Such is life :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Omega Metro
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Such is life :rolleyes:Quote:
Originally Posted by Omega Metro
The first one in that it actually had a narrative you mean?:pQuote:
Originally Posted by millhouse
Since then not so much. I suppose I did kind of like how AOE has a sort of friendship form between Prime and Cade, however that also makes Bumblebee superfluous now as he's no longer the main characters buddy bot, just an annoying childish robot who almost ruins an undercover op with his antics.
I'm almost tempted given they got some established talent to give the Autobots "some" personality this time, but alas the decline in Hasbro's toy quality has me unwilling to risk it.Quote:
Originally Posted by Joshy
I stayed away from everything movie related this time around. I've only just been able to watch tf4 tonight, and I'd only had a few word of mouth review from non tf fan friends who said it was brainless.
Needless to say my expectations were low, as I hadn't enjoyed the previous films much, but the trailers made it look okay.
My lowered expectations were not met.
This is one of the worst films I have ever subjected my eyes and brain to. It was completely flawed. I saw it at the drive in at Blacktown, and it very nearly became the first movie I ever left before the credits.
I have 7 year olds in my class that could throw together a more coherent and interesting plot and well rounded characters than the tripe we were subjected to. Things mostly happen in this film because the script says so. Bay cannot be blamed for these downfalls, they fall to the writers and producers.
What Bay can be blamed for are the awful time jumps in the mostly human centric chase scenes. I like a good car chaser, but in so transformers flick I want to see the transformers changing and fighting as they go, not a crapbox full of humans getting shot at by other humans. There are hundreds, if not thousands of other movies to see that kind of thing. He can also be blamed for the sexist and stereotyped way actors are portrayed and the terrible shot selection that makes trying to follow the "action" very difficult.
For an advertisement that expensive, there sure were a lot of cut corners with the fights and transformations. Too much money spent on explosions and dust to hide the other special effects. The last fight between Prime and Lockdown looked in parts to be claymation, such was the drop in frame rate and quality. Other scenes looked awful, like the tightrope and the dogs.
I have numerous issues and gripes regarding plot holes, length, overuse of humans and all their stupidity, terrible acting, bad animation, boredom, lack of explanations about very much everything, but most of those have been discussed or raised by others.
As I said, I wanted to drive out, but the missus encouraged me to stay, although she was unimpressed by Prime's un Prime like behaviour and by te fact that the Autobots as a unit were mostly nasty little turds, that acting more like bad guys, with their in fighting and wanky behaviours (especially Bumblebee). Her knowledge of tf is the movies and snippets of things, so if it turned her off, I imagine it would have done the same to many parents and casual fans too.
I'd like to know how many millions Kelsey Grammar and Stanley Tucci we're paid to appear in this absolute piece of crap. They were the only two actors (including voice actors, Goodman and DiMaggio both sounded bored) that were decent and nuanced, the rest might as well have been cardboard cutouts. I have never wanted the main cast to be hunted down with extreme prejudice as much as I have in this film. I wanted grammar character to succeed.:rolleyes:
While I liked Lockdown, you could not really mess him up as long as you went with his TF:A persona. Ratchets death was sad and upsetting (as it was intended) but the terrible prehistoric sectin and everything post Ratchets death was a waste of time. Giving more than half a second to each Autobots helped give them some character, too bad that I took them 4 movies to finally get it right. Also too bad we didn't get to see the other robots from tf3, I know they need to sell new toys, but having seemingly new and random characters every movie that are just there with no explanation is lazy.
I came out of this film feeling like I need a sabbatical away from transformers if this is the future direction of the franchise. At the moment, the only thing keeping me loosely hanging onto the brand are the comics. It staggers me that we can get something like MtMtE and this piece of absolute garbage out at the same time with the same general target audience.
I keep catching bits of it at work and I have one real problem...
Lockdown's bottom.
It's just freakishly toned. And the design is so slender I just seem to think of him as a dude walking around naked...:eek:\
ANother LD point. I remember Bay saying there'd be no mass shifting for TFs in the movie (ignoring the decpticlones here I guess) but LD makes a much bigger robot than I think the car allows for.
As I've had some time to stew on the movie as a whole, I've decided that if this were a movie featuring other robots, let's just call it "Gundam 4, Age of Extinction" for the sake of argument. I would think it's a pile of turds and like trunks, would have left before the end.
The others I managed to find some enjoyment in. This one was just awful. Which is a shame as I actually quite like the start, up to the point Optimus meets with the other Autobots. Then it just goes downhill so far that it makes me forget about the good bit.
Plus I was glad lucas died. Crap acting, one point he is looking around, and looks at 3 people, (looks like one's off screen and yet there is only Cade and the girl there), ANd he was an annoying character. not even remotely funny. Would have like to see Optimus kill that guy too, but Lockdown beat him to it.
I'm with Trunks.
I was very much reminded by Lockdown of Splinter Cell's Sam Fisher back when he used to wear the skin tight Navy Seal stuff.Quote:
Originally Posted by Tetsuwan Convoy
I think that Lockdown is somewhat "stretched out" to achieve that height relative to the size of his alt mode, hence the slenderness of his body and tight bottom. ;) I'm also might glad that Lucas was brutally killed. He was such a Ryan Reynolds Wannabe.
Stupid Sexy FlandersQuote:
Originally Posted by Tetsuwan Convoy
I also went in with very low expectations and actually questioning why I was going to watch it despite knowing exactly what we would get since this is Michael Bay.
However I guess a bit of disappointment hit me worse than it should because during the first part of it, I actually begun to think that the movie wasn't that bad and was starting to get into it. I hate the designs but the way Lockdown was first handled and Marky Mark and the human characters were not great but a lot better than Shia and pals. Still way below average but not an abomination like the last two movies have been.
At that point I was actually thinking that perhaps this movie was being treated unfairly but then the Autobots show up in the desert and things begun to deteriorate quickly. I already had a hint that it would be bad as Ratchet's 'getting killed' voice acting was terrible with 'Look at me, I am a getting horribly killed, meh oh well' tone of voice. Why do the Autobots behave like thugs with such shoddy voice acting? It was cringe worthy to have them interact with each other on screen. John Goodman Hound was also goofy as hell and difficult to digest outside of a little kid's movie.
Then the Steve Jobs guy went from a seemingly ruthless amoral corporate character to 'the goofy guy' just because Marky Mark gave him a phone call. WTF?
There is a lot more to list but I am sure it has been brought up by everyone everywhere already as things deteriorated very quickly. Narrative and visual sense went completely out the window, specially in the last 20 minutes. The movie was also too long so the last 40 minutes or so was just an endurance test. I was glad when it was over because by the end, I was bored.
I would say that it's not as terrible as ROTF but it is at least as bad as the previous one despite the human cast being better and an absence of toilet humor. However as the days past, I am disliking it more and more so perhaps it may actually be worse than Dark of the Moon.
Terrible movie and it is really sad that a piece of trash like that can make so much money the fourth time around. For the record, it had already made it's money by the time I saw it so damage was already done.
You know what the sad thing about this will be? It only helps to continue the lowering of the bar when it comes to Hollywood and audience expectations.
^This.Quote:
Originally Posted by kup
I've been reading a lot of people who attempt to defend this movie with the basic argument of, "just lower your standards," which really isn't a defence at all (although not as bad as the mother of all terrible rebuttals, "haters gonna hate" :rolleyes: -- might as well just say, "I got nothin'." :p). The better defenders are the ones who highlight the actual merits of the film rather than pleading with critics to dumb themselves down. Because of course everything is better if you don't have standards! Maccas is totally nutritionally beneficial if you just lower your expectations of good nutrition. ;)
P.S.: Penny Arcade & Transformium :D
Transformium is low on the list of things that offend in this movie. It's kinda how medichlorians got surpassed by much greater nonsense in the prequels than caused a lot more anger.Quote:
Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime
Finally got the chance to watch it yesterday on a double date with the missus and a couple friend of ours. I've only read a smattering of the comments here, so please excuse me if much of what I saw may be repeated stuff. So... after a day of thinking the movie through and jotting down some thoughts, here's my present view:
Overall, I liked it! I'm not sure if this is a minority opinion - the latter half of the comments here sure seem rather more negative, so perhaps most of the voters who put positive answers haven't posted comments. Like many, I think it is above ROTF (although that's like saying it's better than something you've fished out of your sewage tank) and I also reckon it's above DOTM.
When comparing to the first movie it seems like it's always gonna be behind the 8 ball as the historic impact of the first instalment (establishing TFs in the psyche of countless non-fans in the world) will not be repeated in this generation. I think the technical aspects are at least as good and the effects are better (but we ARE 7 years on). Acting is debatable... but I do favour Mark over Shia as the leading man, and I appreciated the work from the bigger names (Tucci and Grammer).
That's the preamble. To avoid lengthy prose, much of the rest will be in point form.
I liked many of the themes touched upon:
- Autobot faith/trust/respect in humanity
- The central Human and Cybertronian relationship
- Technology getting out of control / biting off more than you can chew
- Xenophobia
- Blind courage
Some highlights:
- Prime - I've read quite a few negative comments about Prime in this movie, but this was one of the things I liked most. Prime has more characterisation in AoE than any of the others (and arguably more than the first 3 put together), and this has worked to endear me to this movie Prime where I never felt like that for the others. He is a different persona here, and one I felt I can relate to more. The only scene in the whole movie that raised goosebumps for me was when he faced off Grimlock... I found it simply awe-inspiring. The line 'makes you wanna die for him' tries to sum it up rather clumsily, but it gets the essence.
- Humour - Much of it was very poorly timed I think, but a few lines were memorable and stuck up above the previous offerings. "What's Chinese for get the f*** outta the way?" comes to mind. And "I was expecting a giant CAR!!" strikes me as rather MtMtE James Roberts :)
- Characters - Many were stereotyped and some were very weak, but I felt they were much less the caricatures that almost exclusively populated the first 3 movies. So, not really highlight, more an improvement.
- Slug - Stuck out to me among the Dinobots, mainly coz I found him cute!! :) The scenes where he scrambles to run in the opposite direction when the giant magnet is pulling him upwards makes me think they motion captured a puppy!
Some lowlights:
- Humour - Again, much was poorly timed/placed. Li Bingbing's "Shiiit!" comes to mind... got a chuckle from me for its badness. Tucci's hiding in a glass box comment was also poor... theatre was dead silent for that.
- Li Bingbing - I am Chinese and all for Chinese getting cast in big dollar productions, but she was (to quote) "Shiiit!". Won't elaborate.
- Plot holes galore... some of the ones that stick to my mind:
-- Prime's scan & renew/heal. I think us fans can rationalise that (he found an energy source to recharge off screen) but my companions were like WTF?
-- Autobots forgetting the reason they stormed KSI just because Tucci interrupts them
-- Lack of surveillance on Lockdown's ship
-- Prime being stuck on a blade for minutes, which then gets pulled out immediately by... a pickup truck!
-- Molecular transformation... makes you invincible (e.g. Galvatron's first battle) or... not.
-- Letting building sized robot dinosaurs run loose!!! What!?!?
-- Prime can fly!! This one was just plain stupid IMO.
So there it is, my preliminary thoughts. In all I think it deserves to be closer to RottenTomatoes audience rating about circa 55% rather than the critic rating in the teens. I will watch it again some day.
+1 :D Exactly my sentiments!Quote:
Originally Posted by Sinnertwin
I do agree with how defenders shouldn't plead with critics to dumb themselves down, but I don't agree with 'hates gonna hate' being a terrible rebuttal - well at least not in the context that I'm thinking of.Quote:
Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime
I think 'haters gonna hate' applies really well to this movie - I don't think AoE is a masterpiece but I don't despise it - it's meh. But the amount of backlash that this movie has gotten both on the internet and on the streets means to me that this movie is so notorious that people keep giving it attention, even though it's negative attention it's still attention nonetheless. If people really wanted to 'save' Hollywood instead of complaining about it, they should just ignore the film altogether instead of giving it any attention. I've seen plenty of films/shows of amazing calibre and what's unfortunate - despite my efforts to spread word about them - is that many people don't want to pay attention to them. Only those who were educated enough to critique an art enjoyed them - I think a great way to 'save' Hollywood is to educate the audiences about what is good art and bad art, not just whinging 'HOLLYWOOD SUCKS BECAUSE OF REBOOTS SEQUELS AND TRANSFORMERS AND TMNT AND MICHAEL BAY PUT A WMD IN MY ANUS AND RAPED MY CHILDHOOD'.
Michael Bay knows that his films aren't your traditional run of the mill flicks, he knows that they lack a coherent plot and that the characters are annoying and stereotypical but the fact that he rakes in so much money
means to him he's still a box office success. And with that much money and attention (even though it's mostly hate from his critics) all Bay does is put on a grin and walk off into the sunset one happy chap saying 'Haters gonna hate'. And I respect that about him because he had the balls to make something of himself in life.
That's what I call lowering the bar. Even so, by the end I was so bored I was wanting the movie to end so 'shutting off your brain' doesn't work either, at least not for all.Quote:
Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev
At the same time, when people start disecting the absolute minutest of details like the corn in Cade's crap was from Arkansas even though the can he ate it from said Michigan (le sigh :rolleyes: Bay knows nothing) & then waffling on & on... well, i just have to balk at that. Everybody should feel free to produce & submit a screenplay that you think the movie should be :)Quote:
Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime
Anyway, everybody from the lovers to the haters will either buy it or download it to watch at a later date or have in their library, despite all the respective opinions
That's not true. I will neither buy, nor d/l this movie (I also haven't seen it on the big screen either).Quote:
Originally Posted by Sinnertwin
Quote:
Originally Posted by GoktimusPrime
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Originally Posted by kup
What a load of old bollocks! :mad: While I kinda agree with Goks comments about people who use the defense of 'just lower your standards', choosing to switch your brain off and watch the movie with a relaxed attitude and for a bit of fun isn't 'lowering the bar' or 'lowering your standards'. It's choosing to chill the frag out and enjoy a diversion from the stresses of life for a few hours. It also may be that you decided that there is enough negativity in your life so you are trying to focus on positives and walked out of the movie thinking of all the things you liked instead of obsessing about all the things you didn't.
You wanna slag off the movie - fine - there is a lot to slag off. But don't start attacking people who didn't hate the movie because they didn't go into the flick with the mindset that they were going to discect it to pieces :mad: And don't tell me what I am or am not doing, what the validity of my defense is and that my and others opinions are wrong because we didn't view the movie through the same lenses you did. :mad:
You Sir!....win the thread!:)Quote:
Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev
You're wrong.Quote:
Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev
Sorry, had to be said :p
:)Quote:
Originally Posted by Omega Metro
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Originally Posted by 5FDP
Smart arse :p;)
Haters gonna hate.Quote:
Originally Posted by BigTransformerTrev
I don't really care if you've said positives or negatives or both or neither in regards to the movie. It's your opinion of the flick and you are entitled to it. I've said negatives about the flick myself. What's given me the irrits is that many times someone in this looong thread has said even a simple sentence like that they quite liked the movie others have been jumped up and down on them as if how dare they hold that opinion. The discussion should be kept to people communicating what their personal opinions of the movie were, especially since this is a review thread. Not telling others that their reviews and opinions are flawed or that how they chose to percieve the movie was in error. Debate is fine, even encouraged, but it's been going a lot further than that and that's what I have a problem with.
Simple rule for all - review the movie - not others opinions of it. Makes for a happy online chatting space :)
Anyway - I'm out! Lest I end up writing more about about how people treated others opinions than I wrote about the movie itself, thus becoming a total hypocryte :p
And for my next post, I'm gonna quote - THE INTERNET! ;) :D :p
https://warosu.org/data/ic/img/0017/...9664426231.jpgQuote:
Originally Posted by 5FDP
:p
Sometimes i'm reminded of my high school English classes whenever a new movie comes out and it gets dissected. I mean, they'd get you to read some book that, in premise, you have absolutely no interest in whatsoever. But it's "well written" and you have to analyse it to the nth degree and try and figure out all the justifications for whatever the author wrote. Even if you may have enjoyed it otherwise, going doing this route of over-analysis ruins every bit of enjoyment you could have gotten. Sure you might find *something* that you think "oh that's clever!" and some enjoyment can come from that. But more often than not you end up tearing it to shreds and forgetting that it's supposed to be something you do to relax and enjoy on a pretty basic level.
The same applies to movies, and i think it only gets worse as you get older and more able to analyse and understand why or why not something was made the way it was. As a kid, i'm pretty sure i enjoyed every movie i ever saw. Recently i caught some Police Academy movies on TV for instance - i fricken loved those movies to death as a kid! But there is no argument that they are for the most part pretty damn lame and devoid of humour (someone's going to say "well no, Michael Winslow!" - and they'd be right :). But as an adult, trying to enjoy those movies is almost impossible. Somehow back then, 7 of the damn things were made! Or even worse movies, like the Nightmare on Elm St or Friday the 13th movies with what, 9 or 10 entries? How did that ever happen!?
But even in terms of blockbusters - i recently watched the Jurassic Park trilogy again and really... they're not that great either. You have plot holes like why the hell can't the T-Rex just smell the damn humans 2 inches from his face? (someone's going to tell me T-Rex can't smell now aren't they). The very premise that humans could at all survive rampaging dinosaurs is pretty much ludicrous, let alone kids for gods sake! But as a child, damn if i didn't just think 'holy shit, dinosaurs! best damn movie i ever saw!' and that was the end of it. And i bet as a kid, i never thought "couldn't that Pterodactyl just fly to the mainland" at the conclusion of Lost World either! What is he, Superman? :D
I think at the end of the day we could all do well to try and regain a little childhood innocence when watching movies these days. Some movies set out to be more than that, and it's great if they deliver completely coherent results, but at the end of the day, they're just movies and aren't going to change your life no matter the significance of any hidden meanings or quality of film-making. So it's ok that not every movie is a flawless masterpiece in that sense, and maybe they are in another - like how Transformers is almost the pinnacle of CG these days; that is an achievement in itself. There's extraordinary creativity and skill that goes into that and it deserves to be respected.
The most recent examples i can think of 'great movies' that i frankly couldn't give a damn about are Life of Pi and Slumdog Millionaire. Incredibly well made movies but hell, i'd rather just watch robots beat the shit out of each other in my free time.
You know what annoys me more? Sharknado is rated 82% compared to AOE at 17% at Rottentomatoes! WTF:eek:
And 47 Ronan is 12% and I thought that was a great movie like AOE.:confused:
P.S .....I don't normally look at reviews/ratings for movies.:D
Any movie with Keanu Reeves is automatically on a new scale with the only rating being "Whoa". Except The Lakehouse, though it gets some points for being about time travel.
http://i.imgur.com/q0n6gZT.jpg
I think I have only seen one person here try to dissect the movie. Otherwise people are pretty much giving broad perceptions of how they feel about it regardless of what that may be.Quote:
Originally Posted by kurdt_the_goat
I went and watched the movie today and i actually enjoyed it! So happy that they changed the human characters! Sam in the previous 3 movies really annoyed me and is the main reason why i didn't like them. Only real complaint is that the Dinobots could of had more movie time!
On a positive note, i took my 6 month old to the movie, i went to the bub session, and when he was awake during the movie, he actually liked it!
Just saw this today at IMAX, I liked it.
Pros:
+ Ratchet's whole scene and death scene (CRY EVERTIM)
+ The general tone, different from the other 3
+ Better characters, Drift was cool, like most of the Autobot cast
+ Better human characters, not awkward like the past films, Cade Yaeger was a fantastic character
+ No Shia LeBouff
+ Good humour, such as Drift's irony
+ Galvatron's voice- perfect
+ I liked the idea of humans improving upon cybertronian tech with transformium- though the morphing thing makes for bad toys, the concept was great
+ Dinobots being rebellious powerhouses
+ The dinobots being lifted up by Lockdown's ship, especially Slug. Looked cute.
Cons:
- Galvatron and Stinger being invincible with his morphing abilites, then suddenly being able to be slaughtered easily, along with all the vehicons.
- Optimus somehow being able to reformat and fix himself after all the crap about needing the Autobots needing to fix him.
- Bingbing Lee
- The dinobots not talking (though I hope the 5th movie focuses on the dinobots' minds and development as characters)
- The dinobots being big, scary set pieces, rather than characters. You'd think the Knights of Cybertron would be pretty wise and honourable instead of ferocious beasts.
- After a small battle with Optimus, the dinobots just decide to do what he says. The battle should have been longer.
Overall, pretty good film. 7/10 for me. Not perfect, but not a bad film. Better than ROTF and DOTM, but not as good as the 2007 movie. ;)
Better than DOTM, but still a steaming pile of s#!t. Congratulations to all involved :(
And according to wiki, AOE is so far the 33rd top grossing movie of all time! Awesome work Mr Bay!:) can't wait for TF5!
It's now ranked 18th movie of all time! Beating The Dark Knight. It's also over the $1 Billion Mark.:)
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_...grossing_films
Is it a full blown, box of Kleenex sob or just a solitary tear slowly making it's way down your cheek?Quote:
Originally Posted by Bidoofdude
:DQuote:
Originally Posted by Verno
Finally saw this abomination today. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me four times, shame on me?
Optimus magically growing rockets and Poochieing up in to space was the first time I've ever actually been angry at a movie for being so stupid.
Going to see it again this Saturday. It will be the 3rd time at the cinemas. Much rather see the new Planet of the Apes movie but I promised my nephew that I would see TF 4 with him. Stupid promises.... grumble grumble....
Yep!Quote:
Originally Posted by llamatron
How about Galvatron not having a spark, and yet he's not only alive but able to grant life to others! After all the fuss in ROTF about the Allspark being the only thing that could grant new life, suddenly it doesn't matter!
I think that's the difference between a 'true' Transformer and one of the Earth-made drones: while Transformers have Sparks, Galvatron, and by extension the other 'new' Decepticons, don't, so they're all effectively 'zombies' with Decepticon memories, but they don't have that extra 'something' that a Spark provides. Megatron's memories and personality were downloaded from what was left of his head and uploaded into Galvatron, and from there, he spread information/personalities to the other KSI drones.Quote:
Originally Posted by Verno
We don't even know that. Do the Vehicons even have any form of independent will, or are they merely extensions of Galvatron's will? Megatron did originally have a Spark, so the original source of Galvatron's life (as Megatron) would still be the AllSpark, however it was KSI (albeit manipulated by Galvatron) who resurrected Galvatron in a blasphemous state of undeath. I personally would've preferred to have seen Galvatron as a wholly new and separate entity from Megatron though; much as what he originally was in the original G1 toy bio and Ladybird books, as well as the IDW comics. Bringing Megatron back from the dead again is just ridiculous. Although seeing him manipulate humans into rebuilding him is preferable to just seeing other Decepticons stab him with a Cosmic MacGuffin. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by Magnus
Crap.
I came out feeling kind of angry. It didn't really seem like a movie, it was more like a series of slow motion crappy staring off into the sunset/look at this shiny car/watch me pose or walk slowly looking away with this gun "this is a moment" press pictures with product placement in between. Drift was fucking stupid. Who are these "legendary warriors", where did they come from, why don't they speak, why should they help Optimus, where do they go afterwards? Who are these Knights and why are they special? why doesn't Optimus just fly with his jetpack feet the whole time, how did they turn out of a corn field onto a gigantic overpass, how did the helicopter lose them etc etc etc.
I just think it was wasted potential :( it could have been so much more! ARGH :mad: