Transformers the Movie

[kanedaestes]

I too will admit i enjoyed it. If nothing else to see them run and transform or drive/fly and transform without stopping.

[reddsun1]

Well, you can thank the schmoes at Wikipedia for all sorts of spoilers in the "movie plot" entries for Transformers.

I scooped some clips on youtube--I was still debating whether I want to waste my $7 bucks on this or not. The scene where the girl starts talking "gearhead" with the kid Sam is utterly laughable.

--"Oh, nice headers. You got a high rise double pump carburetor--that's, pretty impressive, Sam."

--"Double pump?"

--"It squirts the fuel in so you can go faster."

--"Oh, I like to go faster." *groan*

--"An' looks like your distributor cap's a little loose."

--"Yeah? how'd you know that?"

--"Oh, my dad was a real grease monkey; he taught me all about this stuff. I can take it all apart, clean it, put it back together..."

I don't know what the he*l she was looking at, but that sure wasn't just "a carburetor." Looked more like a cross-ram, with mechanical injection setup, or maybe quad Webers [didn't see any injector fuel rails]? And distributors don't get "a little loose"!

I've heard the critics lambast Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman as having written the script with little or no character development or plot, just fluff barely capable of tying one action scene to the next--but Jeez! this is just terrible! I know one thing, her dad may be a grease monkey--but I sure as sh*t wouldn't want him or her touching anything of mine. That dialogue was about as transparent as the windshield of that car, and I barely rate as a shadetree mechanic. Dayum, that just borders on insulting the intelligence of the viewers...

Not meaning to nit-pick, honest I'm not. I want to engage my "willing suspension of disbelief" like anybody else. But Chrissakes, don't insult me with such obviously erroneous dribble! Look, if you don't know sh*t about cars, don't go trying to write dialogue for somebody passing as an "expert" on cars--ask somebody who does for some fuggin pointers. All that input and $$$$ they got from GM for their 90 minute commercial, and they couldn't even ask Mr. Goodwrench about what's under the hood?

[Guest sh002]

Thoughts, opinions, sarcastic remarks, and spoilers.

Most action and regular scenes were great although some reminded me of Live Free or Die Hard since I watched that before this.

Some angle shots of Optimus made him look bigger and more badass.

Optimus with his faceplate on looked cool.

Peter Cullen's voice was cool.

Megatron's face looked ok.

Bumblebee's voice was ok. Almost like the voice of the robot in I, Robot.

CG was great. I didn't like the scene with Megatron and Optimus through the building though. It looked like Power Rangers for some reason.

The scene where Bumblebee decides to change his alt mode was cool.

The ending scene with Optimus and Bonecrusher was cool.

I agree that some colors or decos as G1 toys wouldn't look as cool in the movie. Some of these movie toys now don't look as great.

I would love to still see an Optimus similar in alt mode to the original truck with a trailer in a later movie. Heck design the robot mode similar to this movie version (although still not my favorite design). He could even combine with the trailer so that he could be bigger and taller.

Sh!t one more military Decepticon and they could have used all of them to make a Bruticus. It could've happened.

I would love to see someone different direct one of the next movies. Some people don't like Bryan Singer but there has to be someone.

Jazz jumping on Brawl like Kup jumping on Blitzwing in the animated movie was cool.

"One shall stand, one shall fall" was cool although I would have loved to see Optimus say it.

I could see which elements or parts were referenced from the original comic, G1, and even Beast Wars.

The Transformers in alt modes really looked like they had life.

I will buy the DVD to be a completist.

If I see deluxe Bumblebee 08 version, I might buy it. I've seen a lot of the others in person and didn't buy any.

Megan Fox was hot.

Blackout's scene in the beginning was great.

The ending was good to leave open for sequels and additional Transformers.

The scene where the Autobots were hiding at Sam's was good. The mom's question to Sam was awkward.

The scene where Starscream takes out the fighters in the sky was cool. I would love to see that for a Macross movie IF one ever comes out. Not counting on it though.

Transformations were cool but some weren't.

Story, character development, and dialogue needed work.

Some of the character and face designs still bothered me.

I couldn't understand half the words Bernie Mac was saying.

Sam's friend in the tree was stupid. WTH?

The Autobots swinging or jumping around like acrobats so much in the movie got annoying.

Nobody noticing Bumblebee drive up to the car lot without a driver was weird.

Frenzy was annoying because he couldn't stay dead. He also looked the ugliest.

Optimus' mouth looked a little low. A little higher would have looked better. Just make the faces more human already if they do look a little human.

Even though it took a while I didn't like how some Decepticons were killed off. Megatron's death wasn't that great. I wouldn't be surprised if Megatron isn't dead and they brought him back as Galvatron and the Allspark being destroyed but having some strange effect on Megatron just like Neo changing Mr. Smith and not killing him in the Matrix.

The Allspark could only change human technology into evil robots? There's not just one good microwave?

The search for the glasses was kind of a waste or time then right?

I don't think dumping the dead Decepticons in the ocean will get rid of them.

I might be mistaken but I think Optimus only used his gun once. Once? Come on. He could have destroyed more Decepticons.

Autonomous robot or Autobot for short. What is Decepticon short for? Reminds me of that one youtube video.

Jazz was weak. Too weak compared to Bumblebee.

The ending scenes for the movie looked rushed or edited too much.

Edited July 15, 2007 by sh002

[Boxer]

I'd like to think that there'll be a director's cut edition for this TF movie... I agree with some of the reviewers that some things could be changed for the better, but overall it was a good movie.

[Chewie]

Well, you can thank the schmoes at Wikipedia for all sorts of spoilers in the "movie plot" entries for Transformers.

I scooped some clips on youtube--I was still debating whether I want to waste my $7 bucks on this or not. The scene where the girl starts talking "gearhead" with the kid Sam is utterly laughable.

--"Oh, nice headers. You got a high rise double pump carburetor--that's, pretty impressive, Sam."

--"Double pump?"

--"It squirts the fuel in so you can go faster."

--"Oh, I like to go faster." *groan*

--"An' looks like your distributor cap's a little loose."

--"Yeah? how'd you know that?"

--"Oh, my dad was a real grease monkey; he taught me all about this stuff. I can take it all apart, clean it, put it back together..."

I don't know what the he*l she was looking at, but that sure wasn't just "a carburetor." Looked more like a cross-ram, with mechanical injection setup, or maybe quad Webers [didn't see any injector fuel rails]? And distributors don't get "a little loose"!

I've heard the critics lambast Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman as having written the script with little or no character development or plot, just fluff barely capable of tying one action scene to the next--but Jeez! this is just terrible! I know one thing, her dad may be a grease monkey--but I sure as sh*t wouldn't want him or her touching anything of mine. That dialogue was about as transparent as the windshield of that car, and I barely rate as a shadetree mechanic. Dayum, that just borders on insulting the intelligence of the viewers...

Not meaning to nit-pick, honest I'm not. I want to engage my "willing suspension of disbelief" like anybody else. But Chrissakes, don't insult me with such obviously erroneous dribble! Look, if you don't know sh*t about cars, don't go trying to write dialogue for somebody passing as an "expert" on cars--ask somebody who does for some fuggin pointers. All that input and $$$$ they got from GM for their 90 minute commercial, and they couldn't even ask Mr. Goodwrench about what's under the hood?

I for one didn't go see a movie about Transformers to learn about cars. Weird, right?

[MrDisco]

guess i'm in the minority but i came away quite disappointed. do we still have to use spoiler tags at this point? anyway suffice to say it was ok as a popcorn flick. 3/5 maybe. but there were so many parts that needed work that i wonder how the film would have turned out in the hands of a good director. i wrote up a longer review on a different site and now that i think about it...i'm actually kinda pissed for spending $15 to see this. in essence take a big ass GM commercial and add in some explosions, a bit of SFX, and some horribly cheesy dialog (if you can call it that) and you've got a movie. I wonder how much GM paid to have their logos splashed around every where? You know it's a bad sign when you see the GM logos more often than you see the Autobot or Decepticon logos.

Edited July 5, 2007 by MrDisco

[David Hingtgen]

I was going to say yesterday, spoilers should be considered in effect for a week. Maybe only 5 or 6 days. But definitely still. While many of us saw it the 2nd (or even earlier in some countries), it officially opened only yesterday in the US. Today is the first good chance to see it for a lot of people. I say spoilers are in effect until Monday----everyone who wants to see it will have seen it by the weekend.

[baronv]

I thought the movie was good, 3.5 outta 5. Would've been a solid 4 if they showed more of the TF in the beginning or fleshe dout the autobots or decepticons. Besides OP and Bumblebee, there were no personalities to any of the other robots. Heck besides Starscreams 1 lines to Megatron the other Decepticons didn't talk at all. I really liked the OP vs. Bonecrusher dual, best fight of the movies. Thanks for the cleariing up of Barricades, I was also wondering why he was missing at the end.

Just push aside this being a G1 movie and accept it as the next evolution of the TF franchise like beast wars, machines, armada, cybertron, energon, etc. and then you won't get disappointed. Originally I wasn't going to see it since it wasn't pure G1, but it was a good flick overall.

About the no mass shifting, how then did Frenzy change into the Razr phone, it looked a lot smaller than he could transform into?

Edited July 5, 2007 by baronv

[Radd]

I for one didn't go see a movie about Transformers to learn about cars. Weird, right?

No, neither did I, but it's little things like that which can either make a member of the audience smile in satisfaction, or nearly leap from their seat crying, "What the hell?!" It's really no different then making a movie about WWII, but whenever a german speaks it's just weird gibberish with some german words tossed in. I didn't go to the movie to learn german, but if half the dialogue is something like, "Spreachun die Heinekin bitte hanf!" "Ja mein noodle jagermeister ribbon!" "Zeutfeld!" anyone with even a passing familiarity with the language is going to have a lot of trouble with that 'suspension of disbelief' thing.

About the no mass shifting, how then did Frenzy change into the Razr phone, it looked a lot smaller than he could transform into?

When he did that, he'd had his head cut off, so it was just his head walking around. His head was not that big, and it was made to seem larger with lots of empty space s between the parts. It's not that difficult to believe he was small enough to turn into a cellphone at that point.

[Mog]

Wait a minute. You guys were listening to the car-talk stuff during that "checking it out" scene?

Guess I was too busy paying attention to something else at the time.

[Max Jenius]

During "Starscream's scene" ... did anyone think "wow... maybe they SHOULD do a live action Macross.."

Also... I thought the Autobot arrival/gathering scene was really awesome. I got a major nostalgic feeling in my gut, no joke.

Edited July 5, 2007 by Max Jenius

[areaseven]

I will admit that not only do I find this film enjoyable, I see it as a film equivalent of crack. It's so good, I already saw it twice and I'll see it again tomorrow.

[wolfx]

During "Starscream's scene" ... did anyone think "wow... maybe they SHOULD do a live action Macross.."

Amen! I want a DYRL? live action when I saw that.

Sending F-22s for airstrikes was abit strange but that scene was cool for what its worth.

[Boxer]

Yeah, I wonder what happened to the F-16s we see scramble... and then disappear.

I think it's safe to say that the next transformers movie will have a bigger focus on the transformers, rather than a transformer event through human eyes. This was just establishing the birth of a new TF line and essentially went through the introductions of who everyone was and what they were doing on earth, and the connection with humanity. 2 will probably have megatron come back, more formers come to earth, and probably discuss more about this universe of TF. After all, outside the comics, we don't know what cybertron is like. Will destruction of the allspark sign the death of cybernetic life? Who made the allspark? These are just questions that'll be raised in TF2- and questions that are best answered with significant TF involvement.

[areaseven]

Really old news, but I thought I'd share this pic for those who don't live in the L.A. area.

[Chewie]

No, neither did I, but it's little things like that which can either make a member of the audience smile in satisfaction, or nearly leap from their seat crying, "What the hell?!" It's really no different then making a movie about WWII, but whenever a german speaks it's just weird gibberish with some german words tossed in. I didn't go to the movie to learn german, but if half the dialogue is something like, "Spreachun die Heinekin bitte hanf!" "Ja mein noodle jagermeister ribbon!" "Zeutfeld!" anyone with even a passing familiarity with the language is going to have a lot of trouble with that 'suspension of disbelief' thing.

When he did that, he'd had his head cut off, so it was just his head walking around. His head was not that big, and it was made to seem larger with lots of empty space s between the parts. It's not that difficult to believe he was small enough to turn into a cellphone at that point.

I get what you're saying but the entire scene was supposed to be us drooling over her and was the ass end of their early on character development. It wasn't about paying close attention to what she was talking about.

I am just saying that I couldn't care less if her technical expertise was off, I got over gaffs like that years ago because of damn near any movie with a firearm in it.

[GobotFool]

I get what you're saying but the entire scene was supposed to be us drooling over her and was the ass end of their early on character development. It wasn't about paying close attention to what she was talking about.

I am just saying that I couldn't care less if her technical expertise was off, I got over gaffs like that years ago because of damn near any movie with a firearm in it.

While I am not a car or gun enthusiast, I do understand. There have been a few movies that seriously miss portray different cultures and history, and while I'm no expert, having a passing familiarity with both, I do want hunt down the writers and knock their ignorant teeth out. When you know your movie might interest a particular crowd of enthusiasts it is polite to make sure you at least have your basic facts right while writing the script. That said, as far as way off facts go, it really wasn't that important to the script. The whole checking under BB's hood was just an excuse for character development through the use of gratuitous sexual humor. (and hey, if I were a transformer Mikela could say whatever wants while molesting my engine parts )

After watching it again there were two parts this movie needed, one was ratchet running up to BB, looking at his legs and trying to fix them but having to leave to protect Sam. And another would have been Ratchet trying to save a dying jazz. More ratchet is always good for me.

Yeah, I wonder what happened to the F-16s we see scramble... and then disappear.

I think it's safe to say that the next transformers movie will have a bigger focus on the transformers, rather than a transformer event through human eyes. This was just establishing the birth of a new TF line and essentially went through the introductions of who everyone was and what they were doing on earth, and the connection with humanity.

I generally agree. The reason why the other transformers had less of a presence was, 1. they needed to get them to earth. and 2. I think they were testing the waters. Seeing if people could connect with these robots.

Edited July 5, 2007 by GobotFool

[Radd]

I doubt we'll see them drop the human element entirely, and quite honestly I wouldn't want them to. I used to think all robots all the time would be great, but these days I'm more interested in how they interact with the world around them, that world being our's. One of my favourite parts of the Binaltech backstory is how it ties in all these different human characters from both the TF universes, and the G.I. Joe universe. It helps to give the Transformers battles a sense of scale, and create a more complex and interesting world around these giant alien machines beating the crap out of each other.

[GobotFool]

I doubt we'll see them drop the human element entirely, and quite honestly I wouldn't want them to. I used to think all robots all the time would be great, but these days I'm more interested in how they interact with the world around them, that world being our's. One of my favourite parts of the Binaltech backstory is how it ties in all these different human characters from both the TF universes, and the G.I. Joe universe. It helps to give the Transformers battles a sense of scale, and create a more complex and interesting world around these giant alien machines beating the crap out of each other.

Oh, I wouldn't want all robots either, I just wish the transformers had more of a chance to be actual characters instead of elaborate set peices. But in all fairness to the movie, when you break break down the different groups established in the movie, the soldiers, the command staff, the hackers, the sector 7 people, the decepticons, and the autobots. They all got similar amounts of screen time. I'd just like to see them move from a supporting role to a staring role. For example, at one point I'd love to see a scene where Ratchet is walking around in the woods with spike and they come across some campers, and ratchet explains to them how he loved to party on cybertron and helps them cook their hot dogs. Okay okay, yes I'm a total geek for remembering that from the comics, but I want to see more antics involving culture shock revolving around the transformers having to learn how to cope with their new surroundings.

[Fit For Natalie]

*Car stuffs*

Ahh who cares. Flew completely over my head when I watched that scene because Sam was funny.

You know it's a bad sign when you see the GM logos more often than you see the Autobot or Decepticon logos.

Its kind of the point of the whole 'robots in disguise' thing when the robots don't have gigantic, obvious faction sigils on them.

[kensei]

Ahh who cares. Flew completely over my head when I watched that scene because Sam was funny.

I wasn't listening to the dialogue either. I didn't think it was that important at the time....

[MrDisco]

Ahh who cares. Flew completely over my head when I watched that scene because Sam was funny.

Its kind of the point of the whole 'robots in disguise' thing when the robots don't have gigantic, obvious faction sigils on them.

Fine,

but in bot mode as well? You see the GMC logo sliding into place in one scene so it's entirely conceivable that they could slip in their TF logo when transformed. And surely someone would have noticed the 'enslave' script on Barricade

You also gotta love GM's dollars at work when the 'camero' totally trashes the 'mustang'. Guess we know who paid more to sponsor this film.

Gotta say the commercial was an insult to my intelligence. If I were 12 or 14 I would have thought it to be Way Cool! but now ..not so much.

[GobotFool]

Gotta say the commercial was an insult to my intelligence. If I were 12 or 14 I would have thought it to be Way Cool! but now ..not so much.

Thats why you down a couple of beers before seeing this movie.

[eriku]

Overall the movie was a hell of a lot of brainless fun, just what I needed three days before my wedding day. My fiancee loved it too, maybe even more than me. At one point she turns to me and says, "I'm sorry but this is f**cking AWEsome!"

I may be the only one, but the scene with

the scientists and workers in that big room with Megatron all frozen and dormant

made me think the live-action Evangelion movie could actually work. In my minds eye I replaced

Megatron

with EVA-01 and it looked pretty damn cool.

And I agree with what other people have said that now the movie toys are kind of disappointing after seeing the film. The reason is because they had to go into production before the movie designs were even finished, so maybe there will be some really nice toys next year. I'd LOVE to see a 12" super-articulated and detailed Frenzy that is done in the same style as the 12" Terminator Endoskeleton figures. I also really want the soda-machine bot for some reason.

[Max Jenius]

Fine,

but in bot mode as well? You see the GMC logo sliding into place in one scene so it's entirely conceivable that they could slip in their TF logo when transformed. And surely someone would have noticed the 'enslave' script on Barricade

You also gotta love GM's dollars at work when the 'camero' totally trashes the 'mustang'. Guess we know who paid more to sponsor this film.

Gotta say the commercial was an insult to my intelligence. If I were 12 or 14 I would have thought it to be Way Cool! but now ..not so much.

Oh noes... because nobody has known about this for... months now? "Rar.... any movie with product placement sucks!" Cmon now. I was no secret from the beginning that they were going to sponsor/use their cars in the film... where have you been? Plus, that wasn't really a 'camaro,' it was an Autobot.

Edited July 5, 2007 by Max Jenius

[Jolly Rogers]

You know all the product placements have just bought the movie a couple of extra ILM-caliber VFX shots instead of making them look like some cheaply done VFX like the ones seen in, say, Ultraviolet, right?

[chowyunskinny]

Haven't seen this posted yet, but found some cool concept art at Seibertron.com from the Hasbro Tour during Botcon

I really dig the Mazinger-esque concept art for Prime

[Boxer]

Heh, there's Arcee. Ah well

Anyone got the name of that APC?

[chowyunskinny]

It looks like it says "Stryka"

and it's robot mode looks a hell of a lot like the Koenig Monster's Battroid mode

[jwinges]

Well I just returned from seeing Transformers and gotta say that I was entertained but disappointed. The effects were good but giant robots jumping and twirling through the air just isn't transformers! It kinda looked like a John Woo fight scene on crack.

What's worse is the focus on the bloody love story between sam and the girl (a major hottie). Hell I still don't know all of the deceptacons that were represented in the film. Let's see there was:

Magatron...I'm still trying to figure out what he transformed into

Starscreem (barely played a role in the film)

Devastator (just a tank)

Soundwave (maybe...very poorly represented...and a total wuss-retard)

Scorponix (in the desert)?

Bonecrusher

But who were the following:

The chrysler 300 police car

The Mt dew machine

The helicopter

the video camera

the x-box

the escalade

Then of course they had to kill off the token black dude (or bot...you know who I mean)

The more I think about it the more the fight scenes piss me off since they moved so fast you can't even sell what's happening. I really hated the spikey metal...boomer like designs. They look way too organic...especially the deceptacons.

Maybe they ought to try making a robot movie about robots instead of a story about a teenager with annoying parents. What the hell was with the parents...comic relief? How about they ditch that and show some more of the robots.

This moving would have been better as a standalone franchise rather than raping our childhoods.

[big F]

I say spoilers are in effect until Monday----everyone who wants to see it will have seen it by the weekend.

Only if I buy a Delorian before Friday

Edited July 5, 2007 by big F

[Fit For Natalie]

Heh, there's Arcee. Ah well

Anyone got the name of that APC?

It looks like it says "Stryka"

and it's robot mode looks a hell of a lot like the Koenig Monster's Battroid mode

Looks really rough - the wheels are photosopped onto his arms.

But they made a toy of him anyway. He's the white M113 Stryker apc toy with flip-out clear blades, Wreckage.

Magatron...I'm still trying to figure out what he transformed into

Starscreem (barely played a role in the film)

Devastator (just a tank)

Soundwave (maybe...very poorly represented...and a total wuss-retard)

Scorponix (in the desert)?

Bonecrusher

Megatron and Scorponok Megatron turned into a Cybertronic fighter/space ship.

Brawl is the real name of the tank - Devastator is the working name they forgot to change.

The little guy wasn't Soundwave, he was Frenzy. During production they called him Soundbyte (for some reason).

But who were the following:

The chrysler 300 police car

The Mt dew machine

The helicopter

the video camera

the x-box

the escalade

Police car was a Saleen S281 (modified Ford Mustang), he was Barricade. Helicopter was Blackout (who was originally Soundwave, hence the relationship with his little minion Scorponok). Edited July 5, 2007 by Fit For Natalie

[jwinges]

Looks really rough - the wheels are photosopped onto his arms.

But they made a toy of him anyway. He's the white M113 Stryker apc toy with flip-out clear blades, Wreckage.

Megatron and Scorponok Megatron turned into a Cybertronic fighter/space ship.

Brawl is the real name of the tank - Devastator is the working name they forgot to change.

The little guy wasn't Soundwave, he was Frenzy. During production they called him Soundbyte (for some reason).

Police car was a Saleen S281 (modified Ford Mustang), he was Barricade. Helicopter was Blackout (who was originally Soundwave, hence the relationship with his little minion Scorponok).

Thanks. Hey...wasn't brawl one of the original autobots? Some little green and yellow cherokee or something like that. I thought they should have had hound in the movie.

BTW does anybody know if the location where prime kills bonecrusher was shot at the bigstack in phoenix? It looked really familiar.

[jwinges]

Does anybody else think a couple of the scenes were just total filler? I figure that they could have totally done away with the whole hacker guy character and his arrest. To be honest, I think they could have also done away with the blond but at least she looked good.

[David Hingtgen]

jwinges--you mean Brawn, the little green and yellow Autobot, who suffered a fatal shoulder wound in the movie.

Brawl was a Decepticon tank in G1. One of the Combaticons, formed the left leg of Bruticus.