*** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

I haven't decided yet if I'll go to the theater for this or just wait for the Blu-Ray. However, I still refuse to believe that this film can be as bad as Van Helsing. It's simply not possible as that's probably the worst "popcorn" film in the history of cinema. I'm not saying Transformers isn't bad(the reviews certainly seem to back that assessment up), but nothing will ever suck as much as Van Helsing IMO.

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

I also enjoyed the first Mummy, but definitely not as much as The Rock(Bay's best film by far). Everything else Somers has done since then is complete shit.

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

I dunno I think Batman & Robin tops Van Helsing, but it's close. Sounds like TF2 is a new addition to the club.

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

John,
I liked Sideswipe a lot as well. The opening action scene was fun, and his scene was the highlight. Too bad he disappears after that, minus some random action scenes at the end.

VH was terrible, but TF2 is occasionally offensive...so take that as you will.

Look, I didn't expect it to be good. I also didn't expect it would be this dull or aggressively stupid. The Decepticons get to fly everywhere and the poor Autobots are stuck driving. And I thought cold neutralized Transformers, but some of them live in space or on Mars, which I do seem to recall are colder than the Arctic from my Earth Science class

The film is full of crap like that.

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

Sounds like Kurtzman and Orci are distancing themselves from some of the allegations of racism in the film swirling on the web and putting it strictly on Michael Bay:

Orci and Kurtzman Respond to Claims of Racism in ‘Transformers 2′ - Film School Rejects

Cole: I heard that the gold tooth was Michael Bay’s idea, but do you have any response to those who found The Twins offensive?

Orci: Number one, we sympathize. Yes, the gold tooth was not in the script, that’s true.

Kurtzman: It’s really hard for us to sit here and try to justify it.I think that would be very foolish, and if someone wants to be offended by it, it’s their right. We were very surprised when we saw it, too, and it’s a choice that was made. If anything, it just shows you that we don’t control every aspect of the movie.

Cole: Were you offended by them?

Kurtzman: I wasn’t thrilled. I certainly wasn’t thrilled.

Orci: Yeah, same reaction. I’m not easily offended, but when I saw it, I thought, ‘Someone’s gonna write about that.’”

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

I forgot about B&R. As much as I hated Van Helsing, I think I hated it even more. I seriously doubt I'll despise TF2 as much as either of those two films, but you never know.

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

It's not as bad as Batman and Robin. I did laugh once during TF2 (when I was supposed to), and there are two or three action beats I liked. And maybe it isn't as bad as VH. I'm not willing to take another look at either again

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

Given that most Michael Bay movies have plenty of stereotypes, I don't find that hard to believe at all.

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

hmm.. van helsing talk in a thread about the transformers.. that is not a good sign. I really hated that movie.. more so then batman and robin. sommers is coming out with gi joe in august.

I never been a fan of michael bay. I did like the rock and a bit of first transformers movie. I heard this movie is more like bad boys 2. which I was not a fan of.

Jacob

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

One personal rule that i've learned to live by is to never allow reviews to color my decision to see a film, even when the majority of those reviews are bad.

My advice, see the film and decide for yourselves, afterall what are reviews but other people opinions on a film, they aren't necessarily facts that will apply to everyone.

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

Totally agree. Since we're talking about all of Bay's prior efforts in this thread, I remember when the reviews for Bad Boys II came out. The film was universally trashed by pretty much every critic on the planet, but I liked the first one and wanted to see the sequel so I ignored the reviews and went anyway. Long story short, I enjoyed the hell out of it and realized right then and there that the critics opinions are just that...opinions.

Having said all of that, I do have a bad feeling about this flick. I've got very low expectations for it and I'm expecting another in a long line of summer disappointments this year(Wolverine, Terminator Salvation, etc). So far, only Star Trek has been worth my time, money and trip to the theater.

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

I find it interesting how big of a gap there is between opinions on this one. Check out this thread which most people rave about this film......

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen Discussion (SPOILERS) - Blu-ray Forum

I thought the first one was one hell of a fun shut your brain off ride and this one sounds even better from all I have read Should be reference audio on BR!

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

Really shocked to hear this movie isn't like, but I long ago stopped trying to figure out what people are expecting when they walk into a movie like this. I loved it, and that's what matters to me.

Anyway just a question. Did this movie have sequences shot in IMAX cameras? Like The Dark Knight did? When we saw in IMAX, it did have sequences that used the whole screen so I imagine they did use actual IMAX Cameras but I'm just asking to make sure. For Batman they made a big deal about actually filming sequences in Imax with the cameras whereas this one hasn't said a word about it. Just wasn't sure if it's true IMAX sequences or just the film blown up extra big or something. =)

They looked great in either Case.

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

Two and three quarters stars for me. Personally, I think it's quite evident that Bay and ILM didn't have enough time to polish this film and yet, there are some jaw dropping moments in this thing.

If Bay could've controlled his indulgent side when it comes to the comedy, it would've knocked off about 15 minutes from this film.

As an aside, I want to give props to Shia and Megan for the level of commitment they give to their roles and physical side of it. Yeah, the arc doesn't really work because we only really get four scenes of personal moments between them but taking the scenes individually from the rest of the film, they work well together...have a great chemistry and I personally feel its clear that Megan has improved as an actress. Bay didn't do her any favors by having the camera essentially slobbering all over her the whole film, but she holds her own. She gets in the dirt and handles herself well. I think people need to ease off her.

Thought the twins were funny but I wouldn't have had them in there, especially on the mission with Bumblebee with Sam and Mikela. I just would've used Sideswipe because he was impressive for the moments we had him on the screen.

As for plot, not really hard to understand. I don't understand the critics criticism about it not having one. Its surrounded by filler but I actually think it's a bit tighter than the first film. And, you kind of need the first film to get it fully.

Kind of felt that the first film was a tad better because that film just feels more polished than this one but this film doesn't even remotely deserve the harshness its getting.

I found it fun and engrossing a few times.

And I want to thank Bay personally for saving me a whole lot of money. Between the first film and this film, I probably don't have to buy another mindless, summer tentpole film for home video every again because these two films fill the quota quite nicely.

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

I thought it was just like the first movie, only moreso. I enjoyed both simply on the level of "Hey, Michael Bay is mutilating real estate again, and there are big robots, too!" but I can't say I grasp the notion that the first movie had more "heart" or was more Spielbergian or whatever as the second simply feels like a bigger extension of everything that was in the first one. It's what you'd expect from a sequel by Michael Bay

What has struck me about all three tentpole movies I've seen this summer (Wolverine, Star Trek, Transformers 2) is that regardless of the merits of each, no one is bothering to put the screws to the scripts anymore. Maybe it was the writers strike but all of these movies have atrocious plotting (admittedly, Star Trek and Transformers share the same writing team...). If I could change only one major thing about Transformers 2 it'd be to simply put the script through at least another draft to tighten it up because the movie takes a long time to not say very much (first movie had a similar issue, maybe it's a Michael Bay thing).

Also, while I enjoy seeing new Transformers characters added, it's just like the X-Men movies in that they're tossed into the mix so offhandedly that none of them really have a sufficient impact on the audience. If you're going to have the Constructicons and Devastator in the movie you should build them up more instead of merely having a couple of the heroes stumble right into them out in the middle of nowhere. Oh, and they should have had more action for the Corvette because my wife's a Corvette fan and wanted him to have more cool stuff to do

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

I enjoyed it and so did my friends who went with me. It was a popcorn summer fun.

With regards to the the comments about racism from the twin characters. The black members in the audience were laughing at their jokes and behavior.

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

Devastator = Venom in my opinion. Great characters that were completely ruined/ under used in there movie appearances. There is no reason not to make a big deal out of both of these guys. Heartbreaking

I liked the first movie but I did not love it. However, as a Transformers fan I was happy to see the big bots up on screen. I liked this movie more and I felt like the key characters were more true to themselves. Megatron and Starscreem had their moment and Optimus acted more like the leader I believe him to be.

I would definitely recommend this movie to others and I would have no problem going to see it again.

Special note: They jumped the shark with the girl at his college. I have already seen T4 and is wasn't that good either.

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

i wasn't. just because they were laughing does not make it right.

some people choose to live in the matrix and other people choose not to.

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

Have people also forgotten that Scatman Crothers did the voice of Jazz in the cartoon series? Sideswipe was mearly following in his footsteps and I welcomed it.

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

i understand your sentiment and totally agree. what is ironic is that at least the development team of the cartoon knew better than to go any further than the voices.

the cartoon characters were not idiots that were trying too hard.

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

That's my take on it too. It was the same thing as the first one just bigger, louder and dumber. I think if someone enjoyed the first one, there's a good chance that they'll like this one too. The crowd I saw it with seemed to enjoy it alot.

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

After reading the following article and looking at the pictures of the two robots in question, I can't believe that Bay went this far with it.

TRANSFORMERS' LITTLE BLACK SAMBOTS?

He wants to represent the black youth of America by creating robots with simian features, gold teeth, that speak some sort of ebonics, sound like they're constantly high, and are illiterate? Steven Spielberg should be ashamed his name is even attached to this.

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

I've been very clear about how crappy this movie is, but I do recommend that, if you liked the first one, you should check it out. With severely lowered expectations. I loved Speed Racer, which was savaged almost unanimously by critics. Sometimes movies just work for people. But if you pay to see this and don't see Public Enemies (and you read HTF), you should kick your own crotch.

The movie sucks, but it does get one thing right. Thanks to robot (non-human) characters, the kills in this film (and to some extent TF1) are pretty cool. Nice way to skirt the ratings and throw in a little "God of War" action.

I could list cons for hours and hours (and hours), but I'll list the few pros:
- Nice opening action sequence, specifically Arcee and Sideswipe. OP has a nice beatdown of some random Decepticon.
- Shia has a (single) funny line to a college kid (with a funny rebuttal) during a party sequence (it involves a shirt)
- The forest battle has some decent action when it is OP vs. 3
- I liked the Bumblebee action, and he still is the best of the bots
- Soundwave was wasted, but was still cooler than every other Decepticon
- Jetfire has a nice design (minus the retarded beard), and his weapon is an axe
- Sam's dad has a single nice moment in the desert sequence

That's it. Everything else was pretty much terrible.

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

Personally, I don't think they look apes or acted high but everything else is just the typical Michael Bay black stereotype that is in most of his movies (remember the black lady in The Rock that "woulda brought my muthafuckin' gun!"?). I'm kinda surprised that it's taken people this long to catch on.

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

Still going to see it at a matinee tomorrow. All I expect from this is loud fighting robots, huge explosions, and a bit of humor. And yes, I have read most of the reviews.

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

Well you won't be disappointed then, you'll get all that in spades.

Regarding the twins, I think people need to relax a little lol.

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

I'm so prescient:

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

I'm curious as to what my brother-in-law will think about it. He took my 12 year old nephew to see it this afternoon. Being that he is African American, it will be interesting to get his take on the "twins."

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

Your kidding me, right? Scatman Crothers did Jazz with his general voice, he never cracked race-oriented jokes, and of course because it was animated, I never heard him drop cursewords right and left. More then that, Jazz in the TV series was presented as wise/older, and helped real in others. That's a stark difference to this portrayal.

One other difference: Scatman Crothers WAS black. His portrayal never went beyond the fact that it was his natural demeanor. Here, you have robots to confess as illiterate, and drop profanities like no tomorrow.


Being a parent, and maybe a prude, I'd be cringing as much at the language that spews forth as I would the crass racist dialog. There is no point in having a movie clearly aimed at kids feel the need for dialog that sort.. I mean, I buy it when it's in character, but why do robots give a dang about cursing like sailors?

Re: *** Official TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Discussion Thread

coincidence, eh........