Transformers (Spoilers)

[SmileOfTheShadow]

My review's pretty non-spoiler, unless you didn't realize this was going to be a movie about robots fighting each other. I assume people may put spoilers in the post somewhere though so I'll mark the thread.

I went and saw this last night, having my little nostalgia craze with all of my buddies (a good group of 14 of us). Beginning the night with a talk about the *old* transformers movie...the one with John Cleese and Leonard Nimoy doing voice acting. Talking about how it took *years* of therapy to get over the fact that they killed Optimus Prime in the first scene. How could someone do that to a child?!

Anyway...the new movie. Live action. And plenty of action. Michael Bay did a wonderful job directing. It was non-stop..lots of cool camera angles, very nicely done. And the effects look very real at a lot of points. I think CGI's gotten to the point where I don't cringe when I watch it in movies these days.

It was very true to the original Transformers concept. Cheesy at points, yes, but you knew who was good, who was bad..and you saw some damn good robot fights. What more could you ask for?

Oh yes, a gorgeous girl. Michael Bay did a phenomenal job of just...focusing in on her...uhh...personality, for about half the movie. Which made even the dullest of scenes entertaining. I think she's my new favorite asstress...I mean...actress.

The only real problem I had with the movie was product placement. Just like the FF movie a month ago with it's "AND THE FANTASTICAR IS A...DODGE!" which made me want to throw my diet coke at the screen, this movie was filled with Chevy ads. Also noticed an ipod ad and a Nokia ad, but not to the degree that GM must have paid them.

Thoughts?

[WorkerCaste]

You sound surprised about product placement! This was a franchaise based on product! Did you know that the makers of the first movie, IIRC, 'fessed up to following instructions and having a high body count in order to allow Hasbro to produce a bunch of "replacement" toys to fill the spots vacated by the well-known ones lost in the first movie. Product placement is a time-honored tradition for Transformers.

On the nostalgia kick, I took my nephew to see that movie since his mom didn't want to go. Now he's in his 30's! Where has the time gone?!?!

[SmileOfTheShadow]

You sound surprised about product placement! This was a franchaise based on product! Did you know that the makers of the first movie, IIRC, 'fessed up to following instructions and having a high body count in order to allow Hasbro to produce a bunch of "replacement" toys to fill the spots vacated by the well-known ones lost in the first movie. Product placement is a time-honored tradition for Transformers.

On the nostalgia kick, I took my nephew to see that movie since his mom didn't want to go. Now he's in his 30's! Where has the time gone?!?!

that's absolutely hilarious Woker, I had no idea about that. And the movie is definitely geared to people in their mid 20s to mid 30s. There's a couple very sexual moments and things said in it that I wouldn't take kids to, for your information. Forgot to mention that.

[Lunan]

OK, I'M WOWED

only 1 thing wrong with this movie(and i grew up with transformers and own the cartoon on dvd so) IT DIDN'T USE THE 'ROBOTS IN DISGUISE' THEMESONG!!!!!!!

I mean WHITESNAKE performed it for the cartoon movie, it would have been EASY to reuse that or get a modern band to do it

other then that DAMN WOW GREAT!!!

i hear the sequal is goign to have the constructicons and the dinobots

[SmileOfTheShadow]

OK, I'M WOWED

only 1 thing wrong with this movie(and i grew up with transformers and own the cartoon on dvd so) IT DIDN'T USE THE 'ROBOTS IN DISGUISE' THEMESONG!!!!!!!

I mean WHITESNAKE performed it for the cartoon movie, it would have been EASY to reuse that or get a modern band to do it

other then that DAMN WOW GREAT!!!

i hear the sequal is goign to have the constructicons and the dinobots

Heh. that's pretty funny. I'm glad there's gonna be a sequel. This movie was too cool. Shallow, yet cool.

I did like the fight scene at the end though where it switched from the score to the new Smashing Pumpkins song...really good song.

[Darth_librarian]

Just to clear up some tiny inacuracies in this thread....

Lion, a Canadian Hair metal band did the original theme tune.

Eric idle was the voice of Wreck-gar, not John Cleese.

Glad you all liked it though. Have to wait till the end of the month in the UK...

[Looney]

HAHA I found a Thread!

Like I needed another reason to avoid any production Michael Bay touches. In the article below he says that he is fine with fanboys hating on Transformers because they are still going to go see it.

http://www.thewrap.com/transformers-...el-bay-haters/

That is some kind of ego. I hope this is enough to create a national boycott and his reign of terror can finally come to an end.

[Jan]

"Reign of terror?" C'mon!

Maybe it wasn't smart to say but the man's right. And he's not the first one to say pretty much the same thing, as I recall.

Jan

[Looney]

I do apologize. That did kind of sound like I was saying his "Reign of Terror" with regard to the Transformers movies. What I meant it to sound like is his "Reign of Terror" with every movie he has ever been involved with.

[Dan Dassow]

"Reign of terror?" C'mon!

Maybe it wasn't smart to say but the man's right. And he's not the first one to say pretty much the same thing, as I recall.

Jan

A. O. SCOTT effectively lead his review with a similar statement:

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/27/movies/transformers-age-of-extinction-is-fourth-in-the-series.html?_r=0

“Transformers: Age of Extinction,” the fourth film in an apparently inexhaustible, profoundly exhausting series based on Hasbro toys, raises, not for the first time, a basic question: Who are these movies for? This one, like its predecessors, is likely to make a lot of money all over the world, but that only makes the matter more puzzling. The “Transformers” franchise seems like the most baldly and cynically commercial calculation imaginable — it is merchandising-based entertainment at its purest — and yet somehow it does not pander.

[phazedout]

Given the dumbing down of education in general (rewards for participation, no failing test scores etc) you could argue than Michael Bay is a product of modern times. However, look at his pearl harbour movie. True grossly inaugurate an dfull of explosions and a little pathos, but it did include the dooddlebug run a pice of history I, for one, was not aware of.

Perhaps it may spark the mind of even one young watcher to do proper research and show them something they would never see otherwise as it si doubtful the average teen Michal bay fan would bother attending a more serious WW II style movie.

I am saying it isn't all bad, I won't be going to see transformers though, even attending movies early does and midweek still costs me more than I can afford so I am very choosy about what I see, strictly comic book movies for me in the cinema.

So, what I am saying is, it isn't ALL bad

Phaze
on the "I got up early in install an operating system, crazy phazey needs no sleep" ID

[Looney]

I agree with the principle that it is a good thing that someone who can get the general public into theaters should make something that is based on historical events. I disagree that Pearl Harbor is a good movie. I will say that it is not his worst movie. I will say it is a travesty that someone who can get the general public into theaters to see a historical epic couldn't do a better job with the historical epic. I will also say that the attempt to do the right thing doesn't make up for other things he has done and I will point out that he likely wasn't doing it for any other reason than a profitable bottom line. That sounds like me being harsh and it is true I don't really know what the man's motivations were for attempting to make that film. I just have the knowledge of what he does. I know is his expertise is making money. He is a very good schlock peddler. And hey, I love schlock, but not his brand. That might be in part to the fact that the projects he takes on are obviously going to make money. So he takes on something like Transformers or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or a World War II historical epic because it is an automatic money maker with little effort required on his part, which is exactly what he gives them. Throw in a bunch of flash and call it a movie.

[Ubik]

There's only one true Transformers film – The 1986 animated film with the hair metal soundtrack. End of.

[Ubik]

Spot on review of the new Transformers film here

[Ubik]

And said reviewer's notes made during viewing the film... which are utterly priceless.

NOTES