Is it just me or Transformers movies are more enjoyable to watch in clips rather than the whole movie? I can enjoy the fight, the music and the cgi better in clips. Props to the sfx team and Steve Jablonsky. But clearly, there must be something wrong with the movies then. If we could get a bunch of cool and interesting clips, why the movie feels more tiring. Especially TLK
When I'm getting beat over the head with a baseball bat, I, too prefer the moments when the bat is being lifted up instead of coming down.
You're not alone. I can't watch any of the movies without skipping to the good stuff. Edit: Looking at that clip again reminds me how much a disliked the "cybertron" hexagon bits. It TF3 they were massive, ships and cybertronians weren't big enough for them either. Ugh!
It's because as a clip you can imagine a surrounding context that makes sense and is emotionally satisfying, which AoE and TLK do not and are not. As a clip, the sweeping score convinces you that you're witnessing some emotional triumph, where as in the actual movie they bludgeon you with (genuinely great) score and sound design on blast for... Well, basically 2 and a half hours, but definitely the last forty minutes or so. On the script level, you can watch this clip and feel the triumph of Prime's return, and the tension of the humans deciding to leave. In the movie, neither of those moments make any sense. It's unclear why Prime disappeared and the military's arc of "Fuck all Transformers, including the Autobots! Oh no, bigger threat! We were wrong about the Autobots!" Is muddled by their asshole last minute decision not to trust their teammates and still try something that the real subject matter experts (the ones from the fucking planet in the sky) don't think will work. Which isn't even dramatized, they act like they're after the same thing right up until Lennox and co. are jumping off the side of the planet. It's not played as a shocking betrayal, it's just muddled goals and motivations. And of course, every time I watch a clip from these movies, I am totally blown away by the VFX (except AoE), whereas in the movie I might be for the first two or three times a Transformer appears. That ones not actually a knock; they're so photorealistic that they're immersive and you forget they're not there. If they could just give them something to say that wasn't a strange non-sequitur and filmed them like characters instead of VFX, they wouldn't just feel like they were there, but like they were alive.
I like the clips better as well. There are some very cool moments in the movies but it seems like a long slog of filler to get to those good bits.
This is exactly how I feel. The highly detailed and incredibly photo realistic designs always takes my breath away (except for AoE; that movie just looked off), especially when you realize the first movie, which is 11 years old, looks better than 99% of movies now.
I'd say I probably watch 3.5 hours worth of Transformers clips a week tbh. Too bad the movies as a whole are pretty bad.
This music video featuring action scenes from the first two movies never fails to get me pumped. It's god damn boner enducing. And I don't even like the movies. So, yeah. Clips > Whole movies for me as well. I admire ILM's work so much. And this music video is all about that, without any of the idiotic attempts at humor and filler and cringe. Just pure oomph. And like other people have said, decontextualizing the good scenes, works wonders for the imagination. The trailers have always seemed to play that psychological trick on us as well. On purpose.
TLK is the only Bay movie I hated, but watching that scene makes me wish we'd get one final movie to finish it up. I was enjoying the clip quite a bit, except for Bumblebee's "sting like a bee" line, which I still find atrocious.