The Transformers 2 Thread--A Michael Bay thread

[areaseven]

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?

That's funny; I didn't notice that the deli was specifically Jewish. I thought it was a simple meat shop.

[kaiotheforsaken]

Just some interesting figures from Fandango for the films debut.

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen enjoyed a spectacular debut on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, according to Fandango, the nation’s leading movie ticketing destination. Among the stats:

• Last night Fandango sold out more than 2,000 midnight and late night/early morning show times nationwide.

• Fandango has been selling more than 8 Transformers tickets per second during peak periods, prior to opening day. That number could rise today.

• Transformers 2 currently represents 94% of all ticket sales on Fandango (as of 9:00 a.m. PT today).

• Transformers 2 now ranks as Fandango’s biggest pre-sales title of the year to date.

• Transformers 2 is selling twice as many tickets as Iron Man sold on Fandango at the same point in that film’s sales cycle.

• Midnight showtimes of Transformers 2 were sold out across the country, from Abingdon, Maryland to Yuba City, CA. One theater in Las Vegas sold out as many as ten midnight showtimes."

I know where I was there was 4-5 lines snaked around the entire building for both regular and IMAX screenings and Fandango is sold out of IMAX tickets for the next week on in my area for every showing but like 2 am ones. Love it or hate it, at least the movie is generating lots of revenue for a franchise we all love or enjoy in some capacity.

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

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

Worth Buying

• Leader Optimus Prime
• Human Alliance Bumblebee
• Voyager Megatron
• Skids
• Mudflap
• The Fallen

Worth Avoiding

• Soundwave

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.

If Leader Prime wasn't designed and engineered so damn well, Human Alliance Bumblebee would be the best figure in the line.

Voyager megs looks pretty decent too, better than his leader version

He is definitely much more fun to pose, most accurate too. Edited June 25, 2009 by Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0

[kaiotheforsaken]

I really want the new Leader Prime, I actually have grown quite fond of the movie design and this is probably the closest we'll get to a movie accurate one. He seems pretty darn close, so I'm not entirely sure an MP would be warranted.

I do have a question about him though, the pictures I've seen in this thread seem to show him having metallic gray areas versus the sort of dull gray from the previous release. Is that standard? Or was it part of the custom work that was done on that figure? I haven't had a chance to snoop the toy sections and get a look for myself yet.

More to the point: in this image http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...st&id=68099 I realize that the weathering and some of the other details were added, but is the silver that nice on the legs and such out of the box?

Edited June 25, 2009 by kaiotheforsaken

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

I do have a question about him though, the pictures I've seen in this thread seem to show him having metallic gray areas versus the sort of dull gray from the previous release. Is that standard? Or was it part of the custom work that was done on that figure? I haven't had a chance to snoop the toy sections and get a look for myself yet.

He's molded in grey but it isn't metallic.

More to the point: in this image http://www.macrossworld.com/mwf/index.php?...st&id=68099 I realize that the weathering and some of the other details were added, but is the silver that nice on the legs and such out of the box?

No. In fact, had this figure been molded in the dark blue and red that the TF1 Leader Prime had, the grey wouldn't look so bad on the ROTF Prime.

[kaiotheforsaken]

Hmmm might have to hold out for a Takara release than and see what kinds of improvements they might offer. Provided they're changing anything this time around.

I'm really tempted though regardless, thanks for the heads up Shin.

[transfan52]

WARNING MAJOR SPOILERS!

I saw the movie yesterday opening night... While I thought the action was great and some of the humor funny it was a bit too crude for my taste... Sam and his parents seemed like a buncha selfish half-wits that didn't know what to do with their lives and only cared about having a good ol time while humanity and the earth was in danger...

I kinda disliked sam's character in this one for that reason... He was too self absorbed in this film, which is something he wasn't in the first... He seemed intelligent and mature in the first movie but now he just seems like a total tool... The college roomate kid was kinda annoying as well... He was such a wuss.

Another thing I absolutely hated was the twins... they were very annoying character's IMO and i'm not fond of ppl with that attitude... they're usually the kinda ppl that are criminals and rob banks for a living, as well as sell drugs... Something an autobot doesn't represent... They made the autobots look uneducated and stupid IMO..

Last but not least the female decepticon thing... that whole idea just seemed so unnecessary, who the hell would trust such a slurmty woman like that to be ready to fall into your arms the moment you catch her eye... The whole idea was rushed and stupid.

Oh and megatron... Hmm what the hell were the writers thinking?! Megatron serves no one but himself that's why he is such a good villain! He would never stoop so low as to be someones lapdog. It's out of character and made megatron seem like a big wuss...

If you want the see awesome CG robot action than this is it, but don't expect to be blown away by the lackluster plot and character development this movie has to offer... its sub par at best.

Edited June 25, 2009 by transfan52

[Twoducks]

Liked the movie but not as much as the first. Felt long and the whole Fallen plot is kinda meh.

Don't know much of The Fallen's lore from the other TF continuities but I did skip through the movie prequel comic where I think he made more sence. Megatron being he's bitch makes the leader of the decepticons feel weak. I was expecting a doublecross or at least the mention of a possible doublecross, not such an obidient Megatron lackey. Guess Starscreams "running aways is sometimes a good idea" was a way of saying they weren't that loyal

The twins were forgetable. Just background noise really (*name calling*punch*name calling*punch...). The little RC robot was the one that made me laugh even if it was a little over the top.

Starscream's character does shine big time through the whole movie. And the tattos look fantastic on him. I found myself wanting more screen time for him.

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

Do get Leader Prime. I have him next to the first Leader Prime... while I like Leader 1.0, the amount of detail and complexity of Leader 2.0 puts the first one to shame big time.

[Omegablue]

My review of this Transformers’ movie. Please note that I do lecture design for 3D animation, and story boarding and etc, so I’m going to try to be technical as possible, without sounding too technical. LOL

Spoiler alert.

The movie first of all is too long. Too many unnecessary characters which turn the overall plot into Sam and Friends saving the world, instead of being about Transformers. The humour I wouldn’t underline as racist, but unnecessarily stereo typing and pushing the element of patronising. There is one factor which can come across as Michael Bay’s belief of his nation’s superiority. And honestly, given the political circumstances presently around the world, they are open for too many interpretations? Anyway, it’s the grand finale battle in Egypt. The US troops and their transformer allies are struggling against the menacing Deceptacons The US manages to get support from Egypt’s neighbouring country Jordan, and they send in two unarmed helicopters but filled with soldiers, but had no reason to fly into the heart of the battle, in direct fire and last 5 seconds. Was this sending a message that the Jordanian military is incompetent? In one of the shot down helicopters the pilots are still alive, and are greeted by Mr Turturro claiming that all is going to be alright and the USA will save them. This can be interpreted as a political message, and in a movie meant to be for total escapism for all ages, political statements like these maybe could be avoided? It only unnecessarily provokes those with a strong idealism to dislike this movie just on this basis.

Another miss-understanding is the black butcher with popping eyes and working to save up to have his horrendous dental structure fixed. And he might be compared to the twin robots, which have a similar street slung vocabulary, and surprise, surprise, also have issues with their eyes and malfunctioned designed “robotic teeth”?

Thinking about it, Michael Bay is not racist, far from it. And his previous movies alone will defend him on this. But he does like to make fun of people in general. Like every one of else. And I think people should take this with a pinch of salt.

Plot wise though, weak. It lacked thought when bringing in the Matrix concept as it breaks the continuity of the first film, and renders the hunt for the All-Spark pretty much puny against the great weapon concealed inside a pyramid. Of which not only can supply Cybertron with needed energy, but destroy Earth as well. Basically it’s a Death Star and giant battery all in one. And true, the All-Spark was needed to locate the Matrix and then this device, and some cleverness is present there in the script, I’ll give credit to that. But stutters with Hollywood’s common approach of hurried script writing for sequels, as when the audience re-watches the first film, they will be left with the following thought. “Geez Optimus Prime, you knew that giant weapon was hiding in the biggest pyramid on Earth all this time, and for two years you failed to mention this to us, not even protect it or disassemble it on your own! Yes humans would destroy themselves with it, but it’s what the Deceptacons are really after! Thanks buddy, you must be really close friends with Michael Bay. What other catastrophic weapons are there hiding behind the Monalisa painting and beneath the Washington Monument that will allow for sequels 3 and 4?”

From here the question has to be asked as to why archaeologists never detected that mammoth chunk of metal when treasure hunting? And also goes against the actual fact of the photographed tunnels through the pyramids. Is it that difficult to keep common sense in a movie like this? Or does the director and producers really think that 99% of the world lacks this common sense, as well a basic education?

Next problem with the plot is another break in the story’s continuity when aligned with the first film. The second film comes across that mysteriously enough the world is totally unaware of the giant robot fight at the ending of the first film? Apparently it’s all top secret and hackers which coincidentally ended up in Sam’s dorm room, are trying to unveil it? Now rewind to the final battle of the first movie. Half a city was destroyed. An entire city saw what happened. Saw giant robots! GIANT ROBOTS! So either the US government is really controlled by Will Smith’s Men in Black, and worked over time in brain washing every citizen in that city before the next day, or this happened on another alternative Earth? Another unusual aspect of this transformers movie was the ability that some of the robots could shape shift, like liquid metal robots… What, isn’t that Alice girl meant to be in Terminator 3? Yes, there’s a young woman that possesses the identical abilities of the shape shifting female Terminator from T3, and steps in to lure Sam. And yes, her metal body can replicate the soft warm flesh that can fool any college male. With this type of technology, why don’t the bad robots penetrate the human world as humans, instead of radios and giant cranes? Also the robots and all the technology of there bodies, lack the ability to see through walls or detect motion behind walls? This is present in the search for Sam in Egypt. Oh yes, and any passengers that are in a car dropped nose down from ten floors on a concrete floor, will not survive. FACT! End of story!

Next the special effects… they do not deliver. Not the effects directly, but Hollywood on as a whole. The impatience of Hollywood and its money making producers who wanted to stroll another early retirement package for themselves right after the first film, pushed this movie to be made two years later. This ruined what could have been a real epic sequel. 3D animation ain’t cheap, and takes a lot of time to produce, but lets be honest, what’s wow about this sequel when compared to the first film. Nothing that hasn’t been seen before, even in other movies! I will remain to my opinion, that if this movie was given extra time on a better script, and whole lot more time in production, it had the potential to really do that all epic battle with armies of Transformers. Additional production time would have made this movie great. But greed, limited his to be what it is. And has failed to explore the potential of a true grand battle, and of truly pushing the limits of animation. Sadly it’s since StarWars Episode 3, the Matrix trilogy, and the LOTR trilogy that Hollywood has been unable to produce another proper epic battle on the fantasy theme, while further exploiting the unlimited strength of 3D animation. This is the fault of the mentality to push a movie out as soon as possible, and cash in on the cheap merchandising. The love of creating fantasy masterpieces from movies is deteriorating cause of this. Yes, the effects were faultless in this movie, but failed in taking the ingredients, adding a bit more time and planning, and giving that extra worth to the ticket paid. This is even further damaged, as those with a sharp eye from the film industry will have picked up that the scenes shot above the arriving F-16 fighters and B-2 bomber, have a sudden roughness on the film. This could be because they maight have been taken out from documentaries? Not 100% certain, but 90%.

Short cuts to meet over optimistic deadlines are ruining movies. Terminator Salvation was evidence of this considering how Sky Net was protected by what? Three robots? Potential wasted is a shame in any field of creativity.

Finally the whole movie did feel like a montage, or a homage of other movies, but with Transformers added. Here’s a list of the movies that came to mind at various parts of Transformers ROTF.

Shiaghai intro of Optimis Prime – Batman the Dark Knight in Hong Kong.

Kitchen appliance robots – The Gremlins.

The Kitchen appliance robots battle in the garden. – Toy Soldiers, and incidentally enough, the father of that movie is played by the same actor that is Sam’s father.

Megatron returns to the Fallen, and the whole Master and apprentice chat. – Almost every Starwars movie.

The arrival of the Deceptacons. – Armageddon.

The sinking of the aircraft carrier. – Titanic.

Alice, the female shape shifting Transformer. – TX Terminator from T3.

The robot squid implanted in Sam. – The robot squid implanted in Neo in the first Matrix movie.

Megatron on the tall building. – King Kong.

Jetfire’s teleporting abilities. – Jumper.

The Egypt chase. – Indiana Jones chased by Nazis.

Jordanian helicopter crash. – Black Hawk down.

Mikaela bringing Sam back to life with her begging love. – Trinity to Neo in the first movie?

The Fallen’s design. – Lego Bionicle? LOL

There are probably more, but some of the above do come across as pretty obvious. You decide. This is a personal opinion and I have nothing against it if it was intended.

Conclusion: First onto the positive features. More robot fights. Another Glimpse into the Transformer’s home world, Cybertron. Sideswipe or is it Sideways? Anyway that new Autobot based on a silver prototype car (Very cool in design and fighting style). Ravage, absolutely brilliant, and hopefully we’ll see it as mass production in other sequels. Soundwave is a very clever interpretation, considering in the cartoons he was just giant walkman. The forest fight was exciting. That alone was worth half of the movie. And, and? Well, unless if you really like big robots fighting, and you’re willing to endure all the long slow-motion moments every time Sam and Mikaela look into each other’s eyes, then in my opinion is it worth a second watch. Yes, it is already worth a first watch.

Onto the negatives. The first transformers movie had a more serious approach, and its clever comic relief moments were well timed to even out the pace. This sequel was over done with its attempted funny moments, which were just pointless and vulgar lameness. Example, the small RC robot humping Megan’s leg? Does this show what’s on the mind of the production set? Sam’s fit in his first class was poorly done, and he looked like one of those clowns hired for a 4 year old birthday party. The fight scenes still weren’t clear and a bit confusing. Why Peter Jackson was able to achieve a brilliant fight scene between King Kong and the T-Rex’s, which was clear and easy to follow, while these movies made afterwards do not use that as reference is anyone’s guess? And finally too many human characters, with too much useless dialogue, that it felt like the movie should have been titled “Sam, and family, and friends, save the world”. This movie is no art. It’s just eye candy entertainment for males that don’t want to think too much while digging in pop corn. I really do wish that such franchises were given to directors like Cameron, Nolan, Jackson or Scott, cause they take charge of the films, not the marketing producers chasing deadlines.

[Twoducks]

Anybody else felt bummed that

there are Constructicons all over the place? I mean Devastator could easily be one guy split into a bunch of vehicles. Hell, Hasbro’s 100$ non transforming Dev toy IS movie accurate since Devastator's parts never do turn into robots; they just happen to look exactly like some other Decepticons vehicles modes do.

Which points to the movie not having enough Decepticon designs hence the reuse of constructicons (and Blackout and the one Prime killer with his sword on the first film) along with the generic protoform foot soldiers.

[Roy Focker]

I've also seen people at other places comment about the black butcher with the bad teeth. There's something people should know the actor isn't black. I'm surprised no one spotted who he was. Remember Street Fighter The Later Years? He's the guy who played Dhalsim.

Yes Bay does go very Pro-US Military in his movies. Why isn't he directing GIJOE? Yes it would still suck (with more bombs) but at least it would be a REAL AMERICAN HERO again.

[Effect]

You know I've been reading about the complaints about the "racial" aspects of the movie after the fact and to be honest I didn't see any issue when I was viewing the film. Neither did the several other fellow African Americans in the theater I was in seem to have an issue from the comments I heard during or after the film. The problem is people automatically linking Mudflap and Skids to AA when in truth tons people off all skin colors and ethnicity act like that. You can just as easily find a white kid acting like that as a black kid and a Hispanic kid. I've even come across Asian kids acting like that. The transformer personalities are based on how they absorbed human culture from the internet. That was clear from the first film. Also take not there is nothing even racial reference when the two characters are speaking either. All in all the two characters are forgettable as well. I didn't even realize what their names were until the end of the film and even then it was only Mudflap. For those having an issue with it I'd ask them why they at the same time are over looking Tyress Gibson's character. A solid non-stereotype African American male that appears to be second in command of the NEST team (and the original team in the first film) after Major Lenox who is on the frontline and a valued ally of the Transformers. That's annoying me. The same way everyone wanted to jump on Jar Jar in Star Wars yet willingly ignore Mace Windu and Capt. Panaka (Padme's top military guy on Naboo).

A Bay directed GIJOE would be really interesting. If anyone was going to direct a film like that then he'd really have been my first choice. That type of movie just demands insane explosions and a great chase scene.

Edited June 25, 2009 by Effect

[Fit For Natalie]

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

That had the longest sustained laughter at the IMAX press screening I was at.

There is one factor which can come across as Michael Bay’s belief of his nation’s superiority.

And it is a perfectly reasonable belief in the circumstances of a war with giant alien robots. Last I checked, the United States has the largest and most technologically advanced Air Force and Navy in the world, and are possibly the only nation who can actually field a

practical railgun

.

This movie is no art. It’s just eye candy entertainment for males that don’t want to think too much while digging in pop corn. I really do wish that such franchises were given to directors like Cameron, Nolan, Jackson or Scott, cause they take charge of the films, not the marketing producers chasing deadlines.

Those directors think fairly highly of themselves, so they would not have anything to do with this franchise. Transformers is a toy franchise, and for that reason Bay didn't want to do the movie at first place.

Transformers has been for the most part popcorn entertainment. It's silly, it's fun, it's not meant to be taken very seriously. Looking for 'art' in Transformers suggests you are looking at the franchise in completely the wrong way. I don't mean Transformers shouldn't have quality, mature storytelling, what I mean is you're looking at Transformers from a viewpoint of a art scholar or academic, which is quite comical given it's Transformers.

Transformers = Serious Business indeed.

Edited June 25, 2009 by Fit For Natalie

[Omegablue]

I've also seen people at other places comment about the black butcher with the bad teeth. There's something people should know the actor isn't black. I'm surprised no one spotted who he was. Remember Street Fighter The Later Years? He's the guy who played Dhalsim.

I think that's a movie most people are trying to forget.

[Omegablue]

Transformers has been for the most part popcorn entertainment. It's silly, it's fun, it's not meant to be taken very seriously. Looking for 'art' in Transformers suggests you are looking at the franchise in completely the wrong way. I don't mean Transformers shouldn't have quality, mature storytelling, what I mean is you're looking at Transformers from a viewpoint of a art scholar or academic, which is quite comical given it's Transformers.

Transformers = Serious Business indeed.

True, it's a business. But in my field we have to look at everything as a art scholar or academic viewpoint, to get the maximun out of the artists involved. Lets look at Batman. It's Batman, it's a franschise, originally made for kids like Transformers, and it's a business. Yet Nolan managed to turn it into a quality, mature storytelling and as art in the film sense, without any of the lame comical features in Transformers.

[eriku]

I think that's a movie most people are trying to forget.

Street Fighter: The Later Years was the episodic internet series that was actually quite a hit. The official movies on the other hand....

[Dangard Ace]

Michael Bay movies are considered art? Hahahahaha!!! MB movies = lots of explosions, patriotic slo-mo flybys, chicks in tight outfits. Ooo Rah Rah chest thumping!

Transformers (up until the movies) were all about Giant Robots duking it out on Earth, lots of explosions, lots of jokes interspersed throughout each episode, supporting autobot cast is never super serious always joking, etc etc etc.

ROTF delivers on all of the above. It's a visual explosion of fireworks with characters we've known for a long time.

[azrael]

I shouldn't need to remind you people of this should I...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRS90V8BQGo

Just stop thinking when you watch Michael Bay movies. It will make it better.

[UN Spacy]

WOW.....20% on Rotten Tomatoes. I think I'm gonna pass.

I don't see how there can be ANY redeeming qualities in this one.

[Hoptimus]

Well.

I knew what I was in for.

Same as the first but with more.

Thats what you get.

There are some awesome awesome fights and effects.

Not much of a story but its a bit more than the first.

Lots of bots!

Its action packed and doesnt let up for a minute.

Is it Citizen Kane? No. Not even close.

Is it fun? Hell yes!

If you liked the first one you should check it out.

[cobywan]

I was bored out of my skull with all the fight scenes. Really. Except the one in the forest. But that one had a purpose and a poignant moment in it. And Sam's parents at the end of the movie were great.

[Effect]

WOW.....20% on Rotten Tomatoes. I think I'm gonna pass.

I don't see how there can be ANY redeeming qualities in this one.

Interesting enough I was watching Rachel Maddow on MSNBC last night and she covered this a little. She showed quotes from some reviews from papers and compared that with actually people that came of the theater. Not completely scientific but shows that what people like isn't always going to be what reviewers like. Some times people just want to be entertained pure and simple. When it comes to movies like this that aren't trying to be works of art but are suppose to be fun I usually find "professional" reviewers are more often off the mark. Not always though.

[Valkyrie addict]

Megan fox was smoking hot...and the other robo-terminator chick too, I didn't gave a sh!t about big giant robots blowing each other, movie was entertaining, I had fun, but then returned to my real life and I don't care if the plot made sense, if the characters were properly developed or if they raped the childhood memories from an 80's cartoon

a lot of people forget this is a movie about a cartoon with giant transforming robots, you're an idiot if you go into the theater expecting an oscar winning performance

[Effect]

I was bored out of my skull with all the fight scenes. Really. Except the one in the forest. But that one had a purpose and a poignant moment in it. And Sam's parents at the end of the movie were great.

That forest scene caused my entire theater to cheer and clap. Which was very surprising considered the age makeup of the people there.

[kaiotheforsaken]

Yeah, user reviews have been way more positive than critics. I really don't put much stock in what people like Roger Ebert or whatever say about films like this. Especially since Transformers is such a big part of my childhood personally, their experiences at the movie likely wont be anything close to mine.

[Twoducks]

That forest scene caused my entire theater to cheer and clap. Which was very surprising considered the age makeup of the people there.

My theater on the other hand must have been bored out off their skulls since the only thing that caused a reaction was the

bathroom scene

and the

leg humping

... which isn't bad per se but even if the movie is f* long there are better moments in this film. Good thing I came to see this with my brother (boring audiences make the experience duller).

[Max Jenius]

It was a decent movie.

My complaint with it is about the things that just seem thrown in. Wheelie for instance really could have disappeared and I wouldn't care. Arcee bikes got one line. Optimus combines with Jetfire(who just commited suicide) only to have his upgrade disappear minutes later....

The movie "homages" mentioned before are kind of weak. Anyone that ever teleports in a movie is now a Jumper reference? Cmon.

American superiority? I think more Americans died in the movie than Jordanians....

[kaiotheforsaken]

The only American superiority vibe I got was off that guy the president appointed

and he got his anyway

[David Hingtgen]

The more I see of Rottentomatoes, the more I think their measurement system is flawed. It's pass/fail in essence. A movie that ranks an "F" is rated the same as "C+" really. IIRC it's either an A/B movie, or not. If there's a lot of people straddling the C+/B- line, then the numbers get REALLY skewed---I think that's the difference between the first and second movies, Tomato-meter-wise.

Same reason such a wide range of movies all have 90%+. The A+ and the B- movies all are ranked equally. People just agree "above average"---not that one movie is "good" and one is "amazing". (I use a lot of Pixar movies as my judgement---there's a good amount of variance in quality, but all are good---that shows at Rottentomatoes)

[Shin Densetsu Kai 7.0]

Transformers has been for the most part popcorn entertainment. It's silly, it's fun, it's not meant to be taken very seriously. Looking for 'art' in Transformers suggests you are looking at the franchise in completely the wrong way. I don't mean Transformers shouldn't have quality, mature storytelling, what I mean is you're looking at Transformers from a viewpoint of a art scholar or academic, which is quite comical given it's Transformers.

I can see where he is coming from, as the whole point of even bringing properties like Transformers and G.I. Joe to the screen was to prove that they can be just as big as Spiderman or Batman. If Hasbro just wanted to keep the campy stuff they would have never ventured towards a goal of having blockbuster movies for their properties. Yes both Joe and TF have been known for campy cartoons, but the movies are going beyond that where they can compete with the likes of other cartoon/comic/toy-based movies.

Hell I know Transformers and G.I. Joe comics aren't going to be the dawn of a new Renaissance with illustrations of Snake Eyes or Megatron drawing people to the Louvre, but that doesn't stop me from utilizing what I learned in art school when providing constructive criticism of the comics.

WOW.....20% on Rotten Tomatoes. I think I'm gonna pass.

I don't see how there can be ANY redeeming qualities in this one.

Honestly, I had a great time watching this movie, I thought the 1st one was great but this one was better. If you liked the first one you might love this one, don't let the reviews stop you. I had read and heard of many of the reviews, but it still managed to be an awesome film.

That forest scene caused my entire theater to cheer and clap. Which was very surprising considered the age makeup of the people there.

The forest scene was $%^&*(ing amazing especially after seeing Prime have to hold back so much against Megatron in TF1 since he was around so many civilians. Literally an EPIC battle.

The movie "homages" mentioned before are kind of weak. Anyone that ever teleports in a movie is now a Jumper reference? Cmon.

American superiority? I think more Americans died in the movie than Jordanians....

They did, like in the carrier scene. I saw the Jordanian assistance not something of American superiority but something likely to happen if a battle where to happen in that region(or close to it) of the world.

Transformers (up until the movies) were all about Giant Robots duking it out on Earth, lots of explosions, lots of jokes interspersed throughout each episode, supporting autobot cast is never super serious always joking, etc etc etc.

ROTF delivers on all of the above. It's a visual explosion of fireworks with characters we've known for a long time.

And unlike the first one you don't have to wait for 40 minutes for consistent action to start brewing. TF1 was the intro that we all sat through because it was the first live action, but this one hits hard from the very beginning. The Shanghai battle was cool.

One of my main disappointments was the severe lack of screentime of many of the new Autobots(same could be said about the Constructicons). Jolt is barely in there. The Arcee sisters show up but not much. Sideswipe is mainly in the beginning, not much else.

What I do like, is that despite limited screentime, some of the above characters got some excellent figures in the movie line.

[Phyrox]

I was expecting some harmless fun with cool giant robots.

I was sorely disappointed.

That might have been the stupidest blockbuster I've seen since, well maybe ever.

I'm not film snob, but seriously, this movie offended me it was so stupid. Plot, dialog, even action, everything was disappointing.

I found the first one entertaining in its way...but I'll never be watching this one again, even if it's on cable.

And since when is the Smithsonian ajoining a desert airfield?

[Hikuro]

Agreed........this movie was just crap tastic....I wont be buying this on DVD unless it's in the 1 dollar bin at a dollar store.

[Gubaba]

I was expecting some harmless fun with cool giant robots.

I was sorely disappointed.

That might have been the stupidest blockbuster I've seen since, well maybe ever.

I'm not film snob, but seriously, this movie offended me it was so stupid. Plot, dialog, even action, everything was disappointing.

Funny...that's EXACTLY how I felt about the first one.

Clearly, this one ain't gonna be my type of thing.

I don't understand why so many people are saying things like, "sometimes people just want to be entertained, so just turn off your brain and enjoy the movie." Why does a movie have to treat you like a hyperactive ten-year-old in order to be considered "entertaining"?

[Max Jenius]

Ok, how about this then;

The Transformers movie, is on par with if not superior than it's G1 cartoon source material. Not quite as good as the comics, of course... but I'd wager that most people like TF because of the cartoons.

[Gubaba]

Ok, how about this then;

The Transformers movie, is on par with if not superior than it's G1 cartoon source material. Not quite as good as the comics, of course... but I'd wager that most people like TF because of the cartoons.

That's probably true.

I was never a huge Transformers fan...once I started watching Robotech, I got over the whole "talking giant robots with personalities" thing pretty quick, so maybe I didn't like the first Bayformers movie because of a lack of fondness for the original.

Ah well. If people enjoy it, who am I to stand in their way and be a wet blanket?