TF 1: A solid fun film that I watch anytime it's on tv
TF 2: OH MY GOD KILL IT WITH FIRE!!!!!!!
TF 3: Eh, it's pretty good.

 

I used to be hugely anti-michael bay Transformers, but now, having watched all the movies several times, and disconnected the fanboy in my brain, I've realized that 1 & 3 honestly aren't that bad. #2 is just disconnected and 40 minutes too long. Instead of being angry at everything about the movies, the only thing that still lingers is the needless sexuality and crude humor, that is not needed in a spectacle summer blockbuster movie, especially one so heavily marketed to children.

Transformers will NEVER win an Oscar for best picture, but then again it was never meant to. It's a member of that great family of movies, such as Men in Black, Mummy, __insert_Super_Hero_here___, etc that are just silly summer fun used to sell action figures, paper plates, and t-shirts. You don't think about it, you don't analyze it, you just enjoy the brainlessness of it for 2 hours and then get on with life. Once you realize this, the movies aren't that bad.

 

On that, we can agree - even DotM, which turned down a lot of the toilet humor - the actually hilarious Jerry Wang aside - had too much of the needless sexuality. It's a shame.

 

My own thoughts;
1. Terrible characters, rushed plot, bad jokes, offensive characters, rushed CGI, could have been a lot better but it was worthy of at least one watch.
2. Terrible characters, rushed plot, bad jokes, even more offensive characters, rushed/terrible ending, not even worth remembering
3. Rushed characters, ok plot, still has some bad jokes, offensive characters have been minimalised, terrible ending.... its an ok film, definitely what we should have got instead of the first two films... but still not good enough.

 

Couldn't agree more. I was so sad when I saw Bay claim that someone might ruin "his" Transformers franchise so he had to step in and do a 4th one. Terrible just terrible. Not to mention the ugly toys that take up shelf space for years. I sometimes feel like getting all the execs in a conference room (Star Wars, TMNT, 80's action movie remakers, Transformers...etc) and giving them a little Bob Newhart from MadTV
Bob Newhart-Stop It - YouTube

 

Transformers could be the best written, directed, and acted film ever made and it would still have a tough time winning an Oscar because the people who vote for the Oscars aren't big science fiction fans. People are still rather shocked that Lord of the Rings managed a Best Picture win.

But I think one of the problems that the Transformers movie franchise faces at least in the United States is the bar has been raised on summer films but the Transformers movie for all their cutting edge effects are still a product of the past. The Mummy did well because it fit the action film making of it's time period, but I have a feeling it would flop if released this summer.

I'm sure Transformers will do well at the box office because 4th of July is like printing money, but instead of being compared to say Armageddon, Men in Black, or Independence Day, it's going to get compared to Avengers and the Dark Knight. A bit like how the new Superman movie can't just be okay it has to hit it out of the ballpark to be considered truly successful.

 

regretting starting this thread, and to clarify, the only one i dont like is the second one, and not cuase of the fanboy in me but becuase i just thinks it isnt very good, the fanboy in me is the only reason i still watch

 

The only thing I require in future movies:

1. Better focus on Transformers:

2. Less focus/Better Written Human Characters:

 

You're making sense again. STOP IT!  

 

Roger Ebert gave them 3 stars, 1 star, and 1 star respectively (each out of four). I think he was a little generous with the first one, but I'd say those ratings were fair. The bar has been lowered pretty far, so it won't take much to make a film most of us like.

 

id like to apologize for starting this thread

 

You don't have to keep posting to keep saying it (or variations of it) though like your last few posts in it have been.
I don't know what you expected to happen with the thread once you made it. If you really regret it and don't like it or how it's gone then ask a mod to close it, but considering it's not breaking any rules I don't see that happening, or the point in you keep coming in to lament it all. Intentionally or not, you're almost spamming your own thread.

Your thread has lasted twenty-two pages so far and been generally filled with a decent discussion. Some peoples' threads don't ever get half as far and get half the worthwhile content. You should be pleased about that.

 

TF1 was a damn good Transformers film

 

Eh, I wouldn't say "damn good" but it's probably the best we'll get. So far it's the only one I think actually treats the Autobots as serious characters and the Decepticons as serious threats.

 

True... TF1 had the best portrayal of Autobots and Decepticons... but the human cast was offensive as hell. If they fixed the human cast I dare say the first movie would have been perfect.

 

Offensive? In what way?

 

The portrayal of multiple characters relating to their ethnic background. The constant showing of all 'black' characters outside of a military background as being people who are either; Hackers, Frauds, Cheats or Liars

I could go on, but this is not a thread where we question just how terrible the previous movies were... oh wait...

Point is... the first movie was flawed, but if they fixed the human element/script then it would have been ok.

 

I think you are right the first movie was the last time that there was a Decepticon who could go toe to toe with Prime and the Decepticon plot wasn't so Earth shattering that the bad guys had no chance at winning. It's also the last time people could make a reasonable argument of maybe the humans got in a lucky shot instead of the humans actively hunting down and killing Decepticons. Thanks to the horrible detectors idea it's also the last place that really had the feel of the robots could be anything, anywhere, any time.

 

How do we know until someone who gets it has tried to get it across?

 

It was also the last film where the Relationship between the Transformers and the humans felt like it was MORE than "help Sam do a cool thing" or "help army kill a bad thing". I don't know if I'd say the first film was a "great" film, but it was definitely the most solid of the Bay films so far, and I was pleasantly surprised by it.