Transformers 3 (1 Viewer)

[Robert Crawford]

Originally Posted by Patrick Sun



I saw it in 3D, it was filmed with the Cameron-Pace 3D cameras used on Avatar, and the 3D looked more natural than the upconverted 3D that has mired the 3D product in cinemas for the past 18 months. If you see it on IMAX, it's probably been DMR'd in its 3D presentation. I didn't mind the 3D (my theater had bright projection for the film, so no complaints on dimness while wearing the glasses, and I didn't experience fatigue from the 3D, but I rarely do). It's up to you if you think the $3-$5 premium for RealD, or up to $10 more for Imax 3D is worth it.

I try to avoid films in 3D that are just upconversions (I didn't like what I saw of the Captain America trailer in 3D, shown before TF 3D).

Patrick,


Thanks for your comments, 3D it is for me.









Crawdaddy

 

[Geoff_D]

So let me get this right; Megatron, from the first film, wanted the All Spark to transform human technology and take over Earth. That's Sam's and the Autobots assumption from the first film. But, as we learned in the second film, he was actually a Seeker amongst many Seekers working for the Fallen. Megatron was sent to find the All Spark so the Fallen could use it to find the location of the Matrix of Leadership in order to reactivate the Sun Harvester. With it, the Fallen and Megatron could destroy the Earth's Sun, harvest it's energy and rebuild Cybertron. So far so good right? But, Bay and Kruger decide that all of that was bull**** so they devise a plot that says that Megatron was ALSO plotting with Sentinel Prime during the Cyberton War that would use new technology that only Prime can use that would bring Cyberton into Earth's orbit, harvest the Earth's natural resources and then use humans as slaves to rebuild Cybertron. Oh and that bull**** about Optimus Prime being the last of the Primes was also **** because there's actually one more on the Moon. I'm a big Bay apologist but even I can't buy the damn plot to this film. He basically retconned his first two films with this picture.

I think that the story weaves its way around the other films pretty well. TF2 is a cinematic turd that needs to be expunged from the record so ignoring it is a good thing, and TF3 wisely glosses over it, telling us that Megatron came to Earth (and subsequently crash-landed in the Artic or wherever, setting up the first film) in order to meet Sentinel Prime and get their plan underway. SP was lying dormant and could only be revived by another Prime, so the Decepticons stashed the canisters. They found out that the Allspark was on Earth (quite a co-inkydink, eh?) so they went after that first, which led to Optimus Prime and the rest of the Autobots showing up in TF1. With Optimus on the scene, the plan with SP could then be put into action. I loved the twist with SP, as it showed that there's more than just good and evil out there. He's doing what he's doing for the 'greater good'.

 

[Pete-D]

It's a train wreck of a movie just like the second one. Yes there are some improvements ... the effects are better and the robots get a little more screen time this time out ... but the pacing is probably the worst of the franchise and the plot is ridiculously convoluted like the second one. The film for something that's supposed to be "non stop action" actually had a lot of people in my theater looking at their watches. It just goes on .... and on .... and on .... and on. And then it just abruptly seems to end, lol. It takes forever for the movie to get going and then it takes forever for it to end. And it really isn't that "fun" to be honest. There's something cold and even mean spirited about this movie. Even the "heroic" Optimus Prime comes off as a blood thirsty killing machine who rips the faces off enemies and screams out "DIE!" before blasting an enemy's head off. Optimus Prime from the TV show he ain't. He also inexplicably seems to be off doing various other things during key stretches of the movie. On the bright side, Rosie Huntington fills in nicely for Megan Fox. She is stunning to look at in this movie, even though there are moments where the movie does look like a ridiculous combination of a Victoria's Secret commercial invaded by robots. Also Tyrese and the other marine guys are just completely boring characters. They should've just made the film center around Shia, Rosie, John Turturro, John Malkovich, Ken Jeong, and the German assistant as the "humans" (and yes, this movie has waaaaaaay too many characters). That would've been a lot more fun.

 

[TravisR]

...3D it is for me.

I saw the movie this morning and the 3-D is some of the best I've ever seen. It's unfortunate that the movie is terrible because the special effects would win the Oscar next year if the movie was even remotely adequate. That being said, I knew what I was getting into and was only going with the hopes of seeing great effects work and great 3-D and the movie did deliver that. And I guess the movie is better than the second one (if only because it doesn't feel endless like part 2 did).

 

[Chuck Mayer]

I was also surprised at the assholishness of pretty much everyone. Optimus essentially EXECUTES some Transfomers at the end (I guess the "no prisoners" thing goes both ways, huh). Sam is a huge douche to his parents, his (obviously rich) supermodel girlfriend, and even Bumblebee. Sam and Optimus are the two PROtagonists in the film. It is the "ugly American" of films.

 

[Chuck Anstey]

I just saw it and it was fine for what it was; a war movie. It is no better and no worse in plot and character development than the countless number of war movies made with good guys, bad guys, traitors and double agents with the main goal to root for the good guys and hope they make it out alive.

 

[Pete-D]

I was also surprised at the assholishness of pretty much everyone. Optimus essentially EXECUTES some Transfomers at the end (I guess the "no prisoners" thing goes both ways, huh). Sam is a huge douche to his parents, his (obviously rich) supermodel girlfriend, and even Bumblebee. Sam and Optimus are the two PROtagonists in the film. It is the "ugly American" of films.

Yeah it really leaves me cold. There's one sequence too if I recall correctly where the Autobots rip a helpless Decepticon's limbs apart execution style. Growing up watching the cartoon I recall Optimus Prime was always about being noble and fair and just, but in these movies that's totally thrown out the window. John Turturro and his German sidekick are by far the most likeable characters in the movie.

 

[Geoff_D]

Optimus was a psycho in TF2, never mind this one. He executes that big digger Decepticon at the beginning of the film, and he delights in ripping off faces ("Give me your face!") and seems to relish the act of smashing metal against metal ("I'll take you all on!" during the forest fight). At least TF3 is posited as an all-out war movie, so I can kinda sort-of maybe justify his nutjob tendencies this time around. It's sad that such a noble character has been perverted into a death-dealing loony, but whatever. The cartoon and original 1986 movie will always be there. (It's interesting how Bay depicts the graphic death and mutilation of non-human characters, because Lucas does a similar thing with Star Wars. Hell, Lucas actually removed human blaster hits from the SE of Star Wars, yet has no problem showing Anakin slicing and dicing his way through lots of Geonosians in Clones.) Alan Tudyk was very funny though.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Meh, maybe I've watched too much 24 but I don't really have a big problem with Prime going Jack Bauer on those Decepticons.

 

[Steve_Tk]

I like the "check your brain at the door" comment. The ONLY reason I see these movies is to watch giant robots in a huge battle. That's it. I can't get that anywhere else. Am I not allowed to enjoy that? There's a lot of bad movies out there, I don't see 99% of them. The big robot battles is cool to me, so I enjoy seeing the good part of the movie and ignore the rest.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Is there any way to rehabilitate decepticons, or is OP forced to put them down for good, lest the decepticon continue to threaten the good autobots? Is it a kill or be killed situation for the autobots? Just asking.

 

[RobertR]

I like the "check your brain at the door" comment. The ONLY reason I see these movies is to watch giant robots in a huge battle. That's it.

This is a very honest comment, Steve. It sounds like you KNOW that these are little more than extended FX reels, with no real plot, writing, or characterization, and you accept them as such. Some people simply say that they want more than that.

 

[Patrick Sun]

Michael Bay's track record would suggest that expecting him to provide "more" in his films is a fruitless desire. What's that casual definition of "insanity" again?

 

[RobertR]

I certainly don't expect more from Michael Bay.

 

[Steve Christou]

One of our UK newspapers today gave Transformers Rise of the Moon 4 stars and Larry Crowne 2 stars. Cheered me up no end. I have no interest in seeing Larry Crowne (can't stand Hanks or Roberts) but I will be seeing Clash of the Robots in 3D some time next week.

 

[TravisR]

Is there any way to rehabilitate decepticons, or is OP forced to put them down for good, lest the decepticon continue to threaten the good autobots? Is it a kill or be killed situation for the autobots? Just asking.

That's how I would see it (and probably how the writers legitimize Prime's actions). I can't believe I'm discussing the morality of the robots in a Transformers movie.

 

[TravisR]

The ONLY reason I see these movies is to watch giant robots in a huge battle. That's it.

Like I said earlier, it delivers that and only that. The special effects are phenomenal and the 3-D is arguably even better than Avatar's 3-D.

 

[Chuck Mayer]

We wouldn't have to discuss the morality if the "heroes" weren't so blatantly AMORAL. I don't mind some gray areas with anti-heroes, but Optimus Prime is supposed to be Superman, not the Punisher. I didn't think the 3D was as good as Avatar's, but was better than Tron's. It was occasionally great, and occasionally look like two fields offset from one another. I actually didn't EXPECT more from Bay. But, based on the man's OWN comments regarding TF2 versus TF3, I did expect he would TRY and improve some aspects of the film. Aside from removing the horrifically offensive (and useless) twins, TF2 ~= TF3. Well, that isn't fair. TF2 had the best fight (forest Optimus), and TF3 has McDormand and a Ferrari Transformer. So it was a hope for TF3...not an expectation. EDIT: The Topless Robot FAQ for TF3. Not nearly as good as the FAQ for Part 2.

 

[Inspector Hammer!]

Maybe this is obvious but I've noticed something about Michael Bay, he seems to recklessly put his actors in situations where they could easily be killed or seriously injured probably more than any other director working today. I watched the extra's on TF2 the other day and Shia recounted what it was like to film that huge explosion at the Pyramids and he basically said that at any given moment you're standing next to a drum of 600 gallons of highly combustible gasoline. Now I don't usually cry foul over anything of this nature but I fear that one of these days someone is gonna get whacked on one of his film sets.

 

[Simon Massey]

I do expect better from Bay he has shown he is capable of it. Extended fx reels or not I'd at least expect to find the characters likeable or the story entertaining too plenty of other summer films succeed in this and are all the better for it - Noone is expecting Oscar worthy screenplays but even summer films have to hit a bare minimum standard and Bay rarely does And going solely from what I've read and what I saw in TF2 if an extended FX reel was really all he was after he wouldn't have nearly 60 odd Minutes of plot and storyline in between. Did people give Mostow or McG a pass for their work on Terminator ? Didn't we get to see "robots blow shit up" in that ?