I wish we could have seen more of the Xbox 360 transformer...specifically I wanted to see him jump out of the box, start to terrorize people, but then just up and die with the Red Ring of Death...that would have got some serious applause. :)

Really? I think our theater was the exact opposite.

Just saw it last night, haven't read the whole thread, but

The good:
- CGi: whoever worked on this film needs a pat on the back. Very impressive.
- score: Michael Bay always seems to have a great one
- Shia LaBouf & Megan Fox were both great. Look forward to seeing more of both of them
- Peter Cullen made the movie. Without him the movie would have been a total waste
- scene of Sam courting Mikaela with Bumblebee

The bad:
- the sub plots: what was the point of spending 15 minutes on Sam getting to the top of that white building? :wtf:, Army dude's wife & kid, high school tech geeks decrypting the transformers audio, the fat black dude's comic relief, John Tuturro's character/sector 7 nonsense? :yack:
- the transformer's robot designs. Bumblebee looked good, Opitmus was decent but everyone else looked like shit
- not enough time spent on the Decepticons. You don't even see them until the third act of the movie.
- the incessant product placements which pull you right out of the movie. The car one's are fine, they fit, but a 3 second pause on a Panasonic SD card? Do they even make SD cards? The non-stop ebay name dropping was product placement at its worst. Then the 360 was the icing on the cake by that point.

Final thoughts:
So in the end, the lame robot designs and product placement killed it for me. I'd give it a C. If the product placements weren't there I'd go as high as a B+ but they are way to distracting for the movie to be enjoyable and ruined the experience.

I didn't see any glaring plotholes here...and I don't know which character needed more development. I also wasn't too put out by the product placements. :shrug:

I did, however, have a great time at this movie. The kid was a terrific anchor for the show. It was genuinely funny. The effects were utterly believable...and damn impressive. The action was top notch, and I think I got a spine tingle or two, which I can only describe as "geeking out". Also, the girl was like a young Jennifer Connely (translation: uber hot). There were also a noticable lack of the "roll your eyes" moments that typically plague Bay's films. The only two that come to mind are the Easter Bunny bit and the back yard scene.

Bottom line: This could have gone wrong in so many ways, but Bay (and Speilberg) hit it out of the park. I can't wait to own this on DVD.

Disclaimer: I was probably 10 - 11 years old when Transformers were in their first heyday, so there may be some nostalgia...but I was never a hard core fan. As a casual observer, I can't think of anything too offensive to the fanboys...but I'm sure they'll think of something to complain about.

I was never a fan of the cartoon. Watched Beast Wars a bit.

This movie delivered more than I expected. Best giant machines since, and second only to, the new Appleseed and probably the best (if not most obvious) set up for a sequel that I've ever seen.

First, I'd like to acknowledge I love Independence Day, and am a big fan of The Rock and Bad Boys. In addition, being 33, I had Transformers as a kid, and watched the original cartoon incarnation. I enjoyed them, but was never a huge fan, therefore the changes made to the characters in the movie don't really affect me one way or another.

Having said that, I am absolutely shocked at the praise being leveled at this movie. The characters are bland , the acting is terrible (with the exception of LaBouf), and the story is disjointed. HOWEVER, I could get past all that and put my mind on hold for two hours if it were just a movie chock full of giant robots, transforming into vehicles, and battling it out. The movie devotes far too much time to the human characters, and not enough time to the Transformers (the supposed stars of the film, since it's named after them). When the Transformers are on-screen, too much of their time is spent acting silly or juvenile.

The special effects are beyond reproach. However, it seems silly to waste so much impressive effects on making the robots act like idiots. And speaking of idiots, most of the jokes and dialogue are aimed at the sub-literate crowd.

This was a disaster of a movie. The special effects are amazing, and set a new benchmark for movie effects. However, everything else sets a new low for summer blockbusters. I can't believe I was bored by a Transformers movie.

Just my two cents, of course, but I'm posting more because I can't believe all the love this movie is getting.

some people loved white chicks over 40 year old virgin.... aint it cool loved matrix revolutions.... this world is full of opinions... fortunately for this movie, this movie is getting the majority of praise for an overall summer fun movie...

I saw this last night at the "ghetto movie theater". There was one woman who clapped every time something blew up...

SPOILERS AHEAD


First things first, I was born in 1984. Transformers were just slightly out of my demographic. I was young enough to see some reruns or at least catch it peripherally, but I've never really been that into it. I thought the movie was about on the level of Independence Day - that is very well photographed with reasonable acting, but not free of several problems.

My biggest problem with the movie was that the first half worked so well and the second half was ridiculously crammed. By the time Shia Labeouf was climbing up to the top of the building I just wanted it to end. 144 is a long time for a movie of this nature and I think it could have used tighter pacing.

The CGI is really good, but fatiguing. Half of the time I had no idea who was fighting who or who I was supposed to be rooting for. There were just a lot of explosions. Again, the effects were good, but it's not like I've never seen an explosion in a movie before.

I think the movie would have benefited from removing the scenes where the robots were sitting on Labeouf's house (without alarming the neighborhood!) and the whole Sector 7 nonsense along with Anthony Anderson "hacking" a monitor to transmit Morse code.

A lot of these things I had problems may have been the producers hedging their bets trying to make it very large in case the movie bombed and they couldn't film sequels. The sequel might be better, but at the very least Transformers is entertaining and worth a rent.

How is everyone sure there will be a sequel? Was there something I missed in the credits?

Probably...

Also, someone posted that Dreamworks "greenlit" 2 sequels. It was from Wiki so who knows how accurate that info is.



From wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transformers_%28film%29

On May 30, 2007, Dreamworks greenlit two sequels to Transformers,[102] and Shia LaBeouf,[103] Megan Fox[104] and Peter Cullen[39] signed on to return. Producer Tom DeSanto has envisioned a storyline introducing the Dinobots, the Constructicons, and Soundwave.[15] Writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman may not return, as "Star Trek... is taking up kind of all of our time."[26] Michael Bay has not signed on, "trying to keep some leverage for the negotiations",[39] but already has ideas, including an aircraft carrier character.[105]

aircraft carrier was going to be the base from G1... i forgot the name though

Well, they learned all about Earth through the web...I've seen some of the stupidest shit ever on the web, so they probably thought that type of behaviour was par for the course and were just trying to fit in. :) Don't believe me, check out the HD and blu-ray section of AVS...

Is Hasbro still going as a toymaker or have they been bought out sometime in the last 20 years ?

Whoever owns the Transformer toy rights must be making a killing !

I'm not trying to crack on your opinions, Im actually curious as to why you have such a strong opinion against product placement. You'd be blind not to notice them, but still I wouldn't call it incessant. You obviously have a strong opinion against it since you exaggerated all your claims about it. It was no where near 3 seconds on the SD card. Do you know how long an actual 3 second pause would look on a giant movie screen? Non stop ebay name dropping? Where was that? Didn't they just talk about ebay during his school presentation and then when he checked it back at him house? Did I miss any other ebay drops? I really just dont get it. We definitely have two big opinion differences. I just cant see how a movie could be a B+ but because there are products in it the grade becomes a C.

Personally, I really dont care what products are in a movie. I don't think they can really make a movie that much better or worse. I definitely think they help the movie making process especially the big budget movies. If they are getting paid to put products in then they have more money to spend elsewhere. Same thing for if companies are just giving them products. Say a movie has budgeted 2 million dollars for vehicles. If say GM gives them 50 cars to drive, crash blow up etc, then they have more budget room.

Dont product placements also make a movie more realistic? For example, in real life if you are outside a grocery store theres a giant sign that says Albertsons, and if you walk by a soda machine its going to say Coke or Pepsi and have a big logo on it. If you walk by a bike rack the bike is probably going to say Schwin or Huffy etc. And when you get to your car its going to have the car name and the car company logo on it. So whats the big deal if a movie has a scene like that? Whats bad about that? Do you want movie characters to walk out of a store and theres a giant FOOD sign, have them walk by a plain grey box with giant white SODA written on it???

So in Transformers, whats the big deal that the Allspark turns a Mountain Dew machine into a robot? The movie isn't any better or worse because it was a green Mountain Dew machine and not a red Coke machine or a blue Pepsi machine....frankly it would look weirder if the Allspark zapped a generic soda machine and it turned robotic.

I can talk about all the placements, but lets use Sam and ebay as another example. It doesnt matter to me if eBay paid them 10 million bucks just for the mentions and the screen shot on the computer or if let them use the site for free in the movie...it doesnt matter! I don't see how it makes the movie worse because ebay is in it? In the grand scheme of the movie the name ebay is so small. If anything, as I said earlier, it makes the movie more realistic. Just imagine if they show Sam's computer and he brings up the glasses auction and its on some website ElectroBid.com or something like that. I have a sneaking suspicion that for every person that is mad about product placements there would be 10 people complaining "How pathetic, Transformers ripped off ebay!" "ElectroBid?? Ever heard of ebay?" etc etc

Anyways, to each his own

Panasonic does make SD cards. In fact, Panasonic makes a lot of electronic items outside of home video goods.

As for product placement...

Bumblebee was a Volkswagon Beetle...in...the...CARTOON!

Bumblebee was a Volkswagon Beetle...for...the..TOY!

Bumblebee was a Volkswagon Beetle...in..the...ANIMATED MOVIE!

Hey wait. Come to think of it. All of the Autobots are real cars!

Jazz was originally a Porsche 935 Turbo and he's now a Pontiac Solstice

Ratchet was originally a Nissan Onebox Vanette Ambulance and he's now an modified Hummer H2.

Ironhide was originally a Nissan Onebox Vanette and he's now a GMC Topkick.

Having the cars all be GM vehicle for the live-action film may seem like product placement but it actually saves money. Imagine how much it would cost to get some of the actual vehicles used in the cartoon.

Well, there's that. But, if I'm not mistaken (I believe I read an article, or something to that effect), Porsche and Volkswagon have issues with their cars being seen as "giant robots of death." As such, they were not allowed to be used in the movie.

Or perhaps I am simply making that up. At this point, not even I know...

Exactly, I read the same article, the filmmakers tried to get the rights to make Bumblebee a VW, but they wouldn't allow it. VW didn't want their product to be used violently. I don't know for sure about Porsche but I'm sure they probably used the same reasoning.

I have no problem with product placement when it is done properly, like GMC. Transformers are generally cars, so that works and makes sense. All the others were nonsensical and poorly placed. I've never seen a Panasonic SD card. That is on the level of a generic soda machine for me. Even more blatant if you ask me. It was on screen for at least two seconds, it was a joke. And two different Transformers from another planet asking about ebay? Come on... it doesn't get more retarded than that.

The movie was like one giant commercial which is obviously compounded by the fact that the entire movie is based on a toy line. I grew up with Transformers. I didn't go in with high expectations, but it really was not a good film on any level by any stretch of the imagination. I don't get the praise it is receiving but on the other hand it's not awful either. Worth a rental at best.

Armageddon is far from a masterpiece but I will take it anyday over Transformers and this is from someone who grew up with them. Oh and going from a C to a B+ is still technically only one letter grade different.

The whole Ebay thing was just a way for all of the Transformers to find their way to Ladiesman. It was more of a plot device than blatant product placement. Thats why it didn't bother me at all.

Exactly, it served as a way to get the Transformers together with Sam. The Transformers had access to the net, and the way to find Sam ended up being through his ebay auctions. It was way more part of the plot than it was product placement.

Its not like Jazz turned the camera and says "I do all my shopping on ebay because you can find amazing deals on everything for tickets to electronics, bitches!!"

Three quick points:

1. The original cartoon was, just like pretty much every other cartoon in the 80s, simply an extended toy commercial created for the sole purpose of product placement.

2. If product placement is artfully done, which it mostly was in this movie, it doesn't detract from the film at all. Ebay made sense. The SD card made sense, and I didn't even notice the brand myself. I was mildly put off by the Autobots all being GM products, but it wasn't that obtrusive, and it was offset somewhat by the nasty Mustang police cruiser. The only one that really bothered me was the Xbox, and that's because it wasn't integrated into the story proper...just...here's an xbox.

3. My objective measure for it was that it didn't pull me out of the movie. But I do agree that product placement can if not done properly. Two movies ruined by (for me) by product placement:

Blade Trinity, an otherwise fine little action flick where a chick just has to listen to her iPod while fighting hordes of vampires...which makes perfect sense as long as you don't want to hear anything coming up behind you. :rolleyes:

MI:3, an otherwise terrific action flick where every piece of electronics in the whole film (and there are quite a few) is Sony...and they go out of their way to show it.

Porche owns part of VW.

What? Take a look at Ironhide. He's got a battered right eye from a fight and pieces that were clearly attached to replace parts he lost during battle. It's a pretty awesome piece of design. Barricade, Blackout, and Bonecrusher all look distinctive and pretty darn awesome. I know opinions are opinions, but I feel like if you think everyone but Bumblebee and Prime looked like crap then you weren't looking very closely.

I think Hasbro indeed produces the U.S. version of Transformers. However, while I was on vacation in Tokyo 2 years I noticed in several toy stores that their version is produced by Takara. I ended up buying the Takara Optimus Prime, which is actually really nice and worth the $50 bucks I spent for it.

Now I just need to hunt down the original 80's version of Prime, but with the movie's popularity, I'm sure Ebay prices will be jacked up.