Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILERS)

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by Dream, Jun 27, 2011.

?

Grade the movie

  1. Excellent

    17.4%
  2. Above Average

    28.3%
  3. Average

    26.1%
  4. Below Average

    9.8%
  5. Poor

    18.5%
  1. Dream

    Dream Admiral Admiral

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  2. Admiral_Young

    Admiral_Young Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

    Not so different as to how Megan Fox was objectified in the previous two films.
     
  3. Jetfire

    Jetfire Guest

    Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

    How is it different from any other M. Bay films? ;)
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 1, 2011
  4. Samurai8472

    Samurai8472 Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

    The woman are eye candy like the cars and giant robots.


    There was even this deleted scene

    [YT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Fqbz_P4TQs[/YT]
     
  5. Captain Craig

    Captain Craig Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

    ^^^
    Gratitous, yep
    I like it. :)
     
  6. Admiral2

    Admiral2 Admiral Admiral

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  7. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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    Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

    I dunno, I found it degrading to the poor woman, they're ripping the dress off of her and the guys are standing there with the camera equipment off-screen going all, "Darn! We have to do this shot again! Man my job sure sucks! :broad wink:"
     
  8. Ethros

    Ethros Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

    Saw it yesterday afternoon, god, what shite.

    I thought they were meant to have learnt from the mistakes of the second one? Well this was just as bad. I mean seriously what is with all the awful slapstick in these films??
    ROTF was bad enough with the "mum on drugs" part, but in this one, with that Asian guy going crazy in the office, and John Malkovich's charatcer being generally odd... jesus I wanted to claw my eyes out.
    :lol: I was literally shifting in my seat muttering "this is awful!"


    Of course, like the others, I couldn't tell what the hell was going on for the most part. Who was fighting who, which Transformers were which, I had no idea. The only ones I can ever make out are Optimus, Bumbleebee, and in this one Sentinel Prime (just because of their colours)
    How am I supposed to care about some fight when I don't even know who it is. Like when Sam was pulling the eye out of the Decpticon, I was thinking "erm, is that Starscream, I think it is"

    I kept seeing some Green autobot, fuck knows who he was though. And why did one have a Scottish accent? God knows who he was either.


    Hmm, it was something to do on my day off to pass the time, but still, what load of wank. Oh yeah, haha, I literally just laughed out loud when it ended. What a shit ending!!! Beyond abrupt
     
  9. inflatabledalek

    inflatabledalek Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE


    With the Sentinel Prime bit it's worth remembering that:
    A: He's already shown himself to be pretty much better in a fight than Optimus.
    B: Has been a complete bullshiter throughout the film.
    and
    C: Was perfectly happy to kill Autobots who weren't actively fighting him (poor Ironhide).

    Prime would have basically been an idiot to give him even the slightest chance. Compare it to a similar scene in the '86 animated film where Prime's slight hesitation over shooting a seemingly defeated and unarmed Megatron gets him killed real good for his troubles.

    Generally I've always liked the more pragmatic apporach both sides have taken in the Bay films compared to previous iterations, they're in a fight to the death over the future of Earth, they don't play nice. Indeed, the Decepticons needing reminding by their human stooge that they don't take prisoners was the real out of place moment for me.


    Well, once again its starting to look like I'm going to be the lone voice of support for the film amongst my closest family and friends, of the two who've seen it so far about the best they've said for it is they could actually tell what was going on in the action scenes this time. They generally thought all the fun had been taken out of the films and it was too dull and serious apart from a few random moments.


    Myself, generally I liked it. Especially how it managed to pull off the tonal shift in showing the occupation of Chicago as a really nasty business with people dying and being generally distressed. Compared to the earlier car chase scene which continued the attitude of the first two of focusing on the cool stuff blowing up rather than any human cost (I mean, how many people would have died in that pile up?) it could have been real mood whiplash, but it still worked.


    Cullen, Nimoy and LaBeouf all did the usual good work, the effects were stunning and well thought out (even if there wasn't really a forest fight moment) and the Chenobyl sequence was nicely evocative, even if I wasn't much of a fan of the "aliens did it" angle.

    Middling niggles:

    I didn't like the mixing of real footage with newsreel in the opening scenes, if only because it showed how much their Nixon and Kennedy stand ins didn't really look like the originals. Not a fan of the whole Apollo angle either, it seemed somewhat demeaning to a genuinely great achievement to suggest it was all to briefly look round a mysterious alien space ship, and I suspect Armstrong will be mildly embarrassed by the whole thing, unlike shameless attention whore Aldrin (and a man who wasn't trusted enough to be the first man off the lander because of his personal problems somehow got picked for a mission so secret he can never talk about it?). People less into the space program will probably not be so annoyed by that though.

    And were the other two old NASA guys real people or just terrible actors?

    The Wreckers came with the second wave of Autobots, presumably the new characters in ROTF, so where were they during the potentially planet destroying all hands on deck crisis in that film (the other new guys here get a pass as their origin isn't specified and thus could have come in a third or fourth wave)?.

    Epps' subplot with rounding up the old NEST troopers felt fairly redundant, he could just as easily still been in active service and part of the advanced NEST scouting party with Sam. Surely he's not such a popular character they thought he needed his own mini-adventure?


    The outright bad:

    Only two things really:

    First, Carly was terrible. She was pretty much exactly what Megan Fox's worst critics accused her of. Insanely badly acted, spent the entire film screaming "SAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM!" (it'd be interesting to see her have a shout off with Stacy "JAAAAAAAAMES!" Sutton from A View To A Kill) whilst managing to keep her mostly white outfit virtually spotless in a battlezone, and with none of the proactive go-getter spirit Mikaela had.

    The second is Megatron was pretty much wasted again, meaning that in all three films they pretty much wasted Hugo Weaving. The bit where he and Carly (two characters who've never met before- and there's not even any indication prior to this she even knows what Megatron looks like) talk like old acquaintances and she manages to change his mind about his entire plan in about six words even when all his obvious prior doubts haven't done it is just bizarre, did a bit from a draft with Fox in not get rewritten here? And him deciding to kill Sentinel just before he finishes off Optimus was especially daft, just wait three seconds man.

    I'd have probably given Megs the Shockwave role to beef up his part, make the deal between him and Sentinel more even and give him some decent action scenes so him managing to kill SP so easily wouldn't have come out of left field to such an extent.

    On a minor note, with Barricade back and the overall sense of the end of an era it might have been nice if it had been him rather than Starscream in the "My eye!" fight, it would have created a sense of things coming full circle to have Sam and Bumblebee up against the Con who first brought them together. Though that's minor as I also like the way that bit turned out.
     
  10. davejames

    davejames Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

    So wait, that was supposed to be an improvement?!? I frankly thought it was almost as bad as the LAST one.

    The story was still a jumbled mess, the humor was possibly even MORE awful and insulting, and the action (despite a few cool bits here and there) was about as random and lifeless and nonsensical as before too.

    And pretty much every character in this was annoying as hell. I've always liked Shia before, but here he just came across like a seriously annoying asshole for some reason.

    And I just... don't know what to make of what they did with Optimus. He sits by and lets the Decepticons take over (killing possibly thousands of people in the process).... all so he could teach the humans a lesson?? WTF.

    I know we're not supposed to take these movies TOO seriously, but come on. Compared to the last two shitfests, the first one is almost starting to look like an elegant, beautifully-written work of art now.
     
  11. captcalhoun

    captcalhoun Admiral Admiral

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    Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

    probabkly because they were more worried about, you know, saving the world and not getting killed in the process...
     
  12. Nowhere Man

    Nowhere Man Commodore

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    Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

    Just got back from this and well, it's not bad. I give it above average, but barely. The first half of the movie is just stupid jokes within a very serious setting. I have to say, I would have rather Megan Fox than the other girl. Not that it really matters. The plot is non existent and really fucking stupid. The government intervention is retarded. Megatron wearing a hood is stupid. I would have liked to see Megatron more, I really love hearing Hugo Weaving's voice. Sentinel Prime was cool, but if really made no sense for him to betray the Autobots. Shockwave was cool, but only had one line. Laserbeak was really cool. The rest of the bots were nameless and practically faceless. Oh yeah, they killed Ironhide, not cool. Despite all of this, I thought it was ok, a lot better than the second one, but the first one is still my favorite. The one disappointing thing was I really didn't feel like there was any real closure other than all the Decepticons dying. Oh, not so much shaky cam either. I say Optimus is the only real design I truly love about these movies so, bring on the reboot.
     
    Last edited: Jul 2, 2011
  13. inflatabledalek

    inflatabledalek Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

    A friend of mine had the same complaint, and I really don't get it. Yes, Prime noted the object lesson, but the real main purpose in the shuttle deception was clearly to give them an element of surprise in the final attack, pretty much the one and only advantage they had.

    What happened in Chicago would have happened no matter what, the Decepticons had the superior numbers and defying the order to leave outright would have had the government set the US army against the Autobots, something that would have both forced them into combat with humans and wasted time. They'd have never been able to sneak into the City and save the day if they hadn't been thought dead. As a strategy it made perfect sense, the only bit that was perhaps a bit unfair of Prime is him playing his role up to the hilt for Sam, shame there wasn't a line covering him having spotted/worked out the watch.

    Megatron'ds Master Plan, the cartoon story the whole shuttle/evil rich man siding with the Decepticons sub plots are taken from is generally terrible and deals with the idea in a far sillier way. Prime genuinely agreeing to leave Earth to the Decepticons and going in a ship they built without expecting it to blow up being especially bad.
     
  14. Zulu Romeo

    Zulu Romeo World Famous Starship Captain Admiral

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    Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

    Not seen it yet (I didn't bother with the second one although I did see the first one) but this impression of the movie from everyone's favourite movie critic fills me with a sense of foreboding:

    [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cc4GjSydejo[/yt]

    Here's the audio of the actual review. Boy, he's angry:
    [yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFm6nWeJeoA[/yt]
    "Cluster-fruitcake" :guffaw:



    Maybe I should wait until it's shown on TV...
     
  15. Checkmate

    Checkmate Commodore

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    Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

    More random "action" scenes. More annoying robots (but hey, no bouncing metal balls this time at least). More what-the-fuck storytelling. More of the not-being-able-to-tell-who-is-fucking-who. More not-understanding-a-word-they-fucking say. More completely forgettable movie-going experiences.

    More is definitely less.
     
  16. Trekker4747

    Trekker4747 Boldly going... Premium Member

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  17. MNM

    MNM Captain Captain

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    Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

    I thought the film was awesome. Better than the second and possibly better than the first.

    One armed Optimus kicking ass at the end was very cool.

    In fact the only real problem I had was Carly. For a couple of reasons. One I didnt think she was any good in terms of acting. Now I know Megan Fox is hardly an Oscar worthy actress, but I thought she was better. And the second part of that, the flashback secenes kind of implied that Sam and Michaela broke up nearly right after the 2nd movie, which I thought was a bit strange considering the events of it.

    But never mind. I may very well go see this again in the cinema.
     
  18. ReadyAndWilling

    ReadyAndWilling Fleet Captain

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    Transformers 3: Can a fan of G1 enjoy this movie?

    ok, so i hated the first one.

    the second one was appealing after i saw the trailer where it looked like the constructicons were about to merge and then it turned into some big, ape like thing. even worse than the first movie.

    does the third one give at least a slight hint to G1?
     
  19. MNM

    MNM Captain Captain

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    Re: Transformers 3: Can a fan of G1 enjoy this movie?

    Not really. No more so than the previous two anyway. Any influences from the cartoons come from the later series.
     
  20. Jono

    Jono Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Re: Transformers 3: Can a fan of G1 enjoy this movie?

    Of course they can. I'm a fan of the G1 cartoon and I've enjoyed the movies for the most part.