Transformers The Reviews Thread

[nosebleed.]

to that review. Straight to the point and very revealing. Sadly, that's exactly what I figured this movie would be like.

 

[Kap]

Was this posted already? If so, I missed it. It's a very harsh review.

http://www.moviehole.net/news/20070625_marks_review_the_transformers.html
Excerpt:
"‘Transformers’ is the corniest of popcorn flicks, an action extravaganza with about one brain cell to its name – i.e., Michael Bay’s specialty. But unlike many other Bay efforts, in this one he’s had to hedge his bets to encompass the consumers who will purchase the inevitable line of toys, and that’s where ‘Transformers’ frustrates most. Its intense battle scenes show almost no casualties. Many of the Autobots behave like children and have an irksome, cutesy quality that did not exist in the cartoon, while occasional moments of physical humour are head-slappingly bad.'"

Ouch, that one hurt my optics.. :,(

 

[kal-el2006]

thats from the same guy who gave premonition 4 n half stars out of 5?

 

[TNC9852002]

Do not want.

-TNC

 

[CFlash]

thats from the same guy who gave premonition 4 n half stars out of 5?

That was Clint Morris, not Mark Bennet. Are they the same person?

 

[Kap]

thats from the same guy who gave premonition 4 n half stars out of 5?

Still, it's a well written consistant review. I could never manage to review movies like that, I just don't pay attention to the cliché stuff. If i'm there and in the moment enjoying the setup of the movie a funny black guy will hardly ruin it for me. But you can't expect everyone to be like that.

 

[blind_fury]

thats from the same guy who gave premonition 4 n half stars out of 5?

He brings up legitimate points. Maybe we should dissect his analysis rather than try to discredit him based on past reviews.

 

[tviceman]

edit. Nevermind.

 

[CFlash]

He brings up legitimate points. Maybe we should dissect his analysis rather than try to discredit him based on past reviews.

Especially since I don't think he's the same guy... unless Clint Morris and Mark Bennet are the same person and I'm clueless.

 

[blind_fury]

I'm seeing reviews complaining that the action scenes are cluttered and confusing. That's not good considering the action scenes are the main selling point.

 

[shigsy2003]

"‘Transformers’ is the corniest of popcorn flicks, an action extravaganza with about one brain cell to its name – i.e., Michael Bay’s specialty. But unlike many other Bay efforts, in this one he’s had to hedge his bets to encompass the consumers who will purchase the inevitable line of toys, and that’s where ‘Transformers’ frustrates most. Its intense battle scenes show almost no casualties. Many of the Autobots behave like children and have an irksome, cutesy quality that did not exist in the cartoon, while occasional moments of physical humour are head-slappingly bad.'"

Aye I did fear this. I was wondering when the negative reviews would start.

 

[Kap]

He brings up legitimate points. Maybe we should dissect his analysis rather than try to discredit him based on past reviews.

Agreed, I guess it's going to boil down to what you're expecting when walking in to the theatres. Now we know we're not getting another Return of the King or Empire Strikes back. What we might get is a very good, thrilling start of this franchise in movie-form. Which hopefully will lead up to an even better sequel with more character development. It's a common fact that the first movie in a superhero series always has that origin story to deal with. And according to many of the positive reviews this movie pulls that of nicely.

 

[Avangarde]

Its fresh to see something other then all positive reviews like at the start, and this latest review does kinda seem consistant with a Bay movie, I guess we'll find out soon enough.

 

[blind_fury]

"Many of the Autobots behave like children and have an irksome, cutesy quality that did not exist in the cartoon, while occasional moments of physical humour are head-slappingly bad.'"

I was afraid of this. Taking the worse aspects from the cartoon and making the Autobots parodies of themselves like something from a bad ALF episode.

This and the fact that the Decepticons barely have any dialogue that explores their personalities, will hurt the sequel because the novelty of seeing "giant robots fighting" will be gone. You need to get the audience to see Transformer characters as more than just giant monsters or the franchise will suffer.

 

[Kap]

^ But that "cutesy quality" might be what will make theese giant robots loveable to the general public.

 

[blind_fury]

^ But that "cutesy quality" might be what will make theese giant robots loveable to the general public.

It depends.

They could be lovable like Jar Jar was to 8 year olds and annoying to the rest of the audience who don't want to see slapstick garbage in a sci-fi action epic.

 

[CFlash]

^ But that "cutesy quality" might be what will make theese giant robots loveable to the general public.

True. Unless Bumblebee's beeps and whistles and music playing end up being more annoying than anything else. The Jar Jar Effect. Time will tell.

 

[The Kid]

i see that as usual some posters have left their critical thinking skills at home before booting up the internet.

Well there's always an element of child-like enthusiasm in alien meets boy movies because the aliens are new to the planet. ET raided the fridge and became drunk, remember.

 

[CFlash]

i see that as usual some posters have left their critical thinking skills at home before booting up the internet.

Well there's always an element of child-like enthusiasm in alien meets boy movies because the aliens are new to the planet. ET raided the fridge and became drunk, remember.

Everytime you post stuff like this I can't help but remember that Catwoman is your #1 comic book movie.

 

[The Kid]

Time will remember it as a classic.

 

[Disclaimer]

Ditto to Mark's Review.

His take on the things that bugged me are stated perfectly.

Optimus Prime's personality in this is far more cartoonish than the cartoon ever was, as are the others - except Bumblebee, who I quite liked, and Jazz, who was a watered-down, deeper-voiced version.

Y'know, at the end of the day, I just would have liked to see something really classic... like all the Decepticons, in robot form, standing together, out in the open, planning their attack. Talking, scheming, bickering, whatever. They don't.

Oh, and Mark's right. For all the effects wizardry talk, you really never get a sense of the robots' transformations. It's just random and - in my opinion - they went too far with it. Think of how the word 'Transformers' changes to the date and then the logo in the teaser trailer. That's honestly how random these guys are on film most of the time.

As for 'Legally Blonde', I did enjoy it. I went with my (female) cousin, had a hangover, felt like crap... and it was a good bit of brainless fun. I'm not gonna deny it.

Besides, any film-geek insults thrown my way really don't hurt... I mean, if the parmesan/taco/corpse-smelling audience last night are anything to go by... well... let's just say I'm glad my interests here are primarily study/career-related.

 

[Kap]

It depends.

They could be lovable like Jar Jar was to 8 year olds and annoying to the rest of the audience who don't want to see slapstick garbage in a sci-fi action epic.

True, but on the other hand if we are seeing another Jar Jar incident. I hardly belive either MB or Spielberg would put their name on this product. You probably won't find Bumblebee to be more of an eyesore than E.T. From what i've seen there will be plenty of emotion behind their performances. For instance, those of you who saw the small clip they showed at Leno when

Spoiler

Bumblebee and Prime are hiding in Sam's backyard.

That was just awsome performance and animation. If they've managed to mix in some classic TF personalities in to that, the public will love it. And so will I.

 

[Octoberist]

yeah, it's like saying that Gremlins 1 and 2 sucked b/c it was 'cutesy'.

Cutesy can be good too..

 

[CFlash]

True, but on the other hand if we are seeing another Jar Jar incident. I hardly belive either MB or Spielberg would put their name on this product. You probably won't find Bumblebee to be more of an eyesore than E.T. From what i've seen there will be plenty of emotion behind their performances. For instance, those of you who saw the small clip they showed at Leno when

Spoiler

Bumblebee and Prime are hiding in Sam's backyard.

That was just awsome performance and animation. If they've managed to mix in some classic TF personalities in to that, the public will love it. And so will I.

That is true. And I hope you're right. But, then again, that scene stops right before Optimus Prime steps on something and presumably says "My Bad" (conjecture). If you're to believe that these machines (computers) can scan deep into the intricacies of cars, planes, and machines (at will), you'd think they could scan their environment as they move. A Proximity Alert or something! t: (I'm just being facitious here, folks).

I agree tho. Based on everything we've seen in the clips I think they did a remarkable job with the faces.

 

[Kap]

This review by Steven Mason was posted a few pages back but this part caught my eye:

There are some nifty Spielberg touches along the way. After an Autobot crash lands in a swimming pool, a little girl with a stuffed animal walks outside to see what happened. Slowly, a huge robot emerges from the pool, and the little girl's face, bathed in moonlight, is filled with awe and wonder. When Sam is courting his girlfriend-to-be (Megan Fox), his car (Bumblebee) changes stations on the radio to provide the proper mood music (like Marvin Gaye's "Let's Get It On"). And, most notably, there's the relationship between Sam and Bumblebee. When this yellow-and-black robot gets in trouble, you can read very human pain on its face, and there are shades of the sort of emotional bond we saw between Elliot and E.T.

Reading that, I think it's safe to asume this movie will be JarJar free . But still, there's a pretty huge gap between perceptions of Autobot personalities in this movie it seems. I mean compare this to what Morris is saying.