Revenge of the Fallen: Worst-reviewed $400 million hit ever

I'm one of them, but I look at it like more of a reward I've received.

The masses also like to eat McDonald's. That doens't make it good.

this is where critics should finally realize that they are an endangered breed. This isnt the 1900s anymore. Just like paper news is dying, so are critics.

I for one don't care what the critics say.
The movie was good and I enjoyed it

Like I ever cared what the 'critics' thought, or the general public, but what an honour to have. "worst reviewed $400m film ever". Dubious.

Why do people think that if a movie makes a ton of money, that automatically makes it good? Everyone thinks Titanic is the best movie ever, then? Shawshawk Redemption made little money. Does that mean it's bad?

I'm not saying that critics must be followed and treated as the authority. I mean, they panned Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and The Butterfly Effect. Check those two movies out at IMDB and see the average scores (from thousands of votes) to see how large the disconnect is. Heck, Ebert didn't like Fight Club, which is now generally known as a masterpiece.

However, to treat the critics like they shouldn't have an opinion at all or are plain wrong if they don't agree with you is just dumb. It's their job to review movies. Are they supposed to score movies they didn't like well just to please the legions going to see the movie anyway? They're no more obligated to score to please and pander as we are to listen to them. Just agree to disagree.

I haven't seen ROTF yet, so I'll reserve comment (despite what I've read and know).

Oh, and like Goshjosh95, I'd prefer we leave misogyny out the comments. It's embarrassing.

Just goes to show you. Movie critics are idiots. Half the time they steal other movie critics reviews and just change the words. They probably didn't even see the movie.

I like how people are grasping at stuff to try and bring the movie down. They even took the fact it made $201 million and say, "Oh yeah? We said it sucks, so there!"

I think people are glossing over the fact it's halfway to $400 million anyway.

Actually given the amount of hype and given the lack of competition I'm not surprised at the box office outcome at all this weekend. Now that the reviews and word of mouth are in I am way more interested of how well it does next weekend, if it drops by too high a % then the movie's in trouble but assuming 1/2 gross = opening weekend then it is quite likely it will hit the $400 mil target.

I for one is still hoping that it doesn't, there are good popcorn movies and bad ones, IMO ROTF is a BAD popcorn movie.

Not quite.

It simply means that the average viewer takes enjoyment from a film that wasn't well-received by critics. While I enjoyed ROTF, I do think that many of the criticisms it received were well-deserved.

The fact that most of the other major blockbusters that have done this well have done well with critics is also telling. Audiences love a big specticle, but we're also receptive to a big specticle with a strong script and first rate characterization. It may be surprising, but audiences and movie-goers do see eye-to-eye more often than not. ROTF was a big movie, but it wasn't a great movie. Spiderman 3 and Shrek 3 are similar examples that raked it in at the box-office, yet have failed to resonate with viewers in the long-term. I'd be curious to know how viewers regard ROTF a year or two from now.

I love a man who answers boldly!

Ok, let's see...

How were there Constructicons in the big battle with the soldiers when Devastator was busy elsewhere climbing up the pyramid?It was explained there were several constructicons out there, pretty much devastator can be formed by how many constructicons are around, allowing for him to return for TF3 but taken out in TF2. also, as long as a protoform scans a construction vehicle, he can be a constructicon

This was explained? In the movie? When? If this is something that is only explained in the novelization or somesuch, that's silly. I shouldn't have to do research before going into a movie.

Why are transformers now filled with green goop?only the "drone" like characters had green gloop (ravage for example). the ones that aren't drone like have orange fluid

Why are Transformers filled with any goop, green or orange!?

Was Demolisher not part of Devastator after all?he wasn't a part of devastator

At the risk of contadicting my complaint about doing research before seeing a movie the toys would seem to indicate that he WAS.

Didn't Blackout die in the first movie?That wasn't blackout, that was Grindor, same principle as the constructicon drones, scanned the same vehicle as blackout and took on the same general shape

Again, a little exposition saying, like, "Hey Grindor!" would have been nice. Ortherwise the uninitiated is just going to think it's Blackout.

Wait, they can bring both Megatron and Prime back to life, but they STILL can't fix Bumblebee's voice?remember, they used ancient mcguffins to do that, replacing a vocal processor manually is harder, and also, the writers wanted to continue the radio gag

Then couldn't they have just smacked him in the mouth with one of the shards before using it on Jetfire?

So, 5 Decepticons go to the bottom of the ocean, they kill one to use the parts to rebuild Megatron, but the sub detects SIX coming up? Wouldn't it still be, you know, five?if you notice they never counted the doctor or ravage if i remember correctly

Which is also a problem, but one they were at least consistant about. Was Ravage even in that scene? I don't remember him there. Either way, 5 guys went down, not counting the Doc. 5 guys went up, not counting the Doc. And if we ARE counting him, why only up?

Wait, they're called the RC Twins, but there's three of them?i think it is more like Arcee and the twins, they just shortened it (idk best explination i got)

No worries. it's better than mine of "The writers failed math."

Where did Blackout go after dropping the car in the warehouse, wherein Megatron and Starscream fight Prime and Bumblebee? Did he just leave?he did his job, he was just off camera

So he just stayed out of the warehouse fight? And they call Starscream the coward...

And where was Wheelie during the whole big climactic fight scene? guarding the base like barricade

I'm assuming they have a very nice rug in the base that they don't want anyone taking. It really pulls the base together.

No seriously; Ebonics? AND a gold tooth? Really?don't know what ebonics is, but i think skidz and mudflap were there to break the tension at certain points

Ebonics is a pattern of speech often attributed to African Americans living in the city. It's a stereotype, basically.

Anywho, you make some good points. Unfortunately, my opinion of the movie stays the same. Plus I now have to get the image of my movie toys being filled with goop out of my head.

Really? Have any proof to back up these claims?

Proof? Sir, perhaps you're not familiar with "The Internet." It's where I learned that cat dander is responsible for male pattern baldness and that chem trails are ghost alien pirates.

-LB

The double post means double the quality!

Bumblebee's voice and Jazz's death are now totally meaningless, since it's been completely contradicted by the movies. Frenzy gets too close to the cube and gets a new body. Bumblebee GRABS the cube, and nothing happens.

Jazz dies from getting pulled apart. Bumbleebee gets his legs blown off, starscream gets his arm torn off, Prime gets a claw thrusted through his Spark, and Megatron gets a hole nuked thru his chest and 1/2 his face blown off.... they all suffer no long term effects at all. Seems only blackbots can truly die.

Lemme guess... Ravage will come back in the next one even tho his fiberoptic core is ripped out... Oh, and Ravage IS in the revival scene. He swims like a crocodile (using his tail to swim, not his legs) and the Doc bot comes out of Ravage's chest.

Saw ROTF today, loved it, thought it was even better than the first.
I wish they had brought back Glen and Maggie. And Megan's inflated lips didnt look good.

And boom goes the dynamite, Michael Bay is laughing to the bank!

okay to keep a long post short, here are my answers:

1.sadly it was explained somewhere on here by Orci
2.it is body fluids, it represents blood and stuff
3.same as one, the one that made devastator was scavenger
4.same as one lol
5.hard to explain, they wanted to keep the gag goin
6.ravage was down there, you can see him swimming around at one point
7 and 8. lol the guarding the base thing was a joke, as to say nobody knew where they were
9.ah ok

I was just watching aots and they were doing the loop and this guy devin faraci sr.editor of chud.com said rotf was 2 and and one half hours boring. He said that paramount must have gave out drugs since huh? but 200+ mil who can argue.

Never before have I seen such an accurate illustration of Bay.

I don't think it's possible to have a Transformers movie that is popular with the mainstream and not cheesy.

The only non-cheesy ways to do it are basically:

1) War Within: The Movie, or an Optimus Prime biopic, which would please the fans but probably nobody outside the hardcore fandom could relate to it.

2) Focus more on Sam and make it a 'boy becoming a man' story, with Sam learning to cope with the responsibilities of being a part of this robot war. Of course this means taking even more time away from the robots, which critics might like (since they seem to be either apathetic or downright hostile to the title characters), but would be boring for anyone wanting to see a Transformers movie.

Any other ideas?

"What the fuck is internet?"




I wish they had Glenn as Sam's roommate instead of Leo. I could see it now.
Sam- "Glenn...buddy, what are you doing?"
Glenn- "Sam, my main man, Finally decided to get that Ivory decorated piece of paper. I heard you were coming here too, so I decided to rearrange some room assignments, if you know what i mean!"
Sam- "yeah, great...this isn't gonna be too awkward."
:::Both look at Alice:::
Glenn- "Hot damn, they got some nice ass around these parts!"

Well both Transformers films ARE terrible, horrible, unintelligent movies that seriously need some racial sensitivity training.

But they are also entertaining as all get out.

Possibly the best bad movies ever made.

Like a Godzilla movie gone mad.

Most of them are awful and silly, and also full of human parts nobody cares about other than the odd attractive woman in them, but are entertaining as heck.

Many Troma movies could be in this category too.

The UR B/Drive In/Grindhouse movie.

Now if they wanted to make a good explodie gianty destruction movie they should drop Bay and get the director of the 3 90s Gamera movies. (Shusuke Kaneko I think?) He actually made smart for the genre movies.

He could also probably do it for a third the price. His Godzilla film (GMK IIRC) was pretty awesome on the cheap while not really being too silly. (Outside of the unfeasability of gianty things smacking each other about.)

Orci, fired. Smkspy, hired.

my 1st post and all have there opinions on this movie, I guess i'm the only one that understood the story, the action was great, i loved it, movie critics are the most worthless people in the world, they know nothing about good movie's. Now i know fans have there opinions too, but its the direspect to bay and the people who work very hard to bring these films to us that really amaze me.

Yay.. yet another "bitch about the movies" thread. Fantastic. Just what we need.

Well, I've cruised through this thread and it seems that most of the complaints are still built around individual's poor observational skills. Does anyone have a REAL complaint they want to levy other than just "I don't understand!" when the answer is/was right in front of you?

I liked both movies quite a bit. I liked ROTF more than TFTM. Did they have problems? Yeah.. a few. But the article, that this thread is about, is clearly spot on with calling out movie reviewers for there obvious art-house favoritism.

The days of movie reviewers are numbered. The interwebs is slowly killing them. There is no desire to get to know a particular movie reviewer's likes/dislikes so that you can know what films you will enjoy based on their reviews. Years ago I used to decide what movies to see mostly off Siskel&Ebert reviews, knowing darn well that I often disagreed with Roger for numerous reasons. Now I really mostly on word of mouth from friends and coworkers, and my own interests based on early previews and such.

"Like blockbuster maestro Jerry Bruckheimer, who produced many of Bay's movies, the director aims to please audiences, not critics."

Well, I guess that shuts me up.

And don't forget all the comic book geeks that seem to think the more talk & less action =the more "intelligent" & "intellectual" a movie is. They love movies like Watchmen, The Dark Knight & X-Men II because there is nothing but talk talk talk & it makes them feel smarter & above the average person. X-Men II was the most boring & dragged out of the 3 but that's the one comic book geeks go crazy over. Watchmen was nothing but a gory hack & slash softcore porn flick but the comic book geeks try to make it out to be something deep & meaningful because it was boring & full of endless talking that went nowhere. The Dark Knight was supposed to be an action packed comic book super hero movie but instead it was a looooong boring dragged out crime drama like L.A. Law. So naturally they're gonna trash ROTF, it WASN'T boring, it WAS action packed, it WAS fun, it didn't make them feel smarter/better than the average person. And comic book nerds & movie critics need that!


So far there are no legitimate complaints about this movie. So far it's nothing but nitpicking. Just trying really hard to find a reason to not like it & coming up empty. They hate Bay so they need to hate this movie. They don't know the guy, never met him, but still hate him, THAT'S the most fucked up thing about all this.

Contradicted your self there buddy. . . .

I'm sorry that Watchmen , The Dark Knight and X-Men II, as three of the best written, acted and directed comic book films ever aren't your speed. Maybe Batman & Robin suits you more?

That soapbox you keep getting up on is breaking under the weight of your disdain for anything intelligent. Please, tell us how movies that insult our intelligence must be the way. Anything that involves smart acting, writing and pacing is for those damned holier than thou people with...what's the word I'm groping for...brains? Those arrogant jerks.

Look, Sesame Street's on.

No..legitimate...??? WHAT?? Have you even READ a single POST????

Horrible acting, pacing, editing, racist retardobots, humping, balls, farting, marijuana humor, ROBOT HEAVEN....don't even ACT like those aren't legitimate things to hate in this movie!

Classy.

It is. Much classier than Pinwheel, Vegetable Soup and that blasted Eureka's Castle.

I will agree with most critics that the movie was horrible when you look at the story and the train of thought. A lot of the movie was just using giant robot battles as compensation for lack of story. The first movie actually had a flowing storyline. Granted, not the greatest, but you could follow along. This movie was just one bashfest after the next. I loved, mind you, just because of these bashfests, but it lacked in more areas than it appealed. Thumbs down for me, even tho I was so excited to see it
I will say, tho, that it is understandable how it was so bad, due to that writers strike and all. It was a bad move on Michael Bay's part to start filming based on a loose concept. Shame. SHAME!

Homer, "Let me ask you a question. What's a grown man wearing a shirt that says "Genius at work" doing watching a children's cartoon show?"

Nerd, "I withdraw my question." *munches on chocolate bar.*

You know, I've tried to be MORE than patient with the movie's critics and try to get a real discussion out of you people about what you perceive to be the movie flaws, but the fact that 95% of you simply CANNOT discuss this movie without calling people who like it idiots (and ignoring counterpoints on many of the "plot holes"-- IT IS NOT ROBOT HEAVEN), well, I've had trying to discuss it with you people.

I'm done here (and by "here", I mean this forum, not TFW). Enjoy your senseless ceaseless bitching while I watch the movie a few more times and laugh at how many bucketfuls of money it continues to rake in.

transformers was the first michael bay movie i seen, and it was great, i don't understand why people hate him for what he's done with transformers. he took my childhood and made it 10 times better, most people still live in the g1 times, anything else transformers is nothing. If this movie is so bad it would'nt be a box office smash as it's becoming.

At least we got Star Trek...le sigh.

Mr. Simpson, in the Itchy and Scratchy CD rom game, is there a way to get out of the dungeon without using the wizard's key?

Have fun ignoring all the intelligent points we raise when we try to have a serious point/counterpoint with you guys. I gave ten legitimate reasons, I don't know how many threads I have to post them in. You should be a politician. You only see what's convenient to you.

After our conversation the other day, I doubt that.

Certainly! I was bored. I was bored despite 1) robots 2) explosions 3) bosoms. There is something sad about that; that Michael Bay was able to bore me with my three favorite things.

Also, while I understand that love scenes make little kids want to puke, Mr. Bay didn't need to replicate that feeling by endlessly spinning the camera around whenever Sam and Mikala wanted to discuss their feelings. The spinning camera should only be used for 1) putting on sunglasses 2) taking off sunglasses 3) shit getting real.

-LB just got real

Sigh. Okay, defend these things:

1. The two most offensively racist caricatures since Buckwheat and The Looney Tunes Crows.

2. Devastator with balls.

3. Jetfire the robo-pirate who farts fire.

4. Wheelie the Decepticon who humps legs.

5. Marijuana humor.

6. Dogs screwing.

7. The fact that 90% of the Transformers were relegated to side characters while the G.I. Joe characters fight the good fight.

8. Optimus Prime the Punisher executing disabled Decepticons with extreme prejudice.

9. Alice the robo-slut with her stabby penis tail and lasso tongue.

10. Robot heaven. With clouds. And a human guy who goes there. ROBOT HEAVEN. NOT A TRANSFORMER IN THE MATRIX. A HUMAN. DUDE. IN. CLOUDS.

Go on. Defend them. Do it.

Awesome, thanks for the spirited discussion man!

I hated the movie as much as the next guy (Smokescreen38 who was sitting next to me) but I can defend that one. Or at least give my interpretation. I didn't see it as heaven so much as a merging with the Allspark ala Hot Rod during that episode where he gives up the Matrix or Primal during one of his many hallucinations. Although it was a bit weird that they were taking to Sam like he was a potential Prime.

-LB is a potential Mime.

Except that it looked nothing like the Matrix and Sam is a freaking human! That's my point. Shouldn't that scene have gone to a....Transformer?

I am not surprised it made money ...People like garbage... its always been that way..like I said before its like that gotta have christmas gift that everybody made a run for and bought hook line and sinker...sure it has a pretty box but when you open it its just crap inside......you can sell dog shit if you make a pretty enough package for it....that being said I really hope the next movie 4 years from now will be better.

Seems you suffer from the same arrogance as the majority of critics. Once again we have an individual confusing opinion with fact. So far there are no legitimate compaints to you. It's strange that it's critics geeks and nerds who like the boring and dragged out TDK and X-Men 2. I also love the observation that the aforementioned persons only like these movies because it fuels some sort of inferiority complex. Did you ever stop and consider that these people simply have different tastes?

Honestly, you're the very sort of person who gives this fandom a bad name. You're irritated by the 'haters' who feel that the movie had some shortcomings (which to them it does), so you resort to mocking others? Apparently the things you dislike about TDK, X2 and The Watchmen are flaws that nerds and geeks can't see, but any criticism of ROTF is unfounded?!

Hypocrite.

What are these now? Your top ten favorite moments in Revenge of the Fallen?

Those would be my ten legitimate complaints that you doubtlessly cannot explain away, or give any good reason for them being there. So your "I doubt you have any legitimate reasons" posturing...where is that now?

Like you said, they're YOUR complaints. How or why is someone else going to explain them away for you? Some of them are problems with the film; some of them are YOUR problems with the film. There is a difference.