Brief IMAX Review

I finally answered the siren call and dropped $12 to see Transformers at the IMAX. To sum its basically the theatrical release about two stories tall. The extra scenes where fine but no big deal either. It was fun in the theatre and fun at the IMAX. The main pluses of seeing it at the theatre (as a male) is seeing the lovely Rachael Taylor and Megan Fox writ large and seeing the Transformers action extra large. The IMAX really lets you appreciate the detail that went into the Transformers as lot of stuff becomes visible such as battle wear, chipped paint on the faces, things like that. Its just astonishing how well done ILM and Digitial Domain did the TFs and further supports that they moved the CGI bar higher. As far as the camera shake and the like, no seasickness. If (like me) you don't like all that shaking, it was equalally annoying as it was in the theatre. I still get a kick out of touches for the Transfans put in the film such as the Jazz vs Bonecrusher that nearly mirrors Kup vs Blitzwing from the animated film. With the DVD release only two weeks away, its up to you to decide if those pluses where are worth a repeat visit. Since I only saw the movie once in the theatre, a repeat viewing extra large was worth the price of admission.

Some More Reviews

The reviews keep coming. Checking the Transformers Tomatometer, its 61% with 71/117 reviews pro. However, the critics that really matter, the general public, its sitting at 85% with 362/424 pro. By comparison, last years box office winner, Pirates of the Caribbean 2 had a critic score of 54% and site users score of 75% and this years current champ Spider-Man 3 is 61% for critics and 63% for the users. So now some more reviews.

Gamecritics.com - 5/5 "As a Transformers fan myself, I could knit pick at several things, but overall it's hard not to be impressed by the movie that Michael Bay was able to put together."
AICN Harry - "This is a scattershot epic mess filled with dreams of better films. I don't think I'll ever love the movie, but I do love Transformers."
Newsarama - "Transformers simply rocks."
Brillantbrown.com - A humorous review of the movie "Vive La White Girl" and "The black characters lived!"

Transformers Is Awesome

I have seen the movie and I declare thee fantastic. I may do a formal review later but suffice it to say the movie does it job and does it well. Its very very entertaining. The transformations are jaw dropping. I can't wait for a sequel with a bigger budget so can have some more Transformer goodness. There are some Bayisms in the movie but they are much fewer and far between, and therefore more effective so its not a negative.

I think that audience word of mouth will carry this movie farther then any other summer film this year. So see the movie. See it with friends, in a crowded theatre with surround sound. Its kind of fun to hear and see reactions for something we had already been a fan of for up to decades now. Bay and company have been vindicated and when they said "wait and see", they where not kidding.

Final note, I sat through the credits and their are only 3 sequences that occur during the credits, none after. The last involves a Transformers. Once see that, free to go unless just like reading the credits.

Update: For the United Kingdom, they have 25 long days and Japan another 30 so the countdown begins again for the UK.

More Reviews

8:00PM tonight, Transformers hits the United States. With the summer of sequels mostly being a series of whimpers rather then bangs, the 9 mostly competition free days will make or break the chances of a sequel. If it bombs like Die Hard 4, those chances get dim, but if it becomes a record breaking weeks, then all systems go. I have a feeling this movie is going to do what Pirates of the Caribbean 2 did last summer where good reviews and excellent word of mouth was money in the bank and the
hit of the year.

By good reviews, I mean the ones that focus on entertainment value rather then trying to predict the next Oscar nom or "great American classic." The artsy fartsy reviewers that always judge movies based on the usual literature values and forget that entertainment are not important for summer blockbusters. Speaking of reviews, below are some. The gist of all of em is highly entertaining movie with amazing CGI and good performance by Shia LaBeouf but there are some plot problems.

RottenTomatoes - Grand warehouse of all reviews. As of 4:20EST 64% with 46/72 positive.
AICN Reader Reviews - Basically most still griping about some of the changes (Optimus flames, voices, etc) but call it very entertaining.
Newsarama - 3.5/4 "It’s fun and so quick that by the time its over you won’t have time to gripe"
USA Today - 3/4 "Yes, it's loud, explosive and silly, but it also perfectly embodies the concept of a summer blockbuster with its simple good-guys-vs.-bad-guys plot, cheeky humor and flawless special effects."
CNN - "The most expensive toy commercial ever made, "Transformers," Michael Bay's live-action film about the surprisingly durable Hasbro product line, is long, loud and altogether less than meets the eye." Ouch, basically the guy didn't like the plot and it ruined the whole movie for him. Kind of not the point of watching these kind of movies. Sometimes you want to shake reviewers and scream "mindset!!!". You in with wrong mindset (your own or advertisement caused) it will screw a movie for you. 1408 is an example. Its a more psychological drama and less thriller then billed.
AICN Moriatry Review - "It’s very entertaining, and it might as well say “Starring ILM As The Coolest Goddamn Robots You Ever Saw” in the opening credits, because that’s what is going to make the film whatever size hit it is."
AICN Capone Review - "Even die-hard Bay detractors are going to have a hard time denying the good time they have watching Transformers."
Roger Ebert - 3/4 "It's goofy fun with a lot of stuff that blows up real good, and it has the grace not only to realize how preposterous it is, but to make that into an asset." Well I be damned, Ebert liked it.

Here is a Transfan review (with spoiler warnings) sent to me from Malaysia:

Transformers 07 Review
by Desmond Hew

It never struck me as anything fancy with the idea of a longtime favorite cartoon show [one of my childhood memories like so many others], being 'transformed' into a huge Hollywood film. We all saw it coming. Transformers had all the potential right from the start.

Little did I know Michael Bay and Spielberg would be involved. Bay is definitely one of the fastest rising power-directors in Hollywood history. Despite only a handful of movies to his credit, they've always taken in hundreds of millions. The one before him [who also grew to power with so few movies], was James Cameron. I knew for a fact Bay was a hardcore nut at making everything look photorealistic,
particularly from his PearlHarbor battle scenes. So I was wondering how he'd tackle both autobots and decepticons.

Now after watching Transformers and seeing how great they looked, I swear you can bet Hollywood WILL be gearing up to adapt more and more of these. I see the start of a new sub-genre coming. It happened to those sword & medieval epics, the comicbook superheroes, it'll happen to this! I do hope to see Robotech or Gundam... and Evangelion in the future. Word has it that Voltron and Thundercats are already in line.

But as far as adapting goes, let's face it, Transformers was never too thick and dense in its narrative, or at least as rigorous and all thought-out as say, the X-Files. I'm talking about the earlier seasons mind you. What stood out for the Hasbro show were its great characters and just that concept of 'transforming'... Plus, if those robots looked and sounded cool, it was enough to make us [as kids at the
time] wanna buy the toys! So for me, the 2007 movie's story wasn't one I was concerned about. I was more interested in seeing how it would differ and be condensed in terms of characters... and yeah, how realistic Bay would want his transformers to be!

Now granted, you can't have everything and I'm still baffled by people expecting the movie to simply be an exact 101% replica of the series. Trust me, you'll save yourself the pain by not expecting that. It never happens when you look back on the others that were brought to the bigscreen, whether successful or unsuccessful. Not just with Transformers, but with all franchises. Same with the X-men movies...
you can't have it all exactly the same can you? It's compromise ya see.

Anyway, Bay starts the film with a huge bang when an unidentified 'chopper' destroys a whole army base. Lemme tell you this sequence is a cause for 'WOW'... especially when ya first hear that classic transforming sound and see it blow everything up... way up!

Afterwards, the film branches off to other story threads, particularly with Sam Witwicky [Indy 4's Shia LaBeouf] which is the main focus. And rightfully so, since his is the more involving and funny one. It's mostly a teen plot, mixed with a bit of Stephen King's Christine [at least that's what I felt] and the scenes with him discovering Bumblebee are hilarious. Anyway, he and Megan Fox's story gets
intercut with the military/government trying to figure out the army base attack from the beginning with Jon Voight leading the operation.

Eventually all sub-stories converge for a massive climax in the city and Shia's early discovery of Bumblebee's true form will lead to the close encounter with Optimus Prime and the autobots. It's basically all a race to retrieve/destroy an ancient CUBE that came from their native planet of Cybertron... which holds the key to earth's survival.

Now the introduction of this 'cube' was somewhat strange to me at first because I thought our beloved robots [whether good or evil] were simply gonna deal with Energon-cubes but I guess it's an okay addition that stands out from the cartoon series.

Obviously the decepticons too are in pursuit of the cube though it's never quite clear what they do while the other stories unfold. Well except maybe for Frenzy, who seems to progress frequently in the first half. Now honestly, I don't like this little twerp. His character really dances on a fine line of being annoying, as if he's competing to be [almost] a muted Jar-Jar-Binks. On top of that, he's so
un-decepticon, the film should've ditched him since he sticks out like a sore-thumb. Clearly his addition is for the present 6 to 7 year old kids... despite the PG-13 rating. Now who is Frenzy?? Just wait till ya see one of them transforming from a PORTABLE STEREO SET. At times he reminds me of a Gremlin.

This may sound strange but I've always been a bigger fan of the Decepticons than the Autobots. Here, it seems to be the case as well. They get the more whacky vehicles with greater firepower than the autobots. Same goes for Megatron. I at first had mixed feelings about his 'new' design in this film, even though I'm not a megafan of the decepticon leader. Indeed it does deviate quite a lot from the series and I can understand the outrage for this new makeover. But after watching the film, it made far more sense for him to look the way he is. For those of you who don't already know, the transformers themselves appear in a more 'alien' form once they come to earth. They then have to immediately pick a vehicle for stealth reasons, which
results in their machine-like appearance that we're more familiar with. It's pretty much like the Terminator needing clothes when they arrive. For Megatron [and without giving too much away], he'll only appear in the last quarter, so he wastes no time for something pointless since he's after the cube, more than anything else. So
should the filmmakers give him a second appearance in the sequel, there's STILL hope for him to have a design that does him some mega-justice.

Moving onto another controversial alteration, was to have Bumblebee be a Camaro. I for one have no reservations on this matter. Other than the Herbie and copyright issues Bay had with VW, it's pretty obvious why he got switched to a Camaro. It's evident when he has to do those wild maneuvers in a chase with the decepticon, Barricade. It just looks much more satisfying rather than seeing all those turns being done by a 'cube-shape' Beetle. On the other hand, I DO have some pickiness about his communication abilities to Sam [Shia]. Him using excerpts from the radio just isn't Bumblebee at all! That's Jazz or Blaster! I know this goes against what I myself said about compromise, but stealing from other character traits isn't always a good idea and it proves to be true in this case. Also the robotic sounds Bumblebee
uses to substitute his otherwise muted state, are a little hard to swallow. He at times sounds like a howling animal especially when he's tangling with some choppers trying to apprehend him. I'm very sure some fans will have problems with this.

Primes another matter. I don't mind his flames. Is it that big a deal?? What I do NOT like with Optimus are his moving lips. They just seem limp. Other than that, it sure is great to hear Peter Cullen!! Who coulda done a better job? And as much as I would've liked to hear Frank Welker reprising Megatron's voice, I think Hugo Weaving does a nice contribution, though it sounds nothing like him since it's been
digitally modified and pitched down... but the results are still good.

Now certainly these characters would be nothing without the outstanding job of ILM and what a monumental achievement it is. If they don't deserve an Oscar, no one does! The effects are all tremendous and downright believable. ILM is truly the God [and Bomb] of VFX and always will be. Just to see the robots move and transform
is worth the price of admission alone. Think it's partly due to the fact that CG-armies and digital flesh creatures are becoming the norm. Those who had doubts whether Michael Bay can bring the transformers to life and have them rip the shit out of everything, can rest easy. Hey, it's Michael Bay afterall and if you've seen all his action, you'll know damn well what to expect. He spares nothing when it comes to it and Transformers is almost no exception. Plenty of chaos and destruction!!! And although I do have minor, minor issues, it was still superb overall! Just wait until the transformers reach the city and all hell breaks lose! One of my favorite moments is when Starscream comes after several fighter jets! From a plane, he transforms to a robot, sprays his machineguns midair to blow one up, then jumps & bounces off another jet [thus popping it with his weight], then turns back into a plane & spins round while firing again, all this in midair around the skyscrapers, through a single shot!! And the standoff between Megatron and Prime is also quite enormous. Almost none of it can be seen in the trailers, and I've watched them all unless new revealing ones surface. Even the one with Starscream and the jets can only be glimpsed at [like 1 second] through TvSpots. Like what Michael Bay said, there's a lot we won't see in the ad campaign!

And what an unusual campaign it is. I'm sure a lot of us know by now that it was all strategically done to not reveal too much of the Transformers. True it's annoying [still is as I look back] and goes against what most others would normally do which is show snippets of all the best or biggest scenes. Not so for this. As aforementioned, Prime's fight with Megatron isn't seen. It even goes so far as to not
show Prime grouping or interacting with his fellow autobots... or even letting us see the Transformers talk! As a result, it really grabbed me when the decepticon Barricade [a police cruiser], first uttered those loud words ---- "Are you username Ladiesman217?!!!!" ---- cheesy when ya read it, but truly menacing once you hear him!! Well, any gripes on their overall voices? Well as I said, Megatron sounds good but perhaps maybe Starscream is nothing like himself from the series [god bless you Chris Latta] though I can take it… since he doesn't speak much. One line I didn't particularly like from Optimus was him saying "My bad." ---- which felt out of character. Again, these were gripes to me… though may prove sacrilegious to Dot-Yer-I-Cross-YerT-fans. Fortunately he does say "Autobots, rollout!" so as a whole, it's give-and-take folks.

I mentioned earlier some minor issues with the battles but whether you'd agree with me is really subjective and may not worry others so here goes. Bay's action scenes normally go on too long and take forever to stop and admittedly at times I feel it does, especially in BadBoys2. For Transformers, it's a little ironic. Some of them DON'T go quite as long as I would've liked personally. For instance, Prime wrestling with Bonecrusher on the freeway where they both fall somewhat twenty stories down, could have been longer and exciting but it ends sooner then I thought. Even Prime's brawl with Megatron, though it has great, great moments, also seems slightly short and spare at least compared to normal Bay standards. Maybe it's because those like Bonecrusher and Blackout looked too impressive, I dunno.

This brings up a separate issue, which I think might alarm some fans. The transformers seem to 'burnout' a little too easily. Meaning they can be hurt or killed. This made me feel uncomfortable at first, but as I started to think and look back on the series, things were the opposite. Almost no one could ever, ever die, let alone be severely hurt... plus the decepticons always retreat and that's it! Here, even Bumblebee gets crippled and some decepticons 'burnout' in the climax... and maybe a little too quick and easy for my personal tastes another little gripe there folks. But if you're worried whether they had a chance to show off their stuff; weapons, transformation and all, it's there!!

So there you have it. Transformers is truly awesome and should you be a wimp and prefer to wait for it on home-video, lemme say you're committing one hell of a cardinal sin. Films like Transformers are made for the BIG screen [and sound] experience. So transform and rollout when it hits theaters!!!!!

Rating: 4 out of 5

Update: Adding reviews as stumble across em.

International Readers Opinions of Transformers?

The movie has has its world premiere in Italy, its US premiere in the US, its Botcon bow at where ever Botcon is being held. Several countries around the world can now go to their local theatres and take a look. So for all those find folks that got to see it before the US, UK and other countries, tell us what you think. Did it suck, not suck, whatever. Just keep the spoilers to minimum, warn of spoilers and so forth.

Oh yeah forgot to mention, be sure to check out the Transformers Live Message Boards. Great place to discuss the pros and cons of the movie and pretty much anything else.

Transformers Reviews

The LA Red Carpet Premiere (live webcast here)is starting soon and in the next couple days Korea, Australia, Taiwan, Mayaysia and other countries will get a chance to hit the theatres. So between all the screenings and various premieres around the world, reviews have started hitting the web.

The overall theme of the reviews is highly entertaining movie with great CGI. Some complaints of lack of depth but thats reviewers for you, always thinking every movie should strive to be an instant classic. Spoiler warnings for the reviews.

EmanuelLevy.com - B+ "what could have easily been the equivalent of a crowded and loud amusement park, full of attractions and rides to choose from, turns out to be a more unified and slightly more involving film than is the norm with summer flicks"
Sideshow Toys - 4.5/5 "it's a pretty straightforward, balls-out, big explosion, cheesy dialogue, effects-laden summer blockbuster"
Dark Horizons - "a quite effective thrill ride. It's the ecstasy of Summer movies - the first time is a rush, but each subsequent hit has less effect and proves ultimately futile after the first few times"
Variety - "Big, loud and full of testosterone-fueled car fantasies, Michael Bay's actioner hits a new peak for CGI work, showcasing spectacular chases and animated transformation sequences seamlessly blended into live-action surroundings."
Jalopnik.com - they felt it was basically a very entertaining extended advertisement for GM cars. Its a car site so might be a little bias. "cargasm" came up a few times.

Two New Transformers Reviews

AICN has posted two more reviews. Both pretty much call the movie very entertaining, visual eye candy and one mentions Shia's great performance. The complaints where mostly of the phoned in or over the top performances of the other actors and some weaknesses in the story. To me, this is classic summer popcorn movie. You don't go in for deep perfect writing but for a great visual yarn. Based on the reviews, it looks like that Transformers and then some.

Review 1:

I got a chance to see a screening of Transformers this week and it was much better than I was expecting.
I will start by saying that the plot is paper-thin but it doesn't even matter. The effects in this movie are probably the best I've seen. The line between reality and CG is seamless. (Think back to the first time you saw Jurassic Park, then, advance the technology 13 years)
Props to Shia LaBeouf who plays Sam the lovable dork. I've never liked this kid in anything but he holds it all together here and brings a lot of humor to the table and sells it. I'm actually looking forward to him in the next Indy movie.
Speaking of humor, there is a lot of it in the movie. Luckily, it's mostly displayed by the human characters-so cut Optimus some slack for saying "My bad" after breaking a ceramic vase in Sam's backyard. (Funny how The Thing uses the same lame line in an ad for the new FF4) Other than that, the Autobots are very serious and pretty much all business when it comes to taking on the Decepticons. I liked how even some of the Autobots wonder why they can't just do away with the pesky humans but Optimus insists that have as much a right to live as they do.
Bumble Bee and Optimus Prime are the focus here and really the only two that warrant emotional investment. Especially Bumble Bee. He becomes Sam's protector and is given a personality of his own. It's funny when he changes the radio station for songs to create a mood between Sam and to-be girlfriend Mikaela (Megan Fox).
Bumble Bee and Barricade are involved in the first robot on robot battle that begins with an extended car-chase sequence. Watching Bumble Bee emerge out of a plume of smoke being followed by Barricade with all of the music and revving engines and squealing tires is chill-inducing. Great stuff! When the secret government agency Sector 7 catches Bumble Bee and is holding him down with wires, he looks to Sam with puppy-dog-like electronic eyes and it is sad, man. Think back to when E.T gets taken away by the masked bad guys.
There are other elements of the movie that will take you back and make you feel like a kid again. Mostly due in part to the awe-inspiring CG and the aura of cool surrounding the whole idea of bad-ass cars and planes transforming realistically into giant robots and kicking ass. I think Bay pokes fun at his own image a few times and I didn't even mind him using the getting-old-very-quickly theme that accompanied Lucy Liu's posse walk in Kill Bill as Bumble Bee changes his exterior from old, rusty Camaro to a shiny 2007 model. But, let's be honest folks, someone like Michael Bay HAD to direct this kind of movie. Or do you want to see another Ang Lee/Hulk debacle?
Megan Fox as Mikaela will draw ire from female viewers (jealousy) but the guys will love her even though most of her dialogue is drivel and she serves almost no purpose other than the unlikely love interest. (She reminded me of a younger, hotter Sheryl Crow) I don't remember too much from the original cartoon but I think there was a cube that had something to do with the whole Transformers story. Because here, the cube is part of the main plot. The cube and a pair of old glasses worn by Sam's Grandfather. Yup, a cube and eyeglasses.
Unfortunately, Megatron is kept frozen by Sector 7 until about the last quarter of the movie. They explain that almost all of earth's current technology derived from studying Megatron since he was discovered frozen in ice in the 1930's. Once he is finally in action, there is a cool sequence in which all of the Decepticons respond to his call and their language is translated so we can see what they are saying, like, "Barricade en route," etc. There's no time to focus on Starscream's head-butting with Megatron for superiority but Megatron does yell at him saying something to the effect of "Once again, you have failed me."
I can't forget to mention the boombox robot. When I first heard about this "iPod" robot, I thought it would be cool. Some of it is, but for the most part, he's for the kids - especially while sneaking off of the plane and he puts his hand up to shield his face to evade police who are walking ALL OVER THE PLACE! Very silly.
Despite the faults, and there are many, I did not mind one bit. This is summer eye candy through and through with a heavy dose of testosterone. The transforming is usually done quick but several of the introductory transformations are slow so you can see all of the detail that goes into it. Especially Optimus' first transformation. So damn cool. Watch the detail of Optimus' slo-mo punch into Bonecrusher's face and you'll see his eye hyper-extending from the power of the blow. I didn't actually see Megatron's arm cannon, but I was told that he used it once. I'll be amazed if it doesn't win best special f/x at the next Oscars.
John Turturro as a Sector 7 agent is delightfully (and randomly) over the top. Anthony Anderson is brought in for more comic relief and most of it works but it's a little overdone. It's okay though, both the Autobots and Decepticons take their battle so seriously that the humor is balanced.
In a classic Michael Bay move, a team of genius students (wink to Bruce Willis' team in Armageddon) are brought in to decipher an unknown sound that was emitted during Blackout's attack on the army base in Qatar at the beginning. Man, Blackout lays the place to waste! The sound is going to amaze you from this scene and all of the other action sequences. Amazing sound. The final battle sequence in the city streets is cool but some of the action here (and in other scenes) is so fast that it's hard to distinguish who is who, who is good, who is bad and what's happening. I think that's why I missed Megatron's arm cannon.
Adults and kids are going to like this movie which is why I see it making a bazillion dollars. It's far better than any of the Big Three sequels that have come and gone already. Speaking of sequels, of course they left room for one. Most of the Transformers survive-good and bad. Not much story here, but the effects and sounds are unlike anything we've seen before-it's mesmerizing. I give it a 9 out of 10.
P.S. If you post this, please don't use my username – the Memflix effect, ya know?
You can use.....Saint Hubbins

Review 2:

I attended a Transformers press screening.
I enjoyed the movie a lot for what it was -- a summer action movie directed by Michael Bay, based on a line of toys and a silly animated cartoon. It certainly is a Michael Bay film -- whether that is a good thing or not is up to you -- but all of Bay's signature directorial moves are there. The same bombastic music and musical cues he always uses, the illogical chases (run the bad guy's so close!, jumpcut, the bad guy is inexplicably gone), the crazy authority figure (John Turturro, in his worst role I have seen), the nonstop-shouting-as-witty-dialogue, and, of course, great production values and effects.
The biggest difference from the animated series is the addition of a rather odd MacGuffin ("the cosmic cube" or whatever the hell it was) that is not explained very well. And I could nitpick a bunch of things. But I do not think that would be fair to the movie. It is what it is -- big, loud, eye-popping fun. The robots look great. Megan Fox looks great. The characters are surprisingly well fleshed out (for a Bay action film). Despite being 140 minutes long, the film did not drag at all (not like Spider-Man 3 or Pirates 3 did).
In short, the best stupid movie I have seen this summer.
Feel free to add my post to your site if you would like.... but please do not include where I saw the film... and do not mention my name. Call me "Haisan."
Cheers!- Haisan I attended a Transformers press screening.
I enjoyed the movie a lot for what it was -- a summer action movie directed by Michael Bay, based on a line of toys and a silly animated cartoon. It certainly is a Michael Bay film -- whether that is a good thing or not is up to you -- but all of Bay's signature directorial moves are there. The same bombastic music and musical cues he always uses, the illogical chases (run the bad guy's so close!, jumpcut, the bad guy is inexplicably gone), the crazy authority figure (John Turturro, in his worst role I have seen), the nonstop-shouting-as-witty-dialogue, and, of course, great production values and effects.
The biggest difference from the animated series is the addition of a rather odd MacGuffin ("the cosmic cube" or whatever the hell it was) that is not explained very well. And I could nitpick a bunch of things. But I do not think that would be fair to the movie. It is what it is -- big, loud, eye-popping fun. The robots look great. Megan Fox looks great. The characters are surprisingly well fleshed out (for a Bay action film). Despite being 140 minutes long, the film did not drag at all (not like Spider-Man 3 or Pirates 3 did).
In short, the best stupid movie I have seen this summer.
Feel free to add my post to your site if you would like.... but please do not include where I saw the film... and do not mention my name. Call me "Haisan."

Sydney Transformers Screening Event

Depending on area of the world, today Sydney, Australia played host to a screening of Transformers to a rabid audience. Lots of discussions has hit the web about it so beware of spoilers. I am sure the reviews will be popping up soon.

Overall, it seems the consensus is an entertaining, great movie that is actually closer to G1 then originally thought with the character interactions and references. If want to read some threads about it, check out TFW2005, Seibertron and Don Murphy boards if want read to much about it.

Some highlights, mild spoilers (warning just in case):

- Movie screening was introduced by Michael Bay, Megan Fox and Rachael Taylor. Wonder which has more eyeballs on them, the ladies or the movie.
- Brawl is called Devastastor in the movie. Probably will be corrected as doubt Hasbro wants kids going "mom where is Devastator?" while looking at Brawl sitting on the toyshelf. Orci also commented on it, indicating that "we pointed it out twice in the editing room!"
- Movie was two hours and 20 minutes. Whether that is with or without trailers isn't indicated.
- The 3 where apparently very nice and friendly with fans, not standoffish. Basically enjoying the attention rather then resenting it. Kudos for that.
- There are some moments in the movie credits, but no description given so not sure if its a scenes that play during or after the credits (like Pirates 3).
- Transformations are sometimes slo-moed to help see what is happening. Also the G1 transformation sound is more blended into the sound effects then the trailers would indicate.
- Decepticons don't generally speak. Maybe a line here and there. Starting to sound like if a voice for a TF wasn't cast...its because they didn't have a reason to cast a voice.

Doesn't seem like much but really the posts where either questions that where not answered or it was fantastic! type comments. so if your worried, they should make you feel better about the movie, but the threads are thin on the details. Suffice it to say, it appears that Bay, writers and the producers may be vindicated from all the Transfan ire they have been dealing with.
(pic source)

Transformers Screening Review

AICN news has posted a review of the movie from a test screening of Transformers. Apparently its not the final cut of the film as temp tracks where used and probably still some CGI tweaking to be done. In summary though, the writer thought the movie was very entertaining, the action good, Transformers good (except Megatron), the human elements wooden or phoned in but really loved Shia's performance.

The review:

Hi all, the filmcoyote here again.

Anyway, mentioned having seen Transformers in the 'trailer that shows a lot' Talkback and a couple of Talkbackers said elaborate. It's a slow afternoon so what the hell.

Background: I was born ass-end of the 70s (this is going somewhere I promise) so hit the Transformers toy craze at the perfect age (see). Loved the cartoon, toys and 86 movie at the time but haven't revisited them as an adult. My trepidation of seeing a live action movie of Transformers did not come from a flames on Optimus/Bumblebee's not a VW bug stand point but just from a who the hell gives a rat's ass stand point. Michael Bay, meh, liked Rock and Bad Boys, hated Armageddon, laughed my ass off through Pearl Harbor (I expect not the intended reaction) so wasn't really bothered either way by him.

But I think my biggest issue was fogy syndrome. I have started to think I'm getting too old to enjoy cinematic lunacy fully. I was bored by 300, found myself complaining about characterisation in Spider-Man 3 and X-Men 3 (can't believe that would even have occurred to me as a kid) and was stunned that even Johnny Depp did nothing forme in Pirates 3. I wondered whether it was all the constant CG, that I yearned for the good old days of the Schwarzenegger 80s! When life was simpler. I felt this might have been confirmed when the John Rambo trailer got me as excited as a school kid two weeks ago.

Transformers proved me wrong. Characterization? - Where? CG? - Everywhere! But I really enjoyed it. It made me feel like I was 10 years old again. I don't think a summer movie has made me feel that way since The Matrix.

Let me elaborate. I will not lie to you, is Transformers a great movie, brilliantly written, completely devoid of a feeling of big-screen toy-advertisement? No, it isn't.

Are all the robots a great design? Well, this will split people I'm sure but Megatron sucks for sure. Have they picked great actors doing it for the art? Ha, Turturro's manicness and Voight's phoning in leave you with a sense of them dancing around their paychecks off screen with glee.

There's also this little robot (kind of the equivalent of Ravage and Laserbeak in the cartoon) that is played for comic effect that is incredibly irritating. But somehow - maybe because I had no expectations and with so maybe sequels these days expectations are hard to silence - I got past all these flaws and just enjoyed it for the sheer entertainment. And damn is it entertaining.

The film wastes no time getting down to business. That much touted helicopter transformation that trashes the army base present in some sense since the first trailer is the first scene of the whole film. In fact it moves back and forth between kick ass action (usually involving army guys and Decepticons) and the "human" story (Shia, Megan) nicely for the first 40 minutes or so.

The film has nods to the cartoon (a VW bug sitting next to Bumblebee in the used-car lot, the corny more than meets the eye line comes up at least twice, the cartoon transforming noise is in there) but is mostly its own thing.

The "human" more comedic side is actually pretty good. Often these days films can't get the balance of these things and they feel forced in and just make you wish they'd get back to big fuck-off robots battling (which is why we're there anyway). I think the reason they get away with it is LaBeouf. I had only seen him in Holes and Bobby prior to this and hadn't understood why there was such a buzz on him but his comic-timing is superb. He is just so effortlessly likeable. It's like Tom Hanks in Big, Will Smith in Independence Day, Michael J Fox in Back to The Future, he's effortless and gives a great performance.
And the reason I think this is why these bits work is simple: it's not the script - I know this because there's also another "human" story involving "sleeping throught the movie" Jon Voight and a bunch of tech geeks. And these bits are painful.

There's this one Aussie actress (if she warrants the term actress) who is almost as wooden as Keira Knightley. None of the actors in this section can do anything with the banal dialogue they are given, they simply don't have the talent. Thankfully there's not much of them. Shia just brings the whole thing to life, he is a true joy to watch and i look forward to other films he's in. Megan Fox is of course also in most of his scenes and she's fine. She is not bad at all and she's gorgeous but any reasonable actress her age could have done just as well. Shia is working on another level from those around him.

The print I saw had no score just temp tracks from The Rock, American Beauty and something else I couldn't place. I hope the real score is great because the American Beauty bits (which kicked in everytime Megan and Shia appeared on their own) were really distracting.

But what you want to know is robots, right? We've all seen the designs and for me they work fine. They are a bit busy but they have a sense of the real to them. Realism no. This is a movie about giant fuck-off robots, there's no room for realism but in a way they make sense, it feels right that they are what they are. As for what the Transform into, this is explained away in a Bumblebee scene when we see him as a beat up car scan another car and instantly upgrade to look bad new. The reason he's not a VW? That's not what he scanned. So essentially all these robots could become anything. The only thing they never really explain is why all the Decepticons seem to be able to fly while none of the Autobots can. Maybe, they just don't chose to.

The thing on here the other day about the trailer with Bumblebee's voice - not Bumblebee's voice. Bumblebee doesn't talk - his voice unit was damaged in a war - and he communicates through his radio. Peter Cullen is great as Optimus Prime but, maybe it's just me, but he didn't sound much like he did in the cartoon. I don't know why they bothered getting Hugo Weaving in for Megatron. For a start Megatron's barely in the film - he's in maybe the last 20 minutes - and it could be anyone voicing.

The thing that really had me awed though is the transformations. When one of the robots transforms mid movement is looks incredible. Barricade (a Decepticon police cruiser) is first to do it, chasing Bumblebee and Shia in robot form and transforming into his car form in mid-stride. There are more instances in the non-stop action finale - the best of them being Starscream mif-flight transformation to land in robot form and enter a fray. These are the moments that really took me, that transported me back into my 10-year-old self. I got so excited by it. As I say I probably haven't been genuinely excited by watching a blockbuster since The Matrix. It was a feeling I remember having for Jedi as a kid, Batman and T2 as a teenager.

I'm not saying Transformers is as good as T2 but it was a real surprise. It has plot weaknesses and some shakey performances but it is hugely entertaining both in the frequent battle set pieces, whether human vs robot or robot vs robot, and in the Shia LaBeouf moments. Even some of the comedy (Optimus trying to hide behind a house he's twice the size of) worked for me (although my friend this scene a little over the top). But that's just it, like the first Pirates movie it is the over-the-topness combined with great set pieces and superb special effects that make it so enjoyable and help you see past the flaws. I'm sure those more invested in the 80s show will have issues with things I either didn't notice or don't get (why is flames on Optimus a big deal? - though I get the Optimus mouth thing, that was weird) but then that's like comic-book movies to me, I never read them so I don't care if Venom's a great or sucky character in Spider-Man I just want to be entertained for a couple of hours.

Transformers did that for me. Best of this years crop so far (not that the disappointing Spider-Man 3, dull At World's End or abyssmal Shrek the Third set the bar high mind you!) by a long way.

First Sneak Peak Transformers Review

AICN has posted a review of a sneak preview screening of Transformers. Previews that Michael Bay posted about "We had two screenings tonight 850 people. Highest test scores in my career. Blew Armageddon away which was a 92. Go figure." Have to admit, based on the early review, the movie at the very least sounds like it will be highly entertaining.

SPOILER ALERT!
The review:

Harry and gang - Long time listener, first time caller...

First, let me say, I don't know how to write a review so stick with me, I have a lot of thoughts in my head about this movie so this could be all over the place. But I just HAD to write in, I am currently the most happyest fanboy on earth!

Here is the short version:

I JUST SAW OPTIMUS PRIME IN AN ORGY OF KICKASSERY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

1) Screw you guys. The flames are cool. Nipples on batman = lame, flames on optimus = cool.

2) The robots in general are OUTSTANDING. I think ILM is doing them right? Whoever it is needs a raise - they look so real in the scenes its unbelievable (except frenzy or soundbyte or whatever he is. I’ll get into that later). They blend with the "real world" stuff so well, its awesome.

3) Optimus "lips" look bad and just piss me off. I can't imagine it will bother the general public, but anyone who has an attachment to "prime" will have issue with this for sure. There is no reason to give him lips. He speaks a few times with the shield up and it totally works….anyway. That is my only MAJOR gripe with the film. (but I doubt it's worse than "Cloudactus")

4) Shia Labuof is great as Sam Witwicky. I really wasn't sure how I would feel about him, but he nails it. He's got a great vibe on screen, I really wanted him "win". He's actually very funny as well. Great casting, he's legit.

5) Megan Fox (im sure that's no coincidence), I have no clue if she can act or not because I was fixated on her tits and ass whenever she was onscreen - pure sex (god bless you Michael Bay). I had to IMDB her after the movie because I had no idea who she is or what she had been in. I didn't care then and I don't care now.

6) Supporting cast is far better than I expected. Turturro is great as the quirky head of Sector Seven. The ladies in the audience im sure loved the beefcake tyrese and josh "las vegas" duhmel. Bernie mac and Anthony Anderson are very very funny in their small roles.

7) Action…seriously…you've never seen anything like this. Hate all you want on Bay, this is THE guy you want creating giant robot mayhem! And he does.

Here is the long version:

Last week I was at the Harkins Arrowhead Theater here in Peoria, Arizona to see Blades of glory. When I was leaving, some theater person handed me a flyer and asked if I wanted to see a test screening of an "upcoming PG-13 major release summer action movie" (or something like that, I can't remember). Being a movie geek, and a broke one, I was like "fuck yeah, free movie".

I've never been to a preview or test screening or whatever before, so I didn't really know what to expect. All week I had been trying to figure out what it could be, my friend said "just pray it's not "Flatulence Four: taking a number two"" THANK GOD it wasn't…that would have sucked. I was thinking maybe Die Hard or maybe Pirates, but I honestly never thought I would be Transformers, I figured with all the CG that it probably wasn't ready yet. I was partly right.

Anyway, i showed up last night at the same Harkins and the theater was packed, looked like a lot of families with kids and some scattered people around my age (I'm 28). After we sat for a few minutes I was looking around at the group of "reserved" seats that were taped off….and then I saw him….MICHAEL FUCKING BAY was in the house! Right then I knew what was up and I thought I was gonna SHIT!

I didn't say anything to anyone…mainly because I didn't know anyone else there…but I knew… I couldn't believe my luck. there could have been some other cast or something there, but I didn't recognize anyone else in the audience.

A few minutes after The Bay sat down ( I am an open Bay supporter (minus Pearl Harbor) so you can commence with your blind hateration below at anytime) , a very studio looking guy stood up in front of the theater and told us that "a lot of effects weren't done and the music was temp" blah blah. I didn't give a shit- I wanted the fucker to start! He finally says we are the "first audience to see
TRANSFORMERS!"

There was a loud cheer in the theater, I looked around and many of the older moms/dads didn't quite get it, but their kids seemed to know the score. I saw two 15ish year old fat kids do a chest bump…alas, I had no one to chest bump- but I totally would have!

So then the movie started, I have to be honest, I was smiling ear to ear- I was about to see the MOTHERFUCKING TRANSFORMERS before anyone else!

FIRST, BITCHES! (never been able to say that before :)

So, the movie…

It opens with what looks like the surface of a planet, Cybertron, but it doesn't look anything like the cybertron we know from the cartoons. Its more like a rocky, mountainous wasteland, but alive…if that makes any sense. Then we hear a voice and I know this voice, OPTIMUS FUCKING
PRIME- albeit he sounds older and more bassy than he did in the show. It was cullen for sure though. He tells a short back story about the AllSpark Cube and how it was lost during an epic battle and all transformers went searching the galaxy for it. We see the cube floating through space and coming up on earth where it starts a comet like decent through the sky. OP stops talking and the screen goes black and then : TRANSFOMERS logo comes up. That's the only credits, no laundry list of names that no one cares about, just a logo. Loved it.

After the logo we are dropped into the desert where we come up on some army guys in the back of a helicopter as they arrive at a base in Qatar, josh duhmel, tyrese and that latino guy from prison break. After some army talk and Josh Duhmel doing a cutesy baby talk webcam thing with his wife and child (luckily this doesn't really play much of a factor in the movie) we see that there is an inbound helicopter that isn't supposed to be there…cue ominous music and then BRING ON THE BANG BANG! The helicopter lands and is surrounded by armed men and tanks- but fret not for helicopter guy, cause its Blackout and he came to bring the pain.

This is the scene that is in the trailer, where he starts transforming and the army goes Michael Bay on his ass. Only this time it didn't cut away like the trailer- he transforms, stands up and gets to blowing shit up!

The transformation is unreal, it looks SO FUCKING COOL! Gears shifting, metal scrapping, pistons doing pistony things and it had the TRANSFORMATION SOUND FROM THE CARTOON! It had a little geek chubby, I couldn't stop smiling. Blackout proceeds to fuck shit up and nothing the army does even slows him down. I recognized a few of the shots form the trailer like the tanks flying through the air and the EMP looking thing he does. The scene is like 3-4 minutes of him just wreckin shop on the base- it was fucking awesome. There was a part where tyrese is laying on the ground below him that was kinda lame, Blackout just looks at him for a minute giving his buddy time to shoot. But then he sprouts scorponok from his back and takes out a WHOLE AIRFIELD!

I just remember thinking now THAT'S how you start a giant robot movie. We then go to a school where Shia is doing a show and tell kinda thing on his grandpa (this plays a key roll in the film but I wont ruin it with detail spoilers). This whole scene and the next two or three are all simply to set up the main story of Sam (Shia) getting his first car (bumblebee) and setting up the Shia/hot girl plot.

As is my problem with most "origin" movies, theres a shit load of origin and not a lot of action for the first 30-40 minutes or so. Which is probably why I like spidey 2 better than spidey 1. Maybe its my fault for knowing too much about the world before hand. Whatever.

So there are some really funny moments with Shia and the girl (ill call her Foxy). Foxy is slowly wooed by Shia with the help of Bumblebee via his radio. He doesn't speak at all, he talks through the radio….which sounds really lame, and is really lame for the first couple times but then it stopped bothering me and became kinda funny (intentionally)

So back to the sam//foxy story. Sam and dad go to get sams first car, we then meet Bernie Mac as Bobby B or something like that. I took it as a nod to BumbleBee (BB get it?) Bernie is actually very funny in his small part, I wasn't sure id like it (after seeing in the TV spot) but I actually really liked him. Small part, big laughs.

Sam gets BumbleBee ( and yes there IS a subtle nod to the origin as there is a yellow VW bug next to the camaro) this is a pretty funny scene as BumbleBee does things to ensure Sam takes him home.

The movie overall is actually very funny, in a good way. Some really cheesy laughs that are more than tolerable, its got light hearted flavor throughout, but when its time to fight- they fight- Bay style.

Shia's parents in the film are very well cast and they are really funny, much more so than any other Bay characters of the past in my opinion. It feels like this is the first time where he decided to embrace some elements of cheese and run with it. I am glad he did. It works, mainly because Shia is really really great as a semi-woody allen type kid, I was genuinely impressed with him throughout the movie.

So it doesn't take long for Shia to find out that BB is not just a shitty old car, it's a big ass robot…he also soon finds out that there are bad big ass robots that need something from him. He gets chased by Barricade (the cop car) and BB comes to his rescue and we see the first Robot vs. Robot action….i was a little disappointed by this in the sense that it was shot in a way where you really never got a good look at either of them. After seeing the rest of the film I can see why, they wanted to save it, but when I was watching it it bothered me that I couldn't get a good clean look at the bots.

Also during this time a small "boombox" robot is on Air Force one (unsure how he got there, wouldn't an x-ray see that it wasn't normal? ) anyway, he gets into the belly of the plane and starts hacking for info and then gets in a fight with some secret service agents. Frenzy (I think that's who it is based on internet info, they never really say) is a little bothersome from a viewer perspective. He is very shiny metal and doesn't blend with the background nearly as well as the rest of them---this COULD be one of those "not yet done" things, I hope it is.

It was sometimes hard to tell what exactly wasn't complete CG wise. Sometimes it was super obvious and sometimes there were small hints that it wasn't complete. I'm not sure where this bots stands in that sense.

I'll refrain from describing too much detail with the rest of the film because im not a fan of spoilers. Ill simply make some general observations.

I consider myself a mid-core TF fan. I LOVE transformers and ive seen every episode numerous times (G1), the movie numerous times and have been waiting for this movie for the last 20 years, but I accept that certain things need to happen in order for the movie to be made. Some lure/history/canon needs to be re-written/ignored in order to make a film like this- I accept that.

The robot design change, in my opinion, was the right choice. When you see it you will understand. The boxy designs from the cartoons simply would not have worked, they would have looked stupid and old. OP mouth…..thats a different issue- it sux. Period.

I really wish the decepticons, namely Starscream, would have gotten far more screen time. He doesn't show up till near the end. He TOTTALLY fucks shit up and is THE bad ass of the decepticons, but I needed more-

"I've got a fever, and the only prescriptions is MORE STARSCREAM!!!!!!"

The rest of the decepticons (except megatron) are pretty much just fodder for the autobots to stomp on, which im fine with, that's all they were in the cartoon anyway.

Megatron, even in his "cyberform" is pretty fuckin cool. When he eventually gets in on the fight he makes it clear who is boss. He never "scans" anything on earth so he stays in "cyberform" the whole movie….and yes I know it's called "protoform" but that term seems stupid to me.

We do, however, get to see at least a glimpse of the SS/Megs dynamic. "you failed me yet again Starscream" was awesome!" Some of the voices I think were temp still as they were hard to understand. Megatron didn't sound at all like Hugo Weaving to me, but as I said, the audio may have been temp.

Optimus Prime- sword arm- fuckin sick! That's all im gonna say about that.

OP says more than a few of the "iconic" lines from the toon- there are many many nods and references to the history of TF, it's clear that there was a lot of thought into adding some "fan only" moments into the film that the general audience wont get, which was great.

I'd say about 25% of the robot stuff was still temp and there was very little music/score in place so some scenes felt a bit slow and hard to keep up with, but I think once the FINAL movie is out in theatres those moments will be fixed.

So to sum this all up: This is a Michael Bay movie. Make no mistake about it. You can see influences from Spielberg and a conscious effort to make this not just a blow em up bang bang movie (although I would have been fine with that). The last 30 minutes is non-stop robot destruction- I honestly couldn't tell you everything that happened because it was just so damn awesome I had a hard time even keeping up- i almost wish I hadn't seen it….because now I have to wait TWO MORE FUCKING MONTHS TO SEE IT AGAIN…explosions, destruction, robots flying through the air, shooting missiles and rockets from their arms- absolute insanity on city streets. This is what I wanted to see out of this movie. There are some things that you may shake your head at or roll your eyes during, but when you see the goods, the stuff WE ALL want to see, you let the other stuff slide. Or at least I did.

Cardsfan34
p.s. Go suns, fuck the lakers
p.p.s. commence hating……now!

Update: Forgot to add a spoiler notice. I figure this site is spoiler by default, but this really lays it on so figure best to warn.