Kevin's Watch

Posted: **Thu Jun 28, 2007 10:36 pm**

Well, I saw the movie last night (the opening). Though I got there early with my friends, there was a big line-up. It seems it's a very popular movie.

Overall, I loved the movie, but I have major reservations. I loved the animation as it's flawless. We have never seen anything like this - vehicles moving at fast speeds and transforming. There are spectacular action sequences (

Spoiler

Starscream's attack on the jets, and Blackout's attack on the military base, are the best sequences in the movie

). Some of the characters really shine - like Optimus Prime, Barricade, Frenzy and Bumblebee, but unfortunately that's it.

The flaws of the film are

Spoiler

that the Decepticons really don't have much of a presence (which is a shame that Starscream has two or three lines, so we don't get to see much of the classic Megatron/Starscream feud), and most of them don't show until the last quarter of the movie - Blackout (the best design) has no character. Jazz is killed off, yet we don't care because there's little development for him. The human characters, especially Agent Simmons and Spike's parents, are terrible. There's too much humour, not enough plot development. The plot moves too fast, as well. There are some plot holes, too: Why is it that the Transformers shut down when they freeze, yet they travel through space which is colder? Why is it that they land on Earth like meteorites, so obviously they can withstand great forces, yet they are damaged so easily by missiles (and Megatron).

Overall, a very enjoyable film. I'll be seeing it again.

Posted: **Tue Jul 03, 2007 10:29 pm**

I am going to see it later tonight, whoo hoo! I want to see some robot mayhem and destruction.

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2007 1:12 am**

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2007 3:28 am**

I dunno. It seems like an excuse to sell toys.

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2007 3:31 am**

A Gunslinger wrote:I dunno. It seems like an excuse to sell toys.

Does that make the film bad? You could argue the same about Shrek and Star Wars. Anyway, the push for this film came from Spielberg, not the toy company.

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2007 5:09 am**

OMG! I actually teared up a couple of times(in joy), and the little boy in me was awakened. Despite some flaws Transformers was the most satisfying film experience I have had in years.

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2007 7:46 am**

Sunbaneglasses wrote:OMG! I actually teared up a couple of times(in joy), and the little boy in me was awakened. Despite some flaws Transformers was the most satisfying film experience I have had in years.

Same (well apart from War of the Worlds). Did you stay to watch through the credits and see Starscream leave the atmosphere?

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2007 7:52 am**

Cail wrote:

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2007 4:46 pm**

I wasn't into the Transformers as a kid, but this movie looks pretty spectacular from the trailers I've seen. But, being a Michael Bay film, it's supposed to look like it cost the budget of NASA to make.

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2007 5:53 pm**

Michael Bay is evil. That is all.

Still, I might see this film tonight. Was too young to be crazy about Transformers, though I did have a few of the toys.

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2007 7:37 pm**

Loremaster wrote:
Sunbaneglasses wrote:OMG! I actually teared up a couple of times(in joy), and the little boy in me was awakened. Despite some flaws Transformers was the most satisfying film experience I have had in years.
Same (well apart from War of the Worlds). Did you stay to watch through the credits and see Starscream leave the atmosphere?

Gah! I missed something!

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2007 8:09 pm**

the kid from Even Stevens has become quite the actor.

Posted: **Wed Jul 04, 2007 11:39 pm**

I thought the movie was good up until the point when the Sector 7 guy showed up. Then it started falling apart. The last act was just nonsense. Why were they going to a major city in order to have the final battle? Wouldn't it make more sense to do that in the desert so that innocent civilians wouldn't be killed? And why send the boy to run with the cube, when these advanced alien robot thingies could make the journey, like, 100 times faster??? And why did they think it would be safe in a helicopter if it wasn't safe inside the Hoover dam? And why did they hide Megatron in an ocean trench to keep him secret if 1000 people saw him battling in the city?

This movie fell completely apart. It just proves (once again) that it doesn't matter how cool the effects are, if there's no story, there's no movie.

Posted: **Thu Jul 05, 2007 12:01 am**

I have to agree that Sector 7 was a poor element - especially the head. As for the city element, I recall them saying that the city might block the Cube signal, which is just bollocks. A flawed movie, but fun.

Posted: **Thu Jul 05, 2007 12:54 am**

Yes, it was fun. I didn't mean to over analyze it. My 6-yr-old loved all 2 hrs 23 min of it. My wife--who doesn't like fantasy, much less comic book stuff--even had fun during the first 2/3rds of the movie. It was fun. I didn't even mind the comedic bits. They were better than the cheesy parts about how humanity has the "right to choose." While I agree about freewill and democracy, I find it condescending to be preached to about these concepts by cartoonish aliens robots. I'd rather they just act like the silly CGI effects that they were.

I thought they were better at being badass than magnanimous.

Posted: **Thu Jul 05, 2007 1:01 am**

Malik23 wrote:While I agree about freewill and democracy, I find it condescending to be preached to about these concepts by cartoonish aliens robots. I'd rather they just act like the silly CGI effects that they were. I thought they were better at being badass than magnanimous.

Yeah, I have to agree with all that.

Posted: **Thu Jul 05, 2007 6:53 am**

I'm a sucker for almost any movie, I doubt I've seen anything that I really hate.

That said, I think this movie changed my life.

LOVED IT.

Posted: **Thu Jul 05, 2007 8:15 pm**

Loremaster wrote:
Malik23 wrote:While I agree about freewill and democracy, I find it condescending to be preached to about these concepts by cartoonish aliens robots. I'd rather they just act like the silly CGI effects that they were. I thought they were better at being badass than magnanimous.
Yeah, I have to agree with all that.

On the contrary, I think that we need more black and white. In an age where we have so many antiheros,
and sympathetic villains, I think it is good for kids to see a movie where the good guys spell out their noble cause and fight for it, and the bad guys are obviously just that, bad guys. It was actually refreshing to me to see the good old fashion good guy v.s bad guy scenario played out with giant robots that turned into cars, trucks, and jets.

Posted: **Thu Jul 05, 2007 11:06 pm**

If only the black element had a greater presence. The Decepticons were incredibly underused.

Posted: **Fri Jul 06, 2007 1:01 pm**

It was so awesome! We saw in on Wednesday. I walked in the house last night when I got home from work to find all 4 kids, yes, even my 12 year old daughter, playing Transformers. Not with toys... being Transformers!