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[Anticitizen One]

whaaaaaaa man ebert must have been on drugs when he wrote this review

hes an old geezer that doesn't understand our 80s culture. Pay him no mind.

 

[Opus Angelorum]

To those suggesting the CGI is poor, do they care present some of their own work? I love how people criticise something when they have zero knowledge of its complexity.

 

[Calcaneus]

I didn't enjoy the first movie, and hearing that this one is proably worse doesn't sound good. I'll see it anyway, hopefully I can get past the awful looking designs.

 

[Vinci]

That Ebert review is priceless. I will read it on occasion and laugh.

 

[jett]

This movie being crap doesn't surprise me in the least.

 

[Nexus Zero]

To those suggesting the CGI is poor, do they care present some of their own work? I love how people criticise something when they have zero knowledge of its complexity.

I don't need to be a mechanic to know when a car is spluttering.

 

[Solo]

To those suggesting the CGI is poor, do they care present some of their own work? I love how people criticise something when they have zero knowledge of its complexity.

Er, as a viewer, knowledge of its complexity isnt required. CG either looks good or it doesnt to the viewer. I dont care if someone lovingly animated the CG Johnny Depp in Public Enemies for 5000 hours, it still looks like shit.

 

[DevelopmentArrested]

hes an old geezer that doesn't understand our 80s culture. Pay him no mind.

except he really liked the first movie. don't talk shit. people act like Ebert is the only one hating on this movie. :lol updated RT score. currently at 30%.

To those suggesting the CGI is poor, do they care present some of their own work? I love how people criticise something when they have zero knowledge of its complexity.

Stupidest post in the thread. I guess I can't criticize Lebron James' playoff performance since I suck at basketball right? Fucking dumb.

 

[reilo]

To those suggesting the CGI is poor, do they care present some of their own work? I love how people criticise something when they have zero knowledge of its complexity.

Erhm, what?

When I buy a phone, I don't need to be an industrial designer in order to determine whether the phone appeals to me.

If I thought the story and dialog was bad, do I need to be a screenwriter before I can make a judgment?

In fact, can you please stop posting on message boards if you've never written one yourself from the ground up? Thanks!

 

[Dabanton]

for those that saw it, how accurate is the portrayal of

Spoiler

Soundwave

The voice was accurate also he was pretty creepy.

 

[Blader]

I guess I'll just wait to rent this on Blu-ray then (unless I end up getting dragged to it by friends). More robot action sounds good, but I didn't really like the first movie and there's no way I'm spending $13 if this one is worse.

 

[XiaNaphryz]

It's a money saving technique as a result of the complex scrap metal mish-mash character designs. If the designs were simpler they probably would have more money to animate them better.

:/

 

[lunarworks]

To those suggesting the CGI is poor, do they care present some of their own work? I love how people criticise something when they have zero knowledge of its complexity.

Ah, this wholeheartedly retarded argument.

I can't criticize music, because I don't know how to play an instrument.

I can't say someone's cooking is bad unless I can cook the same meal.

I can't say someone's a bad driver because, hey, I never got my license.

I can't criticize a painting because I can't paint.

I can't say a videogame sucks because I can't program.

 

[Binabik15]

:/

Your avatar is really fitting right now :lol

Spoiler

Don´t worry, they´re just moran hoes :lol

 

[ZeoVGM]

Woo. Midnight showing tonight!

 

[Lord Error]

you just have to love how Ebert says that the movie's saving grace are a couple of humorous moments, such as the leg humping one that sounds like something I'll be embarrassed to see. Gets the point across.

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

People making fun of Ebert? There always a first!

Here's another review if it hasn't been already posted.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/41503

What a painful read. PAINFUL!

To those suggesting the CGI is poor, do they care present some of their own work? I love how people criticise something when they have zero knowledge of its complexity.

Oh wow. Worst post ever? It's like saying we shouldn't have an opinion cause we aren't in that field of work? Guess people should stop criticizing a sportsman for fucking up cause clearly we never play it. We should stop criticizing a movie for fucking up cause clearly we can never have a budget that high to make a money, let along make a movie itself...

I love how you are being a hypocrite for everything you like and hate can be nullified with that post of yours...

 

[highroller]

Going to see this on Thursday..not too sure what to expect

 

[DMczaf]

Massawyrm (A pretty huge Michael Bay fan) rips the movie apart :lol

Sigh. I can’t believe my eyes. I don’t want to believe them. TRANSFORMERS REVENGE OF THE FALLEN is one of the most unrepentantly juvenile, gleefully offensive, mind bogglingly inane films I have ever seen with a real budget behind it. And that’s saying a lot. There are things here I never would have believed had I read about them – things I would have found to be exaggeration and hyperbole on the part of oversensitive, agenda driven people looking for a fight. But I saw them, plain as day. And I’m still having a hard time believing what I saw.

But if that weren’t enough, he had to add even more comic relief than the first time around. Remember Turturro? Yeah. Well apparently he had it in his contract that there needed to be a character even more obnoxious than him to say all the REALLY shitty lines. It’s Turturro squared.

Then there’s the Joepecicon – a terrible GOODFELLAS joke gone awry in the form of a small Decepticon who cracks wise…incessantly. And worst of all, the frightening sidekicks of the film and the mistake this film will most likely be forever known for: Mudflap and Skids, the Stepin Fetchbots of the film. It’s as if Michael Bay looked at Jar Jar Binks and said “Oh, fuck no. Really? People find THAT offensive? Fuck that, I’ll show them a fucking stereotype they’ll never fucking forget!” And he does.

Oh. My. God.

They speak in clichéd urban slang, tossing around phrases like “I’m gonna pop a cap in your ass” while fist bumping and mumbling unintelligently in a voice that sounds like a bad Chappelle Show sketch. Then you get a close up. And they each have bug eyes and a gold tooth. Then there’s this jackass comment about them not being able to read. My jaw was on the floor. I mean, if you’re gonna toss out a bad stereotype, at least have the courtesy to make that stereotype a complete badass so as to deflect complaints that this is a deliberately negative portrayal. These mother fuckers are incompetent, bumbling and never, EVER, cool.

And all this leads to the worst sin of the film. It’s called TRANSFORMERS. And yet, 90% of the film is spent entirely with the above collection of tools and occasionally Bumblebee who has mysteriously lost his voice again. Sure, the film OPENS with Optimus Prime and all the badasses from the previous film. But they’re barely in this film at all. It’s more about Shia and Megan running around, collecting incompetent sidekicks while half-assing their way through an Indiana Jones plot. Ironhide? Ratchet? They’re all back at the base. They could only spare a pair of sambot jackasses for THE MOST IMPORTANT MISSION, LIKE, EVER!

This film is a total and complete waste; a soggy, half baked dessert of a film that you can’t even say “Well, at least the action was cool.” It is an embarrassment, a pathetic misuse of hundreds of millions of dollars that only serves as the new model for excess run amok. Hopefully ten years from now I can put this in and laugh about it the way I laugh about BATMAN AND ROBIN, giggling furiously at the idea that they spent that much money of robot balls and a cybernetic minstrel show. But right now I’m too disappointed, too bitter and just too appalled to find any of this funny. You know, now that I think about it, maybe Bay got his giant, limp, swinging cyber-phallus after all. It’s called TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN.

 

[ZeroCypher]

so is it confirmed that the imax version will have some extended scenes? guess we won't know until midnight tonight.

can't wait to see megan fox on imax!

 

[reilo]

People making fun of Ebert? There always a first!

Here's another review if it hasn't been already posted.

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/41503

What a painful read. PAINFUL!

Hopefully ten years from now I can put this in and laugh about it the way I laugh about BATMAN AND ROBIN, giggling furiously at the idea that they spent that much money of robot balls and a cybernetic minstrel show.

He compared it to Batman and Robin.

Batman, and Robin.

And this is from a guy that liked the first movie.

Game over.

 

[AFreak]

I'm seeing it with some friends at a midnight premiere, but I'm ready for a shitstorm nonetheless. Didn't enjoy 1, but hey maybe I can get by it?

 

[Littleberu]

There's something really bizarre about the reviews so far. Like, some bitterness from the fans, like they expected something else entirely. People never go in detail about "how the action isn't all that great", or about the Decepticons and things like that, and what has changed from the first movie.

I'm not getting my hopes up, but, to me, it sounds like The Phantom Menace all over again.

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

He compared it to Batman and Robin.

Batman, and Robin.

And this is from a guy that liked the first movie.

Game over.

Transformers and it's sequel are the science fiction equivalent of the Horror genre's own Troll and Troll 2.

Or the superhero film equivalent of Batman Forever and Batman and Robin.

I think the comparison is apt.


I gotta say, when I first heard that there was going to be a sequel to the original 'Transformers' film, I was little bit dismayed. But in retrospect, I think it's a good thing that we'll have both of these films around to talk about for years and years to come.

 

[duckroll]

Watched it tonight! OMG GIANT ROBOTS!

Pros:
- Awesome CGI work.
- Lots and LOTS of action, it pretty much never lets up.
- Pretty good human/robot interaction, there's much much more than the first movie and it works a lot better this time round.
- Expands the movie lore much more, and doesn't retread on stuff covered in the first movie.
- Really nice music, the score is even better than the first one.
- New Divide rocks!

Cons:
- The gross humor that Bay is famous for is still there, and there's a ton of it. Not as much as in Bay Boys 2, but hey, for a PG-13 movie he managed to squeeze a TON in. Lulz.
- The movie is definitely too long. Pacing starts to drag later in the film.
- There's pretty much no character development at all. Not for new human characters and not for new robot characters. The movie just keeps throwing stuff on screen and somethings it's really random.

 

[G-Fex]

Damn these are downright brutal. :lol :lol

 

[AFreak]

- There's pretty much no character development at all. Not for new human characters and not for new robot characters. The movie just keeps throwing stuff on screen and somethings it's really random.

Well I'm probably going to hate it then.

 

[Littleberu]

Watched it tonight! OMG GIANT ROBOTS!

Pros:
- Awesome CGI work.
- Lots and LOTS of action, it pretty much never lets up.
- Pretty good human/robot interaction, there's much much more than the first movie and it works a lot better this time round.
- Expands the movie lore much more, and doesn't retread on stuff covered in the first movie.
- Really nice music, the score is even better than the first one.
- New Divide rocks!

Cons:
- The gross humor that Bay is famous for is still there, and there's a ton of it. Not as much as in Bay Boys 2, but hey, for a PG-13 movie he managed to squeeze a TON in. Lulz.
- The movie is definitely too long. Pacing starts to drag later in the film.
- There's pretty much no character development at all. Not for new human characters and not for new robot characters. The movie just keeps throwing stuff on screen and somethings it's really random.

That's what I like to read. I want a spectacle, like the first one.

 

[DevelopmentArrested]

But in retrospect, I think it's a good thing that we'll have both of these films around to talk about for years and years to come.

Really? Really?

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

Really? Really?

We continue to lambast 'Independence Day', 'Godzilla', and 'Batman and Robin'.

Sure, why not?

 

[kbear]

Watched it tonight! OMG GIANT ROBOTS!

Pros:
- Awesome CGI work.
- Lots and LOTS of action, it pretty much never lets up.
- Pretty good human/robot interaction, there's much much more than the first movie and it works a lot better this time round.
- Expands the movie lore much more, and doesn't retread on stuff covered in the first movie.
- Really nice music, the score is even better than the first one.
- New Divide rocks!

Cons:
- The gross humor that Bay is famous for is still there, and there's a ton of it. Not as much as in Bay Boys 2, but hey, for a PG-13 movie he managed to squeeze a TON in. Lulz.
- The movie is definitely too long. Pacing starts to drag later in the film.
- There's pretty much no character development at all. Not for new human characters and not for new robot characters. The movie just keeps throwing stuff on screen and somethings it's really random.

^ This is the best written review so far...he actually explains stuff instead of just saying lol it sucks. Sounds like a fun ride

We continue to lambast 'Independence Day'

unjustly

 

[reilo]

^ This is the best written review so far...he actually explains stuff instead of just saying lol it sucks. Sounds like a fun ride

Not really. That was about as vague of a review as I have read.

 

[Dragnet]

Just got back from seeing, marvelous! It was exactly what I wanted and expected, no more no less. A straight up, balls to the wall insane summer action movie. Tip of the cap, Mr. Bay.

I also shat brix when I discovered Jetfire is voiced by John Turturro. Fucking excellent English accent

 

[kbear]

Not really. That was about as vague of a review as I have read.

well nobody wants to read specific scene descriptions and be spoiled

 

[Kletian]

Watched it tonight! OMG GIANT ROBOTS!

Pros:
- Awesome CGI work.
- Lots and LOTS of action, it pretty much never lets up.
- Pretty good human/robot interaction, there's much much more than the first movie and it works a lot better this time round.
- Expands the movie lore much more, and doesn't retread on stuff covered in the first movie.
- Really nice music, the score is even better than the first one.
- New Divide rocks!

Cons:
- The gross humor that Bay is famous for is still there, and there's a ton of it. Not as much as in Bay Boys 2, but hey, for a PG-13 movie he managed to squeeze a TON in. Lulz.
- The movie is definitely too long. Pacing starts to drag later in the film.
- There's pretty much no character development at all. Not for new human characters and not for new robot characters. The movie just keeps throwing stuff on screen and somethings it's really random.

Thank you Duckroll, reading your previous posts you and I seemed to have the same hopes and expectations for the movie. I can now confidently say I'm going to like this.

 

[Christopher]

I felt pretty much the same as duckroll watching the first film...granted it was I suppose a decent moive, but at times I wished it would just end.

 

[ZeoVGM]

Watched it tonight! OMG GIANT ROBOTS!

Pros:
- Awesome CGI work.
- Lots and LOTS of action, it pretty much never lets up.
- Pretty good human/robot interaction, there's much much more than the first movie and it works a lot better this time round.
- Expands the movie lore much more, and doesn't retread on stuff covered in the first movie.
- Really nice music, the score is even better than the first one.
- New Divide rocks!
Cons:
- The gross humor that Bay is famous for is still there, and there's a ton of it. Not as much as in Bay Boys 2, but hey, for a PG-13 movie he managed to squeeze a TON in. Lulz.
- The movie is definitely too long. Pacing starts to drag later in the film.
- There's pretty much no character development at all. Not for new human characters and not for new robot characters. The movie just keeps throwing stuff on screen and somethings it's really random.

duckroll, you continue to be my favoritest mod in the whole wide world.

Pumped for tonight!

 

[Solo]

Well I'm probably going to hate it then.

Did you honestly expect a Transformers movie to have character development? This is a movie about giant robots who turn into vehicles and spout cheesey lines while blowing up shit.

 

[AFreak]

Did you honestly expect a Transformers movie to have character development? This is a movie about giant robots who turn into vehicles and spout cheesey lines while blowing up shit.

Expecting it no, but wanting it are two different things entirely. I'm sorry I don't let hacks get away with bombastic bullshit and want them to raise the bar for everyone(you know the public that ill be feeding their kids). Point is, action movies DONT have to be devoid of all character development for the sake of action.

 

[D4Danger]

Roger Ebert gives one star to Transformers (he gave the first movie three stars):

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090623/REVIEWS/906239997

:lol love this part

The human actors are in a witless sitcom part of the time, and lot of the rest of their time is spent running in slo-mo away from explosions, although--hello!--you can't outrun an explosion.

reminds me of that review for Riddick (i think) where he went on a bit of a rant because he outran the sun rising then did the math just to prove it was bullshit.

 

[duckroll]

I think I'll do a more detailed review, since there are some pretty negative reviews out there (I don't think it's completely uncalled for, since people who didn't like the first one will NOT like this one):

Now, I'm a pretty big Michael Bay fan. I've seen all his movies, and I've at least LIKED almost all of them, save for Pearl Harbor. Yes, I enjoyed The Island, even if it takes itself too seriously and the PG-13 rating meant no Scarlet Johanson boobies.

The Rock is my favorite movie of -all time-, so if you think that invalidates my taste in movies in any form just feel free to stop reading right now. I really like the first Transformers, but I can see the faults - the action was kinda incoherent, and the focus on human characters meant it was more of a Michael Bay movie featuring Transformers, than a Transformers movie featuring human sidekicks.

Is Revenge of the Fallen a different beast? No. It's largely the same as the first movie in terms of format, but the pacing is much faster but yet it is just as long. This is kinda draining, and I definitely felt fatigue towards the end of the movie. It just felt like there was too much going on for too long without enough actual focused content to justify the running time. The Dark Knight was draining too, in the same way as ROTF, because it's a long movie which never lets up in terms of intensity or events. The difference is TDK had a point, and a VERY strong script. I'm not going to kid myself that ROTF has a good script, it clearly doesn't, but I enjoyed it.

Fans of what Bay is known for probably won't be disappointed with the visual aspects of the film or the cinematography. It's fantastic and much bigger and badder than the first movie. The way he films military hardware and the way he lights long shots across the horizon are pretty much second to none in Hollywood imo.

The action is good in ROTF, but not great. I'll just get this out of the way now, but honestly the action didn't seem a whole lot different from the first movie. There are some scenes where you can clearly see a detailed fight between robots, and there are scenes where you just have no idea what's going on.

The difference is that with MUCH more action, it also means that we get more scenes like the one in the first movie where Optimus fights Bonecrusher off the highway. That was my favorite in the first movie, and there are at least 3 fights like that in the sequel. Proportionally though, I would say it's still a mix of fights you can see, and fights you can't really see.

Character-wise, I can't say I'm really annoyed or offended by any of the human scenes. I don't really like how people keep separating "human screen time" and "robot screen time" for the first movie, and automatically deciding that all human screen time is worthless. I understand why (it's supposed to be TRANSFORMERS), but it doesn't affect me because I enjoy watching Shia and Megan's characters. The focus is and always will be on Sam as the main character of the movie. Optimus has a MUCH larger role in ROTF, but he isn't the lead character, Sam is.

Nothing in ROTF is as bad as the hackers subplot in TF1, so I was happy with that. The characters worked well off each other imo, and the new human characters while underdeveloped, don't really have a ton of screen time anyway. There is a TON of robot/human interaction, so it was nice to see many scenes involving human characters interacting with robots. In the first movie it was more about discovery, and in this sequel the theme is definitely acceptance. Humans have to accept that the robots are now part of our world, and we see how things work out.

The music is really amazing though. Pretty much every single scene has the visuals and music spot on. Even if you don't like what's actually going on, the music and visuals can't be faulted for it - just the script and maybe the delivery of some lines. The voice acting for the robots were quite an improvement too imo. I wish there were more lines, but I think no matter how much robot dialog they use, as long as it's a live action movie we'll ALWAYS wish there were more lines.

Overall, I really enjoyed the movie, and the effects and scope of the film made up for a lot of the more lacking parts. The most lacking would be the script. I won't pretend I'm not disappointed with that. It's not so much the dialog that's bad, but the way the story flows and is pieced together. They tried to too way too much and it ended up feeling wasted for a lot of stuff. The lack of robot character development really hurt the overall feel of the movie, because instead of introducing a character and building on it, outside of The Fallen, the rest of the cast are just inserted whenever they're needed with little build-up or resolution. There's more to discuss imo, but I don't really want to spoil anything.

 

[SonicMegaDrive]

The Rock is my favorite movie of -all time-, so if you think that invalidates my taste in movies in any form just feel free to stop reading right now.

Not at all.

I thought that was a fantastic movie.

 

[kbear]

duckroll respect +993463

The Rock is an absolute masterpiece...no need to ever explain yourself for its greatness. Great review for ROTF...better than any paid critic

 

[Kletian]

I'm really trying to figure out what the beef with 'no robot character development' is. With the exception of the Beast Wars series, as far as I can remember there wasnt much in the course of Character development to the franchise to begin with. And even if there was, they had seasons upon seasons to build them up.

Optimus has always been the stoic leader who'd kickass when he had to.
Megatron has always been the megalomaniac
Starscream has always been the backstabbing bastard.

Everyone else 90% of the time just filled certain roles (Ironhide being the country boy, Jazz the token black guy etc), or even worse, just served as placeholders in fight scenes.

So when I go into this movie that's all I want and all I expect.

 

[DMczaf]

I'd say duckroll's review is almost as amazing as the game looks.

ALMOST.

 

[Solo]

Expecting it no, but wanting it are two different things entirely. I'm sorry I don't let hacks get away with bombastic bullshit and want them to raise the bar for everyone(you know the public that ill be feeding their kids). Point is, action movies DONT have to be devoid of all character development for the sake of action.

No shit, but you should still be wise enough to know what directors/movies are going to be intelligent about things, and which are not. Michael Bay and Transformers are the latter. People like Spielberg and Nolan would be the former.

 

[StrikerObi]

Watched it tonight! OMG GIANT ROBOTS!

Pros:
- Awesome CGI work.
- Lots and LOTS of action, it pretty much never lets up.
- Pretty good human/robot interaction, there's much much more than the first movie and it works a lot better this time round.
- Expands the movie lore much more, and doesn't retread on stuff covered in the first movie.
- Really nice music, the score is even better than the first one.
- New Divide rocks!

Cons:
- The gross humor that Bay is famous for is still there, and there's a ton of it. Not as much as in Bay Boys 2, but hey, for a PG-13 movie he managed to squeeze a TON in. Lulz.
- The movie is definitely too long. Pacing starts to drag later in the film.
- There's pretty much no character development at all. Not for new human characters and not for new robot characters. The movie just keeps throwing stuff on screen and somethings it's really random.

Note that everything under "Cons" is what makes a film a film, everything under "Pros" is just window dressing.

Also, how can there be good character interaction if there is no character development? How can you film two lifeless rocks and then proclaim that they interact well?

 

[duckroll]

I'm really trying to figure out what the beef with 'no robot character development' is. With the exception of the Beast Wars series, as far as I can remember there wasnt much in the course of Character development to the franchise to begin with. And even if there was, they had seasons upon seasons to build them up.

Optimus has always been the stoic leader who'd kickass when he had to.
Megatron has always been the megalomaniac
Starscream has always been the backstabbing bastard.

Everyone else 90% of the time just filled certain roles (Ironhide being the country boy, Jazz the token black guy etc), or even worse, just served as placeholders in fight scenes.

So when I go into this movie that's all I want and all I expect.

Well, maybe character "development" isn't the right word to use exactly. But like you said, they usually fill certain roles. I feel the first movie highlighted that really well, especially with the scene where Prime introduces his team, and then later when the Decepticons start to mobilize one at a time. These scenes gave the audience an awareness of the roles these characters serve, and their robot and vehicle forms are well identified.

ROTF does this much more poorly with many of the supporting robot characters, especially the Decepticons. Maybe it's because there are just so many of them, but I feel that's not an excuse. They could have made the finale a lot more engaging if they had a good build-up for some of the Decepticons throughout the movie. That's all I'm saying.

Also, how can there be good character interaction if there is no character development? How can you film two lifeless rocks and then proclaim that they interact well?

Because most of the interaction is between characters who have already been developed in the first movie.

 

[Kletian]

Note that everything under "Cons" is what makes a film a film, everything under "Pros" is just window dressing. How can there be good character interaction if there is no character development? How can you film two lifeless rocks and then proclaim that they interact well?

I'm pretty sure you don't need actual character development to have good character interaction

Yes the two are not always mutually exclusive but they're also not always connected.

Edit: Ah, alright duckroll, that make a bit more sense then

 

[StrikerObi]

I'm pretty sure you don't need actual character development to have good character interaction

Yes the two are not always mutually exclusive but they're also not always connected.

Edit: Ah, alright duckroll, that make a bit more sense then

I suppose what I mean to say is that regardless of how good the character interaction is, it doesn't really matter if the characters aren't developed.