Isn't it strange that despite how much the internet seems to hate Micheal Bay and the films they're still incredibly popular? Each film has made huge amounts of money and time after time after time they still make money. Sure, money doesn't indicate quality, it doesn't signify that the movies are "good" - good being subjective. It does show however, that people enjoy the movies and isn't having an enjoyable movie what matters ultimately?

People hate on the movies and yet they perform well and in some instances earn billions. If these films were so bad though, why doesn't the box office reflect this? Why don't these films drop or under-perform like Suicide Squad, Batman vs Superman or Warcraft? Revenge of the Fallen was a flawed film and perhaps the least favoured in the series yet it still performed well and didn't end up losing paramount money. None of the films experienced a huge drop after opening weekend, they remained popular. Why? Because in the end they're enjoyable films, the proof is out there.

People are entitled to dislike the films and I agree, they don't do everything right but, I don't think these films are anywhere near as bad as people make it out to be.

 

The franchise itself as a whole isnt as bad as people make it, because so far the movies have a couple good ones while they have a couple of bad ones. All of them are capable of being fun.

 

This.

 

That people call any one of these movies "one of the worst movies ever" is hilarious.

 

China.

For a long time they were a closed off market that had extreme levels of censorship in the media. But over the last 10 years with the rise of the Chinese middle class and far more open markets films like Transformers have been making a huge sum of there revenue from outside the US domestic market.

Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) - International Box Office Results - Box Office Mojo
China alone was more then the US and it basically made the case for TF5

Transformers Movies at the Box Office - Box Office Mojo
feel free to take a look at how the past films did. You will notice the older films did better but when you look into the markets you can see that China had a huge boom.

Now why is China so special? well they are hungry for this stuff and they love it when films pander to them. It's become a common trend in the last few years to cast a Chinese actor or in some way give the Chinese watcher a hook to come see it. For instance Iron Man 3 had whole sections added with Chinese cast. This is a trend that's going to continue and Transformers is a big part of it's growth.

Now are they still bad? sure! same way McDonalds is sh"t but even if they sell millions it's never going to be well cooked meal.

Now why do I think it's shitty well I'm sure they are fine in a McDonalds fix for action but I've tasted better and I know its within grasp. So when I see the same trends happening again and again your right as rain that I'll say something if I feel like it.

 

I think some people still have a sour taste in their mouths after the failure that was RoTF and that then leads them to be unfairly harsh towards DOTM and AoE, which are actually quite good films IMO despite some questionable female acting

 

I liked ROTF and I really liked DOTM, but I did not like AOE.

While I admire the courage to make these stories something new, the characters and transformer designs don't ring true to me. But the movies are pretty and shiny and explosion-y but not the best TF fiction out there. And it should be always strive to be the best TF fiction.

 

I can accept the fact that the films aren't perfect. For example, I thought that although AoE was excellent it reused some concepts from DotM. That said, it's a little pathetic that 9 years later we still have people complaining about Bumblebee peeing on Simmons, Wheelie humping Micheala's leg or Devastator's wrecking balls. In my eyes it makes it seem as if people can't find better reasons to substantiate their apparent disdain of the films.

And this is a point I've made before. I think that most of the hatred stems from the fact that this isn't like the TV show or the movies but I don't think they're supposed to be. Captain America Civil War had a superficial story that was carried by it's action scenes in the same way that the Transformers films have (note how I'm not saying that the writing quality is the same) but people like pointing out how the characters lack depth or the story is weak when this is the case of so many action movies. Transformers can't be an exception simply because another medium does it better.

The main problem is probably that this is Hollywood and there will always be a certain amount of pandering, sacrifice x so that we can have y. If people want extensive character development and story then we'll have to sacrifice some of the action and in the case of these films the action is paramount.

 

Eh. Box office isn't the best way to judge the quality of films though. Huge box office is usually an indicator of a film that many were going to see anyways as well as being part of a critic proof franchise. Although in recent years bad word of mouth has hurt some recent blockbusters like BvS so it will be it'll be interesting to see how TLK does.

I do think there is too much hate on the franchise. You'll never hear me be overly defensive of these being good movies because in large part they're not. Alot of times the storytelling and character development just isn't up to par. But the movies get treated like there's nothing redeeming about them and I just don't think that's true. AOE is treated among the ranks of Batman & Robin, Last Airbender and Fan4stic and I just don't it's justified. I can lineup alot of good aspects/scenes of that movie that people don't acknowledge because they wanna get hung up on that Texas law scene. I get it, it's a terrible scene but nothing that I think overshadows alot of the other good stuff in that movie.

 

the hype was real after the first film with old fans & for a whole new generation...rotf killed it for allot of casuals id argue & those that came back were treated with dotm...id say allot of people soured on the franchise at that point.

you can usually tell the damage or success a film caused by the gross of the film that follows it.

i do think tlk will gross more than aoe

as a series the films could be better but if nothing else i find them engrossing & enjoy that it takes you a couple viewings to fully grasp what's going on because i feel like a majority of your first & even second viewings you're visually captivated by the transformers themselves & it's not until later viewings do you see that there's more than meets the eye to these films.

thing is most people won't see it more than 1 or 2 times if they didnt enjoy it

1 overachieved in many regards. seemed to make a shockingly seamless transition to the big screen
2 severely underachieved (considering it's a sequel to an iconic film). the pace of this film is very unique
3 there's allot to like here & in many ways it's the most beautiful of all the films but it's also heavily flawed
4 to me the most emotional entry, subdued, dark -- the narrower scope & smaller cast did wonders

 

I have to disagree.

I wish the movies had some heart and substance.

Whether you consider them to be good or bad doesn't matter. The fact is, they are not good TRANSFORMERS movies.

These movies are the low bar that other bad movies are compared to.

 

The live action films seem to divide the fanbase quite constantly. But as much as I love good storytelling and characters with substance, the Bayformers are my guilty pleasure because the movies (as cringe as some parts are) aren't afraid to have fun and juggle possibilities.

 

While i agree theyre not so good transformers movies, i have to disagree with them being part of the lowest common denominator of movies. You want low brow? Watch any action comedy other than deadpool or any movie starring ben stiller or will ferrel.

 

I really dislike the stereotypical remark that if you like a 'bad movie' then you'll be labelled as a sheep.

 

I don't know, they're doing well with the premise of aliens fighting their war on our world. I think AoE did well on expanding on the consequences of their fight; the Autobots were being outright murdered all in the name to further our technology. If anything the film was a big step in the right direction in terms of story, character development and heart. It was very interesting seeing Optimus's story arc throughout these films.

 

I liked the first movie and give RoTF sightly a pass, but after DotM I was done and i've seen the 4th and probably won't see the 5th until I hear good things about it.

 

People agreeing.......on a transformers discussion board? Faith in humanity restored!

 

Regardles of how bad the plot/stories have been, you can't deny how great the special effects are and awesome some Of the fight scenes are.

The forest battle is one of the best scenes in cinematic history.

 

If I had a top 5 for fights the forest battle would make that list; it was just well choreographed and so intense. This whole series has many great scenes. In fact, the highway battle is still enjoyable to this day.

 

I definitely agree, I had rewatch RotF recently and I was shocked that I forgotten how amazing the forest scene was. The battle and action was intense, the angles looked great, and Optimus was being his typical awesome self. Even my brother adores the scene but I think he has a greater love for it due to his Optimus fan bias since he loves the scene up until Optimus is killed, much similar to his feelings to the Autobot City Battle from the 1986 film.

Kind of makes me regret claiming a few months ago that the entire Hong Kong battle in AOE was what I considered to be the best scene. Don't get me wrong, I still like it but it's been beaten out by my renewed love for the Forest Battle.