More Than Meets The Eye.
Wednesday, August 01, 2007
Saw "Transformers" the other night. ROCKED. Over $100 million in its opening weekend alone, and over $300 million to date, so all you Michael Bay haters can fall back.
Plot was cool, but got a little murky with the All-Spark and the Cube and the whosis and the whatsis. But the shit's based on toys, what do I expect? Random elements of "Predator," "T2," "Aliens," and "Independence Day" were scattered throughout. Military scenes were shot right out of the Tony Scott/Jerry Bruckheimer Visual Playbook⢠(see: "Crimson Tide,""Top Gun," and Bay's own "Pearl Harbor").
CGI was the best I've seen yet, up there with "Minority Report." (You know the CGI in the "Star Wars" prequels were bunk, admit it.) They really made you care about the Autobots (well, Optimus and Bumblebee) as characters. Hopefully, you're not too precious about the original cartoon. They upgraded and redesigned the characters since the old days.
Humor bits were a little overly done. Now I know what people were talking about in "Spidey 3" where Peter Parker was struttin' down the street like Tony Manero. Shia was good, though. He's a star after this movie, you realize this. Megan Fox was good, too. Wonder Woman all day long. Casting people take note (like casting people read my dumb blog).
A part I did like was how they explained exactly how the Transformers worked, and how any Earth-made machine could become a Transformer if the All-Spark fell into Megatron's hands.
The movie explodes in the third act, when the full-on Heavy Metal 'Bot War erupts in the streets of downtown L.A. and through the magic of editing, Detroit (right down the street from where I used to work!!!!). CGI was off the hook in this sequence. You really felt that all this metal was coming down on you. There was a bit where Starscream was fighting the Air Force over L.A. that was the SHIT!
(Now that we know they can do Veritech fighters that can transform in midair, where's the MACROSS movie?????)
They stuck the ending on just the right note for a summer movie, unlike the horrendous downer that was "Superman Returns." Yeah, I know that was last year, but I'm never going to get over them wrecking the franchise.
In fact, they should just give the next Superman movie to Michael Bay. He'd give it a much-needed transfusion of action and testosterone.
As for "Transformers," it's well worth full price, on the big screen in THX sound. See it now. Don't wait for DVD!
Transform and roll out!
Comments:4
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Hey Mr. Oldham!
By
i totally agree! i went to see it on friday night, and yeah the comedy parts were a little much (i swear i heard optimus prime say "my bad") the effects were amazing! hehe, i used to be afraid of megatron. that's so funny to me now. but anyone who was ever a transformers fan should mos def check this out! people kept telling me the plot sucked, but really, did anyone watch transformers for it's plot twists and well developed characters?! no. you watch it for that badass sound they make when they transform.
oh, and for any graffiti lovers out there, that scene in downtown l.a. was killer! there were some wicked peices in the background, most notably a big "GIANT" sticker. my friend and i had to do a double take but it's definitely in there. check it!
ez.e.
Unknown, on
Wednesday, August 01, 2007 8:54:00 PM
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I definitely enjoyed it myself. The only thing I didn't like was during the pretty hardcore action scences. I couldn't tell where one transformer started and the other ended.
By
I definitely think it was worth spending the money to see it in the theater, though. Coatcheck Girl, on
Wednesday, August 01, 2007 9:20:00 PM
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I will be waiting for it at the dollar theater. But I will consume it for my Pop diet asap. Saw you were a Wahol reader and I thought I would drop by.
By Todd Camplin, on
Tuesday, August 14, 2007 1:13:00 AM
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The comedy cheese was nothing compared to Spiderman 3 where they belted you over the head with it. =) Here, it was more subtle. I didn't mind it because it was interestingly funny to hear those serious, breathy voices say "my bad". Hahah. I Thought it was more cute than embarrassing.
By Marina Marina, on
Thursday, September 06, 2007 4:34:00 PM
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