Transformers The Reviews Thread

[The Lizard]

Don't know if this has been posted...add it to the pile. http://www.urbancinefile.com.au/home/view.asp?a=13228&s=Reviews

Review by Andrew L. Urban:


...One of the funniest sequences is when Sam is tries to hide the presence of the giant transformers from his father. 'This is my back yard, not a truck stop,' he complains to Mikaela, when the transformers in their guise of trucks, make their way to his house. John Turturro, wearing outlandish underwear, is a scene stealer, and there's a cute, bling-wearing Chihuahua with a leg in plaster called Mojo who milks numerous laughs: 'It's gonna rust,' complains one transformer, when the little canine pees on his leg.

Again, another reviewer who seems to have a very different take than me on what will be the funniest parts of the movie.

 

[DorkyFresh]

I think you're correct in your last paragraph. But why should I take her to see a movie that she will think is "stupid." Isn't that a waste? And if I do, what does that say to her about ME and the lessons I'm trying to teach her?

so...she thinks Transformers looks stupid? if so, then by all means keep her away from it. if she wants to see TF, then i don't see why that would be a waste as long as you explain to her that it's not a morality movie. you'd be teaching her a lesson and you'd be giving her what she wants......how is that a loss or a waste?

I remember how a gave an academy award winning performance in hyping Godzilla 98 on DVD. I did the whole "let's watch it... it'll be FUN." I really wanted her to like it and explain to ME what I missed. I think she was displeased with me for even making her watch it. Time would have been much better served watching Neverending Story or something.

well if she thinks the same way about TFs than she did about Godzilla (that she doesn't wanna watch it) then by all means let her stay away from it....but if she wants to watch it then i don't see why it's so wrong as long as you explain to her that it's not okay to blow up stuff and get people killed...etc...

 

[The Lizard]

[The usual Matrix sequel apologist rant]

Trust me, I did in fact "get" the Matrix sequels. There's nothing about them that you could possibly explain to me that I didn't comprehend upon my first viewing.

My point was that many of the action sequences went on too long and just became numbing, thus taking the viewer out of the action. Case in point: the "burly brawl". So while the Matrix sequels are not guilty of the exact same action scene problems as Batman and Robin, the films did fail in creating the successful action set pieces seen in the first Matrix. Simple fact.

 

[nosebleed.]

My 6 year old daughter is hyped to see Transformers. I am glad that I'm going to get to share this experience with her.

 

[CFlash]

so...she thinks Transformers looks stupid? if so, then by all means keep her away from it. if she wants to see TF, then i don't see why that would be a waste as long as you explain to her that it's not a morality movie. you'd be teaching her a lesson and you'd be giving her what she wants......how is that a loss or a waste?

well if she thinks the same way about TFs than she did about Godzilla (that she doesn't wanna watch it) then by all means let her stay away from it....but if she wants to watch it then i don't see why it's so wrong as long as you explain to her that it's not okay to blow up stuff and get people killed...etc...

I do completely agree.
I wasn't raised sheltered from movies. My mom took me to see An American Werewolf in London when I was in 2nd grade (what where you thinking, ma?!). But she came out of the theater as scared as I was... not "hipping and hooraying" at how "cool" the blood and guts were. Such is the sense I'm trying instill in my daughter.

If she wants to see TF, I'm all for it. She wanted to see the first Pirates (she was really young then too). I warned her it was a little freaky. Told her it was a fantasy. We watched it together. Great fun.

Somehow, tho, movies like Pearl Harbor and Independence Day (and Transformers I suspect) just strike a totally different chord.

 

[Cth]

My 6 year old daughter is hyped to see Transformers. I am glad that I'm going to get to share this experience with her.

You're lucky, mine's 2 and a half months

She'll have to settle for the DVD

 

[Golgo-13]

My son is 5 and i have him hooked on the G1 TF's cartoon. It's funny too because when he brings some of the old G1 figures to school (that i got on ebay) the rest of the kids have no idea what they are!

Anyway, he's stoked for this flick too. I'll see it by myself on the 2nd, then take the fam to see it on the 4th.

 

[nosebleed.]

I'll post my review, then I'll post my daughter's. Should be interesting (and probably no more than a sentence or two).

 

[AyeCapn]

You're lucky, mine's 2 and a half months

She'll have to settle for the DVD

you never told us you had a wee one. Congratulations!

 

[nosebleed.]

Yes, congrats Cth. Buy a shotgun.

 

[AyeCapn]

Yes, congrats Cth. Buy a shotgun.

QFT

They turn into this at 3 or 4

Then you start to hyperventilate about what gun is big enough.

 

[Cth]

Thanks guys!

 

[Kargo Warrior]

Another positive!!!

http://newpaper.asia1.com.sg/guide/story/0,4136,134219,00.html

Diehard fanboys can rest easy knowing that the man who gave us pulp like Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, Bad Boys and The Rock doesn't desecrate their adolescentmemories.

In fact, Bay is the perfect man for the job, and he doesn't alienate the rest of us who may or may not have been a child of the '80s.

Transformers is mostly an exciting, noisy, testosterone-fuelled spectacle, yet manages to squeeze an easy-to-follow plot and lots of laughs in 143 minutes

RATING: 4.5/5

 

[Shmoil]

Yes it's all about context.

Watching Bambi's mom get shot and Optimus get killed trying to stop Megatron probably helped me become a better person in certain ways. Yes I cried and felt terribly depressed but the lessons themselves were well worth the temporary tears and discomfort. Not all of life lessons are going to be gentle, it's what you take from the lessons that is of the greatest importance.

*steps off soap box*

Oh and the Large Marge scene in Pee Wee's Big Adventure gave me nightmares for a week but I'll always treasure the experience of watching that movie in the theater with my mom.

Holy shi*t. That thing freaked me out as a kid. I had a lot of nightmares about that. I even watched that movie again recently and I still jumped. But I'm not going to kill anyone because of it.

 

[Disclaimer]

Just to clarify, this is false.

They state they found him about 100 years ago, and that the All Spark sends out a signal every 100 years.

He didn't come to Earth to convert the technology into weapons. They say as much in the film no less.

I'm guessing the sounds made it difficult to understand that part, since it was pretty clearly spelled out.

You're referring to the opening monologue by Prime, yeah?

Well, I could have been imagining it, I guess... but I'm referring to some rather distinct dialogue during the Megatron reveal at Sector 7 headquarters, about 3/4 of the way through the film. They say something along the lines of 'Megatron came to Earth, planning to use the Allspark to turn Earth's technology... yada, yada, yada'.

Like I said, though, I could be wrong. If so, I apologise, but I remember thinking 'woah... hold up... didn't he arrive well before technology?!'

 

[Disclaimer]

^Possibly. But asking mainstream to accept a bunch of robots that can turn into vehicles as a dramatic epic is asking a bit much. Everyone is familiar with them as toys, and the first teaser trailer had people cracking up like, "wtf, they're making a movie out of these toys?!" So it's a difficult undertaking.

See, I don't think it was as hard a sell as many people think.

In 'The Matrix' and 'Terminator' films - which are mainstream action films as much as sci-fi - we see how artificial intelligence can completely take over organic life and stand alone. Likewise, 'Terminator' showed us a reasonably believable version of shape-shifting in the T-1000 and T-X.

Take these elements into the world of 'Transformers' and you've got the basis of an acceptable franchise.

The thing is, 'Transformers' doesn't take advantage of these now-mainstream sci-fi ideas. The robots are not overly intelligent beings with Earth-smarts (except, ironically, Frenzy and Bumblebee), we rarely see a quiet, sinister side to the Decepticons and the idea that the Transformers evolved over millions of years is not part of this mythology. Rather, we learn that the Allspark can just magically make a machine into a robot.

I mean, I dunno about you guys, but I always saw the franchise as being about 'Robots in Disguise'... not 'Vending Machines in Crazy Magical Robot Form'. They are robots, first and foremost, who hide among us as the only logical, mobile things they can: our vehicles and machinery. That idea is lost because of the silly Allspark concept.

As I said in my first post, the writers have written themselves into a corner by actually making this new mythology just as - if not more - unbelievable as the source material.

It's just a sad, missed opportunity... because there was so much solid stuff out there about artificial intelligence fighting organic matter... and they chose to go with what comes down to pure, random magic.

 

[Inferno]

I could be wrong (havent seen the movie yet)

Spoiler

but in the book when they test the cube and turns the mobile into a transformer, they say that its an insane being without any mind or soul etc. So from what I can tell they are different from transformers in thatt hey dont have a "spark" soul whatever..

 

[CFlash]

See, I don't think it was as hard a sell as many people think.

In 'The Matrix' and 'Terminator' films - which are mainstream action films as much as sci-fi - we see how artificial intelligence can completely take over organic life and stand alone. Likewise, 'Terminator' showed us a reasonably believable version of shape-shifting in the T-1000 and T-X.

Take these elements into the world of 'Transformers' and you've got the basis of an acceptable franchise.

The thing is, 'Transformers' doesn't take advantage of these now-mainstream sci-fi ideas. The robots are not overly intelligent beings with Earth-smarts (except, ironically, Frenzy and Bumblebee), we rarely see a quiet, sinister side to the Decepticons and the idea that the Transformers evolved over millions of years is not part of this mythology. Rather, we learn that the Allspark can just magically make a machine into a robot.

I mean, I dunno about you guys, but I always saw the franchise as being about 'Robots in Disguise'... not 'Vending Machines in Crazy Magical Robot Form'. They are robots, first and foremost, who hide among us as the only logical, mobile things they can: our vehicles and machinery. That idea is lost because of the silly Allspark concept.

As I said in my first post, the writers have written themselves into a corner by actually making this new mythology just as - if not more - unbelievable as the source material.

It's just a sad, missed opportunity... because there was so much solid stuff out there about artificial intelligence fighting organic matter... and they chose to go with what comes down to pure, random magic.

This whole entire thing that you talk about has bothered me since the leaked script a year ago. Everyone (positrons) assured that almost certainly the script had been rewritten or at least massaged after the leaked "old" script. Turns out, that was not the case. This is still very much John Catwoman Roger's original story.

 

[YÅ«gi's BM]

The way I see it, Megatron didn't know how techonologically advanced Earth was. Not only that, but if the Decepticon's had the All Spark they could continue to create more and more soldiers for their armies and fleets.

 

[Anti-Moderator]

I could be wrong (havent seen the movie yet)

Spoiler

but in the book when they test the cube and turns the mobile into a transformer, they say that its an insane being without any mind or soul etc. So from what I can tell they are different from transformers in thatt hey dont have a "spark" soul whatever..

Oh no....is this really part of the movie?

 

[Karea07]

have any of the reviews mentioned Megan?

 

[CFlash]

The way I see it, Megatron didn't know how techonologically advanced Earth was. Not only that, but if the Decepticon's had the All Spark they could continue to create more and more soldiers for their armies and fleets.

And feed them how?

 

[blind_fury]

lolz! Good point.

Decepticons gotta eat! t:

 

[Anti-Moderator]

And feed them how?

*sigh* there you go trying to make sense of things again.........

 

[ShadowBoxing]

See, I don't think it was as hard a sell as many people think.

In 'The Matrix' and 'Terminator' films - which are mainstream action films as much as sci-fi - we see how artificial intelligence can completely take over organic life and stand alone. Likewise, 'Terminator' showed us a reasonably believable version of shape-shifting in the T-1000 and T-X.

Take these elements into the world of 'Transformers' and you've got the basis of an acceptable franchise.

The thing is, 'Transformers' doesn't take advantage of these now-mainstream sci-fi ideas. The robots are not overly intelligent beings with Earth-smarts (except, ironically, Frenzy and Bumblebee)

Again, intelligence wise Transformers were never played off as above human intelligence levels. Part of this is because of what I address in the next post, the Transformers really don't seem to have a firm grasp of how they became themselves.

we rarely see a quiet, sinister side to the Decepticons and the idea that the Transformers evolved over millions of years is not part of this mythology. Rather, we learn that the Allspark can just magically make a machine into a robot.

Evolution never played a huge part in the franchise of Transformers actually. Mostly they were just made, the first show to really "evolve" the Transformers was Beast Machines. Arguably Transformers had altered or upgraded their appearance in the past through various means, but usually it was rather magical (i.e. Hot Rod to Rodimus, the Last Autobot and Primus in the comics, the Vok energy wave that created the Transmetals, powers ups in the UT, Unicron reformating).

I mean, I dunno about you guys, but I always saw the franchise as being about 'Robots in Disguise'... not 'Vending Machines in Crazy Magical Robot Form'. They are robots, first and foremost, who hide among us as the only logical, mobile things they can: our vehicles and machinery. That idea is lost because of the silly Allspark concept.

Someone apparently hasn't heard of Signal Lancer (or watched Transformers Cybertron).

And I never really saw the advantage to being a cassette tape or a cassette player. But I'm not entirely sure I disagree with this stuff staying away from the movie verse.

As I said in my first post, the writers have written themselves into a corner by actually making this new mythology just as - if not more - unbelievable as the source material.

It's just a sad, missed opportunity... because there was so much solid stuff out there about artificial intelligence fighting organic matter... and they chose to go with what comes down to pure, random magic.

As I say, I'm not sure I don't want the magic angle removed. The Transformers have always had a strong magic/mythic element to their fiction. I suppose I'll have to see how this plays out. But to think that Transformers is akin to Terminator or the Matrix, with highly "unmagical" technology, is just plain wrong. When you're whole race is created by a God named Primus, that's pretty f***in' magical.