You go to Transformers to see Transformers. Thats why people go, not to see Sam's mom eat brownies or Simmons be a lecherous old dude. People were open minded to the TF world. They weren't just going to only accept TFs just wailing on other TFs. The producers could have tried to make a more memorable story that the public would have liked, but they kept the TFs for the action only scenes.
Yeah, I agree with you as far as target demographic goes. The robots are the draw, but the kids can relate to Shia and Megan for some reason that I don't understand. My mother who knows Transformers from my childhood, but when she watched the film, she viewed them as secondary characters to the story of humans. And this has been the case for every female I have ever heard talk about the movie (in person not on this site). Like Ebert, they all were all bored by the last hour of the movie.
Yeah, that's kind of what I just said. They could have, but that was never the goal. They wanted the most direct approach to making mucho dinero, and that was a movie that appealed to the demographic who is known for filling theaters.
Let critics say what they want, it matters not to me. I will pass my judgment after tonight. Has some of the wind been stripped from my sails...yea a little but in the end I'm still quite excited to see this movie. Those of you that theorize that the negative reviewers are not getting humans to interact with as much this time around my have hit the nail right on the head. If you look at a lot of movies with solid reviews they usually mention a connection with this character or that action by this character. Well its pretty hard to relate to giant robots. For us TF nerds we love getting more robots, its what we wanted and sounds like what we are getting. But when you have giant robots that are already tough to relate to added to Michael Bay (not a Bay hater but he does lack substance) than yea you get 2 1/2 hours of explostions and robot fighting at its finest!
I don't know why I keep reading these stupid reviews it just pisses me off like serious I want to kick this guy in the balls right now.
Problem is, if the moviemaker is worth a lick, they can make you care about any protagonist. I remember a movie called "Wall-E" proving that pretty decisively, and Wall-E didn't even talk. Bay only uses the robots to fight. They don't develop as characters, and therefore we don't care about them. Which means we have no emotional imvestment in their battles other than what we gained from watching the cartoon as children.
Word! Don't forget IronGiant got the few peeps who saw it to connect with a 50' tall ass kicking CG robot too.
Oh I agree sir. That is why I said when you get giant robots plus Bay if you remember (that may have been another post in a similar thread) than you wont get that connection to Optimus for the average movie goer. Is this right, eh not for me to decide. But what I'm really trying to say here is you can't go into a Michael Bay film expecting some deep moments and amazing characteriztion of gaint transforming robots when he cant do that with real people (watch Armegeddon) you will end up quite dissappointed. Dont go to a Miley Cyrus concert expecting the philharmonic orchestra! Just so we are clear this is not an endrosment of Miley Cyrus or anything she has ever done or will do...in fact it was meant to be a low blow at her, thank you for reading my post!
You want to kick a guy in the balls just because he has an opinion? You need help. Seriously, a lot of you sound like "OMG, liek teh Transformers are my entire lief and if U don't like them 2 then you suxxors, lawl"
Yes, yes, and more yes. Ebert actually shows more fondness for sci-fi and action movies than a lot of high-profile movie critics. The fact that he is bashing this movie says something. Ebert knows that there's nothing wrong with "entertainment for entertainment sake" but he obviously feels that ROTF is not good entertainment--even on a primal popcorn & explosions level. Sci-fi and action movies are not all created equal. It may just be that ROTF is subpar entertainment, plain and simple.
It's not even that they're CG or props. E.T. made you give a crap about the vaguely mobile alien puppet. Star Wars made us like Chewie, Threepio, and even Artoo. If moviemakers give us characterization, then we relate to the characters, regardless of how bizarre they may be. Look, I don't want to pick through the whole thing, but let's look at it through another lens, one where this movie is about aliens and their human companions, on equal terms in terms of characterization. We have Optimus Prime, wise, but losing patience with the war. The others have an almost religious awe of him, but he knows he isn't infallible, but he can't show it and must be decisive, no matter what. We have his oldest friend, Ironhide. He's a tough, old soldier. Seen it all, been through hell and drove off whistling. He helps maintain Prime's image as the ultimate leader, always ready to back him up in public, but able to speak freely in private. He knows the toll the terrible choices Optimus has made are taking on him. But he sometimes doubts his ability to be strong enough for his friend. Why can't this be as simple as battle? He knows that, he's comfortable there. Ratchet, the medic. He's seen horror. He's seen too many friends die no matter what he tried to save them. Deep down, he knows he isn't to blame, but the guilt is still there. He's dedicated to saving the Autobots, but he's gaining a very hard edge towards the Decepticons who make him have to see these things. Some of the others are worried about this harder edge coming to the fore. Bumblebee. War isn't for friendly, outgoing types. But what can you do? Bumblebee always likes meeting new beings, learning about them, making friends. But the war has forced him to "grow up" faster than he would have liked. He's responsible, he takes his duty seriously, he's a damn good soldier and everyone knows it. But his duty towards Sam...it's given him a chance to just live again, to experience a new world. Why must the war intrude again? He chafes at the seeming injustice of it all, but he'll do what needs to be done. Sideswipe is young, brash, a showoff. All he's ever known is war, fighting, the enemy. He relates to the other Autobots through the war, through his admittedly great skill in battle. But he's just starting to get the inkling that he's missing something so many of the others seem to have. He's not sure what, exactly, but he's not sure he likes it. He's the best, and whatever it is that's missing, he'll just have to try even harder to make up for it. Arcee is evidence of the wondrous variety Cybertronians come in. She can literally be in more than one place at once, but still works well as a single unit. She's never alone, but, ironically, has deeply missed her friends. To be reunited with them, only to have to go right back to the war, although in a new, more subtle way, annoys her somewhat. She's learning to just "get the job done" as efficiently as possible because she wants more time socializing, being with her friends again. But the humans...some of them are fascinated by her, others see her as a weapon, a tool. She'd like to get to really know them better, but so many of their soldiers seem reluctant to relate to her, or her people. Curious, are they really worth the effort of getting to know? Time will tell. There. All those characterizations could easily come out through behavior or dialogue, even in a high-voltage action flick. Look at Predator. We actually got to know a good bit about several characters through their interactions and conversations. We knew that Mac and Blaine were like brothers, we knew Billy was fearless, and a little fatalistic. That all came through. I guess many of us just wanted even that much from the film. - Coeloptera
Very well said. It's just the same scenario as to what happened with Jazz. The writers state that they killed him off because they wanted to have someone cool and that people attached to hit home emotionally. However, he really wasn't on screen long enough for anyone to care. But when Bumblebee got captured by Sector 7, yeah I noticed quite a few people in the theater got choked up. Even some friends of mine, not to mention my mom, said to me that was the heart-tugger right there for them. And why.....because Bumblebee got development. I'm gonna go watch the movie, and then formulate my opinion from there.
Also very well said. All it takes is to give them dialogue. Something that gives you a hint about who they are or where as individuals they come from. That's how anyone gets to know anyone.....through dialogue. I've learned alot about Breakaway just from how he talks to the other Autobots in the game. And it is completely different personality from what I had first popped into my head from the first time seeing him. And that is because he was given dialogue.
