The Transformers 2 Thread--A Michael Bay thread

[Renato]

It wasn't just spare parts, the piece of Allspark stolen by Ravage was placed in his spark chamber to bring him back

Yeah, I remembered that after I posted. But then, that begs an obvious question:

Sam had another shard. Why couldn't he use that?

[Valkyrie Nut]

Yeah, I remembered that after I posted. But then, that begs an obvious question:

Sam had another shard. Why couldn't he use that?

The other shard was used to wake up Jetfire

[areaseven]

Question: When Sam, Mikaela and Leo are in the Saturn Astra trying to get away from Alice, Mikaela rams Alice against a light post. Why didn't the airbags deploy?

[myk]

Because....GM quality sucks and the airbags malfunctioned?

[areaseven]

It's good to hear Frank Welker as Soundwave once again, but I was a bit disappointed. He sounded more like Dr. Claw than Soundwave.

"I'll get you next time, Gadget! Next time!!!"

Edited June 24, 2009 by areaseven

[kaiotheforsaken]

I heard him in an interview a few months ago and he tried to do Megatron again...sounded awful. Few more hours and I get to go stand in line.

[VF5SS]

This movie is racist and awful.

[areaseven]

This movie is racist and awful.

How is it racist?

[Dangard Ace]

Who the hell is Alice? Movies not out yet so use SPOILER TAGS if you're going to talk about the movie. Even then use spoiler tags for at least until after the coming weekend, some people won't see this on opening night!

[VF-19]

Bought my ticket online for the local 10:40 IMAX showing. For me, it's almost right after work, as I finish at 8:30 in the morning. Luckly, the theater is about a 5 minute walk from my workplace. Can't wait!!!!

[Gubaba]

This movie is racist and awful.

Which makes it different from the first one HOW exactly...?

[kaiotheforsaken]

This movie was fantastic, but if you didn't like the first one...well you wont like this one I don't think.

I think people take some of lighter aspects a bit too seriously be it (ill spoiler it just in case)

dogs humping, Devastator testicles, robots with a slightly more...urban vocabulary or w/e

I mean really, chill the hell out.

Now for some more semi-spoilery review stuff so I'll just tag the next block.

Soundwave, despite not transforming, is awesome and sounds very much like his old self, minus the voice synth thing, you still definitely know it's the same guy.

It's long, the Imax clocked in at about 2:30 or 2:40 with no previews, I personally loved it all, but I can certainly see where some would find the length unappealing.

Definitely more bots this time fighting and whatnot, but most of the focus was on Prime and Bee for the Autobots and Megatron with an even mix of Scream and The Fallen. Still lots of bot battles, and if you are a Prime fan, you should enjoy the battles at least.

The story is a bit more fleshed out, with far more TF lore in than in the first, which I personally liked. They seemed to keep pretty true to the Fallen's origins (at least as far as I could tell). Some asked why the Fallen could hold the Matrix and I'd say it's safe to say that as one of the original Primes he'd be able to hold it by default.

Megatron had a much larger role and wayyyy more speaking, you could definitely pick up on the Hugo Weaving this time. Starscreams dialogue was really on par with his traditional character imo, so that should keep people happy.

Overall I really had a great time with this one. Despite knowing Prime survived the film his "death" midway through made my heart sink, just like i was about 6 years old and watching the old animated movie. Watching Prime kick some serious ass made me feel like a kid again too. That's probably why I enjoyed it so much, it has flaws that I'm sure plenty of people will bitch about, but for me it just made me feel like that 6 year old who idolized Prime all over again.

So I definitely recommend it.

[Chewie]

Racist how exactly?

Also, totally awesome and better than the first one. can't wait to see it in IMAX this weekend.

[VF5SS]

I mean really, chill the hell out.

No. This has no place in the movie, much less a Transformers movie.

[David Hingtgen]

Overall comments:

About the same as the first. A bit worse overall probably. IMHO, the bad parts weren't as bad as the first, the good parts weren't as good as the first. More homogenous.

Starscream fans will be happy due to him having probably 10x more dialogue and characterization that the first. (though that wouldn't take much).

IMHO, there seemed to be fewer (or at least less "dramatic") transformations--especially of those I wanted to see transform!

Spoilery comments:

No Jetfire flying in SR-71 mode! Except for like 0.5 secs where you don't even see him until he's half transformed. I really was hoping for a scene where the USAF reports a Mach 3 target on radar or something, or Starscream (or even a USAF F-22) try to chase him. An SR-71 in full burner is a beautiful sight, and we never see it.

How long until Fans Project makes a "add on set" for Devastator? You know what.

Most unnecessary scene/humor was everything up to and involving the Smithsonian bathroom.

Repaints! Canon on-screen repaints. Cheap. (1 or 2 would have been fine, but we had 2 whole Devastators). And 1 or 2 non-repaints---pretty sure there were 2 identical Long Hauls. 40 bots yes, but more like 10 real designs, 10 generic/kitchenbots, and each of those repainted.

Why is EVERY new bot "goofy-faced"? (mainly directed at the kitchenbots and Wheelie)

Going with the "dramatic transformation" aspect---I don't think we ever got a good Starscream one---would have especially liked to get one, he always does it so fast and in mid-air---would have liked to see him go slowly/dramatically from tatooed jet (which looks very cool on-screen) to bot at least once.

Devastator's combination is just a mess, can't see what's going on---zoom out please!

Both Devastator and the Fallen are used far too little. Show up, get beaten. I kept hoping/wanting more, but I knew that was it. Same for Sideways---if I hadn't seen the trailer multiple times, I wouldn't even know he HAD a robot mode.

Oh yeah, one final thing--no burning Fallen! WTF? He had a brief moment of slight glowing at his joints, but based on toys/repaints and previous incarnations that he would be covered in flames at one point

[Ginrai]

This is the best film review ever written by human hands: http://bit.ly/CR7km

[kaiotheforsaken]

No. This has no place in the movie, much less a Transformers movie.

Except no one else I've talked to about the movie sees it as racist but you...

But..was it the twins or whats his face talking about having bagels to shmeer?

Edited June 24, 2009 by kaiotheforsaken

[VFTF1]

This is the best film review ever written by human hands: http://bit.ly/CR7km

Agreed. Excellent, excellent review. Makes me want to go see ROTF

Pete

[badboy00z]

Are the fight scenes all zoomed in and can really make out anything like the first one or is it better?

[kaiotheforsaken]

They are more zoomed out for sure and overall easier to tell what's going on. That being said, some especially with more than two bots in melee can get a little busy, but overall I'd say it's easier to see whats going on.

[big F]

Also if only one who is proven can even touch the Matrix how was the Fallen even able to touch it without it turning back to pixie dust.

Thats because he is one of the original Primes, Only the primes and Sam can touch it.

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

Are the fight scenes all zoomed in and can really make out anything like the first one or is it better?

A LOT easier, one thing that definitely improved was the clarity, no more "HEY OPTIMUS IS TRANSFORMING BECAUSE WE CAN SEE THE EDGES OF HIS TRUCK ON THE EDGE OF THE SCREEN MOVING WHILE HEARING A TOKEN NOISE", no instead you actually see the action this time around. Much better camera work in my opinion, it wasn't as jittery or shift around to sequences happening in parallel to the main events on scene as much. The less visual confusion, the better, and thankfully scenes like the forest fight turned out awesome instead of an confusing visual mess.

Overall I like it better than the 1st movie, the humor wasn't as bad, and I was worried that the twins would suck, but they're not bad. The movie did end rather quick.

The Autobots fight more brutally this time around too, for those of you who were mad that Prime had to hold back in the last film, you'll love him in this film. I'm glad the trailers did not show the best scenes.

[kaiotheforsaken]

That's one thing I loved was Prime fighting. He's my favorite Transformer..maybe my favorite character ever and seeing him fight this time was a real treat.

[David Hingtgen]

IMHO the fight scenes were only a bit zoomed out. I could now tell what was going on 50% of the time, instead of 25% of the time. Still needs more zooming-out. Would especially have liked a bit more zooming-out on Devastator's combination scene.

[areaseven]

QUESTION:

Why did the Autobots entrust the Allspark shard to human forces when they know very well that they can't stop a Decepticon invasion by themselves?

[kaiotheforsaken]

Probably as a matter of trust, and also that it seemed to be stored on the same base where they...lived or whatnot so I mean it was basically under joint protection it seemed to me.

[Effect]

Great film and better then the last one. Saw with a packed theater this afternoon and after that Prime fight the entire place cheer. It was a good mix of people too from grandparents with grandchildren to friends, families, and couples (young and older). I do wish some of the newer Autobots had been given more of a focus but at least they were given speaking roles, and were addressed a number of times and not simply reduced to background characters. I wanted more Arcee though. She was always a favorite of mine from the cartoon.

Can't wait to see it again. Kinda have to since there were some parts I missed (had to drink water during the film) and some parts that simply went by to fast.

[areaseven]

Probably as a matter of trust, and also that it seemed to be stored on the same base where they...lived or whatnot so I mean it was basically under joint protection it seemed to me.

In that case,

why weren't there any Autobots guarding the premises?

[kaiotheforsaken]

It's a valid question, I think the conversation between Prime and that President appointed guy explains why it is where it is. I'll keep my ears open when I see it again.

[areaseven]

Of all the toys available for this film, which are worth buying and which are worth avoiding?

[David Hingtgen]

Buy Ransack, even though he's not an on-screen character.

[areaseven]

Buy Ransack, even though he's not an on-screen character.

Saw vids of him. Unfortunately, he's not available where I'm at.

I've already picked up Deluxe Bumblebee, which is just a retooled version of the one from the first film. Since I already have X number of movie BB's, I'm keeping this one sealed.

[Roy Focker]

Here's something to think about. That one former agent guy works in a Jewish Deli. In the back on the deli they have hanging pigs. That's not kosher. Is it there for another reason? Like for Porking?

[kaiotheforsaken]

I think the new Prime toy is worth the pick up, though I've only seen pictures of him so far, Human alliance Bumblebee is supposed to be a great buy as well. Voyager megs looks pretty decent too, better than his leader version and I've heard only good things about Sideswipe.

Interesting point about the Jewish deli, I hadn't really even thought of that, maybe trying to appeal to all walks of life? I think if they kept it semi apart and prepared it on it's own cutting boards and so forth it'd be ok. Or, it's an unorthodox Jewish deli and so they don't care about keeping Kosher.

[Dangard Ace]

It's a valid question, I think the conversation between Prime and that President appointed guy explains why it is where it is. I'll keep my ears open when I see it again.

Prime explains it when he first talks to Sam again.