Transformers 2

[Tom Lowe]

This movie was silly. Bay ripped off a number of movie locations from well-known blockbuster films like Indiana Jones and James Bond.

The "love affair" between the smoking-hot Fox and Shia Lebouf not only rang completely false, but also produced some of the most embarrassing, awkward and painful "love dialog" scenes since Lucas's prequals.

Once again, the fight scenes are almost incomprehensible due to the needless rapid-fire editing. When is someone going to cut an action scene where we can actually understand the action that is taking place -- rather than a series of mind-numbing flashes across the screen? I do give props to the recent film "The International," which allowed its big shootout scene in the museum to play out naturally, without these headache-inducing, rapid-fire cuts.

I think I have had enough of Transformers now. Time to move on, at least for a couple of pictures, Bay.

[Imran Farouk]

I didn't think it was THAT bad...fair enough some of the action scenes weren't incredibly well done...but i felt the fight in the end was pretty epic although cut short...did love the combination between the old transformer and optimus...

the love affair thing i agree with, it was a bit cruddy through out, it also felt like that cyborg that was a decepticon was a bit Terminator'ish rather then transformer like...
Given it felt a little better then the first in some areas...NOT ALL but some...

maybe I'm wrong but i wasn't that disappointed with it...
At least next summer will have some brilliant action films coming up!

[Tom Lowe]

i'm not really slamming the movie overall. i was pointing out specific silliness. sure, i enjoyed some of the action and FX shots. it's not really better or worse than the first one. it just is what it is.

[Imran Farouk]

what would u give it outa 5?

[Rudi Herbert]

Not to enrage anybody, but this was, FOR ME, the biggest, most unapologetical, incredibly terrible piece of manure of a film I've seen in a long while. I was longing for a Thompson submachine gun to let loose of the projection booth, the screen and my fellow movie goers who seemed to be enthralled in a bliss of ecstasy. God damn, the acting (what acting?!), the "script", the cinematography style that makes Bourne look like shot from an unmovable tripod, and the stupidly infantile style made Baywatch look like Lawrence of Arabia. I mean, amazing FX aside, which were so quickly cut, so repetitive and so in your face all the time so as to make them BORING, this excuse of a film made me so sad as to where Hollywood is headed. Every big movie that has opened this year has gotten progressively worse, and that trend seems to be only gaining strength, god have mercy of that small group of us that go to the movies to be entertained in a way that challenges our intellect, at least a little bit, and not made to feel like 4th graders, which a large majority of the population seems to openly enjoy! You guys wanna see a good science fiction flick, go catch "Moon", or a great action film with explosions and robots, check out "The Hurt Locker". That is, of course, if those gems of a movie are playing in your city, as they got limited release, due to an intelligent plot, stellar directing and great acting, making them, of course, unappealing to most audiences...

And BTW Tom, Terminator Salvation was another steaming pile of diarrhea, I was surprised you were OK with it, but since it is you, I'll let it slide :-)

[Gavin Greenwalt]

I thought Terminator Salvation was the most abhorrent thing to have been projected onto a screen in years.

That being said I didn't think this movie was all that bad. A lot of reviewers are saying the plot is incomprehensible. I don't get that at all. "Good guy knows where key to doomsday machine is. Bad Guys want key. Good guys find key and use it to save the world."

I mean... I would have just nuked the device and called it good. I doubt decepticons could survive a hydrogen bomb nor could their doomsday machine since a well placed shot seemed able to destroy it. But it's not really worse than 99% of all movies made. (including sundance award winners which I watched immediately thereafter.) The most annoying thing to me were the circular dolly shots. Those made me kind of seasick.

The characters were mostly shallow and empty. The dialog was "OMG we're going to die!". But I wasn't disoriented by the fast cutting and could tell what was going on so that didn't really bother me.

I thought it was fun spectacle. Fourth of July Fireworks displays don't have good acting, great stories and are just as loud and flashy. Yet people love fireworks displays. I think you sometimes just have to adjust your expectations.

[Rudi Herbert]

I think you sometimes just have to adjust your expectations.

Or not go to see the film in question as I knew I shouldn't have.

[JanneJansson]

Both Transformer films have some serious systemic faults. Second one had a major weak spot, and that was missing sanity in the plot. Full respect to all craftsmen in the project but, Transformers 2 really was crap.

[jimhare]

I'm not sure either film was attempting to be taken seriously as a piece of work.

Isn't it just a bit of fun based on stylized nostalgia?

Could it be that if they satisfied us they may have disappointed their own audience?

[Jay A. Kelley]

These films are far to large and complex for me to throw down a couple of words to encompass the whole picture. I thought the effects were wonderful, but not as good as the first film. It seems as though a couple shots had badly lit models, and I could not help but wonder if ILM got over done and had to hand off some stuff they should not have handed off. Or perhaps they just flat ran out of time.

I enjoyed the first one. I like the second one, but I did not like it as much as the first. The first one had more "Spielberg influence" I loved the family dynamic from the first flick and felt it did not work as well in the second.. Mainly cause I felt it was rushed.

I have an enormous amount of respect for Mr. Bay and the movies he makes. I am glad he's still going because I see his style improving every picture. I think he will learn a lot from Transformers 2 and I am confident he'll knock it out of the part in III.

I go to these films for eye candy and a good laugh. Perhaps even some "oh wow" from time to time. I rarely say a movie is "bad" unless I feel the director failed to make the movie he/she envisioned due to a lack of something, or just plain missing the mark.

I was hoping for a liittle more "meat" in transformers 2.. I'm a relationship guy and I feel the relationship between Sam and the Autobots is a very cool dynamic and would have loved to go there. But then that's more a "Speiberg" type thing and not a "Bay" type thing. (Spoiler in next sentence... Stop now)

When Prime died, Speilberg would have had you crying your eyes out, all the while you'd be saying to yourself "I'm crying over a ROBOT! WTF?!?!" and still there you'd be, using your girlfriend's hair to wipe you nose...

Bay's not really wired this way. But he's young, and I think there's still time for him to get more a handle on the emotional element.. I'll keep hoping.

Jay