Kath and I went to see “Transformers” this afternoon.
Now I was a bit old for the animated series when it first aired, so I have no particular attachment to the characters or concepts. I’m not going to get my knickers in a knot because character designs were changed or liberties were taken. I’m much more interested in the simple concept of whether I was entertained or not.
Answer: Most definitely.
Mild spoilers below…
I have to admit that I found the first forty five minutes the most engaging. Our young hero, Sam (Shia LeBoeuf acting his heart out) buys his first car, a yellow Camaro, which turns out to be (wait for it) more than meets the eye. In short order the vehicle is playing matchmaker for Sam and a local hottie. But the car is also heavily armed and good in a fight as a shapeshifting police car goes after Sam and a titanic struggle ensues. Basically the film initially plays out like the mutant crossbreeding of “Terminator II” and “The Lovebug”…”Herbie Goes to Defcon 4,” if you will.
If that’s where the movie had remained, that honestly would have been good enough for me. But nearly an hour in, the rest of the titular heroes show up: Twenty foot tall living machines who mostly appear to have picked up our language through the internet (which would explain the wacky names they have. Bumblebee? Why in the world would an alien be named after an Earth insect?) As Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen, the original OP) explains the Autobots’ backstory while his cohorts each exhibit their one character trait, the film teeters into the arena of the truly ludicrous.
Fortunately director Michael Bay wisely decides to go with the silliness rather than fight it. The result is grin worthy sequences such as the sight of a bunch of gargantuan robots trying to remain inconspicuous in a suburban back yard and failing spectacularly. By acknowledging the inherent absurdity of the situation, Bay manages to hold on to his audience’s suspension of disbelief long enough for us to segue into some truly spectacular battle scenes, including a climactic half hour running battle between Autobots, Decepticons, and the US Army, while various bystanders desperately try not to get themselves blown up, shot up, or just plain crushed. Some gloriously hysterical dialogue (one Autobot, fed up with Sam’s annoying parents, argues the advantages of simply blowing them to hëll; at another point, Optimus Prime obliterates Sam’s mother’s garden and mutters, “Sorry…my bad”) and surprisingly scatological sequences (a Transformer chooses a very crass means of displaying his contempt for an abusive government spook) hold the entire film together. At its best when focusing on the core concept of A Boy and His Car, it nevertheless…despite a bit of unevenness…provides exactly what one would expect: Two-plus hours of mindless entertainment.
Surrender now to the certainty of a sequel.
PAD
• 
Thanks for the review Peter. At first I was just going to wait until it comes out on DVD but you got me at ‘Herbie Goes to Defcon 4’
It’s not even about Transformers now. It’s about the trailer before Transformers: 1-18-08. What did you think of that, Peter?
I am the right age for transformers but never really got into them (tho I got the first two issues of the comi book when it got published here, mostly because the second ussue had spiderman in it). The movie?
I agree with PAD, the first 45 min were the most enjoyable, but then… I enjoyed the backyard scene, I enjoyed some sillyness but sometimes it became downright goofy. Turturro’s character was just too stupid and some others (the fat hacker) very much an unnecesary comic relief.
Enjoyed the way the battle got showed from a human scale point of view, very much like Ross’ Marvels did back then. Boosts the awe factor x10. I had a good time but not a great time.
By the way PAD, Vicente Garcia, the guy who publishes your “But I Digress…” here in Spain, has been trying to contact you through mail unsuccesfully. Would you be so kind as to contact him?
I appreciated the way that Bay allowed the Decepticons to cut loose in a way they never could in a kids cartoon, showing them as the giant killing machines, contemptuous of human life, that they are.
Also, I agree that it helps the movie tremendously that it doesn’t try to take itself or its subject matter too seriously.
-Rex Hondo-
It also proves that Mountain Dew machines are just as evil as Mythbusters has led us to expect.
I was the kid who bought GoBots instead of Transformers. I think that’s roughly equivalent to investing in Beta when everyone was buying VHS machines.
PAD’s description sounds a lot like The Island. I really liked the first part of that movie. It was like a modern version of Logan’s Run. Then it turned into a generic action movie and lost a lot of the emotion that it had at the start.
It sounds like this one held up a little better, but I’m a little gun shy about the two-movies in one thing.
It sounds like this one held up a little better, but I’m a little gun shy about the two-movies in one thing.
Ah, but can you think of any movie for which it would be more appropriate? ;P
-Rex Hondo-
Transformers was a big thing in New Zealand when growing up, apart from the toys, though got into Beast Wars when it came on. I agree with your review, the only thing that I found a mild annoyance was that the fights were to close up and shakey, it meant that it was hard to take in what was happening during the action sequences. I was most impressed when they pulled back and you could take it all in.
Sorry that was supposed to be wasnt a big thing in New Zealand:)
While I enjoyed the movie, I absolutely *hated* the scene when the transformers went back to Sam’s house – if nothing else they could have down a couple of funny bit and still cut the scene by 15 min or so (it certainly felt like it went on for 20 minutes).
That said, I’ll probably see it again. Who can resist robot-on-robot action? I would have liked a little more exposition about the backstory, buts that’s probably the fanboi in me. I was initially disappointed when I heard that a certain major character only appears near the end of the movie, but after watching it, I think it was handled pretty well.
Like PAD said, the first 45 minutes were the best. The only thing that concerned me (ok, more like creeped me out) was at the end when Sam and Mikaela are making out on Bumblebee’s hood. It’s just… wrong.
“Like PAD said, the first 45 minutes were the best. The only thing that concerned me (ok, more like creeped me out) was at the end when Sam and Mikaela are making out on Bumblebee’s hood. It’s just… wrong.”
Well, if the choice is that or the back seat, certainly the hood is less intrusive. I can just see it: “Hmmm. They both appear to be leaking some sort of lubricants…”
PAD
There are a few things I have to say before I talk about this movie. First, Michael Bay LOVES to blow up stuff. He LOVES car chases, and action. Second, Michael Bay has been quoted to say “Originally when I was contacted to do the Transformers I was going to pass, but then I thought I couls make this into the next superhero franchise”. And third, I was a HUGE Transformer fan. I still love the original movie and can (almost) recite the whole movie word for word (with music cues). Oh, Fourth, sometimes I tend to ramble…
So I felt it’s only fair that I review this movie two ways. First as a “Transformers movie” and then as a “movie”. Think of it as the American Godzilla. It just HAD TO be reviewed two ways. But this movie is different. it’s its own thing…..
I was negative going into the movie. But just a few days before I saw it, I went to see Fantastic Four 2. One of the trailers was for Transfomrers. I heard the sound. the sound effect of the Transforming. It was only Prime, but it was there. Then I had heard that they got the original voice actor to do Prime’s voice (Peter Cullen). Then I talked to this one guy who is a projectionist and he said he saw it on Saturday. He said he was a Trasnformer fan and he liked it. So last night I had my hopes up. The movie opens and the first thing I hear is Peter Cullen’s voice. I was very happy. The beginning started off prety good. I was thinking maybe I’m gonna like this after all.
I was wrong.
The movie was inconsistant. They didn’t know what kind of moive they wanted to be. A love story? An action flick? A Serious invasion movie? A comedy? It was like 6 different guys wrote this movie. And you can tell which guy wrote which parts. There were some parts that were a tip of the hat to the original series and yet at the same time it was insulting to the original fans. If they got Peter, why not Frank Welker for Megatron? He’s still alive and still does voices for movies and TV all the time. Hëll, he’s doing the voice for Megatron in the freakin’ video game! As a Transformer fan, I was (almost) eating up any nugget of old Transformers that they gave to me. When Prime said “One shall stand! One shall fall!” I was so happy (It’s a quote taken from the original movie). I know that most of it came from Peter’s voice, but they had a little robot Transform into a radio (like Soundwave) or when they had Bumblebee right next to an old (yellow) Volswagen Beetle. So if it was a better overall movie the Transformer stuff would have keep me going.
But it was crap.
As a movie itself, a lot of things didn’t make sense. There was no explainiation as to why the events started as they did. Spike (although they didn’t call him that) buys Bumblebee. Coincidence? it’s not supposed to be. But they make it seem like it. Then halfway through, they decided that it’s not. The Transformers were looking for the “all spark” a thing that supposed to give life to the Transformers (for you fans, it’s like a mix of the Matrix and an Energon cube). Megatron came to Earth looking for it and got frozen in the artic. Then like 80 (or something like that) years later the Decepticons seem to find out that Spike has the location of the “all spark” because he has some glasses that has the location imprinted on it (and exactly how did they know that is beyond me). Yet at the climax of the movie, we find that the “all spak” has been moved so the glasses are moot. A few times throughout the movie Prime lets everyone know that if he places the “all spark” in his chest he will die and destroy the “all spark” with him. So when they get the “all spark” they decided to have Spike run away with it while the Autobots and some military guys (who were stationed in Iraq) protect him. Megatron was way powerful and the Decepticons were overall stronger that the Autobots. So how do they win? Well, Prime yells to spike to place the spark inside if him (while getting his bumper handed to him by Megatron) and Spike magages to place the “all spark” inside Megatron’s chest!. If a freakin’ human could do that how difficult would it have been for a Transformer to do it? And why try to keep it away from Megatron to begin with? why not be like “here you go” then slip it right into the chest? Even the killing was inconsistant. Some deaths were overy tramatic, and some were like “oh well, he’s dead, let’s move and with this crappy movie”. Oh, one last thing (well, I really could go on and on about it) I think Michael Bay is a Democrat (not that it is a bad thing). He takes an (obvious) political stand in the movie and manages to even poke fun at the President…
It’s never a good thing when I get bored in an action flick. And that was exactly what I was. sure the visuals were nice, but it was nothing new, and a the story just wasn’t there to keep me interested. Some people will like it. Those people have way lower standards than I have (which also may not be a bad thing!).
Well, it’s not as if I’m an apologist for the film, but–
1) Both Peter Cullen and Frank Welker auditioned for Bay himself. Although Cullen passed muster, Bay was concerned that Welker’s voice had aged to such a degree that it no longer sounded the way that he, Bay, wanted Megatron to sound. So he cast Hugo Weaving who is, one admits, no slouch.
2) I don’t think they “decided” halfway through that Bumblebee hooking up with Sam was no longer coincidence. It was the concept from the get-go: That Bumblebee had sought out Sam to act as his guardian should the Decepticons show up…and, presumably, snag the glasses should Sam happen to bring them into the car. As matters progressed,however, waiting no longer became an option and Bumblebee summoned the rest of his crew.
3) “How difficult would it have been for a Transformer to do it?” I’d have to think pretty difficult, actually: If Prime made a forward thrusting motion with the cube toward Megatron’s chest, Megatron would correctly see it as an assault and block it or even try and turn it back against him. But Sam was able to catch him off guard. Hëll, when you think about it, there was no reason for Megatron to know that Sam was aware of how to use the cube in lethal fashion. The only reason Sam knew was because Prime told him with the intent of sacrificing himself. Self-sacrifice wouldn’t exactly be up there in Megatron’s priorities, so it might well not have occurred to him that Prime was willing to annihilate himself in order to save humanity.
4) “Those people have way lower standards than I have?” Oh…look…over there. It’s the horse you rode in on. Feel free to hope back on and ride it out.
PAD
2) why/how would they know to protect Sam? No one knew that the glasses had the information.
3) Unless Megatron was deaf, he heard Prime say it in the heat of the battle. Of course, He might not have been paying attention… And one would think that If Prime knew why would others know also?
4) I’m not saying lower standards (than mine) are bad, if I had them I would have enjoyed the movie!
2) Barricade’s not the only one searching the internet. It’s left as an exercise to the viewer to consider that Bumblebee may have been more subtle than Blackout and Frenzy when it came to hacking for information.
3) Megatron was distracted by the Eyes On The Prize syndrome. He demanded the squishy bring him the cube, and the squishy was bringing him the cube. He didn’t expect that Sam had actually learned a little something about ducking and weaving from his bried stint trying out for the football team (the novelization makes it clear that he does actually evade Megatron’s grasp on his way in with the cube, and that he’s applying football skills).
BTW, while the prequel novel “Ghosts of Yesterday” reads like Alan Dean Foster hacked it out in a weekend (because he probably did…the original author was pulled off a couple months before publication date), his adaptation of the movie itself is excellent. Ranks with PAD’s own better adaptation novels.
What I’m saying is that the information wasn’t on the internet. No one knew the glasses had the map. And if they “saw” the map on the glasses, then they didnt need the glasses anyway!
Mark,
I don’t enjoy political statements on either end of the political spectrum in summer action movies, but you made a big mistake on this board when you mentioned that the movie took a swipe at the President….you didn’t praise it for doing so. President Bush could cure cancer and Peter David would find a reason to crucify him for it. As I read your comment about that, I thought to myself, “Peter David is going to rip this review to shreds”. Sure enough, the next poster was Peter David. You made a great point about what a coincidence it is that the kid buys the transformer. Out of all the cars in the city, what are odds that he buys the car that’s come from across the universe looking for him??? Yet Mr David ignores that, then invites you to leave over the “standards” remark. So predictable.
I didn’t take it that way. Since he did enjoy the movie and I didn’t (and the fact that this is his board) I felt that he might have thought that the comment was directed to him. Being the ever clever person he is, he responded in kind to my “insult”.
Correct me if I am wrong Peter…
4) “Those people have way lower standards than I have?” Oh…look…over there. It’s the horse you rode in on. Feel free to hope back on and ride it out.
I agree that there’s nothing as simple or as objective as different standards at play. The people who like it don’t have low standards – there are too many of them for that. And I don’t think those of us who didn’t like it have high standards. But something is definitely going on with this movie.
I pretty much agree with most everything else Mr Torres said. The plot made no sense. The action sequences were very intense – too intense to tell what was going on, in some cases, nor could I tell the Decepticons apart when they weren’t in vehicle mode. Apart from the “too fast to see what’s going on” issue (which I suppose is a moneysaving measure – fewer frames to render the CGI in), the sfx were amazingly awesome. And it was pretty faithful to the cartoon, from what little I paid attention to it in high school.
I was definitely going to see this movie, and I thought it would be alone. When my wife saw that it got an 8+ on the IMDb, which is higher than Live Free or Die Hard with more votes – and she loved that latter movie enough to see it again – she agreed to come along. Halfway through that climactic final action sequence we looked at each other and shrugged. I have no idea why this movie is so popular. On the way out she invoked the superhero movie equivalent of Godwin’s law and compared it to Batman and Robin. As I believe I’ve said in comments here before, perhaps in reference to Spidey 3, to make such comparisons lightly is to do a disservice to the sheer awfulness of Batman and Robin, but I understand her point. We could have walked out halfway through the movie and not really feel like we missed much.
To give you an idea of where I stand in recent-superhero-movie coordinate space: I absolutely loved Spider-Man 1 and 2, X-Men 1 and 2, and Batman Begins. In the next tier down are Superman Returns and FF 2. Continuing downward we have the third installments of the Spider-Man and X-Men flicks. Getting into nebulous territory we have Daredevil and the first FF. Then there’s Ang Lee’s Hulk, which could have been much better with a different ending, but as it stands I have to give it a failing grade. And then somewhere way down there is Catwoman (I didn’t see Elektra).
I would have to put Transformers down there with Catwoman, though slightly above it. Different type of eye candy, but otherwise similar quality of film…
To address the nitpick about the plot: Spike putting the glasses up on eBay triggered the events of the film. From the photos posted online the Transformers could tell there was a map encoded in the lenses, but it’s a holographic map – no way to read it without getting the glasses and shining a laser through it. The fact that the Feds had moved the cube, rendering the map useless, doesn’t affect its importance to the plot, since the Transformers didn’t know that.
As for the politics, I don’t want to feed the troll, but I interpreted the film as, perhaps surprisingly, overall pro-USA. I mean, the Secretary of Defense was a key member of the heroic team! Sure, there were some jerks in Section 7, but there are jerks everywhere. Aside from the one (rather lighthearted) jab at W on AF1, and a torture ref taken right out of FF2, I think the US govt, especially the military, came off well, all the way up through the Chiefs of Staff and SECDEF.
“Sure enough, the next poster was Peter David. You made a great point about what a coincidence it is that the kid buys the transformer. Out of all the cars in the city, what are odds that he buys the car that’s come from across the universe looking for him???”
Uh…no. It’s not a “great point” because it was abundantly clear that Bumblebee came looking for him, that Bumblebee followed him TO the car lot, and then we saw Bumblebee demolish the other cars that might have been bought in lieu of him. The film had weaknesses, but that plot point was pretty solid.
The rest of your post is just too stupid to respond to.
“I didn’t take it that way. Since he did enjoy the movie and I didn’t (and the fact that this is his board) I felt that he might have thought that the comment was directed to him. Being the ever clever person he is, he responded in kind to my “insult”.
Correct me if I am wrong Peter…”
No need; you’re right.
PAD
PAD, it’s great that you treat opposing opinions with such respect! The fact that you approve of a plot point does not mean that anyone who disagrees is beneath contempt. “The rest of your post is just too stupid to respond to” is both lazy and arrogant, coming from the school of “I’m right; You don’t get: Shut up, stupid!” Perhaps you could either make a coherent rebuttal or ignore what you don’t care to dispute.
On the politics point, I agree with your conservative detractors that you would savage baby Bush for anything he did, good or bad. I just differ from them in thinking the latter alternative is almost impossible – so that problem wouldn’t be likely to arise.
I couldn’t understand the useless side charchters and why the cube made evil robots and the transformers had cube sized holes in their chests. I surrendered myself to the awesome cgi and enjoyed myself hoping for morem robot fights on the dvd
Okay, who had the “July 8, 2007 10:32 AM” square in the “When Will the Snark Commence” betting pool?
Jeffrey Frawley: “Perhaps you could either make a coherent rebuttal or ignore what you don’t care to dispute.”
Okay, who had “July 8, 2007 07:38 PM” in the “When Will Jeffrey Frawley Make Another Mountain Out of a Molehill” betting pool?
I thought the movie was the best summer blockbuster I saw so far this year. Spiderman 3 nope, Fantastic Four 2 good but not amazing, didn’t even bother to see Pirates 3 I just cant take anymore of that junk… and then Transformers a wonderful blend of seriousness, silly, boy his car and the girl story. Unless you live in Japan I guarantee you don’t have many of those types of stories floating around. And I must admit I can’t wait for the sequel because for those who were into the old series Starscream was always an even bigger jerk than Megatron and always was looking to take over Megatrons place as leader of the Decepticons. Not only that but I have to say the movie impressed me by not only having the traditional Transformers who would turn into cars and such but have others that turned into phones, stereoes, and most of all the movie had a nod to the Beast Wars age of Transformers with the Scorpion Decepticon. Overall I give it two thumbs up and give Peter two thumbs up for his review.
Just on a side note, I’ve seen a few people referring to this as a “superhero” movie. The Transformers are not superheroes, and never have been. They’re soldiers, pure and simple.
And let’s be honest with ourselves, folks. I loved the Transformers during the 80s as much as the next guy, but once I tried to watch it as an adult without the benefit of nostalgia-colored glasses, I realized, to my dismay, that the original toon suuuuuuuucks.
-Rex Hondo-
Rex Hondo: “…I realized, to my dismay, that the original toon suuuuuuuucks.”
Wow. Rex, I just want you to know that I’ll miss you after the hordes of fans of the original cartoon go all frothing at the mouth and come after you. 😉
Bill Myers – That’s quite amusing, but has nothing to do with my point. If you can find anything in PAD’s comment to “bill” that addressed “the rest of (bill’s) comment” – I suppose that would be his belief PAD’s animus toward President Bush is reflexive and uncritical – then I’ll be satisfied. It seemed to me that the best response to such an accusation would be “That’s not true – and here’s why…,” “Well, of course I feel that way: GWB is a congenital idiot, and here’s why I say that…” or, if he really felt the comment was too stupid to reply to, DON’T REPLY TO IT – not even in the form of “The rest of your comment is just too stupid to respond to.” – If he’s really sure he shouldn’t respond, then he shouldn’t.
Did Bill & Mark not notice that Bumblebee was following the Witwicky’s to the car lot? Did they not notice that he drove into the lot to be purchased? I mean Bernie Mac even says that he’s never seen the car before. Did they miss Bumblebee smashing the Volkswagen so it couldn’t be bought..or blowing the windows of the other cars on the lot?
Agreed that the original toon sucks if you watch it as an adult, but then, so does Super Friends. In fact, SF is far worse. That didn’t keep me from loving Batman Begins and rather enjoying Superman Returns, not to mention the first couple entries in the respective earlier series of movies featuring those characters…
You can make a horrible movie from a great concept; you can make a great movie from a concept that at first blush makes you just scratch your head (witness Pirates of the Caribbean – a movie from an amusement park ride?). It’s all in the execution.
In the case of Transformers, I feel the execution was lacking. Severely. Many, many legions of others, including apparently PAD, disagree. I find this fascinating…
Jeffrey Fawley. PAD addressed the criticism concerning the plot point in the movie.
He treated as too stupid to respond the suggestion that he somehow rejected Mr. Torres’s criticism of the movie because of his animosity toward Bush. It is too stupid to respond to.
As for Bush curing cancer. If he does that, or something of similarly beneficial value, we’ll see how PAD reacts. Since it has not happened, it is irrelevant. PAD, and others, criticize Bush for things they feel he has done wrong. If you or anybody else disagree with their asseessment, address the issues instead of trying to claim that the riticism is motivated from some unexplained animosity.
———–
As for the movie. Haven’t seen it yet. Not sure if I will. The positive reviews of the movie describe it as mindless entertainment. So do the negative reviews. So I have to decide if I will enjoy mindless entertainment or will I find it too… mindless. I haven’t decided yet.
Peter confirmed Mark’s take on Peter’s reaction to bill. Welcome to satisfaction.
A friend of mine noted in his blog a True Thing:
It’s plausible that they learned to speak English, as they say, from the Internet–but if that was true, their dialog would be horrific.
Optimus Prime: DIE NOOB!!
Megatron: Im In UR BASE, STEALING UR CUBE!
Bumblebee: OH NOES! THEY BE TAKING MY CUBE!!
Megatron: ST4RS[REAM! U HALF FA1LED ME! L4MR!
Starscream: NOES! EYE IS L33T!!
Also, anyone else notice that even among Transformers, the brother never makes it?
I just can’t buy it that The Autobots (and Decepticons) just happen to find one pair of glasses online and figure out that it had the map to the “all spark”.
But I’m going to go one step further. The Decepticons ran up to spike and was like “hey are you the guy who’s selling the glasses on e-bay” yet the Autobots knew that was him?
And I do agree, it is a very polarizing movie. Fan or no…I’m gonna have to say it…There is more than meets the eye to this movie…
I have to agree with the folks who say that the plot of this movie made no sense. I did not find the Autobots’ buffoonery endearing, I found it annoying. So much more could have been done with this movie.
On the bright side, it was flashy, and the first forty-five minutes were AWESOME. Here’s hoping that the sequel will be more X-MEN 2 and less BATMAN & ROBIN.
Eric
So, OK, I guess I’ll consider it. I had no real interest at first because my only real exposure to the characters was the comic book of years back and it had made it rather difficult to take them seriously when they are described as carrying horribly lethal and destructive weaponry, yet never seemed to manage to even scuff each other’s paintwork. A robotic A-TEAM? But the reviews of this film, mixed though they may be are having me ponder going after all.
Micha, you can be satisfied if you want to: I am not. It doesn’t make for good conversation for one side to simply sneer and dismiss the other, but as PAD sets the tone here, that’s the way it must be.
As an example of the wit here, “Oh…look over there…it’s the horse you rode in on.” (PAD)
hmmmf…that’s just too… Oh, sneer, sneer.
Jeffrey, you’ve just changed the condition of what you say it takes to satisfy you.
Mark’s take on what Peter said covered every aspect of bill’s complaint, and bill didn’t complain about Peter unconditionally sneering. bill complained of Peter’s sneering under the condition of discrediting the movie for satirizing George Bush.
You have demonstrated you have no integrity.
I had no real interest at first because my only real exposure to the characters was the comic book of years back and it had made it rather difficult to take them seriously when they are described as carrying horribly lethal and destructive weaponry, yet never seemed to manage to even scuff each other’s paintwork.
I don’t think it’s really spoiling anything to say that this is most certainly not the case with the movie.
-Rex Hondo-
Mike, your comments move me ever closer to PAD’s tactic of dismissing criticism with a sneer. You are free to believe I have no integrity, just as I am free to believe you are insane. In any case, I have not seen anything supporting the idea that PAD ever dealt with bill’s accusation. I would tend to agree that the accusation is out of left field and not particularly relevant to the discussion; PAD, unlike me, didn’t say anything of the sort. “(T)he horse you rode in on” is a much simpler argument than that – more like “Yeah, well screw you!” – not particularly deep or responsive. Consider this, please: Suppose the entirety of a response to one of PAD’s postings was “Yeah…well you’re a hypocritical jerk. Shut up.” Most – perhaps even myself – would think that mean-spirited and stupid. I don’t see PAD’s response to bill as very different from that model, so the distinction must be – “Oh, he’s PAD, and I like him. That’s OK.” That isn’t persuasive to me. In fact, because he’s recognized as a talented writer he is entitled to even fewer excuses than most.
I was thoroughly entertained by this movie as well.
But — and maybe someone can explain this to me — what was the motive of moving the battle to the city? The conflict begins in the desert (where there are virtually no people in harm’s way) and shifts to the city where there are thousands of people in harm’s way. I know one of the soldiers (the guy who stars in Vegas) suggested the move but I can’t recall the reason why.
Thanks.
No, not “in any case.” Only in the case where you deny Mark explicitly disagreed with bill by saying Peter’s sneer was motivated by his vanity, not his political bias as bill said, and deny Peter confirmed Mark’s interpretation by saying “you’re right.”
In the case of you arbitrarily denying Peter’s plain confirmation of Mark’s rebuttal of bill’s accusation, you have no integrity.
But — and maybe someone can explain this to me — what was the motive of moving the battle to the city?
I think it was to provide cover for the copters that were going to pick up the cube to land in–if they’d tried to land at the dam they’d have been picked off immediately.
I liked the movie, really, but I wished they humanized the robots a little more. I know it’s difficult, since they’re kind of ludicrous, but they were sort of drawing a parallel between the human soldiers and the robotic ones, which I thought had a lot of potential. It would have been nice if they’d put in just one scene where the robots are talking about how much they miss their home or something, similar to the scene in the beginning where we meet some of the U.S. soldiers.
Mike, I haven’t been talking about Mark, but Peter David. I bet they’re entirely different people. This is something along these lines:
Me: If PAD did X, I would be satisfied.
Mike: Mark said Y!
Me: And…
Mike: Mark said Y, Jeff, what’s wrong with you?
As for “…in the case where you deny Mark explicitly disagreed with bill…” I haven’t denied or accepted anything said by Mark. I don’t recall reading anything by Mark, so I don’t know what your point is, Mike.
Nothing I’ve said depends on Peter and Mark being the same person. You haven’t disqualified anything I’ve said.
The cube was not moved. It landed in the desert. Megatron located it there, but crashed in the Arctic. Great-Grandpa activated Megatron’s navigation system, which etched the holographic map on his glasses. Optimus read the map, which pointed him 200 miles Southwest (or wherever) and they headed out to find the cube. Meanwhile, the cube was located, and Hoover Dam was built around it, encasing it in enough concrete to shield any signal from escaping, and providing a place to store and study the Iceman (Megatron).
As the Autobots are on their way to the cube, Bumblebee drives past them with it, and they join him.
Make sense?
Ah, perhaps a grandmother’s opinion may be entered. I took my nephew (25), my son-in-law (34), both major Transformers fans as kids, and my 2 grandchildren, ages 7 and 5 to see the movie on July 4. WE ALL HAD A BLAST and isn’t that what movies are for…their main job is to entertain. The two big fans were thrilled. The two little kids loved the action. Grandma was happy that some of the Spielberg touch rolled over into Bay’s action-happy style, with the little love story and the humourous touches.
It was just plain old fun, folks.
In response to Ray’s previous question the reason in which they move toward the city is to avoid getting caught. What better place to hide cars and much more than that one boy than in a city full of people. Granted the plan doesn’t work out so well since the Decepticons aren’t… well frankly stupid but it is in theory a good idea. It is also a better idea for puny human soldiers to fight giant robots in the city since a city would provide more cover in a fight of such magnitude. Hope that answers your question Ray, and good day. 🙂