The Transformers 2 Thread--A Michael Bay thread

[taksraven]

Michael Bay's

commercial........

More subtle than the Verizon one, but he's still in it.........

(Its for an Australian bank, BTW....)

Taksraven

[kaiotheforsaken]

An interview with Orci and Kurtzman, discusses several things regarding TF2 including their reaction to robots with gold teeth.

http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/features/...merican-way.php

[-Snowblind-]

http://www.lilformers.com/index.php/2009/0...-154-robo-film/

Just something to lighten the mood. I was going to put it in the Robotech LA thread, but that hasn't surfaced for months...

[the_foul_fowl]

Just watched TF2 today. Kinda mixed feelings about the movie. I've been avoiding this thread till now, just read through most of the comments on the movie.

Initially, I was kinda shocked at how Prime off-ed Demolishor in the opening act, and how savage and brutal he seemed to be. And bits like multiple sets of Constructicons in the Egypt battle were weird. Then it dawned on me that this is MB's Transformers, not the G1 that I knew of. So yeah, Prime is not the noble leader we know of from the G1 movie, he's determined to do whatever it takes the protect Earth. And Constructicons is a term that was never mentioned in the movie, if we take a look merely from what's in the movie, Devastastor is NOT made up of the Decepticons Demolishor, Rampage et al, but seems to be a separate entity that just happens to have its alternate form in several construction vehicles.

Ok.

That said, the movie was a bit easier to swallow. The fight scenes were better than the first, with Prime forest battle the best, and Bumblebee's fight with Rampage and Ravage a close second. Skids and Mudflap were dumb, but acceptable. Jetfire was cool, but more shots of him would have been appreciated.

Ratchet and Ironhide seemed to be reduced to cameo roles here. I would have expected Ratchet to have a bit more to say about Prime, and Ironhide's role as Weapons Specialist seemed hardly utilized. And yeah, too much pew pew weapons. It also seemed that they hardly transformed much in the second half of the movie. I missed the scenes like Starscream transforming, hitting and flying off from the first one.

What made the movie difficult was the toilet humour. A bit too much (wheelie), and I think the movie would have felt better if those scenes were simply edited out. They just don't add anything to the movie, IMO.

Some of the smart bits that worked were the Decepticon bulldog on Mixmaster (awesome, where can I get one?) and the "Decepticon suck my popsicle" sign on the ice-cream truck. More of those in the movie would have been appreciated, kinda like the slogan on the first movie's Barricade ("To enslave and destroy")

So overall, better fights than the first, but the lower brow than the first. Plot is irrelevant in both movies. Kinda evens out. In fact, I'd be interested to see a fan-edit without the toilet humour. Would I watch it again? Hard call, but once in a long while, and I'd prob just skip to the fight scenes.

[myk]

It's actually "To punish and enslave," but whatever...

[big F]

Im waiting for the fan edit of both films that completely removes almost all the human stuff and combines both films into one. The toilet humor in 2 would be easy to get rid of.

[peter]

Im waiting for the fan edit of both films that completely removes almost all the human stuff and combines both films into one. The toilet humor in 2 would be easy to get rid of.

Then you'd be left with one thirty minute episode.

Edited July 15, 2009 by peter

[big F]

Then you'd be left with one thirty minute episode.

Oddly that would make it more like the cartoon

[Wanzerfan]

I might get killed for saying this, but I think Arcee would've been better if she was whe Dennis Leary described in his song "Ass-hole" (I had to add the hyphen, it is the name of a song, you know).

A 1957 Caddillac ElDorado.

[VFTF1]

I will possibly go see this amobination abomination tomorrow. My girlfriend is being nice to me again, so we were going out tomorrow night for dinner and a movie - initially I thought we were going to see Bruno, but then she was all like 'didn't I promise to go see Transformers with you sweetheart?'

I thought of saying "yes, but I've changed my mind. Let's get on a plane, fly to Japan and watch EVA 2.0"

But - I guess I shouldn't push the good woman's benevolence!

So - assuming we don't get stuck over-indulging ourselves in our favorite Chinese joint tomorrow night....Transformers II: Revenge of the Fallen - you shall be watched!

Pete

Edited July 17, 2009 by VFTF1

[Wanzerfan]

Let me edit my last post:

A hot f*ck*ng pink 1957 Caddillac ElDorado

[doodler7]

Man, a lot of negative comments and reviews on this movie.

Before seeing ROTF, I watched the first movie twice. It's actually entertaining; like a movie that you would play in the background while a party is in session or while cleaning your room.

I like the movie as it is, an entertainer. I tried not to relate any plot consistency with the original cartoons story or DreamWave storyline...or hold gripes about the change of characters.

I think the movie just needed some key scenes with good dialogue and with some close up movements of the robot characters. I noticed that people in general react more to human faces and expression when hearing dialogues because that is the nature of things. So when we see these robotic characters with weird shapes, and unrefined camera pans and angles, their movie lines does not translate emotions well enough to evoke a feeling.

For the third installment, I would recommend to Bay to maybe isolate a longer fight scene between Optimus and Megatron with more clean angels and camera pans. As a designer and artist, it would have been pretty cool working on this movie; conceptualizing robot designs and story boarding. I am not a big fan of Devastator on this movie, the original green giant will always be my favorite. I'm glad that the U.S. Navy was able to take him out easily with the rail canon.

[Wanzerfan]

Another example of the toilet humor in the movie.

Jetfire farting out his parachute.

[Ghost Train]

So I finally see this flick... wow, it was so bad I don't even know where to start. It's like going to the dentist for the most painful procedure ever, and then have him or her force your mouth open while taking a dump down your throat.

[Keith]

I think the movie just needed some key scenes with good dialogue and with some close up movements of the robot characters. I noticed that people in general react more to human faces and expression when hearing dialogues because that is the nature of things. So when we see these robotic characters with weird shapes, and unrefined camera pans and angles, their movie lines does not translate emotions well enough to evoke a feeling.

I think it had more to do with all the robot dialogue feeling like an ADR afterthought. None of the robot dialogue this time felt like there were actual characters speaking "to" anybody, just felt like random words being strewn about.

[taksraven]

I think it had more to do with all the robot dialogue feeling like an ADR afterthought. None of the robot dialogue this time felt like there were actual characters speaking "to" anybody, just felt like random words being strewn about.

There was dialogue in this film?? Next you will say that it had a plot too!!!!! :lol:

Taksraven

[VFTF1]

So I finally see this flick... wow, it was so bad I don't even know where to start. It's like going to the dentist for the most painful procedure ever, and then have him or her force your mouth open while taking a dump down your throat.

That's the best review of any movie I have EVER read ANYWHERE in the history of the universe.

Pete

[taksraven]

That's the best review of any movie I have EVER read ANYWHERE in the history of the universe.

Pete

Nah, Mr Cranky's review of Spiceworld is much quicker and to the point. This, to me, qualifies as best ever.

http://www.mrcranky.com/movies/spice-world

And Matt Cale's old review on ruthlessreviews.com of Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever was just a page full of "Screw Flanders". That one was pretty good too....

Taksraven

[areaseven]

Official ROTF DVD/Blu-Ray Details

[myk]

I'm one of those idiots that waits every Tuesday at stores to buy the latest Blu-ray/dvd, but on this one? I'm going to have to pass...

[Wanzerfan]

So I finally see this flick... wow, it was so bad I don't even know where to start. It's like going to the dentist for the most painful procedure ever, and then have him or her force your mouth open while taking a dump down your throat.

The procedure you're most likely thinking about is a root canal...

...without novacane.

[mikeszekely]

I heard that Wal-Mart has a "big screen" edition for the Blu-Ray with the extra IMAX footage. Went down to check it out, and I was surprised that they only want $19.98 for it.

[David Hingtgen]

And even cheaper if you use the Papajohn's coupon.

At Blu-Ray.com the vote is like 85% for getting the Wal-Mart version. It's the cheapest, and has more raw footage. Who would choose a plastic Bumblebee case over that?

[eugimon]

but but, it transforms!

[mikeszekely]

And even cheaper if you use the Papajohn's coupon.

At Blu-Ray.com the vote is like 85% for getting the Wal-Mart version. It's the cheapest, and has more raw footage. Who would choose a plastic Bumblebee case over that?

I didn't have the Papa John's coupon. There's only one in my area, and I tried to order a pizza from them once... after being on hold for half hour, the kid that finally answered hung up on me.

[David Hingtgen]

Apparently, a lot of people just walked into Papajohn's and asked for a coupon and got it. (I actually ordered a pizza a bit ago without knowing about the coupon, but of course kept it when I got it)

Anyways, I just watched a few chunks of it and here's what I noticed for "IMAX":

The entire forest battle is full-screen. There's a 1 second extra scene of Starscream, and I think Megs and not-Blackout get extra scenes too. Possibly an extra second of Prime climbing up onto not-Blackout to rip open his face.

Most of Devastator is full-screen. There's a 1 second extra scene of the "7th Constructicon" driving up. (the one that the legends-mini-Dev has that the $100 one doesn't). 1 second extra of Skids climbing up onto Dev's arm.

[aerocombatpilot]

I 've just finished watching ROTF on DVD. It's not as bad as I thought it would be, probably because I fast-foward past all the scenes with any humans in it. The action scenes are great, and the last battle was awesome. Skipping past the scenes with Sam, his parents, Megan, and Leo (who I found to be more annoying and useless than Skids and Mudflap) actually increased my enjoyment of the film! Hearing all the negative reviews about Skids and Mudflap made me wonder about purchacing the DVD as I did not see the movie when it was out, however they were not offensive to me at all. As a black man, I didn't see them as being "Black Autobots" and that Bay was trying to imply that black people coundn't read, hence

Skids and Mudflap couldn't either. I saw them as being Bay's sad attempt to be "hip" and "cool" by creating characters that

talked like kids today. I saw them more like, if you'll forgive the expression: "Gangsta Autobots" than a racist stereotype.

The gold tooth was stupid, but then an Autobot with buck teeth is dumb from the begining. All-in-all I enjoyed the film, but only because I was able to skip a large portion. If I had been subjected to the entire film in a theater, I know I would have hated it.

Edited October 21, 2009 by aerocombatpilot

[Wanzerfan]

I actually sat through the freaking thing over at Tinseltown when it came out. Believe me, you did not miss much where the humans are concerned. The damned thing had more plot holes in it than a spaghetti colondar. The only good thing about the freaking movie is the action figures it spawned, and I'll leave it at that.

[Ghost Train]

The only good thing to come out of TF2 was "New Divide" and even that sounds like every other Linkin Park song. The fact that it's played like every 15 minutes will soon add this to the list of sh!tstains associated with the franchise.

[Gaijin]

Not a Transformers fan, but I didn't hate the film like you all say you do either.

I will say this: The Walmart Blu-Ray Big Screen version is possibly the best quality audio and video disc I have EVER seen or heard. Seriously, this is beyond reference quality. Especially the IMAX scenes, as short as they are. If you need a disc to show off your system, show people what high def can look like, or what super high quality audio can sound like...this is the disc to buy.

Walmart exclusive that will be probably be sought after by collectors for years to come.

As for the film itself, well you all hate it so all of this is moot I guess.

[RD Blade]

As for the film itself, well you all hate it so all of this is moot I guess.

I liked it. And I'm sure plenty more did as well. People tend to be less vocal about things they like or things they are neutral about.

I see it like this:

Most people wouldn't typically say "My foot feels great today."

But most people would say "Ow! Quit stepping on my foot."

[Dobber]

Yeah, I liked it too. Not saying it's a great movie or anything, and it has it moments that I really don't like, but I wasn't expecting an oscar worthy movie either. I thought it was just a fun movie that did have it's flaws, but was still fun non the less for me.

Chris

[Max Jenius]

Maybe I'll pick up a cheap version later. This movie unfortunately wasn't my cup of tea. My wife liked it, but she just doesn't understand... lol. Mindless action is fine. Writing that is LAZIER than the G1 cartoon? No ty.

Edited October 24, 2009 by Max Jenius

[Excillon]

Actually watched the Blu-ray of this last night...yup, still sucks!

[VFTF1]

I watched this on DVD last night. My first impression was very very positive - but this might be because I watched it right after watching GI Joe, which wasn't "bad" - but was a bit cliche...

In fact - let me say a few words about GI joe - because some thoughts started germinating in my head as I watched Joe, and they pertain to ROTF as well:

The "problem" with Joe was that, I suddenly realized - now EVERYBODY can afford CGI - it's no longer something "reserved" for only movies which have a chance of bringing in really big bucks. Thus, when you look back into the past - you have tons of really crappy B grade movies which we laugh at today - sci fi, horror or whatever...like think about those movies where Giant Spiders attack people or with monsters or "aliens" or whatever. Low quality acting, low quality plot and cheap thrills.

Nowadays, you have the same thing - just with CGI. The problem is, the CGI takes the "campiness" out of it. Like - those old movies...you could watch them and laugh and enjoy them because although they were stupid - they were still campy.

But CGI makes things look TOO realistic to be campy. That said - it also makes them look (in the case of GI Joe) OUTLANDISH.

Often times - with GI Joe - I felt like I was watching a video game - it was that ridiculous...

This is why ROTF STARTED off as a breath of fresh air.

I think the plot SET UP was great - just like in the first movie - making it all about a boy and his first car was a kick ass idea - so too here, Sam going off to college, leaving behind the things of his childhood (including Bumblebee) and the whole "long distance relationship" bit - were very good.

In college - I also liked it.

And the parents? A bit over the top - particularly they mom - who apparently had to play a stereotypical dumb American on steroids..but whatever... it was still ok...

But then at some point, things just accelerated to break neck speeds - and at such speeds, characters don't develop...rather...things just happen to them...

Although - that said - I did like Simmons' return....

Starscream and Megatron seemed to be the dumb-comedy duo of the Decepticons in this film. Relegating Megatron to a nobody was really really wierd IMO. The Fallen on the other hand...am I to understand he's just been sitting on that chair for a long time with nothing to do?

I dunno...

All in all - after seeing the movie, I "hate it" a lot less because it still retains the comic books feel of the first one - albeit it's a pitty that those two buffon Autobots got the majority of screen time in this movie next to Optimus Prime. Seriously - I think no other Autobots got as many lines as the two doofus brothers - which is troubling...

I also didn't like the fact that the Romulan dagger was suddenly just called the Matrix of Leadership...

I DID like the opening however - because I read it as a kind of hommage to the Beast Wars.

I interpret this as meaning that the fallen learned of the Beast Wars and decided to come to the planet himself and built he Sun Eating device...

As for the device itself - that's straight out of the comics too - and that's cool. Galvatron built something similar to shoot down Unicron...and later to pump energy out of volcanos...

So ... it's all good. Decepticons always build things on mountains...here they covered it up with a pyramid - fine...

I dunno... I guess at some point they decided to jetison the plot in favor of an hour long battle sequence.

Maybe it's for the better?

I think they handled the Pretender angle very well. The insecticons...not so much...but understandable...

Certainly not a movie I HAD to see in the theaters last summer.

But at this point... one can pretty much forget about anything deeper with Transformers. I think audiences have clearly communited that they just like the concept of robots in disguise and robots kicking asses -- but Shakesperian robots...

No.

Oh well. It's a popcorn flick. And in a sense - what else is Transformers supposed to be as a movie?

One thing is for sure - Michael Bay didn't give a crap about the plot or the script. What people said was totally secondary. All that mattered were TWO THINGS:

1. Thinking about action shots - what would happen and what would be shown.

2. Fart Jokes and the equivalent - lots of crazy energy so the audience never falls asleep.

Basically this movie went for evoking two emotions:

1> Ha ha ha

2> AWESOME!

Nothing more. You were supposed to go between states of WOWCOOL! shock at the action scenes...like a truck falling out of a C-17 or the aircraft carrier sinking.... and states of ROTFLMAO as dogs humped or ethnic stereotypes mocked themselves on camera, or MILFs ran around stoned...

Oh - and MAYBE there was also the brief attempts at sentimentalism - Micheala saying goodbye to Sam as he went to college...Michaela and Sam talking in Egypt about love...(that was supposed to be a moment of suspence - "will he tell her he loves her?") ... and then finally Sam's "death"...and rebirth...

But seriously - how can we blame Bay for the "he's dead...no wait...now he's alive" shenanigans - I mean...Transformers did this ALL THE TIME. Prime would die and come back, as would Megatron... humans not so much...but whatever...

And even the wisdom of the Cube being in the boys head is taken from the original Marvel comic...

Although...

The sad truth is that Bob Budiansky's story about Ratchet's lone struggle against the Decepticons with only Buster to help him (though later he DID get the Dinobots) was more well written than ROTF.... but something like that just wouldn't work...pensive, thoughtful robots struggling with whether or not they could fight, since they were trained as doctors... and slowly discovering humanity...

audiences would laugh at that I guess.

I dunno...

I'm overall disapointed, but not catastrophically.

Pete