Transformers (2007 movie) discussion thread

[Sharingan]

Just saw the film in the theater. Overall, I thought it was pretty well done ... excellent special effects, good-looking female lead, good voice acting, plenty of explosions, good pace, and oh yeah, a FINE female lead.

There were some things I was a bit annoyed about though:

1. They definitely overdid the amount of 'witty' one-liners. It seemed like almost every scene contained one, and this detracted a lot from the atmosphere, which should IMO have been darker in tone. I mean, for god's sake, there's a bunch of killer robots wanting to destroy the planet. A little seriousness wouldn't hurt.

2. For a Transformers movie, they really ought to have put them more in the spotlight. Their character development was rather lacking (only Prime and Bumblebee were explored more in-depth), and more screentime was devoted to unimportant secondary characters than the robots themselves.

3. I thought the Decepticons were far more vulnerable than they should be. They're supposed to be evil, kickass, invincible killer bots from outer space, not a bunch of losers who can be disabled with man-made weapons. Also, why should they need to rely on sabotaging the puny humans' defenses in order to stage an invasion? They should've been a LOT more menacing than they are. As it is, the humans seemed to be perfectly capable of defending themselves.

4. The battle scenes between the Autobots and Decepticons were rarely shown clearly. I expected metal smashing into metal, I expected them to toss each other about, I expected them to throw cars and other big things against each other. Instead, we only get to see snippets of their mutual fights here and there, Where they're supposed to be knocking one another about, it's only hinted at, captured at too close a range, or shown offscreen.

5. The arbitrary robot designs made them REALLY hard to distinguish from each other. The Autobots were a little more recognizable, but Megatron and Starscream might as well have been the same robot.

While it might seem I disliked the movie, that isn't the case at all. I enjoyed it throughout, and I might even go see it again. Yet, I think it could've been a better flick if only some elements were handled differently.

[Submeg]

Hmm, yea thinking about it, those points are there. especially not seeing many robots...they introdce what, four? Really weird.

[Harrison]

I finally got to see this at the cinema the other week and thought it was great. Definitely some of the best robot special effects since in a film to date.

I also agree with Sharingan's points.

good-looking female lead, ... , and oh yeah, a FINE female lead.

Megan Fox is gorgeous! Great body, and amazing eyes. Not sure about the position of her Marilyn tattoo though. Nice pic here.

1. They definitely overdid the amount of 'witty' one-liners. It seemed like almost every scene contained one, and this detracted a lot from the atmosphere, which should IMO have been darker in tone. I mean, for god's sake, there's a bunch of killer robots wanting to destroy the planet. A little seriousness wouldn't hurt.

Totally agree. It did feel a bit too cheesy, happy and shiny. Making it darker and gritty would have added to it for sure. If there was one thing missing from the film it was a true sense of suspense and urgency. But it was made with the intention of aiming it at all age groups, and younger kids today might not have encountered the Transformers brand before so it had to appeal to them too.

2. For a Transformers movie, they really ought to have put them more in the spotlight. Their character development was rather lacking (only Prime and Bumblebee were explored more in-depth), and more screentime was devoted to unimportant secondary characters than the robots themselves.

This is very true. If you didn't already know about the other Transformers features in the film then you wouldn't have easily remembered their names after the initial introductions, let alone who they were within the group. And the fight sequences towards the end were very hard to distinguish who was fighting who.

3. I thought the Decepticons were far more vulnerable than they should be. They're supposed to be evil, kickass, invincible killer bots from outer space, not a bunch of losers who can be disabled with man-made weapons. Also, why should they need to rely on sabotaging the puny humans' defenses in order to stage an invasion? They should've been a LOT more menacing than they are. As it is, the humans seemed to be perfectly capable of defending themselves.

Not sure about this. They were quite invincible in the film against standard weapons, but I do get your point to a certain extent. The film was very unbalanced. At the start a single Decepticon is able to take out a whole army base without any resistance or opposition, but towards the end small groups of soldiers are suddenly able to concentrate their fire enough to slow down and nearly disable them alone. But then this is set in America and you can't show the US Army losing now can you!

4. The battle scenes between the Autobots and Decepticons were rarely shown clearly. I expected metal smashing into metal, I expected them to toss each other about, I expected them to throw cars and other big things against each other. Instead, we only get to see snippets of their mutual fights here and there, Where they're supposed to be knocking one another about, it's only hinted at, captured at too close a range, or shown offscreen.

Totally agree. The end fight sequences are very hard to follow. Must of the time making it hard to even know who is fighting who. It all looks amazing though but definitely could have done with some more proper one on one fight scenes between just two robots.

5. The arbitrary robot designs made them REALLY hard to distinguish from each other. The Autobots were a little more recognizable, but Megatron and Starscream might as well have been the same robot.

Totally agree and this was one of the biggest reasons that made the fight scenes towards the end hard to follow and distinguish between each robot.

While it might seem I disliked the movie, that isn't the case at all. I enjoyed it throughout, and I might even go see it again. Yet, I think it could've been a better flick if only some elements were handled differently.

Its the same for me. Great film but could have been even better by giving it a slightly edgier, darker feel akin to something like Terminator.

Maybe if they make a second they will explore the Autobots in more detail and give more flashbacks to their past.

[toomanymikes]

I loved this film. I managed to drag the other half in to see it with 8 of my mates and even she enjoyed it. The downside for me was that it seemed to jump aout quite a bit in terms of plot and development - I can only assume that a lot of the plot was left on the cutting floor to get it down to a manageable film time. Also, the cinema that i saw it in was really dark - we saw spiderman 3 there on the premiere and you couldnt even see what was going on. A defo buy on blu-ray for me, just so I can see what the hell is going on! With any luck there will be a directors cut version
Harrison - cudos on th megan fox gallery!

[Harrison]

Just thought I would mention that I also love that quote Tattooed onto Megan Fox's back. If you haven't seen it, it reads:

"We will all laugh at gilded butterflies"

And is taken from Shakespeare, King Lear, Act V, Scene 3.

And that simple quote has great meaning if you know the play. At this point King Lear is a prisoner, having been betrayed by two of his three daughters, leaving the third to whom he is speaking in this scene. He speaks of laughing at gilded butterflies in reference to objects of extravagance. A gilded butterfly may look beautiful but it cannot fly and is as trapped as the King himself. Finally realising that his wealth means nothing to him in comparison to the loyalty and love of his daughter.

It can also be interpreted as gilding butterflies being anything placed on a pedestal. At some point they will fall and everyone will laugh at them. Much like the fame and fortune of being a celebrity.

[Demon Cleaner]

I still have to watch it, I watched Fantastic Four 2 and TMNT lately, and they were not bad, but very short, I think FF4 is over after 84 minutes.

Also watched The Number 23 and Zodiac which are good.

[Harrison]

I was quite disappointed with Fantastic Four 2. It was well made with some nice special effects, but it didn't really do anything new or exciting and felt like the actors were just playing their characters by numbers with no real life.

I've yet to watch TMNT but will do very soon.

[Demon Cleaner]

No, FF4 wasn't that great, I still loved it, as there were some nice effects, but that was all. A very shallow story, only with a (like always) amazing looking Jessica Alba.

I liked the Silver Surfer, as when I was young (very young), I loved Marvel comics, and I was a huge fan of Spiderman, and I also liked the Silver Surfer character.

But they changed something in the movie, they try to get the Silver Surfer off the board, to lower or completely remove his powers, which is wrong according to the comic, as the Silver Surfer's power remained even when off the board.

[Demon Cleaner]

I just watched Transformers, and I liked it. It has some very funny moments and quotes. The end battle is amazingly made, don't know how they manage it to deliver such visuals, they're destroying half the city, and all seems so real. And Megan Fox is just sooo HOT!!!