Transformers Movie

Originally posted by exanda kane
Why is the "backstory" necessary though?

The backstory is necessary because those are characters who are loved because of their stories and characters. Not because they are just robots who fight.

If you would be comfortable just seeing a robot named Ultra Magnus, despite it not looking anything like him (Unlike Prime, who was very reminiscent.) and having nothing resembling the personality, then you obviously don't really care.

I'm a G1er but not to the degree that I hated Prime having flames or any of that ridiculous shit. However if you're going to have names that are attached to the few characters that have stories, have the story itself. Smokescreen? Who cares if his name is just in it? Nobody. Ultra Magnus is Optimus Prime's brother, it's hardly the kind of character you can just throw away.

-AC

Obviously I don't care then. Transformers' formula is strong because it is about Robots that talk and fight each other, not because of a compelling narrative.

Ironically enough, the weakest parts of the film were the parts about the Robots that talk and fight each other, the strongest was Spielberg's "boy and his car" analogy.

Originally posted by exanda kane
Obviously I don't care then. Transformers' formula is strong because it is about Robots that talk and fight each other, not because of a compelling narrative.

Ironically enough, the weakest parts of the film were the parts about the Robots that talk and fight each other, the strongest was Spielberg's "boy and his car" analogy.

Not all of them just talk and fight, I'm not saying the plot of anything associated with Transformers is amazing, but a select few characters have huge character back stories that are quite important.

Not to you, though this is the opinion of somebody that doesn't care and isn't a fan of the franchise.

So maybe less poser moments like name-dropping Hot Rod and Ultra Magnus, when you don't actually care, and more of what you thought about the movie as a Saturday night popcorn movie goer.

I disagree about the weakest/strongest parts. The weakest part was the shooting of the action and the prominence of human involvement. It should have been about the Transformers featuring the humans, not the other way around.

-AC

The Transformers simply could not hold my attention span and no amount of pseudo-handheld camera work could help that. If anything it increased my impatience. The opening however, despite a few clunkly lines, raised more laughs, more interest than the second and third acts. Too much CGI. It works as a cartoon, but did not as live action.

I would have preferred name dropping to complete absence. It would at least give a stronger chance to expand upon stories later on. However, all in all, I was not horrificly distraught that they were absent and indeed, if they were present, they would have been mistreated in the same way every other transformer was.

Originally posted by exanda kane
The Transformers simply could not hold my attention span and no amount of pseudo-handheld camera work could help that. If anything it increased my impatience. The opening however, despite a few clunkly lines, raised more laughs, more interest than the second and third acts. Too much CGI. It works as a cartoon, but did not as live action.

I would have preferred name dropping to complete absence. It would at least give a stronger chance to expand upon stories later on. However, all in all, I was not horrificly distraught that they were absent and indeed, if they were present, they would have been mistreated in the same way every other transformer was.

If it didn't work it was down to Bay focusing on the wrong things, not the robots themselves not working. If that had been the case, there's no reason to say it would work as a cartoon and not as a movie, the plot isn't so intricate that translation would ruin it.

Transformers were only "mistreated" in screen time.

-AC

Originally posted by exanda kane
Too much CGI. It works as a cartoon, but did not as live action.

What isn't CGI these days?! Geez! TF kept the transition between CGI and puppets as well and smooth. Think back to the Spider-Man franchise, everytime he lept his body would turn cartoonish. Not to mention the fact that whenever Peter Parker was not in costume, he looked beyond laughable with his CG body pretending to be real.

^
i agree, the transitions were very smooth

as to who is the center of the story doesn't bother me much
they had some back story on the transformers anyway

hopefully they will have more back story in the next movie, especially if they introduce Ultra Magnus. they should include a scene where OP and UM have a "man hug" and start saying inside jokes and what ever else it is that old friends do.

and it should show Ratchet doing some medical procedures on some of the new arrivals(they could say they got injured while traveling to earth... or something)

Originally posted by exanda kane
The allsparks a "MacGuffin", it's really just a means to an end. It's hardly rare in Hollywood, don't get the shits over it.

"I.........cannnnnn't.......hold........itttttttttttttttttttttttttttt......"

*Explodes molten effluence all over the McGuffin.* 😛

Your right.

They do that in hollywood all the time.

And this, was a movie I along with probably a few million been waiting a LONG time to get made....one I'd like to have seen not get raped up by such formulaic, lazy, barely-connected-with-TFs writing.

I hear you about McGuffins...
But... for every 1 Raiders of the lost ark quality McGuffinage,
there is a souless hack waiting round with the corner with 5 utterly braindead, non-plot-enhancing (and in this case, plot-harmingwith an even lamer, mythology-altering McGuffin just so the moneymen could claim copyright over this newer, but still inferior one. ) unneccesary modifications.

So Im not anti McGuffin.... Just at least:

a) Make it TFs mythology related when doing TFs movies..

b) Stick to your own movie's rules. And don't let your McGuffin become a massive, intelligence insulting, in-movie-physics-contradicting and plot confusing problem.

Then im happy.

Maybe Hollywood should have stuck with the matrix concept.

After the amount of time spent setting things up in this one, if the TFs are just backstory again - then im totally done with Speilberg's and Bay's new franchise.

Otherwise, they may as well edit any other military film together with "Days of our lives" and randomly put really expensive looking shiny CGI shots of some gobots in there for 2mins every half an hour of so and release that under a previously good name. 🙁

Originally posted by Alpha Centauri
Transformers were only "mistreated" in screen time.

In that state, they could not have held the screentime.

And I agree with Sadacko, MacGuffins are nice when done well, when they do what they are supposed to, but it would be nice to see something different.

whatever!!!!

i love this movie

Dude, Stickman! Chill man, it was an f*ckin' awesome movie, but we're all entitled to our own opinion. Kane brings up some good points, but we shouldn't allow someone's thoughts to sway our opinions.

i know

but if one more person complains about the transformers not looking exactly like their G1 counterparts i'll.... i'll...blowup

Bloody Megatron......... not looking like his G1 counter part..... 🙁

😛

Really though. The only reason that so many folks have been complainng about some of the new designs is not because they dont look identical, but because in most cases, the replacement designs are- despite the flashy detailed rendering- shit.

If you are weary of hearing it, then dont read posts by G1 fans.
Its not their or your fault that they were lucky enough to remember the best version of TFs as it was.
And its nobodys fault but SpeilBay's that we are all in this position.

It wasnt just the characters designs anyways.
It was their screentime (or lack of), the fact that we didnt get to know the deceps at all.

It was lots of things.

Granted there was fair bit that was positive about the movie, but are people only allowed to talk about those things...?

If a filmmaker takes the piss, a filmmaker must recieve feedbacks both positive and negative.

Originally posted by stickman618
i know

but if one more person complains about the transformers not looking exactly like their G1 counterparts i'll.... i'll...blowup

If anything, I'd praise the look of the Transformers. But still, they could not have held the screentime. They just weren't particuarly interesting.

I think more screentime for the bots would've ran them a huge bill. Not to mention the fightscenes that must've been expensive as hell. I place the lack of Decepticon/Autobot screentime on that.

like i said before

their budget was $150,000,000

they'll definitely have a higher budget for the next movie, which means that the transformers can steal the spotlight(even though it rightly belonged to them in the first place)

Yeah... It'll be like if Gore were to be given back his presidency by Bush.
😛

More screentime doesn't really solve the problem though I mean, so they're given more screentime, what will they be doing during the entire tme?

Thats for the plotline to dictate.

Hopefully some character establishment and realization.
There was none with the decepticons and only some hints at it with the Autobots.It wasn't feeling to me so much Autobot Vs Decepticon as Autobot vs Any faceless/depthless 2 dimensional monster villians from outer space.

Hopefully more TF v TF action....?

Some filling out/sorting out of mythology...?

More to actually relate it to Transformers better and not xyz teensoap.