re: Transformers 2

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It is not something that he would want to buy or see again, but it IS something that we agree that those of us who grew up on Transformers need to see it, just because.

Just like I'm going to see G.I. Joe.

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I'm going to see it this afternoon and feel the same way. I've read a ton of reviews of it and don't have high hopes. I had the toys, watched the cartoon as a kid, and liked the first movie for the most part. So I'll see it out of some sense of duty that i have to see it in the theater.

By the way, this is NOT the second Transformers movie. This is the third. I refuse to call the one that came out prior to this one the "first" Transformers movie. The animated one is the first, and it's the greatest.

Dammit.

I watched that "1st" Transformers movie a couple of years ago. It was pretty cheesy.

To answer your earlier question, I am surprised that Stewie Griffin can appreciate mindless, pointless "comedy", yet feels the need to say how awful a movie is that was made for pure entertainment purposes and not for some sort of life changing epiphanies. I am not saying he is wrong or that he sucks because he has a different opinion than me, but I find it surprising that he can't translate his love for things "for entertainment purposes only" to Transformers.

BTW, go to hell you soccer loving commie bastard.

Watched it yesterday before the lsu game. After seeing all the negative reviews I had low expectations but like I suspected I enjoyed it. It wasn't better than the first few sequels are, but it had some bad parts as well. The two new robots (they weren't racist at all to me) were not funny at all more annoying than anything. Shia coming back to life because of the robots was just silly. The story was alright I guess but other than that who wouldn't enjoy a movie like this bad arse fight scenes, scenery was amazing hot women. I have to say I am in love with the girl robot from college. Man she was so f-ing HOT. Though I agree with the critics in some aspect it makes no sense how someone could sit through this movie and not enjoy it

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The animated one is the first, and it's the greatest.

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Do I lose my kid-card because i've never seen this? Or don't remember seeing this?

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The animated one is the first, and it's the greatest.

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I have been enlightening the younger members of my family about this.

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Hell, I like a good mindless summer blockbuster. But Michael Bay's hard-on for spinning camera shots, unintelligible action sequences, hyperbolous explosions, offensively retarded dialogue, and mind-numbing narration had me watching the back of the chair in front of me because I was in physical discomfort.

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I know that pain. I get knots in my stomach at the dialogue in his movies. I don't think the cool explosions can redeem the countless amount of crap in between fights scenes... hmmm, I may not go see this film now.

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I am just curious as to what kind of movies yall like and what you expect from action movies.

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Solid, consistent story line. It doesn't have to be complex; there's a lot to be said about subtlety. I want some explosions, some loudness, some sexiness, and some humor, but all of these in a nice balance melded with a coherent narration and not in excess.

Bay's problem is he has WAYYYYYY too much of the high end action without any of the subtlety, and when you get past the action scenes, he tells the story in about 30 seconds. The movie should tell the story, not 30 second dialogue clips between actors. I could clip about a minute and a half of dialogue from the characters and the whole story could be told with as much efficiency. That's the word, efficiency. Bay has none.

The whole "going to college" idea was pretty lame too.

I'm not sure what's pretentious about saying Michael Bay sucks.

And I didn't buy the ticket, it was a family night out type event.

I heard good things about the first one, and expected the second to be a pretty good, albeit shallow, action film. It was shallow, but it was not good.

Just got back and my head hurts. I honestly feel like I just took a law school exam.

This movie is RETARDED.

Now look, I love big summer blockbusters. I even like most of Michael Bay's movies. I'll watch The Rock anytime it's on TV, and I even like Armageddon (like Stewie said above mainly for the nostalgia). As for Transformers, I grew up watching the cartoons and playing with the toys. I liked Bay's first Transformers movie for the most part as well.


I'll start with what I liked from this movie:

I thought the action was shot better and easier to follow than in the first one. Bay showed the scenes from a little further out, still not as far as I would like. Still though, some of the scenes were nearly impossible to follow (especially in the finale). The best action shots are still the ones in slow motion (which are amazing FWIW). Not sure why Bay insists on not utilizing the slow-mo more often.

The special effects....also, amazing. What ILM has done on these movies deserves recognition. hopefully the academy doesn't snub them again like they did with the golden fricking compass in 2007.

The Megatron/Starscream dynamic....wish there was more, but what they included was pretty good. Their bickering was one of the staples of the cartoon, and it's nice to see SOME part of the movie reflect that.

Prime...also awesome, but underutilized. He's basically in the opening of the movie, the forest battle in the middle of the movie, and is involved in the tail end of the massive action finale. for the rest of the movie, he's off screen either having to deal with the douche/cliche national security advisor or temporarily dead.


The OK:

Lebouef was decent in it, basically the same as in the first one. I thought Josh Dumahal was a little better than in the first (not saying much).


The Horrible:

The plot is all over the place. Please save the "it's an action movie" or "I just went to be entertained" arguments. The basic outline of the story is solid, I'll give it that. The idea of the Primes coming to earth in the past and The Fallen rebelling is cool. But they just added in so much pointless crap. They could have cut out all the college scenes essentially without changing anything.

Basically all the other actors...Megan Fox may be hot, but she cant act worth shite. Turtorro is zany as all hell, but not quite as annoying as in the first one. Mainly because he is paired with Shia's even more annoying college roommate.

Bumblebee still not being able to talk...so pretty much one of the best transformer characters has had one line of actual dialogue after 2 movies, nice. For some reason Bumblebee could talk some at the end of the first movie, but now cant talk at all and has to resort to speaking through lines from Forrest Gump. Instead we get the Twins and the little toy truck decepticon, GREAT!

The humor...the worst part of this movie. A lot has been made of the Twins and them being "offensive" and what not. I didnt really give a shite about any of that. I just hate them because they are so goddamn annoying. They are like c3P0 from star wars episode 2. Just cringe worthy horrible dialogue. I could see how a 2nd or 3rd grader would think they were funny, but that's about it. And that goes for most of the other comic relief in the film, it's just stupid. I don't mind comedy in action movies, but at least make it decent.

Michael Bay's obvious disregard/lack of respect for anyone watching this movie...this probably pisses me off the most. like when they are in the Air and Space museum in D.C. and suddenly walk outside and are in the middle of a frickING DESERT. WTF. I mean at least put in a little effort man. There are other little stupid things like this littered all throughout the movie. See Devastator having transformer-testicles, Jetfire having a beard and cane, the decepticon toy truck humping Megan Fox's leg, etc. It's obvious Bay just doesn't give a crap, and I can't really blame him too much. This movie will make a ton no matter what, he'll get a big chunk of the profits, and he'll get a huge budget for the inevitable Transformers 3.


Overall, I'll give it a 4.5/10 just for the action and special effects. I think that's pretty generous, as I have no desire to watch this ever again. It started promising enough with a pretty cool opening sequence in Shanghai, but after that it went downhill quick. The best thing I can say about seeing it already is that I know that I won't have to see it again.