn't make our opinions wrong or your opinion wrong, we just are not seeing eye to eye with this movie.

[teewee1432]

yeah, i definiltly agree with you there. its like everyone whos given a good review for it has been asying "sumer fun" or something like taht to defend their decision, which is a little tiring. i mean, saying that i did like the movie. i may not have the best reasons for it, and with all honesty i may end up not liking it when i watch it the second time. i was simply taken in by the special effects and i also think going in with very low exdectations may have been a reason why i liked it too, it was surprisingly better than i thought it would. so i know i dont have the best reasons for this film. lol

Why are you trying so hard not to like this movie. If you liked it you liked it why are you trying to second guess yourself. Not critizing just asking.

[djimon123]

yeah tewee does make a point

[bghs2003]

7/10

I thought it was entertaining. My biggest problem with the movie was that it has so many different Human, Autobot, and Decepticon characters that many had little to no development. I really liked the first half of the movie with Sam and Bumblebee and the CGI was great, but since there was so little time to get to know all the robots I was not as engaged in the final battle as I have been in other action movies. I wish they showed more of the Bumblebee and Barricade fight, and I didn't like how Scorponok and Barricade simply disappeared. I almost left the theater before they showed what happened to Starscream, that scene should have been in the movie itself.

[iv3rdawG]

Annnnd there it is, up on the IMDB Top 250. Number 233 and rising, folks! ;)

[droidguy1119]

I'm surprised you're being so hard on it. It's not meant to win Oscars for storyline, it's meant to be fun entertainment. It was certainly entertaining.lol way to respond to my post about people using an argument to defend it with THE EXACT SAME ARGUMENT.

[Yuney]

9/10 - I really really liked it and I wasn't looking forward to seeing the movie at all. I just didn't think I would like the differences from the cartoons, but it didn't really matter during it all. I loved the action and the humor mixed in.. it was a surprisingly really good summer flick :)

[SaltyDog]

Well, I haven't seen this film, mostly because Claymore, My word, and Drizzlt didn't like it, but if the dreadful "pirates" and "spiderman" did millions i don't see why this one should be any different.

[DippinDots]

I am no Michael Bay Fan or even a die hard Transformer fan, but can it just be that alot of people are just enjoying the film, I don't understand why that is so hard to believe. I really enojoyed the film and my opinion is not biased as I already stated that I am not a Transformer fanboy. People have different tastes and to the people who are saying that we are justifying our reviews by saying it was simple summer fun, then making bogus absurd statements that films like Epic Movie is made also to soley entertain are completly wrong. True Transformers is made to be simple eye candy for the summer but the difference between this and movies like Epic Movie is that Transformers delivers what everyone wants out of a movie that is about giant Robot Aliens. The movie KICKS ASS, if you don't like it fine post your review and move on but alot of people including myself like this movie it doesn't make our opinions wrong or your opinion wrong, we just are not seeing eye to eye with this movie.


The movie is pure eye candy and you know what I'm ok wth that. I didn't go to the theater to see a think-peice about robots I went to see robots fighting each other. I was hyped leaving the movie because I thought it was awesome and Im a big fan a Transformers, have been since I was a kid.

[WuTical]

I never saw any Transformers cartoon before and I AM a Micheal Bay fan (didn't like Pearl Harbor too much) and this movie kicked a lot of ass.

[SaltyDog]

I never saw any Transformers cartoon before and I AM a Micheal Bay fan (didn't like Pearl Harbor too much) and this movie kicked a lot of ass.

Humm. "Pearl Harbor" ...That is the only film I have liked that Bay has had a hand in. However, after reading several reviews that state that "transformers" is carrying a political message of sort i think i will go see it tomorrow.

"In “Transformers,” according to Dargis, Optimus Prime (leader of the Autobots) “promises to blow itself up for the greater good.” If A equals C here -- and in this reporter’s opinion, that’s how it comes across -- then she’s comparing Prime to a suicide bomber, an inappropriate trivialization, to say the least. A colleague reminded me that Prime also sacrificed himself in the first Transformers movie, “Transformers: The Movies” (1986)."

[RedVader 2004]

Just got back from my second showing of it. I am giving my review. I had two see it twice because it had so much action in it and great action scenes it was mindblowing the special effects.
Bumblebee, Sam and The gIrl was the heart of the film for me. The autobots were amazingly funny around Sams house. What can i say hearing prime as a cartoon fan was a great moment. I was a kid again.
This is clearly Micheal Bay's best film. Its no oscar winner but i had alot of fun watching this movie. The most fun at a movie all year. The summer pop corn flick is back and its Robots in descise.
I can honestly say it been a great year for movies. Much better then last year.
Despite what some people say but i can say i had alot of fun seeing this more so then Spiderman 3 and AWE and i love the Pirate movies.

8.5/10

i voted an 8/10 on the poll but fun facto it was closer to a 9/10

[Evildooer]

7/10

I thought it was entertaining. My biggest problem with the movie was that it has so many different Human, Autobot, and Decepticon characters that many had little to no development. I really liked the first half of the movie with Sam and Bumblebee and the CGI was great, but since there was so little time to get to know all the robots I was not as engaged in the final battle as I have been in other action movies. I wish they showed more of the Bumblebee and Barricade fight, and I didn't like how Scorponok and Barricade simply disappeared. I almost left the theater before they showed what happened to Starscream, that scene should have been in the movie itself.

lol relax there will be more then 1 or even 2 Transformers movie if this movie keeps doing well at the boxoffice, and these characters will get enough time to develop.
I think that Bay did an amazing job with this movie... Is it Citizen Kane? lol Now don't be silly... But it was a wonderful movie none the less.

[The WupZter]

Best popcorn movie of the summer. 'Nuff said.

9/10

[Frizzo the Clown]

What the **** does "popcorn movie" mean anyway? Is that the catch-all excuse for when a movie isn't very good, but people enjoy it anyway? Because that seems to generally be the only conotation I ever see it used in.

[DippinDots]

Bumblebee, Sam and The gIrl was the heart of the film for me. The autobots were amazingly funny around Sams house. What can i say hearing prime as a cartoon fan was a great moment. I was a kid again.

I agree. Hearing Prime speak and it's the same guy who did his voice in the cartoon movie was just an awesome moment. As soon as Prime spoke eveyone in the theater went crazy.

[halo7]

What the **** does "popcorn movie" mean anyway? Is that the catch-all excuse for when a movie isn't very good, but people enjoy it anyway? Because that seems to generally be the only conotation I ever see it used in.

You answered your own question. A movie that isn't very good but is enjoyable anyway. Thats what the term means.

[Boiiinng]

You answered your own question. A movie that isn't very good but is enjoyable anyway. Thats what the term means.

How can a bad movie be enjoyable? I'd say some scenes are enjoyable, but a movie as a whole is not enjoyable if it's not good.

[Ewok Droppings]

lol way to respond to my post about people using an argument to defend it with THE EXACT SAME ARGUMENT.

It's not about what type of argument you're using, it's about reviewing a movie like it's supposed to be critically acclaimed when it's simply supposed to be fun. The argument people are using is valid, maybe you should get off your high horse a little bit and figure it out. Is that really hard for you to understand so you have to make childish remarks defending your review? :rolleyes:

[Ewok Droppings]

How can a bad movie be enjoyable? I'd say some scenes are enjoyable, but a movie as a whole is not enjoyable if it's not good.
Good is an opinion in this instance. You can't say it's "not good" to everyone. Just not good in your opinion.

[iv3rdawG]

I love popcorn... and I love movies. I love popcorn movies.

[sonoranreptile]

I have been to just about every one of the opening weekends for all of the "big blockbuster" movies in the last 10 years. LOTR, Matrix, Harry Potter, ID4, Tiatanic, 300, etc. I have never had that many people clap and cheer at the end of a movie. Ever. I watched Transformers as a kid, but was never a hardcore fan. This movie kicked ass, and for the few people who voted a score under 4 plus the moron CS reviewer who gave it a 3, what movies DO you like?? What in the hell were you expecting? Casablanca? Steel Magnolias?? I mean, come on! It's giant transforming robots waging war on each other on earth for the good of all man AND robot kind. It had action, comedy, awesome special effects, car chases, robot chases, air battles, ground battles and the new Camaro. What the hell else do you need???!!!

[sincity4826]

went in with high hopes and they were fullfilled....there might of been alot of things that were a little odd and over the top in the funny areas but I still enjoyed those parts too..The action was top notch(Ironhides slowmotion transformation and then the barrelroll...OMG!!!!!!! that was AWESOME..that was the best scene in the movie(does anyone agree???):omg:


a solid 10/10 for me

[DVDAVE]

What the **** does "popcorn movie" mean anyway? Is that the catch-all excuse for when a movie isn't very good, but people enjoy it anyway? Because that seems to generally be the only conotation I ever see it used in.

POPCORN movie generaly doesn't mean a bad movie that people enjoy, it really means a movie with no deep politcal point or or general point. It is made to soley entertain with a general story line/formula .

[carnage4u]

Ive seen people give much worse movie much better reviews ;)

anyway, this movie does have a large FUN element in it.

if anyone went to a michael bay film and was shocked by some of its basic flaws, then im confused.. Have you never seen a film by the man?

Im not saying its that great of flick. I enjoyed it, and thats all I was going for.

id give it a 7.5/10

[prizm]

went in with high hopes and they were fullfilled....there might of been alot of things that were a little odd and over the top in the funny areas but I still enjoyed those parts too..The action was top notch(Ironhides slowmotion transformation and then the barrelroll...OMG!!!!!!! that was AWESOME..that was the best scene in the movie(does anyone agree???):omg:


a solid 10/10 for me


i agree
Ironhide was the BEST Autobot fighter, and i loved Starscream's constant switching back and forth during the jet scene and in the middle of the city

[FranklinTard]

this movie was.... so much better than i expected.

8/10

michael bay did such a good job, thats all i have to say.

[Adogan]

I'm a fan of Transformers (specifically Generation 1) and thought the movie was decent. Yes, I did like the film but I also had problems with it. When I go into summer movies, I get what I pay for: not too much thought required to follow the plot, great CGI, and at least decent characterization. It's that simple. To me, Michael Bay is a hit-or-miss director who's formula is basic. Transformers will be a hit for him whether people like the film or not. Kids will love it, the old fans may adore it...and then there are people like me who still say "great special FX and action sequences do NOT make a great movie". If some of you like giving props, then give it to the hard working team at ILM. Sounds stupid doesn't it but it has a bit of merit to it. If u take the CGI away, the plot and storyline has to stand on its own and Transforners was decent in that area. The action sequences were incredible but Michael Bay is lacking where he has to add emotion to this film. IE if one of your favorites characters died would you actually care or not...and why would you? The only person (if you can say that) I felt something for was Bumblebee. I grew more attached to him rather than Shia's character.

Is this the best summer film? In my opinion it is, however it does have its share of problems.

[Dracula]

here's a link to an article you all need to read:

http://www.gameplayer.com.au/Film/Features/Feature/tabid/1588/Default.aspx?FID=5148f4cb-24f8-4f78-93ef-5c36fb801031&v7Pager=1

[Adogan]

Cool read.

About the only summer film I had high expectations for was Spider-Man 3. I didn't think it was the convoluted mess that happened to X-Men The Last Stand, but it was fairly close.

[JokerNick]

it's a movie of thirds IMO

The first third rocked.... the air base attack in the beging, the desert scene with scorpionat (whatever happened to him).... 9.5/10

second half, winded down a bit, and was the intro of the transformers..... comedy, some funny dialoge between the parents and kids.... and megan fox was looking like she needed that skirt lifted up so she could get a good pounding... overall for this thrid..... 6.5/10

the last half, while great action, was dumbed down by the dialoge between robots...... some lines didn't make sense... but the scenes with Starscream were classic...... and the jazz megatron fight was cool.... happy to see they went that far..... the finale to the climax sucked IMO.... and, you know there will be a sequel.... but, thanks to some great FX,... I give the last third, 7/10..


overall 7.5/10


and whats with bumblebee just sitting there, being the matress for those two making it to second base.....

[FranklinTard]

yes i highly doubt i will watch it again without fast forwarding, but i enjoyed it nonetheless.

[redman]

"In “Transformers,” according to Dargis, Optimus Prime (leader of the Autobots) “promises to blow itself up for the greater good.” If A equals C here -- and in this reporter’s opinion, that’s how it comes across -- then she’s comparing Prime to a suicide bomber, an inappropriate trivialization, to say the least. A colleague reminded me that Prime also sacrificed himself in the first Transformers movie, “Transformers: The Movies” (1986)."

that is one of the most retarded things ive ever read.

plus, Bay doesnt have the capacity for subtext.

[Hypestyle]

I wanted the climax to end differently.. I wanted Megatron to have a more violent demise, by Prime's hand, and not the Matrix..



also, was there any "secret" footage in the credits after Starscream takes off into orbit?




in the next film, I want less humans and more Transformers-- and more dialogue between the Transformers!

[Tornado]

Awesome.

9/10

[JokerNick]

I wished there would have been more arguing between starscream and megatron....

starscream kicked ass... that jet scene.

[ruban]

here's a link to an article you all need to read:

http://www.gameplayer.com.au/Film/Features/Feature/tabid/1588/Default.aspx?FID=5148f4cb-24f8-4f78-93ef-5c36fb801031&v7Pager=1

That was a great read. He nailed it.

[Ewok Droppings]

What I think is really funny is that those who didn't like the movie keep coming on here either 1) trying to defend themselves (which isn't necessary) or 2) trying to somehow lend credibility to their disliking of the movie and thereby discrediting others who did like it. IT'S AN OPINION - not a fact. I don't know why people keep coming on here trying to say WHY they disliked the movie and why it's crappy. Crappy is an opinion, if you didn't like it then fine, but many did, so just let it go at that. You can't really prove whether it was good or bad.

[Dracula]

What I think is really funny is that those who didn't like the movie keep coming on here either 1) trying to defend themselves (which isn't necessary) or 2) trying to somehow lend credibility to their disliking of the movie and thereby discrediting others who did like it. IT'S AN OPINION - not a fact. I don't know why people keep coming on here trying to say WHY they disliked the movie and why it's crappy. Crappy is an opinion, if you didn't like it then fine, but many did, so just let it go at that. You can't really prove whether it was good or bad.

What I think is realy funny is that those who did like the movie keep coming on here either 1) trying to defend themselves (which isn't necessary) or 2) trying to somehow lend credibility to their liking of the movie and thereby discrediting others who didn't like it. IT'S AN OPINION - not a fact. I don't know why people keep coming on here trying to say WHY they liked the movie and why it's good. Good is an opinion, if you did like it then fine, but many didn't, so just let it go at that. You can't really prove whether it was good or bad.

See how the same argument can be used against you by changing a few words. This is a review thread, not a fan thread, negitive reviews are just as valid as positive ones.

[ruban]

What I think is really funny is that those who didn't like the movie keep coming on here either 1) trying to defend themselves (which isn't necessary) or 2) trying to somehow lend credibility to their disliking of the movie and thereby discrediting others who did like it. IT'S AN OPINION - not a fact. I don't know why people keep coming on here trying to say WHY they disliked the movie and why it's crappy. Crappy is an opinion, if you didn't like it then fine, but many did, so just let it go at that. You can't really prove whether it was good or bad.

Forums would be kinda bland if everyone just agreed with everything no?

I think the link Dracula supplied gives everyone another perspective on the movie. It even goes further and discusses those types of movies. It's information supplied to help carry the thread. It's also information that you conveniently ignored :P which is ok, because the editor is completely right.

Nobody is trying to prove anything lol, just shedding light.

[Boiiinng]

Good is an opinion in this instance. You can't say it's "not good" to everyone. Just not good in your opinion.

Good is not an opinion. Like is an opinion. Good is the result of a whole host of analyses based on artistic and technical observation. Granted, anyone can label something good, bad, excellent, superior, etc. without having any experience or education necessary to accurately judge a work of art, but that doesn't mean it's actually good.

[IanTheCool]

Good is not an opinion. Like is an opinion. Good is the result of a whole host of analyses based on artistic and technical observation. Granted, anyone can label something good, bad, excellent, superior, etc. without having any experience or education necessary to accurately judge a work of art, but that doesn't mean it's actually good.

ah ha! that's for putting that into words. you're absolutely right.

[IanTheCool]

Why are you trying so hard not to like this movie. If you liked it you liked it why are you trying to second guess yourself. Not critizing just asking.

no i did like it, but i also understand droidguys comment i guesss. however, that being said, it wouldnt surprise me if it turns out to be a movie like Troy, where upon second viewing i realise that its really not that good, and that i might have been distracted by the kcik-ass special effects and charactor designs. but perhaps not.

[Neverending]

it was a campy, cheesy, cgi bloated popcorn flick. But oooooooooooh was it cool. It was nice to sit back and just have a mindless romped and live like you were 7 again.

That's the charm of this flick. It's like being a kid again.

[Tolkien]

After a second viewing, I can happily say that I truly enjoyed the film. I was never a fan of the '80s cartoons, I was never a fan of any of the modern shows, and I had no real hype what-so-ever to see this film at all. I saw it by chance and by the request of my brother and our friends. So I really don't care what people say about it one way or another because it is my opinion that it was a great movie, not anyone elses. Starscream was amazing, Bumblebee was my favorite, Prime was badass and Megatron was really nicely done. Mindless? Yes. Lame? Oooooooh god yes. Best fun I've had all year? Definantly!

[Ewok Droppings]

Good is not an opinion. Like is an opinion. Good is the result of a whole host of analyses based on artistic and technical observation. Granted, anyone can label something good, bad, excellent, superior, etc. without having any experience or education necessary to accurately judge a work of art, but that doesn't mean it's actually good.

Wrong - good is what you perceive to be. I thought the movie was good, you didn't. This is what I'm talking about. Personally I thought it was good because what I wanted to see was in the movie. I don't have to be an expert, and last time I checked there is no official checklist of "what makes a movie officially good" anywhere, so it's still an opinion not a fact.

I don't personally care if you liked/disliked the movie. I liked it - fine, so be it. I just think it's a waste of time for those who didn't like it to come on here and try to discredit those that did. What do you think is going to happen? Do you think some of these people who liked it are suddenly going to say "OMG - you're right! It wasn't good and I need to somehow change my rating from a 9/10 to a 4/10"? Not going to happen, so why bother? If you didn't like it, just leave it at that. If you liked it, great - whatever. You don't need to defend yourself one way or the other.

[Dracula]

I don't personally care if you liked/disliked the movie. I liked it - fine, so be it. I just think it's a waste of time for those who didn't like it to come on here and try to discredit those that did. What do you think is going to happen? Do you think some of these people who liked it are suddenly going to say "OMG - you're right! It wasn't good and I need to somehow change my rating from a 9/10 to a 4/10"? Not going to happen, so why bother? If you didn't like it, just leave it at that. If you liked it, great - whatever. You don't need to defend yourself one way or the other.

DUDE, I tried to be civil about this, but your attitude is just offending me.

WHY THE **** SHOULD THE PEOPLE WHO DISLIKED THE MOVIE HAVE LESS OF A RIGHT TO EXPRESS THEIR OPINIONS ABOUT IT THAN THOSE WHO DID?

[carnage4u]

DUDE, I tried to be civil about this, but your attitude is just offending me.

WHY THE **** SHOULD THE PEOPLE WHO DISLIKED THE MOVIE HAVE LESS OF A RIGHT TO EXPRESS THEIR OPINIONS ABOUT IT THAN THOSE WHO DID?

becuase its the internet and its cool to to stuff like that.

[FranklinTard]

DUDE, I tried to be civil about this, but your attitude is just offending me.

WHY THE **** SHOULD THE PEOPLE WHO DISLIKED THE MOVIE HAVE LESS OF A RIGHT TO EXPRESS THEIR OPINIONS ABOUT IT THAN THOSE WHO DID?

unrelated note, did you see the movie dracula?

[Ewok Droppings]

DUDE, I tried to be civil about this, but your attitude is just offending me.

WHY THE **** SHOULD THE PEOPLE WHO DISLIKED THE MOVIE HAVE LESS OF A RIGHT TO EXPRESS THEIR OPINIONS ABOUT IT THAN THOSE WHO DID?I'm offending you? LOL - look, I'm not saying EITHER side has more of a right than the other. I'm saying BOTH sides of the argument are acceptable. I think people who come on here and bash those for not liking it, or try to prove that it is good are just as retarded because it's an opinion. I just think either way, trying to prove your point (although I have seen more trying to prove that this is crappy rather than this is good, but I haven't fully kept up to be honest) is stupid. It's a movie, there is no proof of good either way because it's an opinion - simple.

[Drizzt240]

I call it Trashformers

[Dracula]

unrelated note, did you see the movie dracula?

yes, my review is coming soon.

[Knerys]

Hell no, that movie was mediocre at best. I'd say I, Robot was acctually the better of the two. (that's not saying much)
Hey I liked I, Robot too. But I know you and I have very different tastes in movies so I'll leave it at that.

There are lots of movies that exist only to entertain, Epic Movie for example existed only to entertain, that doesn't mean it gets a free pass for being stupid.Epic Movie was stupid AND unentertaining. It didn't even try to have a plot. This one at least had some effort put into it.

here's a link to an article you all need to read:

http://www.gameplayer.com.au/Film/Features/Feature/tabid/1588/Default.aspx?FID=5148f4cb-24f8-4f78-93ef-5c36fb801031&v7Pager=1Fair enough.

I understand what he's saying but it really all comes down to what makes something enjoyable for the individual. I went in with no expections and I had fun. Yes a popcorn movie can be intelligent, but not everything has to be high brow to be entertaining. Sometimes you just have to take things for what they are, and if you don't like it, then you don't like it. But if you do, you do. It's that simple.

And I'm not afraid to say that action/adventure movies are my guilty pleasure. It's my escapism.



That's the charm of this flick. It's like being a kid again.
Exactly!!!


plus, Bay doesnt have the capacity for subtext.
:lol: Nope!

[msmoonvicky]

This movie was action packed and there were a lot of jokes flying around. I do know that this is a crowd pleaser. micheal bay, even though I hate him, is doing cinema a favor by bringing in the crowds, he knows what americans want to watch. i was surprised that he made the transformers actually talk, i thought they would be silent and just do they're thing. but thankfully, the movie was mostly about the autobots and the decipticons. It was very long, i felt it half way, but i didnt mind, i wanted to see what would happen. optimus prime is my hero. but megatron looked bad ass. we should have a gundam movie!!

[Dracula]

Transformers(7/4/2007)
Michael Bay is one of the most loved and hated filmmakers out of Hollywood. Critics have nothing but distain for the man, the only movie he’s ever made to gain a positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes was his sophomore effort The Rock. Audiences however seem to love him, only two of his movies have failed to break one hundred million at the box office and two of them have broken two hundred million, and those are just domestic numbers. Bay makes empty Hollywood action movies with cheesy scripts, terrible acting from otherwise solid actors, and excellent technical skill. As Jeanine Basinger once described him: “ master of movement, light, color, and shape—and also of chaos, razzle-dazzle, and explosion.” However all this talent is wasted because the guy seems entirely oblivious to the fact that he's always working with poor clichéd scripts, and he couldn't direct an actor if his life depended on it. Bay’s new film Transformers is in no way a change in pace for Bay. The film is essentially Armageddon with robots, its so full of clichés and bad writing that it often distracts the viewer from the fact that this movie bears a ridiculous concept that could only be taken seriously by a ten year old or Michael Bay.

I’ll admit I’m not this movie’s target audience, but it boggles the mind to determine what that audience is. The film is quite violent in that PG-13 kind of way and contains a number of not-so subtle sexual innuendos. If this is family viewing they might a well toss Armageddon into the pantheon of Disney classics. At the same time the film is far to silly, cartoonish, and cheesy as to insult the intelligence of any adult. I’ve never seen a single episode of the cartoon this is based on, and I’ve owned one of the toys the cartoon was created to market. Needless to say, I saw little to be exited about in this adaptation.

The film opens with a cheesy voice over that seems to have no place in a movie made in 2007. The voiceover is mostly cryptic and sets up that there is some sort of battle to come between good and evil alien forces that will occur on earth. This voiceover seemed to confirm my fears that this movie would be nothing more than cheesy 80’s children’s fare awkwardly packaged for 21st century teenagers. The film then cuts to Qatar, which is in the middle east according to the title card conveniently put on screen in case you’re too stupid to know where Qatar is. What then transpired was an action sequence so cool that it even had a cynic like me interested. A helicopter landed in a Qatar military base and preceded to “transform” into a robot which, according to Wikipedia, is named Blackout. The Robot then uses a combination of very interesting weapons to decimate all the U.S. troops. This impressive combination of pyrotechnics and CGI was undeniably cool, and this excellence in visual effects is maintained throughout the entire film. However when the story begins so do the problems.

Bay’s first mistake was to place the film so largely from the perspective of teenagers who have no earthly business taking part in a major national security incident of this nature. The main character is Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), a suburban high school student who is finally being given a new car by his father. Forced to choose between a number of old and worn cars at a sleazy used car dealership, Sam chooses a classic Camaro, which he doesn’t know was a transforming alien robot that drove itself to the dealership in order to be picked out by Sam. The Autobots (heroic transforming robots) need Sam because his grandfather was an arctic explorer who discovered the frozen remains of the Decepticon (evil transforming robots) leader Megatron, who somehow imprinted some kind of homing device onto his glasses that detects the Allspark (which may as well be called “The MacGuffin Machine”) even when its been relocated to Nevada, and since these glasses have been passed on to Sam finding him is essential to the fate of the world. Carefully consider that sentence and you will understand how hard screenwriters had to work to make a marketable teenager into the star of this movie. Sam is joined by Mikaela (Megan Fox), who severs no purpose to the plot other then to be hot. It turns out that Sam’s new Camaro is the Autobot Bumblebee, who communicates by picking convenient songs on the car radio to fit a situation. One wonders why the Autobots would send the one member of their team who is incapable of explaining the situation to Sam if he’s so important, a lot of screen time would have been cut if another autobot like Optimus Prime had just knocked on the kid's door and said “the glasses or your life!” One also wonders why the autobots and the U.S. military continues to waste their valuable time on this kid once the glasses (and with them the one minor tie he has to the story) are handed over.

Meanwhile the people who are actually supposed to be dealing with problems like this are worried about the strange threat that has presented itself in Qatar. The Secretary of Defense (Jon Voight), sends in the air force into Qatar to save the survivors of the opening sequence who are now being attacked by a scorpion robot. Among these survivors are Sergeants Lennox and Epps (Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson) two completely under-developed characters who are only slightly more important to the story than Mikaela. The air force learns through this encounter that humans do indeed possess some weapons that are effective against transformers, this is the full extent of the importance of this action sequence on the plot.

Meanwhile, in the most gratuitous sub-plot in this tangled mess of a story, three young hackers are brought in by the pentagon to deal with the threat these giant robots pose and the mysterious sounds that were recorded from the first attack. This sub-plot goes nowhere and is almost entirely abandoned in the last third of the movie.

The movie starts off all right, the skeleton of a passable disaster film can be seen in the build up while the robots are still have a certain mystery, before they come out in the open, start talking to humans, and the movie devolves into the cartoon it is. For the first half of the movie there is a lot of comedic relief which generate laughs with hit-or-miss success. It's once the Autobots reveal themselves to Sam that the movie goes awry. In many ways I think the movie would have been better if it had eliminated the Autobots and played out as a fight between the evil Decepticons and the military. I think there would have been at least some dignity in that, because the Autobots are boring characters that are even more one note than the human characters. The Decepticons are also more interesting looking robots than the Autobots, but few of them are introduced until the final battle, and most them have little screentime even then. The Decepticon’s lack of screen time actually works in the movie’s favor since they don’t ware out their welcome like the heroic Autobots.

The performances in here range from awful to not-that-bad. The least embaracing performance comes from Shia LaBeouf. It’s a testament to how good LaBeouf is that he doesn’t embarace himself when delivering poor lines like when he “introduces” special opps agents to the giant robot that is destroying their car “Gentlemen... let me introduce you to my friend: Optimus Prime!” Jon Voight is a respected veteran actor who should have learned his lesson about playing authority figures in Michael Bay movies for his insanely bad turn as FDR in Pearl Harbor. As I’ve stated before the Mikaela character was written for no reason other than to bring a fine looking ass into the movie, and in turn Megan Fox was cast only for her fine ass, and in turn gives a howlingly bad performance. Why, in this age of internet porn, do people still pay theatrical prices to see hot looking women? Meagan Foxes performance destroys almost any of the remaining good qualities of all the scenes she’s in. The most bizarre performance however comes from John Turturro, an actor I once respected but who is more and more proving to be fairly one note. Turturro’s character is played almost entirely for laughs and is consistently cringe inducing. He’s completely out of place and stops the movie in its tracks.

The script is littered with loose ends and plot holes big enough to drive Megatron through. Long story short: The MacGuffian Machine (excuse me “The Allspark”) ends up in a secret location under the Hoover Dam. How the government managed to move a robot and a cube the size of a house from the north pole to Nevada in complete secrecy and then build a dam over it is a mystery, but that’s beside the point. Once the glasses (AKA Macguffian 2) lead robots to the Hoover dam (instead of the North Pole where the glasses were actually imprinted) it is decided that the MacGuffian machine will be moved to Los Angeles and hidden. Why they are bringing this to a city where the ensuing battle almost certainly kills thousands of civilians when they could just as easily battle it out in the desert is beyond me. I guess they did it because Michael Bay didn’t think a desert fight would look cool enough. It also boggles the mind why they take the more than four hour trip to Los Angeles instead of the nearby Las Vegas. Also a mystery is how they managed to out run the Decepticons who have three aircraft that could have easily outflanked all of the good guys in this long drive. These are just the plot holes in one five minute period of the movie, the number of holes in the entire movie may be countless.

Now I’ll get to the part of the movie that will attract most of its audience, the special effects. The effects are awesome, the robots look very real and fit into the real world remarkably well. The movie may rival the Star Wars prequels for most effects shots. The action is also pretty respectable, there are explosions galore in this movie and some interesting twists on the concept of the car chase. The movie will deliver good eye candy for those willing to overlook the many, many, many problems the movie has on all other levels. I for one didn’t think that was enough.

Before you jump on me with the whole “it’s a popcorn movie, it doesn’t have to be ‘good’” argument, let me say this: I don’t see why popcorn movies need to only be about special effects. There have been too many good popcorn movies made in the last decade for that excuse to hold water for me. Take Steven Spielberg’s 2002 masterpiece Minority Report as the critic’s exhibit A. Minority Report had a lot of very exiting action scenes and beautiful special effects, more than enough eye candy to satisfy anyone looking for that, yet it was also intelligent, thoughtful, well made, well written, and powerful. Now look at exhibit B: The ever popular 1999 action film The Matrix. The Matrix had breathtaking action scenes, academy award winning visual effects, and also a brilliant script with enough philosophical insights to impress Harvard philosophy professor Cornel West. When movies like these are able to be solid all around movies while still being fun eye candy, I see no reason to give lackluster action films like Transformers a free pass.

I’ll begrudgingly give Transformers two stars for its solid visual effects, the handful of jokes that work, and Shia LaBeouf’s performance. I think I’m being more than generous in giving it that much.
[B]** out of four

[ruban]

Transformers(7/4/2007)
Michael Bay is one of the most loved and hated filmmakers out of Hollywood. Critics have nothing but distain for the man, the only movie he’s ever made to gain a positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes was his sophomore effort The Rock. Audiences however seem to love him, only two of his movies have failed to break one hundred million at the box office and two of them have broken two hundred million, and those are just domestic numbers. Bay makes empty Hollywood action movies with cheesy scripts, terrible acting from otherwise solid actors, and excellent technical skill. As Jeanine Basinger once described him: “ master of movement, light, color, and shape—and also of chaos, razzle-dazzle, and explosion.” However all this talent is wasted because the guy seems entirely oblivious to the fact that he's always working with poor clichéd scripts, and he couldn't direct an actor if his life depended on it. Bay’s new film Transformers is in no way a change in pace for Bay. The film is essentially Armageddon with robots, its so full of clichés and bad writing that it often distracts the viewer from the fact that this movie bears a ridiculous concept that could only be taken seriously by a ten year old or Michael Bay.

I’ll admit I’m not this movie’s target audience, but it boggles the mind to determine what that audience is. The film is quite violent in that PG-13 kind of way and contains a number of not-so subtle sexual innuendos. If this is family viewing they might a well toss Armageddon into the pantheon of Disney classics. At the same time the film is far to silly, cartoonish, and cheesy as to insult the intelligence of any adult. I’ve never seen a single episode of the cartoon this is based on, and I’ve owned one of the toys the cartoon was created to market. Needless to say, I saw little to be exited about in this adaptation.

The film opens with a cheesy voice over that seems to have no place in a movie made in 2007. The voiceover is mostly cryptic and sets up that there is some sort of battle to come between good and evil alien forces that will occur on earth. This voiceover seemed to confirm my fears that this movie would be nothing more than cheesy 80’s children’s fare awkwardly packaged for 21st century teenagers. The film then cuts to Qatar, which is in the middle east according to the title card conveniently put on screen in case you’re too stupid to know where Qatar is. What then transpired was an action sequence so cool that it even had a cynic like me interested. A helicopter landed in a Qatar military base and preceded to “transform” into a robot which, according to Wikipedia, is named Blackout. The Robot then uses a combination of very interesting weapons to decimate all the U.S. troops. This impressive combination of pyrotechnics and CGI was undeniably cool, and this excellence in visual effects is maintained throughout the entire film. However when the story begins so do the problems.

Bay’s first mistake was to place the film so largely from the perspective of teenagers who have no earthly business taking part in a major national security incident of this nature. The main character is Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), a suburban high school student who is finally being given a new car by his father. Forced to choose between a number of old and worn cars at a sleazy used car dealership, Sam chooses a classic Camaro, which he doesn’t know was a transforming alien robot that drove itself to the dealership in order to be picked out by Sam. The Autobots (heroic transforming robots) need Sam because his grandfather was an arctic explorer who discovered the frozen remains of the Decepticon (evil transforming robots) leader Megatron, who somehow imprinted some kind of homing device onto his glasses that detects the Allspark (which may as well be called “The MacGuffin Machine”) even when its been relocated to Nevada, and since these glasses have been passed on to Sam finding him is essential to the fate of the world. Carefully consider that sentence and you will understand how hard screenwriters had to work to make a marketable teenager into the star of this movie. Sam is joined by Mikaela (Megan Fox), who severs no purpose to the plot other then to be hot. It turns out that Sam’s new Camaro is the Autobot Bumblebee, who communicates by picking convenient songs on the car radio to fit a situation. One wonders why the Autobots would send the one member of their team who is incapable of explaining the situation to Sam if he’s so important, a lot of screen time would have been cut if another autobot like Optimus Prime had just knocked on the kid's door and said “the glasses or your life!” One also wonders why the autobots and the U.S. military continues to waste their valuable time on this kid once the glasses (and with them the one minor tie he has to the story) are handed over.

Meanwhile the people who are actually supposed to be dealing with problems like this are worried about the strange threat that has presented itself in Qatar. The Secretary of Defense (Jon Voight), sends in the air force into Qatar to save the survivors of the opening sequence who are now being attacked by a scorpion robot. Among these survivors are Sergeants Lennox and Epps (Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson) two completely under-developed characters who are only slightly more important to the story than Mikaela. The air force learns through this encounter that humans do indeed possess some weapons that are effective against transformers, this is the full extent of the importance of this action sequence on the plot.

Meanwhile, in the most gratuitous sub-plot in this tangled mess of a story, three young hackers are brought in by the pentagon to deal with the threat these giant robots pose and the mysterious sounds that were recorded from the first attack. This sub-plot goes nowhere and is almost entirely abandoned in the last third of the movie.

The movie starts off all right, the skeleton of a passable disaster film can be seen in the build up while the robots are still have a certain mystery, before they come out in the open, start talking to humans, and the movie devolves into the cartoon it is. For the first half of the movie there is a lot of comedic relief which generate laughs with hit-or-miss success. It's once the Autobots reveal themselves to Sam that the movie goes awry. In many ways I think the movie would have been better if it had eliminated the Autobots and played out as a fight between the evil Decepticons and the military. I think there would have been at least some dignity in that, because the Autobots are boring characters that are even more one note than the human characters. The Decepticons are also more interesting looking robots than the Autobots, but few of them are introduced until the final battle, and most them have little screentime even then. The Decepticon’s lack of screen time actually works in the movie’s favor since they don’t ware out their welcome like the heroic Autobots.

The performances in here range from awful to not-that-bad. The least embaracing performance comes from Shia LaBeouf. It’s a testament to how good LaBeouf is that he doesn’t embarace himself when delivering poor lines like when he “introduces” special opps agents to the giant robot that is destroying their car “Gentlemen... let me introduce you to my friend: Optimus Prime!” Jon Voight is a respected veteran actor who should have learned his lesson about playing authority figures in Michael Bay movies for his insanely bad turn as FDR in Pearl Harbor. As I’ve stated before the Mikaela character was written for no reason other than to bring a fine looking ass into the movie, and in turn Megan Fox was cast only for her fine ass, and in turn gives a howlingly bad performance. Why, in this age of internet porn, do people still pay theatrical prices to see hot looking women? Meagan Foxes performance destroys almost any of the remaining good qualities of all the scenes she’s in. The most bizarre performance however comes from John Turturro, an actor I once respected but who is more and more proving to be fairly one note. Turturro’s character is played almost entirely for laughs and is consistently cringe inducing. He’s completely out of place and stops the movie in its tracks.

The script is littered with loose ends and plot holes big enough to drive Megatron through. Long story short: The MacGuffian Machine (excuse me “The Allspark”) ends up in a secret location under the Hoover Dam. How the government managed to move a robot and a cube the size of a house from the north pole to Nevada in complete secrecy and then build a dam over it is a mystery, but that’s beside the point. Once the glasses (AKA Macguffian 2) lead robots to the Hoover dam (instead of the North Pole where the glasses were actually imprinted) it is decided that the MacGuffian machine will be moved to Los Angeles and hidden. Why they are bringing this to a city where the ensuing battle almost certainly kills thousands of civilians when they could just as easily battle it out in the desert is beyond me. I guess they did it because Michael Bay didn’t think a desert fight would look cool enough. It also boggles the mind why they take the more than four hour trip to Los Angeles instead of the nearby Las Vegas is also a mystery. Also a mystery is how they managed to out run the Decepticons who have three aircraft that could have easily outflanked all of the good guys in this long drive. These are just the plot holes in one five minute period of the movie, the number of holes in the entire movie may be countless.

Now I’ll get to the part of the movie that will attract most of its audience, the special effects. The effects are awesome, the robots look very real and fit into the real world remarkably well. The movie may rival the Star Wars prequels for most effects shots. The action is also pretty respectable, there are explosions galore in this movie and some interesting twists on the concept of the car chase. The movie will deliver good eye candy for those willing to overlook the many, many, many problems the movie has on all other levels. I for one didn’t think that was enough.

Before you jump on me with the whole “it’s a popcorn movie, it doesn’t have to be ‘good’” argument, let me say this: I don’t see why popcorn movies need to only be about special effects. There have been too many good popcorn movies made in the last decade for that excuse to hold water for me. Take Steven Spielberg’s 2002 masterpiece Minority Report as the critic’s exhibit A. Minority Report had a lot of very exiting action scenes and beautiful special effects, more than enough eye candy to satisfy anyone looking for that, yet it was also intelligent, thoughtful, well made, well written, and powerful. Now look at exhibit B: The ever popular 1999 action film The Matrix. The Matrix had breathtaking action scenes, academy award winning visual effects, and also a brilliant script with enough philosophical insights to impress Harvard philosophy professor Cornel West. When movies like these are able to be solid all around movies while still being fun eye candy, I see no reason to give lackluster action films like Transformers a free pass.

I’ll begrudgingly give Transformers two stars for its solid visual effects, the handful of jokes that work, and Shia LaBeouf’s performance. I think I’m being more than generous in giving it that much.
[B]** out of four


I posted your review to a few friends who are on the same level and we all agree that you've got it spot on.

It's also interesting to see your view when you don't know much about the Transformers from the 80's. Eliminates any biased opinions.

Good stuff :)

[Dracula]

I posted your review to a few friends who are on the same level and we all agree that you've got it spot on.

It's also interesting to see your view when you don't know much about the Transformers from the 80's. Eliminates any biased opinions.

Good stuff :)


thank you

[ruban]

thank you

Np, I've got my own review (more like rant) to put up soon.

[halo7]

Dracula actually liked it more than I expected ;)

[JokerNick]

two questions... what happened to Scropanak, and who else wanted to lick megan foxs stomach when she lifted the hood of that camaro....

[Daniel]

I liked it. Funny, fun, good action. Plot wasn't perfect, but I'd see it again.

[Boiiinng]

Wrong - good is what you perceive to be. I thought the movie was good, you didn't. This is what I'm talking about. Personally I thought it was good because what I wanted to see was in the movie. I don't have to be an expert, and last time I checked there is no official checklist of "what makes a movie officially good" anywhere, so it's still an opinion not a fact.

:rolleyes: I'm just saying people use the wrong language when stating opinions. Good better have support behind it. Like doesn't require support. Try getting through any artistic education program using the word like to your professors and seeing where it gets you.

[sonoranreptile]

Plot holes??? It's a bunch of giant robots that transform into cars, trucks, planes and such kicking the crap out of each other. Who gives a crap about plot holes, or campy dialog. It's a freakin' cartoon come to life on the big screen. This is the reason I think a lot of movie critics are too critical. If you go into this movie looking for things to critique of course you are going to find them. I'm pretty sure Michael Bay wasn't thinking of academy award for best picture, but he WAS thinking kick-ass great time at the box office! He delivered. If I was basing my decision whether or not to see a movie like this on dialog, plot holes and campy acting/actors then I probably would have missed all of the Terminator movies, all of the Star Wars movies, the LOTR trilogy, All three(so far) of the Indiana Jones series, Spiderman series, and the Matrix debacle.

[Frizzo the Clown]

"It's a bunch of giant robots...kicking the crap out of each other..."

Why is it that is the defense everyone uses for this being completely mindless eye candy with no real substance? When describing superhero movies (most) people don't say "its grown men in tights kicking the crap out of each other...whats not to like?" Why? Because most people expect more than just guys in tights. They want a coherent story, compelling characters that you care about, and things like that. I'm not saying they expect Oscar quality films, but they do have realistic expectations. So why is it such a bad thing to want the same thing out of something like the Transformers?

That wasn't specifically addressed at you, sonoranreptile...your post was just the easiest to quote for my purposes. My apologies.

[Ewok Droppings]

Good better have support behind it.

Well, that's the same for both sides of the argument. But depending on what you're looking for, you may or may not agree with what the rationale is for calling it good. Especially with art. I've seen pieces of art selling for tens of thousands of dollars that I wouldn't even wipe my ass with, but some people think they are amazing. It's opinion. I saw a painting that was a red square on white paper - and someone was saying it's "brilliant". I didn't agree, but that's just opinion. People don't have to go out on a limb to explain why they think it's good - they just have to like it and then they'll call it good for whatever reason.

[sonoranreptile]

No offense taken. I as just aiming my reply at people who go into these movies with "Godfather" expectations. I think the plotline and the dialog in the movie perfect for this movie. I thought it was funny, intense, and megatron was pretty freakin' scary. I just think that people who post their "official review" on here are trying just a little to hard to be Siskel ans Ebert. It was a cartoon come to life. You can take 3 hours out of your "adult" life and be a kid again. It actually is a GOOD thing.

[prizm]

Good is not an opinion. Like is an opinion. Good is the result of a whole host of analyses based on artistic and technical observation. Granted, anyone can label something good, bad, excellent, superior, etc. without having any experience or education necessary to accurately judge a work of art, but that doesn't mean it's actually good.

good is just as subjective as like

some people think the taste of guacomole is good, i don't

[SaltyDog]

No offense taken. I as just aiming my reply at people who go into these movies with "Godfather" expectations. I think the plotline and the dialog in the movie perfect for this movie. I thought it was funny, intense, and megatron was pretty freakin' scary. I just think that people who post their "official review" on here are trying just a little to hard to be Siskel ans Ebert. It was a cartoon come to life. You can take 3 hours out of your "adult" life and be a kid again. It actually is a GOOD thing.

Well, it might surprise you but I saw an interview with a famous director the other day and he said that every Producer and Director goes into making a movie with the thought of making a classic or an award winner and of course it becoming such depends on the people and the perception they have of it after they view it. Although many films don't turn out that way filmmakers do for the most part work for this goal. Of course in the case of Directors like Bay and a few other this might not be the case. Tis Tis.......

[Adogan]

I can only imagine how many pages of opinions will come up once Thundercats hits the big screen.

[Ewok Droppings]

some people think the taste of guacomole is good, i don't

I do - and you better prove why it's not good! ;)

[halo7]

No offense taken. I as just aiming my reply at people who go into these movies with "Godfather" expectations. I think the plotline and the dialog in the movie perfect for this movie. I thought it was funny, intense, and megatron was pretty freakin' scary. I just think that people who post their "official review" on here are trying just a little to hard to be Siskel ans Ebert. It was a cartoon come to life. You can take 3 hours out of your "adult" life and be a kid again. It actually is a GOOD thing.

Ebert actually gave Transformers ***/****

[sonoranreptile]

eu·phe·mism (yōō'fə-mĭz'əm) Pronunciation Key
n. The act or an example of substituting a mild, indirect, or vague term (Siskel and Ebert)for one considered harsh, blunt, or offensive(annoying film critic)

[SaltyDog]

"Transformers"...I went to see the film this afternoon but the fricking lines were so long with just about every fricking kid and dog in the fricking city standing in line I said "heck with it". Just downright ridiculous. LOL....Amazing what hype will do if you hype it up right. On the other hand, I shouldn't be complaining. The hype has me wanting to see it. I suppose I will have to wait til next week to see it and then post my views on it.

[prizm]

I do - and you better prove why it's not good! ;)

it makes me puke

[prizm]

Well, it might surprise you but I saw an interview with a famous director the other day and he said that every Producer and Director goes into making a movie with the thought of making a classic or an award winner

even uwe boll?
i suppose his films could be classics of another sort, but enough with the digression