After viewing AOE last week, I decided to see what the critics were panning like crazy. Mind you, I enjoyed AOE, and had some real major issues with it too.

The critics have been really getting under my skin though. Instead of viewing the movie for the robots, all they complain about is the human cast, the length of the film (which was truly way too long), and the Bay-plosions. I have listened and read 15 different reviews and not ONE had any good or bad to say about the actual stars of the film, the Transformers themselves. Its as if these critics didn't even pay attention when they were on screen. It's like watching The Dark Knight and having NOTHING to say about Christian Bale when he's in costume, nor Heath Ledger as Joker, but picking apart Aaron Eckert BEFORE he becomes Two Face.

Sure I've got my gripes with the film, as well as some positives too. But these critics need to get their head out their behinds!

 

That's pretty funny someone else said it too that the critics just don't view the bots as real characters

Meh, their loss

 

I remember watching one AOE review. He said that the special effects were rubbish. WTF?  

 

I've seen a few reviews that commented about how the Transformers were the stars and how their performances were much improved from the last 3.

But for the most part you're right: the real high-profile critics are basically refusing to accept the Transformers as characters. (despite the fact that Lockdown, Prime and the new Autobots' animation, line delivery and emotive ability was right up there with Gollum)

 

My problem is when they try to call people stupid for liking the movies. Most of their reviews are nothing but mindless insults. That's why I see critics as irrelevant. If you hate the movie that's fine but no way in hell are the people who like these movies stupid in any way

 

It seems like the cool thing to do is to bash fans of these movies, shows or toylines. Sure I expected AOE to be a popcorn flick that is fun to watch. Heck, I loved the Transformers themselves (except the out of character Optimus Prime) in this movie. But don't put me down because I got a thrill from the last 20 min thanks to the Dinobots being there.

Maybe the critics need to go into the movie with the idea that the human cast are there to support the Transformers themselves. I'm suprised we didn't hear people complain that there wasn't any real Decepticons in this one. Although I did hear one reviewer claim that Drift was yet another "racist" Transformer because he was a sterotypical samurai character.

 

It's amusing to me critics throwing the racial stereotype card around at Drift, especially how he has a stereotypical Japanese accent. Do they not realize he is voiced by a Japanese actor?

 

I don't think they do because, once again, they REFUSE to acknowledge the Transformers as actual characters.

 

this.

 

I couldn't agree more. Yes, the film has its issues, but I don't need to be told what I should and should not like. Nor should I be degraded because I like something critics think is garbage.

 

Exactly. Just about every movie has its problems but we still enjoy them. Look at the Star Wars movie. I think the acting for the part is bad but I'm not going to call people who like the acting ******ed. Most critic reviews are paragraphs of mindless insults instead of a review. Then if feel they're still failing they pull the racist card

 

Maybe they focus on the human characters more because most of the movie is about them. And the robots are little more than just stereotypes, or cardboard cutouts.

 

um.. what Star Wars are you referring to?

Also I hate when people complain about a Transformer being racist if they have an accent. What do they want all robots to have a "white guy" voice? Throw in some other types of voices to give the characters something distinct! Voices bring out the characters ever since G1.

 

doesn't matter. critics and i often disagree.

and it isn't like this film's ticket sales are being effected by the reviews.

 

I don't know why anyone would criticize the idea of the Transformers having characters in a movie called Transformers?

 

I was talking about the prequel movies. In my opinion I think some of the actors sound bad but I know lots love them.

 

To me the first three films felt like the wacky adventures of Sam Witwicky with a special guest appearance by the Autobots. With some of the Decepticons they might not even make the cast list at the end of something because they were just glorified extras.

I've been putting off Transformers 4 because I have a bad feeling it will come off as the Yadger family adventure with robots just popping in to say hey kids go to the store and buy my toy.

There really isn't any hard fast formula to if something feels like it's the focus to a movie or not. Jaws feels all about the shark but if you take a stop watch and time the amount you actually see the shark most people are shocked. World War Z on the other hand has lots of zombie time but the movie just didn't feel like zombies it just felt like a disaster movie where zombies replaced floods, fire, or the usual disaster material.

I'm guessing that for critics the robots are still coming off as an effects shot instead of actual characters.

 

See this is what I don't understand, they're on earth why wouldn't they have human characters? Of course if they were on Cybertron it would be more autobots.

 

Human characters in and of themselves aren't a bad thing. In fact I think you could even make a very compelling argument that you couldn't make a Transformers movie without humans because having humans around really brings out the fundamental differences between Autobots and Decepticons.

The trick with humans is to not make them feel like the focus of the movie or at the very least equal to what should be the star of the film. So in ET it feels like Eliot and ET are equal co-stars even though the film spends more time with Eliot than it does with ET.

With the first three Transformers films it just felt like they missed some of the little film tricks that make something feel like the most important thing in the film.

 

The film is the worst that I have seen. It's even worse than X men 3. It thoroughly deserves to get trashed by critics. Did you see the part in the lift where the stereotypes concerning Asians and martial arts were so apparent?!