 | Category: | Movies | | Genre: | Action & Adventure |
I'm sorry, I don't have the power to make a spoiler-free review, so if you haven't seen the movie, TURN AWAY NOW!
Watched the movie 2 times yesterday, so goes to show what a major geek I am for spending 500 bucks on one movie. But hey, the was TRANSFORMERS... the ultimate childhood nostalgia flick for guys my age and above. It was worth it.
Funny thing happened during my first viewing, because before the movie started and while I was waiting at the lounge, a guy stormed out of the theater and proclaimed to everyone (in a most dorky fashion): "Transformers sucks! Megatron is killed by Sam Witwicky"... Bummer right? Anyway, that guy kinda summed up what I would experience at first viewing. Although I didn't think it sucked, I was slightly disappointed.
On first view, I felt the pace at the start was very slow. It was all about Decepticons being evil, and Sam and his world. The latter I didn't mind, cuz' Shia is a terrific actor, but damn, I was like... Where is Optimus?! It was only until the middle until the rest of the Autobots came, and the other Decepticons like Starscream and Megatron only for the final battle.
But later that night on 2nd viewing, I was surprised to actually stop nitpicking and just enjoy what's there. It was much more fun the 2nd time around for some reason... since I knew what was gunna happen, the pacing felt faster and enjoyed all the scenes even more as I looked for details I may have missed on 1st view.
So, without further adieu, here's review proper! (Sorry for the long intro!) I'll use a new format now, in bullets just to see if it looks more organized!
The wℜong:
• Optimus Prime is a wuss. Ok, ok, yeah it was cool he decapitated Bonecrusher... but against Megatron? He got his arse kicked to holy hell by Mega. He barely used his gun, and in the end, only tripped Mega and wanted to commit suicide. Good thing Sam was smarter and used the damn killer cube on you know, the enemy.
• Jazz dies in vain. So Megatron stomps on him and tears him in half. That's it? Couldn't he have died heroically saving Sam? I'm ok with having casualties because it makes Mega even more of a badass, but there was absolutely no dram to the death of this Autobots... and he was one of my favorites!
• Military directs final battle to the city. So they're trying to hide the Allspark right? Why do it in the city where you know, thousands of people could die (and probably did)? They had the whole freaking desert to put up a last stand, but no, it was 'cooler' to fight in the city. Yeah I admit, seeing the bots in that environment was cool, but logically, it dumbfounded me.
• The Soundtrack. Where in the heck was the classic Transformers theme? Not even the new MuteMath version was there, and I watched the ENTIRE credits. Instead, they closed the movie out with Linkin Park... who's song has nothing to do with the transformers. Oh, and there was no orchestral score to speak of, as nearly all the key scenes were told in rock music. This is fine in the short term, but if I decide to watch this movie 5 years from now, those songs will feel so dated... as opposed to original score music ala 'Pirates'. *correction: on 3rd view, i noticed a score in key scenes! wasn't memorable though so goes to show how good of a score it was.
• Devastator. Were my eyes deceiving me? Was that tank named 'Devastator' or 'Destroyer' when Frenzy was summoning the Decepticons? Isn't he supposed named 'Brawl' like it is in the toyline? For goodness sakes, need I say what a travesty this is and ruins the Constructicons being introduced in succeeding films? *Sigh*
• Barricade. He was called in the end.... he obliged and was shown going to the city... then he never showed up. Why? Beats me. Probably pussied out cuz' Bee kicked his ass earlier.
• The Decepticons in general. Wow, they were so underdeveloped. They were like mindless tyrants. There was NEVER any character development scene with ANY of them. They also missed the boat on the Starscream vs. Megatron conflict that was very famous in the cartoons (Scream wanted to be the leader of the Cons). I think they had one scene, and 'Scream just got bitched at and took it like one. Frenzy (the little guy) seemed more 2nd in command than 'Scream.
The ℜight:
• The robots. They look AWESOME. Seamless CGI, I need not expound how cool they look and move. Before, I thought the designs were terrible... Prime having flames, Starscream and Mega looking funky... But watching it, it was breathtaking. They went with an alien-ish look for them, which suites their back-story, so it's all cool.
• Shia. This guy is the next Leo and Hollywood 'go to guy' if he already isn't. Look out for him in Indy 4 sometime in the future. If there was someone to replace Tobey as Spidey, this is the guy. He pulls of the 'everyman' role so well it's hard not to root for him.
• Peter Cullen. No one can ever play Optimus Prime other than this man. From the opening narrative, it was so welcoming to hear that classic voice just like the old cartoon. Now, is it just me or do all the 'holograms' they use as dummy drivers look like him (big moustache)?
• The little guys. This movie is filled with small roles, which the actors who played them did a superb job. From the car salesman, Sam's parents, the military guys and the hackers, they all did a great job as supporting cast members.
• The 'Sound'. You all know it. And it was spread out throughout the movie, although not every time they transform. That sound is such a nostalgia trip, I'm glad they put in the movie.
• BumbleBee. Who didn't fall in love with the personality of this car? From playing the right station at the right times, taking a whiz on Sector 7's over-the-top general, and kicking ass on one leg, Bee is the reluctant hero everyone loves.
• The Allspark. If there was one change I liked from the cartoon it was this. Gone are the lame glowing pink blocks. Instead we get this uber powerful device that seems to be a fusion of the Autobots matrix and the energon cubes. Plus, it turned a Mountain Dew vendo evil. That alone makes this thing cool.
• Megan Fox. Sure her acting didn't blow me away (it was serviceable), but her killer abs and sexy body did. She's the non-CG-Eye candy in this flick, God bless her.
The veℜdict:
It took me two viewings to like the movie. Maybe the first I was still a pricky fanboy seeing Michael Bay bastardize my childhood memories of my beloved robots with all this 'visual flare' stuff. But after the 2nd view, I just sat back, tried to put my brain in anti-nitpick mode, and just enjoy the human scenes and the glory of these metal titans. The story isn't the greatest or most epic, but it was a good starting point for a movie franchise and the way thing ended, it looks as if we're in store for sequels (Dinobots anyone?)! Transformers makes a triumphant and visceral splash on celluloid, but it's flaws keep it from attaining 'classic' status reserved for greats such as the original Star Wars, LOTR, and the first Matrix. All right DreamWorks, ROLL OUT those sequels!
Actual Rating: 4.5 Stars ****1/2   | I will watch it over and over again he he he... |
 | heck yeah! it's not perfect, but i wouldn't mind catching it on the BIG screen while it lasts. |
| true true... he he he... the problem with the toys is that they are quite expensive... |
| haha, ede yung jollibee toys na long i-collect mo! jokes! yeah, it'd be expensive to complete the characters... pero ako masaya na 'ko sa prime at bumblebee XD |
 | seen it. my only question was, if they can adapt to blend in, why cars? it would be fun to see a blender or a coffee maker. no offense but there were a lot of toy-dweebs in the cinema. lollers. |
| haha, cu'z cars and vehicles are um... mobile? hahaha. frenzy did turn into a cd player and cellphone though. and there was that evil vending machine, haha XD |
| where are soundwave's cassettes? lol. mp3 player na kasi uso |
| oo sina lazerbeak and that dude that pounds the ground, hahaha. maybe next movie apple will get soundwave to be an ipod video as product placement XD |
| frenzy and rumble, plus ravage and buzz saw and that pet bat. all cassetticons as i remember. lol |
| yeah! G1, those were the good 'ol days XD |
| my uncle actually had the videotapes off all or most of the seasons, he would loan it to me as a kid. tmnt too! checkout twitter, me got a new flat today. yay. damnit i'm so excited i'm wetting my pants! |
 | seen it. loved it! even though they put some of the good stuff in the trailers, it's still fun to watch. the only thing that I didn't really like were- the too much camera movements, close up pan shots while big actions are going on... details were really lost during some fight scenes, all I saw were blurs. oh well, that's Michael Bay style I guess.
devastator became a tank. **sigh**
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 | Yay! Transformers made my jaw drop. It's awesome. And yes, I gave it a standing ovation. |
 | Havent seen it might do that on a Sunday. ^_^ |
| the camera! yeah i forgot to mention that in my review. too many close ups... i would've loved to see most of the transformations in full view.
glad i'm not the only one who noticed the devastator mishap. *sigh* as well, haha XD |
| WHAT?! you of all people haven't seen it?! GO! GO! GO! this sunday might be my 3rd if my brother and i are still hooked. i just want to savor everything while it lasts. |
| yeah, but still, he's OPTIMUS PRIME! he's supposed to be the autobot equivalent of megatron in terms of fighting skills. but i guess your right, mega and the rest of the 'cons had to be more intimidating to add that drama. i think mega really does best prime in fighting skills, ever since the first movie where they both battled to the death... (although mega didn't really die, he was unceremoniously discarded by starscream into space.. where unicron made him galvatron). i just wanted to see more prime ass kickin' i guess, haha. |
| Jojie! andanda nga! hehe XD |
| good for you man! and don't you mean 'lubricate' your pants? haha sorry, still on a geek-high. XD |
 | rockart wrote on Jul 1, '07, edited on Jul 1, '07 Its ok but i it was kinda a bummer. But i also thought there were some cool stuff. So here's what I think...
1. Megan Fox is one martini shot after the other... the acting sucks even the robots could do better acting than that.
2. The Military is stupid. Seriously, if you know that some uber badass robot guy was after one powerfully badass cube you'd think that the best tactical way to transport it was to take a remote route far from civilians. But no! They had to go straight to the city. Seriously, do you see missiles transported in the middle of town? No!
2. I don't think giving the cube to the humans makes any sense at all! I mean what would we do to protect it that the Autobots can't do?
3. I wanted more of the Mega VS Prime fights...
4. I can't believe they killed Jazz off... |
| hey rocky! thanks for the comments....
1. megan fox eyecandy: sorry i'm a guy. she's hot... end of story. hahah joke! well, i think she did ok.. the script didn't really call for a lot in her role... mainly 'look sexy and act terrified' so i think she did a serviceable job. she lacked delivery in that scene with 'bee though, "i'll drive, you shoot". i swear she looked bored when she delivered that line.
2. city battle stupidity: agree! i put that in my 'wrong' section. a friend told me that: 'well, they chose to fight in the city so they could have cover, instead of being sitting ducks in the desert'. makes sense... but seriously, LOGIC dictates that the body count of innocents would escalate and probably did. megatron and prime going through that building looked cool, but i can't help but imagine how many lives that killed, haha.
3. sam-spark...why?: agree as well! i forgot to put this in my wrong section... i want to enjoy this movie, but LOGIC keeps stopping me with idiocity like this. i know its all for the sake of 'coolness' and the threat of mega chasing shia, but really, wouldn't LOGIC tell us that giving the allspark to ratchet or ironhide in that scene would make more sense. also, if the military wanted to hide the allspark in the city, why did they request for a chopper to pick it up and take it out of the city?! argh! i want to enjoy it for the sake of having cool action scenes, but it really takes a lot out of it if it doesn't make sense! screw michael bay for this. haha
4. prime vs mega bitin: me too! it didn't help that during the fights they did have, prime got his ass kicked. they needed that bonecrusher decapitation scene because without it, prime is a wuss (sorry fanboys!). prime had a gun right? he used it once, missed, and fell on his ass when mega fired his even bigger 'gun'. when sam witwicky is smarter and can beat megatron, that means we need more optimus prime magnificence.
5. jazz dies... like a bitch: actually, i'm cool with jazz dying... it's just it was SO LAME. nothing heroic whatsover. like i said, he should 'sacrificed' himself to save shia or something (so easy hollywood, geeze!). it would've made megatron even MORE of a beast. *sigh* besides, prime got a piece of the allspark in the end right? he could have used it to bring jazz back to life... but NOOOO... he said "awww jazz, we lost a friend, but gained new ones! yay!" or something. hahaha. XD |
| I couldn't help but feel like there were scenes that didn't fit and were a total waste of time. But some i thought were very funny ("Hide! Where?! at Sam's house)
Mega was indeed badass (at some point he looked very "Predator-ish") but i'd agree... Prime was a bit of a wuss when he battled with Mega (i mean they could have made it looked like he was damaged a little from the fight with Bonecrusher giving a solid reason why he'd be struggling) |
 | i will never get tired of watching this!!! am gonna watch it on next w/ for the 3rd time hehehe =P rock on! |
| yeah, me too! like sporponok... that whole scene was there just to show off special effects. i guess you can say that they found that decepticons' weakness when they found the tail, but this easily have been done in the earlier scene with blackout. besides, what was the motive of sporponok? the soldiers were stranded and had no more use to the mission, which was to retrieve intel on megatron's location.
as for prime being damaged by bonecrusher... excellent! i like how you think rocky! that would've made his impending fight with mega more dramatic if he was 'injured'. but prime easily kicked 'crusher's ass so there. hahaha
fans can never be satisfied noh? haha, so nitpicky XD |
| hey brandy! me too! i wanna watch it for the 3rd time na rin! hahaha. ang dami ko nang nagastos sa movie na 'to, pero hopefully my next viewing will be free because of a friend who has certain 'perks'. haha XD
i just wanna savor this thing while its still in theaters... this only happens once! sure there'll be a sequel, but siyempre, iba pa rin ang unang-unang live action movie! |
| hmmm... In the world of Transformers... would they consider Asimo a sort of Neanderthal... just a thought... LOL |
| or a pest. hahaha. i wanna see pinoys make a transforming jeepney one day, haha XD |
 | I found the movie just right. All the logic problems are forgivable, as they really are an excuse for the robot battle porn. |
| hahaha well said man. i guess it's all subjective. for me, i know this robo porn is a popcorn flick, but all i'm saying is i would've enjoyed it more if those things were ironed out. i still like the movie nonetheless XD |
| wow classic. don't make us cry again. hahaha. i just realized in that clip prime looked more badass than him in this new movie! he was running over decpeticons and kicking arse like no tomorrow... all to the tune of 'the touch' by stan bush. the inner fanboy in me wanted to see this on screen no matter how cheezy it is. hahaha.
oh, and ultra magnus is the crappiest replacement leader ever. the matrix chose hotrod dangit! hotrod!
but still, no one can replace prime. no one. |
| thundercat fan i see (me too... c'mon, who didn't own that old Lion-O toy when they were a kid eh?). actually, they will hit the big screen as a CGI animated movie ala the recent TMNT. meanwhile, checkout this crappy fanflim on youtube for kicks. hahaha i'm more exited for the live action G.I. Joe flick! yooooooo joe! please no one mention a carebears or my little pony movie. hahahaha |
 | I loved Transformers the movie, Ryder. Fuck the wrongs, they're all true, but fuck em. All I'm thinking about right now is that at least the movie had the Rights. (In comparison to Faintastic 4, ehem)
I was actually born after the Transformers and Thundercat era pero I was able to catch up via my older brothers. Hehe Of course, I wasn't implying that you're old. :)
Okay, Ill check that youtube thing. |
| hahaha no offense taken my friend. actually i agree with you. fuck the wrongs... its just that it would've been perfect for me if they corrected those little things. people say that 'all i need are giant robots fighting' for them to have a good time, well good for them. for me its not enough... i was expecting a classic the likes of star wars, the original matrix, spider-man 2, x-men 2, and whatnot. it's great, has flaws, but in the end, i still love the movie, warts and all. hahaha. i guess there's no wrong or right opinion... 'to each, his own' i say.
actually i was born the year transformers was first aired, 1984 so i probably caught the reruns or something when i was 4, hahaha.
check it! we're in for an 80s revolution! GI Joe, thundercats, transformers 2.... even JOHN RAMBO has a new movie later this year. wahahahahaha XD |
| I was four when they started showing Transformers and Thundercats so I’m definitely in that generation. The reason why LOTR was so successful was partly because it remained true to the book. Peter Jackson knew what he was doing because he knew every single bit about the books and was also a huge fan. For a director I think that's important because the passion for the project shows in the end result - the movie... the X-Men movies was a bit of a disappointment and Star Wars 1-3 was no where near New Hope, Empire Strikes and Return of the Jedi. The characters didn't have the chemistry the older characters had and the story suffered (not to mention the introduction of the most annoying SW character ever! Jar Jar Binks).
I'm not so sure I'd want to see a GI Joe movie. I'd like to see Thundercats on the screen. I wouldn't want another He-man remake. As for Carebears and my little pony? Guilty as charged... :D |
| Totally agree, a movie is somehow made better when the director is a 'fanboy' himself. Look at Jackson's LOTR and Raimi's Spidey (although 3... what HAPPENED with that one?). micheal bay has said that he wasn't a fan of the Transformers when they offered the movie, thinking it was a 'stupid toy flick'... but of course, in the end, he said through the process he's become one of TFs biggest fans. still, i wonder how the movie would've turned out if they got a director who's a real TF fanatic... although i don't know of any off the bat. maybe the watchowski bros? i dunno...
As for GI Joe, actually, I just want to see Snake Eyes kick ass on screen. Pls NO Sgt. Slaughter... hahaha. Thundercats might be good, although i would've liked a live-action one... but like TMNT, it might work out for the better. I forgot to mention He-Man! yeah, he's getting another movie. i think if they dealt more with the origin of Keltor (pre-Skeletor) and not make it campy (let's face it, He-man is just prince Adam with a freakin' tan), it could be at least mildly entertaining.
Carebears the movie ey? Ok, as long as it's R-18 with lots of violence i'm in. hahaha. oh, and my friend pointed out that since the makers of the transformers 80s show also made my little pony, there was an easter egg in the scene with the little girl by the pool and the autobot landing there... she was holding a stuffed pony. XD |
| rockart wrote on Jul 3, '07, edited on Jul 3, '07 Carebears turned deadly? that would be Happy Tree Friends lol
Inevitable spoof… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TYzRanykbQ
which will probably explain why Soundwave wasn't in the movie... |
| oo nga noh! pero mas-charming kung carebears! instead of rainbows and hearts in their chest/belly, they would have ninja stars and maces! ok ok, maybe this is the michael bay or quinten tarantino version of carebears. hahahaha
seriously though, i watched it when i was a kid and i'm not ashamed to admit it. i turned out straight so i guess the show wasn't that bad. hahahaha
any of you guys remember the more obscure 80s shows? silverhawks? centurions (poweeerrr exxxtreeemmmeee!!!)? g-force? tigersharks (thundercats underwater, lols)? sky commanders? VOLTRON?! man, those were the days...
i love the smell of nostalgia in the morning XD |
| rocky! just watched that youtube vid of soundwave... laughtrip! poor guy... "fuck ipods", hahahaha. he's one of my fave decepticons. Check out my latest blog entry for a cool treat for us soundwave fans! |
| watched it for the 3rd time last night and i noticed... a semblance of a score! i was wrong, there WERE some parts with a musical score... the opening narration, the descent of the autobots, the decepticon theme... too bad they weren't too memorable for me to notice them only on the third view! |
 | nakakatawa naman the guy during the first screening... i enjoyed the movie and would love to watch it for the 2nd time. did you know that pirated versions are now available?
toys - yes they are expensive! for some reasons, i find collecting fastfood toys more satisfying ^^ i have the complete set already.. wee!!! |
| oo, kaya nakornihan tuloy ako sa ending on first view cuz' of that nerd! para mo na ring sinabi bago mag show ang titanic for the first time na lulubog yung barko sa huli! hmpf! hahaha
pirated? YUCK! it's a crime to yourself to view this spectacle on cheap arse deebeedee! i watched it three times and don't regret it. a flawed thrill ride, but a fun one nonetheless.
i haven't bought a single toy yet, maliit lang kasi sweldo ko! hahaha... although robovision prime tempts me... sa jollibee naman, kulang ko na lang megatron! was about to get him kanina kaso out of stock lahat ng toys! *sigh* buti ka pa kumpleto na!
thnx for droppin' by lace! XD
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Transformers made my jaw drop 