In what is a rare occurence for my wife and I, we did not go to see Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen at a midnight showing last night. It’s not because of the Tuesday night issue, we went to see The Dark Knight at midnight on a Wednesday (though the day of work afterward was very tough), and it’s definitely not an issue of us not being excited about it. Honestly I can’t tell you why for sure, maybe it’s because we’re finally getting a bit more mature (or lazy). It could be that it’s a sequel which looks to be just a revamp of the first movie, whereas The Dark Knight as clearly a different direction from Batman Begins, but again that’s just conjecture.
Nonetheless, we will most likely be seeing it this evening because I believe opening night crowds will be smaller on a Wednesday than they will be during the weekend. I could be wrong, it’s happened a few times before! Dave is going to be driving out to Origins this evening so I know he won’t be seeing it and posting about it anytime soon, so I will most likely write up a review afterwards. What I would like to know is if any of you have seen it yet, and what your thoughts are on it. Perhaps moreso I’d like to know from the people who haven’t yet, when you’re going to see it and most of all what your expecations are for the movie!
Early reviews indicate it is even less well recieved by critics (21% on rotten tomatoes) than the first one (57%), but for the movie that it is I’m not that surprised though I am quite disappointed. The often cited issue with the movie is a lack of the human element to the story, and that it’s all about the robots, which from a critics perspective I see as a problem. Oh and confusing fight scenes is mentioned a lot too. But for people like us? We should know who every transformer is, and to us are they really much different than human characters? Some of the human elements of the first one actually bother me on a base level, “Here Sam, you squishy human, take this important cube and run! I’m not a 4-story tall robot made of whoop-ass or anything, take it!” On that note I’m still very excited to see it, and specifically some sweet constructicon action, but I won’t be going in with any huge expectations other than to be thoroughly entertained and dazzled.
What are your expectations, or concerns, about Transformers 2?
One of the guys I work with actually went to the 12:00am showing today. His taste in movies mirrors mine. He told me in no uncertain terms that he regretted seeing the movie.
I can’t say that this bodes well for the film. I’m not expecting much at this point.
.-= Vulcan Stev´s last blog ..What D&D Character are You? =-.
@Stev: Bummer! Most of my friends/co-workers have very different tastes than I do when it comes to movies in general.
I also forgot to mention my extreme disappointment at Blackout (the helicopter decepticon) not returning in this movie. His opening scene in the first movie is one I enjoy re-watching as often as I can! I actually saw the first one in the theater twice because of that scene (and friends scheduling, but still).
I never listen to the critics, sometimes I agree, but often I don’t. I like the sensational action movies that barely have a plot as well as thought-provoking docu-dramas.
I’m looking forward to seeing it, though it probably won’t be until well after it’s release, as there have only ever been a few movies I saw opening night (LotR & Dark Knight being the most recent exceptions). I generally hate sharing a theatre with anyone that isn’t silent (thus I rent/buy movies more than I see them in theatres).
I expect gratuitous explosions and action scenes focusing on the Transformers (because I could care less about the human element). I also expect some b.s. romance between humans, but it could be cut.
.-= Mad Brew´s last blog ..RPG Carnival: Steampunk & Klokwerks =-.
Even though I have not seen the film, I’ve seen plenty of promotional material and even a life-long fan couldn’t tell the robots apart. It’s not like Michael Bay stuck with the original designs int he first film either.
Oh by the way, Devestator has giant wrecking ball…balls. Yeah. I’m sure it’ll be great.
Wait… They’re focusing on the robots to the exclusion of the human protagonists?!?
HALLELUJA!
.-= Asmor´s last blog ..Random Encounter Generator updated =-.
@Asmor: From the Washington Post review (which was mostly negative about this one but positive towards the first movie) –
“Still, Bay and Spielberg and the rest of their co-conspirators have apparently decided that humans are of so little consequence that they can be relegated to the props department. “Trans 2″ is really an animated film — the Autobots and Decepticons are not integrated, visually, into a live-action world, as they were in the first film; because they are so ornate and supposedly sophisticated, they inhabit their own cartoon universe, into which people occasionally wander.
To suppose that there is an artistic philosophy behind ‘Trans 2,’ or even an intelligence, is to suppose a lot. But the aim would seem to be the creation of a world in which massive machines and tiny humans coexist. This, the moviemakers have not done.”
From what I understand there are 30+ transformers in the new movie. I can easily see the difficulty that would exist in determining which robot is a decepticon and which a autobot. I’m wavering whether to see this movie tonight or not. Money is tight for my family and I can only see so many movies.
@Asmor – I agree! The biggest annoyance I had with first movie was so much time devoted to the humans and not enough spent on the robots! I was hoping the balance would shift with this movie, and I’ll be happy if that’s true.
I wished this movie could be more than just flashy explosions and robots punching each other, but knowing Michael Bay and the crowd he caters to, I’m fine realizing it’ll be a bunch of fight scenes glued together with a thin plot and slow motion sweeping shots with dramatic music.
I’m fine with tons of action scenes with no real purpose. I love the second Alien vs. Predator and Smoking Aces, for example. I went to see this last night and it was trash. The plot was terrible, but hey, it’s an action movie, right? Well, even the action wasn’t good. It was too frantic and all of the decepticons look the same. Most the time you can’t even tell who is fighting in a battle, heaven forbid you try to understand what is going on.
.-= Nicholas´s last blog ..Dungeon Notes #14 =-.
Simply, The quality is too much in question for me to drop twenty bucks on the movie.
Netflix queued.
If the raving fanboy Harry Knowles hates it, its not a good sign. Probably a wait for DVD… or maybe a torrent.
Save your money: http://tr.im/pEeW
“”Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” is a horrible experience of unbearable length, briefly punctuated by three or four amusing moments. One of these involves a dog-like robot humping the leg of the heroine. Such are the meager joys.”
.-= Mike Shea´s last blog ..Reducing Clutter – Think About the Outputs =-.
@Nicholas: Now that concerns me a little bit, still going to see it tonight though.
@Mike: Even though he may be right, I tend not to listen to what Ebert says about most movies, particularly ones with any sort of non-mainstream factor involved in my personal enjoyment of a movie (such as loving the shit out of transformers). 🙂
I agree with Asmor (again). I hated the first movie because for a movie about fighting robots, it didn’t have nearly enough robots fighting.
If this had more of the robots and less of the people, it might actually improve. That said, I have no interest in seeing it after the boring crapfest (IMO) that was the first film.
I gotta say, I really enjoyed the first Michael Bays TF movie. It was exactly what I expected. It was no G1, but it was still Transformers.
My fiancée also liked it. Surprisingly, she thought it was the movie of the summer as she was disappointed by that year’s Harry Potter offering.
.-= Asmor´s last blog ..Random Encounter Generator updated =-.
I’m a bit afraid of going to see it… I want some plot and not just a series of fights and Michael Bay explosions…
Just got back from seeing it, it’s definitely not as bad as the 21% on Rotten Tomatoes would have you think. The Washington Post review called it a bad movie with some good/funny parts, but I actually think it was the exact opposite.
It was a pretty good movie, with some absolutely terrible parts. The ‘ghetto’ small autobots weren’t funny at all (to us), and Devastator did in fact (unfortunately) have a big ol’ pair of wrecking -balls- but that was about 5 seconds of a 2 1/2 hour long movie, so it’s unfortunate that something ridiculously stupid was included for no reason other than a scrotal joke but it certainly didn’t ruin the movie for me.
There was quite a bit of plot tying all of the fighting together, and I had no problems following the fights at all. At one point a bunch of nameless and generic decepticons show up, so the “all the decepticons look the same and it gets confusing” argument is moot, you don’t need to know who they are and they don’t matter anyway, all you need to know is Starscream and Megatron (but besides that there were 4-5 other noticeably different decepticons).
I got exactly what I wanted and paid for – giant robots kicking each others’ asses on a big screen! And a li’l bit of T&A for good measure. If you’re expecting more than this, then save your money.
I happen to like scrotal jokes, and thought Devastator’s balls of steel were a funny addition to the scene. If you’re offended by a robot testicles then I’m sorry to do this. Bartoneus. Friendship: Over.
One can only wonder how purile he must have thought the first movie due to Bumblebee taking a leak on the agent…
One or two ball jokes would have been lovely, but it seemed like it was every other scene. Come on now.
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but as a fan of juvenile humor I must say I’m really looking forward to it.
.-= Asmor´s last blog ..Random Encounter Generator updated =-.
Also remember, he was there with his wife. In the presence of females, you have to at least pretend to be offended by toilet humour. It’s the law!
That, to me, just calls into question the quality of the females with which you keep company.
Although to be fair, sometimes my fiancée does overdo it with the flatulence. 😡
.-= Asmor´s last blog ..Random Encounter Generator updated =-.
Excuse me Graham, but I (his wife) have a dirtier mind than my husband does!
The only situation I really can’t stand is when we play D&D and the boys decide to have an 8 hour long fart contest. That just offends my sense of smell.
Good job, then, Sucilaria! I’m more talking in general, of course.
And don’t think that (even if you have a dirty mind too) we men don’t subconsciously clean up our acts when around you. We can’t help it, it’s instinct. Seriously, you should see us when we’re just with the guys.
Actually… you probably shouldn’t. 😀
Now THAT’S some funny spam.
Incidentally, saw the movie. No masterpiece, but well worth the price of admission. Got exactly what I wanted– stupid humor and big robots fighting. Plot had more holes than JFK at a magic bullet convention, but I didn’t go to it for the story.
.-= Asmor´s last blog ..Monster Maker Support Discontinued =-.
Now that I’ve seen it… I can’t say I noticed that many plot-holes… I guess I was too busy being in awe at the robots fighting… and the way they killed Devastator… that was cool…
@Lunatyk
Check out this “review” for a funny take on all the plot holes.
http://www.toplessrobot.com/2009/06/bonus_robs_transformers_2_faqs.php
Strangely enough, I wasn’t bothered by the army being useless… I thought that’s how it should be… the Autobots are only with them because it’s their home and they are guests…
it wouldn’t be as fun to have the army be a serious threat against the Decepticons…
At the beginning of the movie, it definitely struck me that they didn’t do much to make the decepticons seem like villains. It really did feel like the army and the autobots were basically committing genocide, killing decepticons who were doing nothing but trying to hide.
And as an aside, I actually liked the bits with the army in both movies. I stick pretty exclusively with comedy, sci-fi and fantasy movies, so it was interesting to me to see what I think is actually a realistic and believable take on the current state of military technology. I don’t know if that’s what our military’s really like (sans alien robots, of course), but it was still quite cool.
Although much of the second movie did feel like an advertisement for the air force…
.-= Asmor´s last blog ..Monster Maker Support Discontinued =-.
I actually thought the army was presented as far less useless than in most action movies. Usually they are only there to show how really powerful the bad guys are before the hero(es) do what the army can’t. When you introduce giant robots (or giant anything, think of the Godzilla movies), army usefulness pretty much evaporates in most movies. One thing that I enjoyed about Transformers 2 was that, compared to other movies in the genre, the army was actually useful. Yeah, the focus was on the autobots, but the military wasn’t a bunch of red shirts just to show how unstoppable the bad guys are. They were only half red shirts and the rest did some useful stuff. But it is Michael Bay, and even if they weren’t as utterly useless as normal, their biggest contribution was clearly just adding more explosions and adrenaline to the combat scenes.
@Asmor –
…wow…
Was… was there really Robot Heaven in this movie?
OMFG!
.-= Graham´s last blog ..Damn you, Dave! You and your… logic… =-.
Transformers movie rocks. i am a fan of Transformers ever since childhood. Now i have three kids and they all like the Transformers cartoon series and the Movie.