Many feared how Transformers would turn out in the hands of Michael Bay, but the end result is a high-octane action extravaganza of giant robots brawling sprinkled with a surprising amount of comedy.

I have not seen the movie.
From the old cartoons, I can tell which transformers came from planes, cars, etc.
From watching the Ads, the transformers look like they're made from garbage and scrap metal.
From people that seen the film, can you tell which transformers transfer to/from what?
thanks.

I was able to jump in on a pre screening of the movie and I have to agree with this review. Being a kid from the 80's I had high hopes this would be just like the cartoon I woke up to in grade school, and it didn't let me down one bit. Also being a 3D artist the CG was beyond spectacular and was far beyond what I could have ever dreamed.

Good Movie, good times, make a 2nd one already will ya....

OP is OP TBH

generally speaking i liked all the transformers shows, cept the new animed ones wich are terrible(loved beast wars/machines)

definatly going to go see this

I haven't seen the movie yet, but I definitly will. I downloaded the high-def preview, 2 minutes long, a month ago and was totally amaze at the quality of the animation. Now you just convinced me to get a go at it.

Not as much as you could from the show, but I think it's still there. You can tell Blackout is a helicopter because he still has the rotor blades on his back (as well as wielding the tail rotor) and Starscream is all sharp angles and flat military coloring. They look a lot more like functioning alien robots in the movie than they did in the show and the transformations are a lot more complicated.

I caught a pre-screening with my wife and kids on Thursday.

I have to say, that this movie grabbed me with a sense of wonder in a way no other movie has since I went to see the original Star Wars as a kid. I couldn't tell you a damn thing about the plot because all I remember was thinking, and saying, "WOW" throughout the whole movie. I'm going to have to go see it again just to watch the plot, heh.

Before I saw it, I'd say the smart money would be on the new Potter flick for top dollar this summer, but frankly, I think this will blow that movie away, at least in the US. I wouldn't be surprised if it makes close to a billion before it comes out of theaters.

Definitely would agree with the review and heartily recommend the movie to anyone except younger children (I'd say nobody below maybe 8-10...it's fairly intense and might freak out the youngsters).

peace,
Aielman

Little GIRLS feel cheated because Strawberry Shortcake and Holly Hobbie were not made into movies? no for you see all those items are little kids stuff and when they turn around the age of 8 they stop playing with all those toys, while men seem to keep playing with their toys well unto their... 20's, 30's, 40's, etc.

The only difference between men and boys is the size of their toys?

heh.

peace,
Aielman

This is something I always have a problem with.

Both in small ways (like bogus explanations. Biggest example? The Mitochlora-whatever that the "Force" was supposed to come from.... Nice way to ruin a magical thing that really did not need explanation!) And in large (things not feeling real, like in the third Matrix, where neo flew around like superman, and solid objects all looked like foam rubber).

The hard part for this flik would have probably been making sure that robots of this size and weight effected the environment in step with their size.

The Hulk flopped on this in many facets, able to lift things, and jump without leaving marks where he did either (you lifet a tank, you should leave a mark in the ground, or sink).

You get a semi-tractor trailer skidding on blacktop, he better leave trails. You get a car on a narrow walkway, that walkway better bend. You get one of these guys build up momentum and hit another, you need to FEEL the impact, not just make it loud.

Some fliks get this right, and even with exaggeration make you forget you are watching a movie and slip into the impossibilities that, for some strange reason, don't seem so impossible.



That said, I don't thnik ANYONE was expecting a plot from this story. Like most kiddie cartoons from the 80's, it did not have a hell of a lot of depth. (When is GI Joe coming out?). The SE's look great from the previews, and I am looking forward to seeing it.

I just hope that little quote clip in the beginning indicates a few stupid attempts at science and not a theme for the entire flik.

And price sometimes

I haven't seen it, but I'm going to, with my gf, may be this weekend. The trailer looked awesome, my heart is jumping with loud 'yay!'... usually, how long will the DVD come out :?: ...I'm going to buy it too...

Although I find it interesting that a cartoon makes it into a movie - along the same interesting lines that a computer game makes it to a movie - I am surprised that so many ppl are still in awe about movies like this. Yet another noisy action movie which can only be made thanks to SFX. To me it is just more-of-the-same. Good guys against bad guys with a lot of boom.

But then, I know I am old before my time. Good for you all that you still enjoy things like this.

hey Aielman is your name a refrence to The Wheel of Time by any chance?

The movie is awesome, I'd call myself a TF fanboy if I have to but I've been waiting for TF to make it to hollywood since I was in grade school.
However as I get older, I realized that maybe 5-10 yrs ago, hollywood at that time would probably be unable to realize the TFs and their battles in a real world setting in all its CG glory.

After watching this movie however, really for the first few minutes after barricade and bumblebee transformed and fought for the first time I feel like I was a 7 yr old all over again. You know how it is back then, the boys toys, sports cars and robots all in one which made me love TF ever since I was introduced to it.

Too many reviewers complained abt the plot, who cares much abt the plot, this is a movie for boys and men who were and are still boys in their heart LOL

Can't wait for the sequel, I hope there'll be more TF features (combiners, huge base/robots) in it 8)

Shouldn't the 'A' in Autobots and 'D' in Decepticons be capitalized? I know I tend to bash TwitchGuru, but this article just doesn't seem to get me pumped and possibly spoiled some parts I would have loved to seen firsthand. Oh well. This is what I get for reading TwitchGuru stuff on Tom's Hardware.

I just watched it yesterday at AMC...

The plot is a little rough, but not bad considering we're talking about transforming alien robots.

Special effects are the best for any movie ever made... they leave Spiderman 3 in the dust. Transformations are spectacular. Fight scenes are really cool, up close and personal; this is a contender for biggest, baddest action movie ever made.

The movie takes some time to get going, but when it does it really takes off. Humor is pretty good... LeBeouf's dad looks out the window and somehow misses seeing the 5 transformed autobots in his front yard (they're hiding so hilariously well), and one of the autobots also pees on this one guy...


My biggest gripe is with the action sequences. Yes, they're spectacular and very very good, but I think Bay should have taken some far shots too. It's kind of hard making out whats happening when you have 4 robots duking it out on a narrow street with the camera 20 feet away. There is a sense of lack of style in the fights... like there is only one memorable slo mo when Optimus sucker punches Megatron in the chin. I would have liked to see more of that, and more clean hand-to-hand combat rather than just shooting or shoving each other around.


Overall, I think it's a very good film. Don't take my elaboration of its faults too hard... I'm not listing the good parts because they are too many.

I have to also agree with this review. No movie is going to be perfect but I think this was well done... much more than I expected of it. I was just totally amazed at the animations and the CG work. It was soo good I am going to see it again. Kudos to Michael Bay!

I got in and saw this movie as soon as it came out. i was fortunate enought to take my wonderfull girlfriend along who totally enjoyed the movie. much to my surprise and utter delight.

i was impressed with the graphic integration and although some characters weren't looking in the correct places sometimes i still felt that it was better than anything i have ever seen before. i'd even go as far to say that it felt 'real' somehow. much more so than the emersive world of the Matrix... (i'm going to cop it for that i'm sure).

When that huge PavlowII helicopter looking Deceptecon landed in the base, transformed and started pounding the army guys with that awesome weapon i got that tingling feeling that didn't let up the whole movie. you know the feeling you get when you do something stupid like trip your house electrical safety switch cause you were 'fixing' and electrical item and your heartrate jumps about over 140+ bpm...

From the moment you see the Autobots land on earth and start to take the shape of the vehicles they chose (i was impressed by this take on their structural choices actually as i couldn't remember how they did it in the original series) you know your in for a great ride. i'm not sure that a sequal would have as much impact but the wow factor for someone born in 1980 would still be there.

i just cant wait till i can get this on Blueray or HD-DVD and bring it home to watch on my new Samsung 40" 1920x1080 LCD TV and watch it over and over till the disc wears out...

Glad you liked it. I also got that tingly feeling, like "Oh, humans, you are SCREWED." That part where Bumblebee gets insulted and comes back as a new 08 Camaro was one of my favorite parts of the movie, and drew quite a bit of applause.

thats a very interesting observation becasue i had the same experience. We were the 4th of 5th group of people into the cinema and we watched dozens of families come in after us along with a few groups of 20-25 year old lads. there were quite a few sections of the movie where the family's behind us were cheering and at one point the mother behind us cryed out when bumblebee was injured and then she got up and cheered when ms Fox got him on the tow truck..

great level of viewer interaction i think. haven't seen that since SQ-Episode 01.. and that was just idiots with laser pointers...