Transformers The User Review Thread [SPOILERS IN ABUNDANCE!]

[ragdus]

But that's what the POSITIVE user reviews here (not to mention the critics reviews) have been saying since the screenings started last week. "Ok, so there was a very simple plot. But hell who cares...I was only there to see giant robots beat the crap out of each other." "When the action alone can compensate for so much ridiculousness you just have to go with it. I'd recommend it." And actually the "check your brain" thing is something I'm re-using from another poster, who liked the movie.

I'm just saying what's setting people off. I'll leave it to you and them to debate the merits of it.

 

[rashad]

8/10 for me. My 3rd favorite movie of the year so far.

 

[The Sage]

Best summer popcorn movie I've seen in a couple of years, and no doubt probably the best movie of the summer.

Oh, and I think Bay probably was the perfect person to direct this movie.

Did anyone find the rock music kinda distracting?

 

[wiredscotty]

I'm noticing that a lot of us geeks' girlfriends or wives really enjoyed the movie. I wonder why that is. My wife LOVED it. And she is by no means a Trans fan. Just an observation.
By the way...maybe I'm stupid, but I thought the funniest part in the movie was when the big fat black dude practically fell through the glass door when the cops were in Anthony Anderson's house. Does that make me ******ed? I guess I'm a sucker for slapstick.

 

[user123456789]

Best summer popcorn movie I've seen in a couple of years, and no doubt probably the best movie of the summer.

Oh, and I think Bay probably was the perfect person to direct this movie.

Did anyone find the rock music kinda distracting?

nope not me, i loved the score

 

[The Sage]

Optimus' lines were great. Peter Cullen's awesome. If spoken by another person, they would've came off as cheesy.

 

[*Dead*End*]

Nosebleed, and others who know me, here is my four-in-one review . . . You might have missed it on page 34:

Spoiler

Sober review:

10/10

TRANSFORMERS was overall well edited [I don't consider donuts, and other inconsistencies relevant, since I didn't pick-up on it the one time seeing it]. The lenght of this film was perfect, not one minute too long [not even during each scene, as I couldn't have decide just what part of it would make for a good pee break, eventhough I didn't need to go anyway]. Speaking of peeing, I found that bit hillarious, as I'm sure it wasn't urine, and seing meachanical privates wasn't disturbing to me.

My absolute favorite practical shot out of the whole thing was that of Barricade's tire, burning rubber while "drifting/skidding" whence he follows Bumblebee into the empty building during the chase. Second two favorite practical shots were POV's of Scoponok, and Blackout [looking down at Epps]. I suspect for the Barricade shot they've used the Bay-cart, while for the POV shots, they've employed that super-huge 3 x 2 feet 80-lbs-heavy lense, specially built just for this film - it looked like nothing before it ever on film [I guess if You know a thing or two about optics, you would have truly appreciated this].

I can't quite put my finger on it, but I have felt this wierd movie high all day today, after having seen the 8pm showing last night. Something I haven't experienced before . . . and I strongly suspect it had to do with actually seeing my beloved TRANSFORMERS "living" on screen . . . I believe they exist, as they do, and as they are portrayed in the movie. That said, any character-screen-time-defficiencies to me were good chices made by the editor/director . . . to explain, I have read the script as soon as it hit the net, have downloaded/read/watched every picture, every tidbit, video, comics, both novels, interviews, etc. yet none of it ruined the experience for me. I was still in awe, and was truly entertained, and satisfied by the whole deal, because I knew what was left out, and what's been added, or replaced.

Was it Barricade on the freeway, or just: the same POLICE car? I don't know . . . and as far as I'm concerned, Sam doesn't know either. [I know that in the script Bonecrusher was aided by Barricade, against Optimus, which could have been edited out for time, or budget reasons, or just simply changed - I guess we'll find out]. Now, that I'm thinkin' about the DVD, we'll just have to wait, and see the final verdict on Brawl's name. Per Orci it was a mistake, so I'll take his word until then, but the screening I saw still had Devastator [did anyone else like the Cybertronian subtitles transforming? ].

Yes, there was another Decepticon speaking english in the city battle in the background, as someone has pointerd out [it could have been Brawl, or Blackout?]. Oh, yes, the city battle. Great collateral, realworld damage, was being done by the Transformers, or so I thought, anyways. The metal fireescape falling down comes to mind. I'm thinking that I would have preffered if some of the fighting had a little more exposition, but that might have then hindered the viscerality of it all. You know, it might have been too cliche [spoon-fed to us], and I commend Michael Bay, for pioneering this direction throughout, not just the fighting, but with the actor interaction - the situations seemed more real, no pretense - especially scenes with Sam's parent's.

I loved watching the Transformers running, did you enjoy seeing the Transformers running too? Barricade chasing Sam, Optimus in his Proto-mode running from the crash site . . . so graceful . . . youthful . . . full of spark. on that note [spark/Allspark]. I found Simmon's reaction to Allspark's mass-shift entertaining [I've had no problem with his character]. Also, to those, who thought Optimus seemed sadder over Megatron's demise rather than his comrade Jazz . . . I say he wasn't focusing on Megs, when he retrieved the fragments of the Allspark, but rather on the consequences that the destruction of the Allspark would have on his fellow Autobots. I mean, I think his concern was more about, what the Allspark represented, and what could have been, rather than waht did just happened to it. I'm sure he was sad about Jazz anyway.

Bumblebees transformation from bi-pedal being to vehicle up on that heap, was just - wowt: how smmmmmooooth! Jazz disarming S7 guys was a fun thing to watch. And the Autobot conversation at the planetarium, was a TF geek's dream come true [I could almost hear the G1 episode music: "Taaaaaaaaaaa-taaaaaaaa-ta-ta-ta-taaaaaaaaaaa"]. You know what i'm talkin' about. Last shot of the Autobot leader was filmed with the real Optimus Prime . . . I'm sure of it .

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++

I do not INEBRIATE nosebleed, sorry [I guess I'm not worth the coo' points - shucks . . . dang you BAG!]

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++

People who went: My sister [21], with her boyfriend; My cousin [32]; My friend from high school who is a U.S. Marine, and served in Baghdad [28], with his son [3] - who loved the movie, and wasn't at all annoying, nor scared, but rather wide eyed, and content! [take that negatron whiners ]; my other friend from work [39]; myself [28], and two lucky "bastards", whoever they were that got free tickets, because one of my frends didn't show, with his wife. Everyone that went loved it. I sat next to a fat lady, wo didn't smell, and whom I've brushed up against unintentionally more than once . . . she didn't mind mind You. Right when the Studios logos came on a guy few rows back shouted: "I've farted", the full auditorium broke out in laughter. During the movie someone did actually once pass gass, but remainded anonimous. No, it wasn't me. Lol.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +++

Spoof Review:

OK Nosebleed, I'm not sure what You have in mind here, but I know that when it comes to cracking jokes, I am less than sufficient at it, so I'll leave it to the pro's. But just for the heck of it, here's some random stuff:

"I came, I saw, I transformed into a Nag-a-tron". Fig is assumed to live, because I sure didn't see him utter any last words. Knowing that Frenzy ejects from Barricade [duh, I own the toy!], it still surprised me, when he actually did on-screen . . . I was like: "where'd HE come from?!?!" then i laughed at myself. When the theatre is packed like that it's hard to hear everything. For example After Jazz's first line I couldn't hear his other one, because laughter ensued. The CG shot I feared was gonna ruin the experience for me, didn't. I'm talking about the Optimus Transforming form the second trailer [front grill -and all], because the lighting on the two red halves was off [too bright orange], whilst in the theatre they've texturised it by then, and it was more red, like I was hoping it would become. Oh, and Megatron had a Sabot hole burned into his chest plating, which is what gave Sam the access . . . everything had a reason IMO.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ +

thank you for reading: DEAD END out.

 

[DACrowe]

Well I saw Transformers today.

I'll admit it when I'm wrong. It was not terrible. It was actually surprisingly decent and pretty good in the end. Definetly Bay's best (though that may not mean much).

I think Shia LaBeouff carries this movie with his great screen charisma and film personality. While his role wasn't particularly difficult, he brings the right level of straight faced awe and cynical self-deprecating humor to the project to keep it fresh, funny and most of all intereseting. Ialso think Tuturro stole the show as a great character actor should.

The CGI and action is also hands down the best of all summer.

With that said, it was ultimately a fun, breezy but seriously stupid summer action movie. The only character I or my friends really liked or cared about was Sam (Shia) and Bumblebee. There relationship is the most important and thank God it works. But the rest meh.

Megan Fox despite her hotness will not be winning any acting awards anytime soon and sitll can't shake the porn star look. But beyond her "hot girl next door/popular girl" character there wasn't too much. But more than the rest of the cast. Why should we care about good looking blonde hacker? or Anthony Anderson? Or ANY of the interchangeable soldiers who all tlak, walk and act the same?

As for the robots, they're cool. The CGI, as stated was amazing. But again Bumblee be was the only one I cared about and the only other one we got to know whas Optimus Prime. but despite his "Jor-El-esque" diaologue I don't think anyone was too worried he'd blow himself up or afraid that he'd die. And the rest of the Transformers didn't leave any impact on either side. When Jazz died I barely could figure out what was happening and when I found out later I was like "Oh Jazz was kind of cool....for all two of his lines."

None of the Autobots other than Bumblee or Optimus left any impresion. As for the Deceptacons....they looked cool. None of them had any personality. I think Megatron was the only one with lines and the police car. But their personalities were non-existant.

As for the end, A LOT OF EXPLOSIONS.

That was my perception. Lots of explosions and CGI. Other than when Fox dragged Bumblebee around via haul truck and Prime battled Megatron, I had no idea what was going on. Megatron was introduced so late I wasn't too worried aobut him. And the end just dragged and outside of Prime vs. Megatron I had no idea what was going on. They all looked the same and I didn't know who was who in the fights. i was even more surprised the military could tell the difference.


Ultimately a fun mindless summer action movie. But a shallow one.


My opinion though.

7/10



BTW I wonder if fanboys are very upsset as all the robot characters save for Prime were given a backseat to the humans. None of them were that well developed and audience members had no idea who most of them were. Not being a fan myself, I'm not upset. I surprisingly enjoyed the movie, actually. Second best action movie of the summer thus far (IMO) better than Pirates and FF, too though.

 

[PoSeiDon]

I just saw the movie. On a side note there were too many robots to all give personality to, they were backup players in this one.

I am left speechless! I never cared for transformers comic or cartoon but this was a great movie. Peter Cullen's voice is just awesome!

The CGI was the best ive seen and the whole theater was into this and the kids were cheering for th AutoBots. skipping to the end, I sort of felt sad for jazz dieing. Even tho we didnt get to know him It just came off like whole, he just ripped him up and thats that. Im thinking this was based off a cartoon/comic the good guys don't die! And you had to fel for bumblebee! why do Human have to experiment on things alien to us?? HUH?? poking him and crap!

The story was simple and easy to follow. Not sure if it needed some story with a thousand plot twist.

I loved it. Im getting this on DVD. can they make a sequel off of this?? are those machines the allspark created now apart of the autobots? I seriously want a sequel, I do not know transformers history but can anyone else be a villian or just use Magatron again? I forgot hugo voiced him, they all sounded great. The theater was so into this movie where I went, AMC in Country Club Hills, IL.

It gave me that feeling i havent had in a long time when going to a movie theater. it was lighthearted and fun.

p.s. the fat boy going through the window was CLASSIC!! the people in my theater clapped at the end of it also!

 

[Golgo-13]

Did anyone notice a height difference between Megatron and Prime, because i sure didn't.

 

[samsnee]

The FX were great. But as another poster said, at the end, when Jazz died, the impact meant nothing since no one in my theatre could tell what was going on. I thought the scene where they are hiding out at Sam's house a little too slapslick-y, and Prime seemed so impatient, moreso than I remember from the series.

Also, they destroyed almost half a city in the end. How the heck would the government cover that up? How many witnesses do they have?

In terms of sequel, they are going to have to actually infuse some character development in both autobots/decepticons next time around. It's easy to say people just want to see big robots the first time around, but for a sequel, you have to give them somthing more besides just new robots.

 

[PoSeiDon]

Did anyone notice a height difference between Megatron and Prime, because i sure didn't.

Yea megatron was a little taller.

 

[PoSeiDon]

My theater loved this movie so much. Yall laugh when Megatron tossed the lil human off of his fingers lol

 

[Golgo-13]

Plothole:

I've said it before. Megs came to Earth so he can turn all of Earths technology into an army using the Allspark..thousands of years ago...when Earth had no modern technology. And if he had succeeded in possessing the Allspark, and hadn't been frozen in the first place, microchips/modern technology wouldn't have been around anyway (In TF-verse) because Sector Seven would never have got their hands on him. Isn't that like asking what comes first, the chicken or the egg..?

Ratchet said it himself that was Megatron's purpose.

 

[PoSeiDon]

Plothole:

I've said it before. Megs came to Earth so he can turn all of Earths technology into an army using the Allspark..thousands of years ago...when Earth had no modern technology. And if he had succeeded in possessing the Allspark, and hadn't been frozen in the first place, microchips/modern technology wouldn't have been around anyway (In TF-verse) because Sector Seven would never have got their hands on him. Isn't that like asking what comes first, the chicken or the egg..?

Ratchet said it himself that was Megatron's purpose.

I do not recall of he was speaking in the present or the past. What I got was Tron could use it to build an army now in mordern times. But back then, He was going to use it back on Cybertron. Maybe Im wrong.

 

[Golgo-13]

I do not recall of he was speaking in the present or the past. What I got was Tron could use it to build an army now in mordern times. But back then, He was going to use it back on Cybertron. Maybe Im wrong.

Well my understanding of it is, the last time anyone saw Megatron was thousands of years ago, and that his plan at THAT TIME was to convert Earths technology into an army. That's the way it came off while Ratchet was explaining it to Sam in the Alley, to me.

 

[Tempest19]

2)The Sector Seven suit 'Tom Banachek' was indeed the hologram image used by the Decepticons. Why did they use him? Is there a deeper reason behind it than explored?

Great to know I'm not crazy.

Noticed that my first time through. The first time I saw him I said to myself- "mustache man?"

NOTE: Mustache Man was his name in the leaked screenplay.

Going to see it for a third time, hopefully, tomorrow night with my Dad- digital and I'll look for that Starscream thing.

 

[CFlash]

Well my understanding of it is, the last time anyone saw Megatron was thousands of years ago, and that his plan at THAT TIME was to convert Earths technology into an army. That's the way it came off while Ratchet was explaining it to Sam in the Alley, to me.

That was my understanding of it too. One of my friends- thinking Megs came to Earth in the early 1900's NOT a thousand years ago- suggested he could transform short wave radios, telephones and early transistor technology like that. But since you say Megs had been here "thousands of years" that blows that theory.

 

[Tempest19]

I'm noticing that a lot of us geeks' girlfriends or wives really enjoyed the movie. I wonder why that is. My wife LOVED it. And she is by no means a Trans fan. Just an observation.
By the way...maybe I'm stupid, but I thought the funniest part in the movie was when the big fat black dude practically fell through the glass door when the cops were in Anthony Anderson's house. Does that make me ******ed? I guess I'm a sucker for slapstick.

Because this movie is for everyone... I took my little sister to see it last night.

Originally she wanted to see it and then she randomly changed her mind in the theater going- "oh no, this is a geeky guy movie?! I don't want to see a geeky guy movie!"

And then when it was over- "amazing, awesome, I loved it!!!!"

So, everyone take as many people as you can and convert them, lol.

I am trying to convince my Mom to go as well.

This is truly something for everybody, just like there was in Jurrassic Park and Independence Day (I know some people hate that movie in here, but I say fck em'- that movie was huge in the 90s for a reason and I still enjoy it. And actually, outside of here, I've never even heard of one person that doesn't like ID4)

 

[Episode29]

Well, I'm definately in the minority because I thought it was terrible. 3/10 for me.

Anyone that wants to see my downer review can go here: http://camspcepisodes.blogspot.com/

 

[Erzengel]

My gf was a total G1 fan. She never watched Transformers the Movie or the next generation with Rodimus.

So she was pretty pissed off when I showed her TF the Movie and Prime died. She thought the whole passing the matrix was nonsense.

When I told her about the movie, she was like "Ugh, you can see that with your friends."

When she saw the trailer she was impressed. She thought it was going to be a cartoon.

So she got excited for it, and after she saw it, she said she really liked it. More than any other movie this summer.

She even bought an Opti-Mash Prime Potato Head.

 

[ragdus]

Plothole:

I've said it before. Megs came to Earth so he can turn all of Earths technology into an army using the Allspark..thousands of years ago...when Earth had no modern technology. And if he had succeeded in possessing the Allspark, and hadn't been frozen in the first place, microchips/modern technology wouldn't have been around anyway (In TF-verse) because Sector Seven would never have got their hands on him. Isn't that like asking what comes first, the chicken or the egg..?

Ratchet said it himself that was Megatron's purpose.

Actually, Sam is the one who said Megs came to convert Eart's tech. I distinctly remember doing a double take because I'm pretty sure Optimus gave him a different reasoning when he told him the back story.

 

[Golgo-13]

Actually, Sam is the one who said Megs came to convert Eart's tech. I distinctly remember doing a double take because I'm pretty sure Optimus gave him a different reasoning when he told him the back story.

Sam tells the ppl standing around Megatron at Sector Seven. Ratchet is the one who initially tells Sam about it, inbetween some of Prime's explaination about Megatrons plan, in the Alley scene.

 

[BloodyWolverine]

Great movies great action. The most fun i had at a movie all summer and i liked AWE and Live Free and Die Hard. It is no oscar film but it wasn't ment to be anything but a fun summer movies. I was so overwhelmed by action scenes and special effects.
But your not gonna like it if you don't like Micheal Bay films. Which this is his best movie.
But as child fan of the movies i was not dissapointed and someone never seeing the cartoon i also think it is good enough to make afan of this movie.
Shia and Megan were great in it i thaught if you ask me.
Its Optimus Prime enough said.
9/10

 

[CFlash]

Well, I'm definately in the minority because I thought it was terrible. 3/10 for me.

Anyone that wants to see my downer review can go here: http://camspcepisodes.blogspot.com/

LOL. You're not alone. The problem is that the movies huge weaknesses are being touted as its strengths. Like this review

Why Transformers Sucks But I Still Watched It Four Times
http://eyeris.blogspot.com/2007/07/why-transformers-sucks-but-i-still.html

Expect a whole lotta Pearl Harbors and Armageddons "summer blockbusters" in the next few years and a lot less X1's, X2's, Matrix's etc. People got tired of thinking.