TRANSFORMERS

[Nate Downes]

Ok, just came back from seeing this with the wife and 5-year old. One word, Awesome! Two Words: Totally Awesome! I usually sit through movies and at some point or another, the illusion gets smashed and I start analyzing it on technical merits rather than being lost in the movie.

 

Well, it didn't happen. I was enthralled from start to end. My son, who has never sat through a movie without at least 4 potty breaks, sat there totally mezmorized! Definately a movie I will want to see again.

[Tom Lowe]

Ok, just came back from seeing this with the wife and 5-year old. One word, Awesome! Two Words: Totally Awesome! I usually sit through movies and at some point or another, the illusion gets smashed and I start analyzing it on technical merits rather than being lost in the movie.

 

Well, it didn't happen. I was enthralled from start to end. My son, who has never sat through a movie without at least 4 potty breaks, sat there totally mezmorized! Definately a movie I will want to see again.

 

To me, this is what big, cheesy, special-effects-fueled cinema is all about. I was most disappointed by all the POTC and Shrek, etc, sequels, but Transformers was big fun. Even taking into account all of Bay's known deficiencies. :lol:

[Nate Downes]

To me, this is what big, cheesy, special-effects-fueled cinema is all about. I was most disappointed by all the POTC and Shrek, etc, sequels, but Transformers was big fun. Even taking into account all of Bay's known deficiencies. :lol:

Exactly. Sometimes I think we get too wrapped up with these ideals of what should be cinema and what not, that we forget in the end what brought us to this business in the first place, being that little kid in the theatre going "woah!"

[William A Chapman Jr]

A little OT, but ebay is selling bumblebee (ie 77 yellow camero ) It has to be a mistake but the shipping is only $15.00.

[Bob Hayes]

I happen to be a big fan of the Michael bay look. And Transformers looked great. The energy and dynamics of the action sequences was amazing. The mix of CGI and live action was seamless. Kudos to Mitchell Amundsen the DP, who has been a second unit shooter for years with few first unit jobs on his resume.

 

However, 2 hours plus was way to long for the movie and the last 20 minutes was monotonous. It seems like film makers today spend millions of dollars and hours of work trying to create the perfect shot of a robot head getting ripped off and ten seconds to writing and exciting script. In many ways Iron Giant was ten times the film transformers was.

[Andy_Alderslade]

In many ways Iron Giant was ten times the film transformers was.

 

Iron Giant is an excellent film, perhaps one of the best 2D animated films since the 60s!

[Steven Parker]

Iron Giant is an excellent film, perhaps one of the best 2D animated films since the 60s!

 

I agree completely, what a great, fun film! And Vin Diesel's best performance ever!

[Patrick Cooper]

I just saw The Transformers last night. What an entertaining movie! With regards to the cinematography, I loved the ariel shots of aircraft in the desert. That scene with the Autobots hiding in the backyard of the house was hilarious. I do have to say that I was distracted by the extremely grainy low light shots here and there. Or was that noise? The odd thing was that there were some clean looking shots within the same locations which created too much of a contrasting look in those scenes.

 

When Megatron first came out of his deep freeze, I thought it sounded really silly when he announced: "I am Megatron!" I mean who is he talking to? It looked like he was talking to himself. If I came out of a deep freeze, I wouldn't have a sudden impulse to say: "I am Patrick Cooper!" I think it would be much cooler if people around him were panicking or being injured by his thrashing about and screamed out something like: "What the hell is that?" or "Who are you??" and then Megatron would say: "I am Megatron" (in the same manacing voice) as a reply. That at least would work better for me.

 

I thought the battle near the end of the film went on way too long. And as someone else noted, the fast cuts and close ups made it difficult to tell exactly what was going on sometimes and identifying who was who. Lots of tumbling and rolling mechanical bodies. On the other hand, I liked the way the transformers moved when they were in their 'robot' forms - especially running. Really nice fluid movements that looked natural.

[Patrick Cooper]

Oh another thing - I like the 'flame' paint job on Optimus Prime.

[Michael Nash]

A little late to the party, but I thought I'd chime in. Finally saw it last week at the Arclight (gotta see it in quality projection and sound). As a disclaimer I have to admit that I'm a big Michael Bay fan, even if his stuff can be cheesy. I'll acquiesce to all the criticisms about him; they're all true -- but it just looks so dang cool. Call it a guilty pleasure.

 

I won't get into script criticisms, and I wasn't one of the cartoon fanboys (I'm older than that ;) ). I went to see the movie purely for the "popcorn" factor, especially since it's Michael Bay.

 

It did not disappoint. It took me to that place where fantasy and reality merge, where extraterrestrial giant robots and hormonal high school boys meet. The fact that most of it was shot in my back yard (San Gabriel Valley, downtown LA) helped that.

 

Cinematographically speaking, my biggest complaint was the pervasive high-contrast "reversal" look with crushed blacks and grain. I didn't even care so much about the grain, but the stylized look kind of took me out of the story, or interfered with my suspension of disbelief. What I was looking for was to really see and believe these giant robots present in my backyard, and instead saw a stylized interpretation of that, that didn't quite seem real.

 

Was anyone else bothered by the degree to which the robots didn't damage the objects they touched? Like leaning against a wooden 1920's craftsman house with no damage, or clinging to the underside of the 4th street bridge without even scraping the concrete? It wasn't until the fight downtown that their mass and hardness really entered into the picture.

 

And how many times can Shia LaBeouf say, "no no no no no no NO NO NO NO..." ?

[Mark Williams]

Finally watched the DVD having never seen transformers, this was all new to me. The special effects were the highlight and so was Megan Fox..

 

The American Military looked really cool with many new aircraft I'd never seen. Lots of eye candy. I had to wonder how on earth they manage to choregraph these shots It just all looks so complicated. (Respect)

 

The robot designs were impressive and the way they inhabit the film. Optimus prime the leader I think, his voice was a little weak and should have been more booming.. Easily done. The yellow car was great fun..

 

Shia's acting was quit witty and I wanted more of the relationship between him and Megan. Acting all round was good and they made the best of it. This was masive in its scale and action sequences everything here got covered from Space to Military power to massive Robots from beautiful women to exotic underground labs spectacle abounded everywhere.. I should have liked it but in the end I was getting fed up with the non stop close up action. There should have been more tension more build ups and more character developement The script was witty although how much of that was shia's own contribution Im not sure.. But it was also very underdeveloped Perhaps this was really all about the robots but then everything was moving so quick you never really saw much. The film was way over saturated the colour correction looked bordering on posterizing sometimes. Also the lighting was far to contrasty everything seemed to black and in shadow. I don't think this was down to lighting but post. I think this added to the films downfall because without being able to properly see the spectacle through such rapid edits camera shake and close ups and the garish cc there was only the story to get into and that was non existant..

 

I watched the behind the scenes DVD and couldn't believe how much work and effort went into this and this really could have been much more.. I'd probably still watch part two if the story line improves and to watch the two main actors and the yellow car..

 

Overall I liked its scale and amazing effects. Just bored me in places.