Transformers: First impressions

I had the chance to catch an early screening of Transformers yesterday. Here is my first impressions.

- Think of it as a theme ride in Disneyland.
- Very funny at times.
- Shia LaBeouf does a great job.
- Messy story at times and to much dialog to explain plot lines.
- VERY impressive special effects.
- A tad long but not TOO long.

Of the 2007 summer effects movies Die Hard is still number one but this one sneaks in on a second place above films like the disappointing Spider-man 3.

This is mediocre news! |=

I saw it last night and must say that after seeing the animated movie in the theaters 21 years ago and thinking wouldn't it be cool if they made a live action Transformers movie? 21 years was worth the wait. My friend, his son and I went last night at a special sneak peak. From beginning to end, it was one thrill after another. The theater resounded with cheers and claps the first being the brawl between Bumblebee and Barricade to when Optimus Prime appeared. This is one I will be seeing again!

Autobots, transform and roll out!

Don't get your hopes up just yet. RT has counted up to 92 reviews so far and is at 60%, in a grade level scale, this ranks as a D. Even their "Cream of the Crop" critics tally up to 69%, which is no better than a D+. I'm sure there will be more reviews to come in through July 3rd & 4th, and in my experience, the percentage rating is bound to drop. If you ask me, it just sounds like another mediocre summer film that can wait for DVD.

Its at times like these that I am very thankful that I am not encumbered by things like plot, story, mixing, editing etc etc.

I am a proud fast food movie enjoy-er. Heck Armageddon and The Fifth Element are still two of my favorite movies hahaa. Can go to a movie and simply enjoy a lot of cheesy action, special effects and a great soundtrack without letting a few plot messes ruin the experience for me.

I pity the refined viewer hahaa. I look forward to seeing it.

Cheers,

Richard

If you want to see a cool flick, go see Ratatouille. It's the only movie I can fully recommend.
Evan Almighty was fun as well, but I can't recommend it to everyone.

It's a summer movie. It explodes. It entertains. It looks DAMN good.

Does it make total sense 100% of the time? Not really. Does it really matter? Nope. We're not going to see Transformers in order to get a life lesson we're in it for the fun. Good enough for me.

Full review coming soon. :)

My wife and I really liked this movie. Definitely moreso I b/c it's in my movie tastes more but I thought it was great. Easily took the lead over SM3 which I was sorely disappointed with.

Toooo Looooong...

Y'know, there's a time where you just have to say enough is enough. I think that today's filmmaker's have no idea how to make a lean movie. I don't mean a short movie, I mean one that doesn't have all the unnecessary fluff that movies like this have.

The entire subplot about the NSA codebreakers should have been completely scrapped along with the Anthony Anderson stuff. It just padded the running time and skewed focus. Starting out in Iraq was completely unnecessary. The Sector 7 stuff was way too hammy and slow.

There was a great, lean movie machine underneath all of this, but Bay took it too far. There was a good 30 minutes of footage that should have been left on the floor. This movie should have been about the kid and the Transformers with government interference hinking things up. Instead, we get a crazily convoluted story that branches out in so many directions it couldn't possibly pull them all back together well.

And it didn't.
Not a horrible movie, but certainly not a great one. Worth checking out on DVD.

I have only one last hope for the summer, and it's from one of the leanest directors currently on the scene. Echoing Eddie's sentiments: Bourne, baby.

sean (...c'mon jason, don't fail me now!...)

[Post edited by skspence on Jul 5, 2007]

Sean,

I think they technically started out in Qatar, which is most definitely not Iraq. :)

Truly, this was the most Michael Bay-est of Michael Bay movies that Michael Bay ever Michael Bay-ed.

I'm with Sean on this. The movie is called "Transformers" not "Boring Humans I Don't Care About." They could have easily cut out a bunch of the B-stories and all the lame attempts at comedy. It's not like they were ever going to be well-rounded, multi-dimensional characters anyway. I want to see giant robots smashing stuff not playing hide & seek. Good lord, did that sequence go on forever.

I have to say the eye candy is superb. The Transformers looked amazing and their movements were absolutely fluid. They were just so much more interesting characters and I wished they had devoted more time to them.

Maybe I have the burden of knowledge being a huge Transformers fan and child of the 80's. Starscream was always one of my favorites and I was really disappointed he didn't really do anything. Where was the treacherous, backstabbing bastard Starscream? On the plus side, it was MUSIC TO MY EARS to hear Peter Cullen once again voice Optimus Prime.

-Will

I agree with a lot of what skspence said "Transformers" is too long. I think the film runs literally about twenty minutes over what it should. Despite its weaknesses, it is still probably one of the top three films I've seen this summer. (I realize that may not be saying much...) I DO think it's worth seeing in the theater! The audience seems to really react to it which heightens the experience.

That said, I am really looking forward to "The Bourne Ultimatum"!!!

As usual, I have to agree with most of what Sean says. The movie is way, way too long, the final battle going on for at least forty-five hectic minutes. My only disagreement is minor. I found myself fidgeting by the second half and almost nodding off during the climactic shoot-out.

I think maybe you either have to be very young or have to have grown up with the Transformers action figures and cartoons in the eighties to appreciate the film fully. The audience I was with seemed equally divided between children and men in their late twenties and thirties. As an old fart, I found the movie very loud, very frenetic, and, as I say, very long. Fortunately, there is enough eye candy to satisfy the fun factor for a while, and the Transformers' CGI transformations look splendid. At least, the first few times we see it. Unfortunately, director Michael Bay seems to think that anything that works once he should repeat unto the threshold of pain, so we get to see the transformations about 800 times.

Anyway, what should I have expected? It's a movie based on a series of toys and cartoons. Darn right it's going to be cartoony. What I didn't expect, though, was the movie's huge similarity to "Independence Day." The same interweaving of several plot strands and several sets of characters, all of them coming together at the end. There's even the same government cover-up of alien technology involved.

Shia LaBeouf is good as the put-upon teenage protagonist. John Voight keeps a straight face as the Secretary of Defense (more than Don Rumsfeld could have done). Megan Fox is appropriately foxy. Josh Duhamel is acceptably heroic. And thank goodness for John Turturro, who seems like the only one in the picture who realized the whole affair probably started out as a campy, tongue-in-cheek thriller instead of the dead serious or outright comedic movie that most of the cast play it for.

Anyway, it's lightweight summer fun for the kid in all of us. Emphasis on the "lightweight." 5/10

John

[Post edited by John J. Puccio on Jul 7, 2007]

"Bay took it too far"

Story of his career.

To each his own tastes. Personally, I've seen it four times in one week and it never looses its luster.

I haven't seen it, but I'm sure it sucks. (just filling in for Eddie)


Seriously, though, 2 1/2 hours for this thing? Why are so many of the recent blockbusters so ridiculously bloated? Pirates at nearly 3 hours. Spider-Man 3 at 2.5, etc. Did Lord of the Rings start this whole phenomenon? Fantastic Four 2 was lousy, but at least it had the decency to be short.