The 2007 Transformers Movie (Spoilers)

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 10:55 am

Saw it again last night with packed house.

They loved it.

Going to see it with my wife again who hasn't seen it, making it my fourth viewing.

Does TransFans offer an addiction program for its members? Cause I have a problem. I've never seen a movie four times in one week.

Aaron Hong · Post by **Aaron Hong** » Sat Jul 07, 2007 4:05 pm

Finally saw it - not easy to coordinate something like this with five kids in tow, dear god.

Now I haven't been away from a cinema so long that I've forgotten the house rules, but I have to say there were quite a few LOL bits with the audience there. Sad to say only a couple of them involved the TFs - 3 if you count Frenzy's last moments.
Those bloody junkyard dogs prety much filled the movie's scare quota. Ask my daughter Kitty.
I take back anything I may have said about Shia LeBouf being in too many movies.
I am convinced that Air Force One employs nothing but blind people for its staff and ground crew.
Is anyone else a little disappointed that the first line from a TF just HAD to be 'Are you User: LadiesMan217?'?
Jazz doing that one-handstand-transforming = class.
A soldier on the battlefield having problems calling back because of stupid telephone system - this really feels like a Dr Strangelove reference.

Redstreak · Post by **Redstreak** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 12:38 am

Hi guys.

When I left TF-dom a couple years back, I swore several things to myself, not the least of which being that I was never going to watch this thing. Then it came out, and I reconsidered that my time away might actually enable me to separate myself from who/what I used to be and where I used to stand about Transformers, and I might actually enjoy it.

That and the theatre by me has first run shows for $3 matinee and $3 if you have student ID. So I figured I had little to lose to give it a chance. And on Friday I gave it that chance.

And y'know something? I wasn't disappointed. I actually enjoyed it. I felt some of the old stuff back in me again, and it was okay. There were a good number of fun moments, and several jokes that were so bad I put my head in my hands for a second to groan about them. I found the plot to be an interesting reinvention of that which we have all known for so long, and as thin as it may or may not be, it's a little deeper and covers more ground than what we started out with 23 years ago, esp. for those of us who had the cartoon before anything else.

"One shall stand, one shall fall."
"Freedom is the right of all sentient beings."

Chills on both. Totally tits, as they say. I'm very glad that they got Peter Cullen to reprise his role; no one else could have made me react like that. And Agent Elrond Vee Megatron (Hugo Weaving) was totally awesome; nice touch with the Starscream bit too. There was a lot of military involvement, and though that's a complaint that is probly valid on some level, if you think about it, that's really how it would go if this actually happened in real life. The military would be all over it and involved in every facet of it.

Final thoughts:

John Turturro was silly, and man was his guy a total jackass.

"Bee-otch" dangler from Bumblebee's mirror was clever, and it was appropriate that he smashed his door into a yellow VW bug.

I half expected Sam to be dubbed "Spike" by the end.

Ironhide's attitude was good and amusing, Jazz's death was unexpected but showcased Megs' power appropriately, so it worked for me.

Thought Devastator was going to be called Brawl. Hmm.

Optimus-freaking-Prime. Can't deny the guy.

The building that Sam had to run to the roof of was the old train station here in Detroit, which was pretty nice.

The theatre burst into applause at the end. I haven't seen that since Star Wars Episode 1 (I think).

Megan Fox is smoking hot.

So, 3 outta 4 stars. I'm actually gonna be pulled into seeing it again, so it's a good thing I liked it. :-P

Take care all.

--J.

[/recedes into shadows]

sprunkner · Post by **sprunkner** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 4:52 am

Seen it.

There is so much to sum up, but I feel this:

Shanti wrote:I want to thank each and every pessimist naysayer on this board. Without ALL of our collective efforts to smash any possibility of this movie being anything but crap, I would have been crestfallen at the finished product. But as it stood, I expected crap, and I got a decent movie, so the movie "exceeded all my expectations."

Definitely. It was pretty darn entertaining, though it got a bit overdone at the end.

They had f***ing EVERYTHING in that movie. Not just a hot brunette in danger, but a hot blonde. And some seriously gratuitous cleavage in the fight scene.

Not just a blatant Nokia, GM and Mountain Dew commercial, but the stated US army commercial that made up the ENTIRE movie.

Barricade transformed and I just about crapped myself. That was so cool! I haven't had a geekgasm like that since the opening credits of the aforementioned Ep One.

Sam was cool, esp. for a human in a TF story. The jittery acting got on my nerves after a while, though.

Jazz was the black guy. They offed the black guy.

Chrissy kept saying, "What's with all the hot tummy shots?" Somebody's angry about getting pregnant.

"Sam's Happy Time?" Great.

Bernie Mac's cameo, also great.

"I ate all the donuts." Funny stuff.

Post by **Best First** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 7:11 am

sprunkner wrote: Jazz was the black guy. They offed the black guy.

Best. Observation. Ever.

Shanti418 · Post by **Shanti418** » Mon Jul 09, 2007 3:59 pm

Best First wrote:
sprunkner wrote: Jazz was the black guy. They offed the black guy.
Best. Observation. Ever.

Indeed. That's even the first thing my girlfriend (who is black) said after the movie, not even knowing beforehand that Jazz was "the black guy".

bludgeon2005 · Post by **bludgeon2005** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 12:00 am

Just finished watching it there now. Have to say I'm a bit meh-ish. It started well, then bored me a little, then it got awesome, then eh ish.

Pros

- Sam's story. Shia's a very charasmatic guy with great comic timing. His parents were hilarious ('Sam's happy time') and the whole family relationship was very sweet. Megan seemed a bit lifeless at first, but her character warms up a lot as the story goes on.

- Josh Duhamel - didn't have that much to do really, but he gave off a bit of a Michael Biehn vibe to me.

- The Transformers. Every moment they were on screen was ******* cool. The designs seems to work well, even Meg's seemed to work well. his and Oppy P's confrontation was also pretty whizz.

Cons

- The lack of characterisation for the cons. Meg's seemed to come across as a real hard ass prick. Other than that and maybe Barricade, the cons didn't seem to do much at all other than get killed.

- Those hacker dudes. The whole film ground to a halt anytime those guys were on screen, did they actually really do anything?

- The military recruitment BS. I'm all for having heroic men and women fighting for freedom etc. But really, with the military working out how to kill the decepticons in their first encounter, what was the need for the Autobots to show up? Substitute the bots for a bit more human fire power and you've still got a human win. Also the lack of human casualities made the final battle just seem lacking in tension.

- The hero's plan at the end of the film. 'First we'll lead the Decepticons into a heavily populated area. Then we'll call an airstrike on said populated area. While we're at it let's air lift the Allspark outta here, after observing our enemies have air support. Brilliant.

Overall it's an entertaining big dumb action film, but rather a frustrating beast as I feel that in parts it approaches being a legitimately good film.

<3Starscream · Post by **<3Starscream** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 2:11 am

I've seen the movie twice now (once at midnight and last sunday) and I'm going to see it again tomorrow. And afterwards I'm going to see it about 2 more times because I'm making it my goal to see this movie 5 times in theaters.

I absolutely loved this movie. Luckily, G1 was out far before I was born so I didn't grow up on it, and I didn't have to refrence any part of the movie to the original TF. (Entered the TF scene when Armada came out actually) When I saw it the first time, I actually enjoyed Frenzy a bit. And then I saw it again..and he wasn't as enjoyable. By the end of tomorrow, I'm going to hate him.

I was disappointed with the fact that let's see..3 out of 6 Decepticons were killed by humans? (That's correct right?) But I was thrilled when I stayed to see if there was anything after the credits to see a familiar jet fly out of the Earth's atmosphere. Excellent.

And as I was thinking about my disappointment with the Decepticons' deaths..something hit me. What happened to Barricade? He shows up when Bonecrusher and Brawl...or Devastator, whatever..appear and then he's no where to be seen for the rest of the movie? Did he survive or did I just happen to blink when he died both times I saw the movie?

Unfortunately, I had half-way ruined the movie for myself by buying the game when it came out. Knew Jazz was going to be offed..but in the game Brawl...did it and Megs did it in the movie. Threw me for a loop.

I loved the Autobots hiding in Sam's garden scene. Had to be one of the best in the movie..especially Ratchet running into the power lines (made a refrence to it today when a large part of my areas' power went out)

There's so many more things I can say about it, but I guess I've said enough...can someone just confirm my missing Barricade observation though?

I actually gave this movie 5 out of 5...

Aaron Hong · Post by **Aaron Hong** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 5:13 am

Y'know... I'm starting to see where Michael Bay 'set out to make a family movie' with this one.

Sam's family is shown
We see Bobby Bolivia's family
We see Cpt Lennox's family, twice
We see Glen Whitman's family
Even Mikaela's family is mentioned

It's like the only ones whose family were never mentioned were John Turturro and Jon Voight... mmmm Angelina Jolie...

The Last Autobot · Post by **The Last Autobot** » Thu Jul 12, 2007 6:39 am

Can we say that humans killed tfs? Isnt in this continuity that all technology post Megatron discover Tf related?

So that would make humans + tf technology influence that killed tfs.

Post by **snarl** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 12:41 am

One bit I really got the horn for was when Sam started ******* it up with Mikaela and Bumblebee whacks on "Drive" on the Radio and roared back over to her.

I think that got pretty much everybody just kinda punching the air and going "go on my son!"

I ot goosebumps when the bots fireball into the states and land as protoforms as well.

Certainly enjoyed it, but it's not going into the Stanger top 10 I'm afraid.

Unless they release a directors cut with Megan Fox flicking her bean.

Yaya · Post by **Yaya** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 2:35 am

<3Starscream wrote:I'm making it my goal to see this movie 5 times in theaters.

Already reached that goal, my friend. Yesterday with coworkers.

This movie is really getting praise from the masses. They love the humor! The critics are another story. But who cares about em.

I got goosebumps when the bots fireball into the states and land as protoforms as well.

My wifes favorite scene too. She actually applauded out loud. And she's only a small fan.

Post by **Best First** » Fri Jul 13, 2007 6:37 am

4 foot 7"

The Last Autobot · Post by **The Last Autobot** » Sat Jul 14, 2007 2:29 pm

How tall are the Tfs?

Jazz looked liked a muppet fighting Megatron.

Megatron is 12mt tall?

So Prime is like 8 mts? 10 to 12?

Impactor returns 2.0 · Post by **Impactor returns 2.0** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 11:14 am

it really didnt work for me.

first off, the plot, whats the whol deal with all spark BS, they could still have used the creation matrix and stuff, it would have made bugger all diference to the plot, it would have looked better on film, and would have kept the fans happy.

I actually thought the human element to the film worked better thant the transformers, which is a big problem no?

the transfoemrs, aslong as they dont move then I can see them, the moment they start to move they become a mess of parts, I couldnt work out what was going on half the time, its like some strange insects interacting with each other.

I thought all the shots or Optimus and his convey roaring across the land looks frankly stupid, cringe-worthy in many parts.

The end battle was complete erm pointless, why were they running when bumblebee knew he just had to meet OP?

the fight between megatron and OP - couldnt even make out what was going, OP spent most of the film saying **** lines that made ppl laugh. Megs just dicks OP like his nothing, yeah right. oh and the military can kill TF like they are nothing. yeah right.

the worst bit was when they just brough in aload of new Decepticons, who had been hiding or somthing, that was rubbish.
And that Decepticon tank was rubbish, the extra guns on the roof made it look really stupid.

best about the film was about 2 transformations, because after the 2nd time I couldnt care less anymore, yet they kept bigging them up with all these swirling cam angles and stuff
"wow a transformation!!"
I know ive just seen it about 20 times... its not special anymore.

2nd best thing in the film is that Spike (thats what im calling him) was pretty funny.

final thing, we just dump the TF in the sea? erm, how do we know the preassure will crush these alien robot forms? erm? - why not pull them apart into bits with the help of the autobots and frezze em or somthing.

the hackers were pointless, they did nothing. nothing at all.

Starscream was utterly wasted and where did he go?

Every car is american.

Biggest laugh was when I shouted out "Bar-nar-weep-gar-nar weep-ninibam"

6/10 - slightly above average action movie, with some TF that I cant make out.

the orginal G1 movie, designs, plot and paceing are far better, now obviously they wouldnt work in a 'film' movie goers are unlikely to watch robots for 2 hours like I will, yet its more interesting, they travel to alien worlds, its got more imagination and direction.

I just didnt connect with it to be honest, most of the parts with the TF on the screen really didnt work for me.
the only bit that did work was the opening sequence with the helicopter TF, that worked welll and painted the TF to be utterly deadly. after that it went down hill.

Post by **Kaylee** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 11:41 am

Yes, i must say the first 20mins or so I did enjoy very much, after that it just got a bit daft really. Ho hum- sequels and new cartoon ahoy!

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 1:53 pm

Redstreak's wrong (whoa... deja vu...) - Tuturro was aces.

And Frenzy was ******* awesome.

Random observations, which are essentially just a chopped version of my post at TFA:

Enjoyed it. Not as good as I'd been told it was by several folks, nowhere near as bad as it could have been. Decent popcorn fun.

Very Michael Bay, though. Not sure if it's the CG or the fact I was sat about three rows from the screen, but it was tricky to make out some of the action sequences. May have to watch it again a bit further back.

Best bits of the film were when there were no robots in it. I'm not going to launch into an "OMG it's not a Transformers film - it's a film with TFs in it" tirade - I'm sensible enough that I knew what to expect from the damn tagline. Plus the fact there's no way the budget would stretch to extensive scenes full of robots at that level of CG.

Which is quite a relief, seeing as (action scenes aside)... the robots were a bit... well, odd. Not the designs, not the constant movement and Ratchet camping it up with hand on hip but... they seemed a bit weightless. As if they were just pasted over the image. Which they obviously were, but you hopefully know what I mean. Optimus hanging from a bridge with not even the slightest bit of resistence from the bricks? Didn't feel real.

Some absolute quality gags in there. Some real juvenile ones, too. And some I'm going to hell for laughing at.

Bumblebee trying to pull Mikalea for Sam was absolute gold. Genius all round. He's insane!

Megatron was awesome. Disappointed that Bonecrusher existed solely for the scene we've already watched and to get his head cut off.

Robot dialogue and exposition scenes clunked like nobody's business. Especially Prime's fallen comrades bit and the sequel-bait ending speech.

Oh, and Jazz's "what's cracking bitches?" is perhaps the most embarassing thing I've ever heard in a TF story. Though he has the excuse that they learnt our language off the internet - that is why you should all take the time to write stuff out properly, people. **** manners, you might be teaching an alien race how to communicate with us. We're lucky none of them used l33t speak. "ZOMG, Prime! Megatron is setting us up the bomb!"

Decent 3 star film (out of five, it shouldn't need saying). May revise that at a later point.

As I said in another thread - completely different animal to the original movie, which was essentially an extended episode of an already running cartoon. This one had to set itself up and establish for an entirely new audience, plus entertain. I think it did it's job. As far as "origin" tales go... it's no Spider-Man, but it's better than Fantastic Four. If only because F4 didn't have a "bush" gag.

[edit]
Could have focussed a bit more on the Prime/Megs fight, rather than Josh Duhamel getting his rewengay. Though that was quite cool.

And it's been pointed out that "why bother slowing the plot down with Aussie Bird's detour to get dodgy fat black stereotype guy? - wouldn't it have been simpler and a lot more awesome to just use Tom Lenk in that role?"

Post by **Kaylee** » Sat Jul 21, 2007 6:09 pm

Brendocon wrote:We're lucky none of them used l33t speak. "ZOMG, Prime! Megatron is setting us up the bomb!"

Go on, listen! I dare you!

Aaron Hong · Post by **Aaron Hong** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 2:35 am

Karl Lynch wrote:
Brendocon wrote:We're lucky none of them used l33t speak. "ZOMG, Prime! Megatron is setting us up the bomb!"
Go on, listen! I dare you!

Roflcopterskates.

bludgeon2005 · Post by **bludgeon2005** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 1:00 pm

I think it's quite refreshing to go on a TF board where everyone isn't wanking over how good this film was. I knew I could count on Transfans to have some taste:p

I have to say I actually really like the designs now I've seen them in motion and I enjoyed the central story with Sam and Bumblebee. Sady the film is roughly 66.97% retarded. That hacker story was awful, bar Andrew from Buffy (Random thought if you're gonna hire a computer genius, why get someone with a heavy tan? She obviously doesn't spend a lot of time in front of a computer - unless she's got a really radioactive monitor) When it comes to the final battle it's hard to work out who's dumber the 'Cons or the fleshlings;

1. Giant robots are coming! Quick lets lure them into a heavily populated area.

2. Awesome, they took the bait! Now lets phone for an air strike! I'm sure the tax payers won't mind if we napalm the [composite word including 'f*ck'] out of them. They payed for it after all.

3. Balls, that jet's a Decepticon! The enemy has air superiority. Right what were gonna do is air lift the cube outta here. That'll work.

4. We need someone to run like hell to the tall building. We're a bunch of buff soldiers, so we'll send the skinny civilian into harms way.

vs.

1. Brilliant, we're really clever! We can use the interweb to find the All Spark! We won't however nip on to wikipedia to check out our enemies anti-armour weaponry.

2. **** the humans can hurt us! Where'd the Autobots come from? I Blackout won't bother with the force field I was using earlier on. No sir!

I remember reading that the military were consulted heavily during the making of the film and them saying that this is what they would do in a hypothetical alien invasion. I dunno about the rest of you, but I for one welcome our robotic overlords.

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 1:51 pm

Enjoyed it lots more the second time out. Great fun.

I think probably because all the faults are noticeable first time out, so second time I knew where the problems are and it was more enjoyable for it. Whereas with the original movie I can still pick out a new "hang on a second" every time I see it.

I can see myself loving this flick after a few more viewings.

BB Shockwave · Post by **BB Shockwave** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 5:31 pm

bludgeon2005 wrote: - The hero's plan at the end of the film. 'First we'll lead the Decepticons into a heavily populated area. Then we'll call an airstrike on said populated area. While we're at it let's air lift the Allspark outta here, after observing our enemies have air support. Brilliant.

Yeah, that was sooo illogical. And illogical thinking ticks me off big time..

Prime already decided to destroy the Allspark... why didn't he do it when he caught up to BB? Or better yet, since the TFs can morph into pretty much any alt. mode they wish in this new retcon, why didn't BB morph into his protoform shape and left Earth once he got the Allspark?

Btw, anyone else think Frenzy talked just like Sebulba (the pod racer) from SW 1.?

Hound · Post by **Hound** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 5:36 pm

Saw it last night. Loved it.

I pretty much agree with all the criticism raised by others.

Bumblebee was fantastic. Ironhide had some great lines. I think Prime had his ass handed to him by Megatron, I would have liked him to put up more of a fight really.

Jazz's death really didnt mean anything to me because he had done nothing in the film. Prime's reaction was a bit cringeworthy too.

The biggest surprise was just how funny the film is. I really wasnt expecting that.

But for 2 hours I was solidly entertained. Cant wait to see it again!

Brendocon · Post by **Brendocon** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 5:37 pm

Because the original series was such a hotbed of logic.

BB Shockwave wrote:why didn't BB morph into his protoform shape

And take the battle to yet another innocent world, you mean? They leave Earth with the Allspark, then they're looking at potentially going through the whole thing over again somewhere else.

BB Shockwave · Post by **BB Shockwave** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 5:44 pm

bludgeon2005 wrote: I remember reading that the military were consulted heavily during the making of the film and them saying that this is what they would do in a hypothetical alien invasion. I dunno about the rest of you, but I for one welcome our robotic overlords.

I'm still writing my own movie script, where Megs simply charges up his fusion cannon and vaporises a whole army off the map. He then contacts the Pentagon and tells them he'll do the same to a populated area if they get in his way next time...

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Jul 22, 2007 11:01 pm

BB Shockwave wrote:Btw, anyone else think Frenzy talked just like Sebulba (the pod racer) from SW 1.?

My sisters thought he sounded like a Gremlin from, err, Gremlins.

Aaron Hong · Post by **Aaron Hong** » Mon Jul 23, 2007 5:19 am

Rebis wrote:
BB Shockwave wrote:Btw, anyone else think Frenzy talked just like Sebulba (the pod racer) from SW 1.?
My sisters thought he sounded like a Gremlin from, err, Gremlins.

And my kids said he sounded like this one boy from school who drank from the glue pot and looked at the hamster funny.

They may be stretching it with the hamster.

Post by **Kaylee** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 8:36 am

Well The Times Transformers Movie Review is in (beware, mildly spoilery) and it's utterly scathing. TBH I can't help but agree with most of it- thoughts?

Legion · Post by **Legion** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 10:36 am

hmm, is it just me, or is he not a fan?

this dumb, thuggish movie is the directorial equivalent of Bay beating his chest and waving his penis at us for a couple of hours

me thinks he could be onto something

Post by **Kaylee** » Thu Jul 26, 2007 10:52 am

Films directed by Michael Bay are usually like being shouted at by a halfwit for two and a half hours

That made me laugh out loud tho