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

Grade the movie

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

Trekker4747 said:
If Osama had been beaten, broken, laying on the ground, and begging for mercy there'd be a lot more flack if the SEALS then decided to double-tap him anyway.
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Not from me. :shrug:
Bastard deserved what he got no matter how it arrived, him on his feet or crippled by friendly fire.

I really can't believe someone has drawn the Sentinel Prime/OBL comparison but oh well.
 
Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

Trekker4747 said:
Sentinel was beaten, broken, and posed no further danger, also Optimus Prime speaks a lot about virtue and "respecting the rights of all sentient beings" but then he rips out a former mentor's head.
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Beaten, broken, and posing no future danger is exactly what Optimus thought about Megatron in the animated film right before Megs killed him. Not taking any chances with a dangerous, cunning foe who's a technical wizz and therefore could have all sorts of nasty in built weapons is entirely sensible. Presumably he still had the cosmic rust thing that melted Ironhide on him somewhere for starters.

For a fourth film, I think borrowing a plot element from the Generation 2 comic would be the best bet. The whole idea that whilst Optimus and Megatron have been having their desperate little struggle on Earth another group of Decepticons have been out there building up a massive empire and just getting on with conquest in a no fuss and bother way is still a good one (the bit in the comic where Prime realises Earth has only ever been a side show is wonderful) and lets them bring in a bunch of new Decepticons (and considering they've been unafraid to use left field choices for the villains how about Thunderwing or Bludgeon? Jhiaxus himself probably doesn't have enough of a cool Transformery sounding name...) to replace all the dead ones easily.

That said, as much as I don't think there's any chance the scale of the robot mode would ever work in live action, the shots of Cybertron looming menacingly over Earth suggest that half of the Unicron visual could be done brilliantly.
 
Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

Gep Malakai said:
He was never a Batman supervillain who would always have another opportunity to reoffend, so I don't agree with the argument that he needed to die.
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I'm not so sure. If anything Megatron is a walking, explosion-causing proof that beating the Decepticons in one movie is no definitive proof that they won't be able to do something in another movie.

I mean there's may be a Transformers 4, which will probably involve the Decepticons doing bad things. What if Sentinel Prime is still around to help them do bad things? Sure, his plan fell through, but what's he got to lose at that stage?

Actually, I remember there's an episode of the original cartoon (I'm sure nerdier Transfans than me can remember precisely which) where Optimus Prime has bested Megatron and demands he relent, to which Megatron says 'Fine BUT ONLY FOR TODAY, OPTIMUS, ONLY FOR TODAY!', and despite clearly having the upper hand Prime is pretty happy to resume the status quo for no good reason.

One would think there's a blessedly non-stupid middle ground Optimus could find between executing a defenceless opponent and letting a clear nemesis slip through his grasp, but then again maybe not.
 
Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

Kegg said:
I'm not so sure. If anything Megatron is a walking, explosion-causing proof that beating the Decepticons in one movie is no definitive proof that they won't be able to do something in another movie.
.....
One would think there's a blessedly non-stupid middle ground Optimus could find between executing a defenceless opponent and letting a clear nemesis slip through his grasp, but then again maybe not.
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Well, yeah, and that's why I don't have an issue with Optimus killing Megatron in cold blood at the end of this one (which, oddly, seems to have caused the bigger stir on Transformer fan sites), but it's worth remembering that Sentinel was not a Decepticon, or at least not someone who craved power and destruction for its own sake. He was a Well Intentioned Extremist whose evil was motivated by a specific goal. Deny him that goal and render him powerless, sure, but at least try to imprison him rather than blow his head off.

Then again, he did kill Ironhide for no good reason, so maybe he was more axe-crazy than I'm giving him credit for. In that case, consider a utilitarian argument for sparing him: as the former leader of the Autobots and supposed "Einstein of his civilization," he's a repository of knowledge about a now effectively extinct species. If nothing else, the things he knows could be beneficial to both human and the few surviving Transformers. If I were in Optimus's place, I'd have locked him up and tried to get some info out of him. If he were still dangerous and it proved impossible for humans to contain him, then I'd shoot him in the head.
 
Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

Kegg said:
Gep Malakai said:
Actually, I remember there's an episode of the original cartoon (I'm sure nerdier Transfans than me can remember precisely which) where Optimus Prime has bested Megatron and demands he relent, to which Megatron says 'Fine BUT ONLY FOR TODAY, OPTIMUS, ONLY FOR TODAY!', and despite clearly having the upper hand Prime is pretty happy to resume the status quo for no good reason.
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That's pretty much every episode, the cartoon can good fun if you switch of your brain (even more than you have to with the Bay films), but one of the many flaws is the whole thing has a war set up but it gets treated more like kids playing cops and robbers. If you want to be cynical it's hard to have much sympathy for the Autobots who died in the original film when they had 60 odd chances to end the Decepticons forever and didn't take them.

I'd say the best Transformers media remains the Marvel comics (especially the UK stuff) and the Beast shows, both of which, when on the top of their game, go beyond being just good Transformers and become great TV and comics full stop.
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Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

Gep Malakai said:
Then again, he did kill Ironhide for no good reason, so maybe he was more axe-crazy than I'm giving him credit for. In that case, consider a utilitarian argument for sparing him: as the former leader of the Autobots and supposed "Einstein of his civilization," he's a repository of knowledge about a now effectively extinct species. If nothing else, the things he knows could be beneficial to both human and the few surviving Transformers. If I were in Optimus's place, I'd have locked him up and tried to get some info out of him. If he were still dangerous and it proved impossible for humans to contain him, then I'd shoot him in the head.
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I know I'm going to be laughed out of the room for bringing science into the discussion but for an "Einstein" of his civilization, he was trying to get Cybertron itself created in the earth's atmosphere.

I say again - *IN the earth's ATMOSPHERE*.

I know I had a half-a-dozen other chances to let my inner geek out but didn't. But this did it. I mean *Newton* would have known you don't put two such massive bodies together, let alone Einstein.

And the whole point is to continue to use the humans as slave labor. Which won't be possible if the two bodies collide against each other, ripping the atmosphere out.

I know this is a summer popcorn movie but ...

Oh - I accept it. There's no hope for me. I blame the popcorn - Why did my popcorn run out before the last part?

Btw, I don't think rusty Megatron was too popular but I quite enjoyed the badassery of him in Africa with the hood to cover his damaged head.
 
Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

Somehow it seems kind of pointless to think TOO hard about Prime's actions in this movie. Like everything else, it only really happened because Bay thought it would look cool and badass on screen.
 
Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

Captain Craig said:
Trekker4747 said:
If Osama had been beaten, broken, laying on the ground, and begging for mercy there'd be a lot more flack if the SEALS then decided to double-tap him anyway.
Click to expand...
Not from me. :shrug:
Bastard deserved what he got no matter how it arrived, him on his feet or crippled by friendly fire.

I really can't believe someone has drawn the Sentinel Prime/OBL comparison but oh well.
Click to expand...

And I can't believe I actually have to explain this. There was no direct comparison.

I read that thingy T'Baio linked to and noticed that the arguments the author was making were similar to arguments that were posted in another thread about OBL's demise in that they prosecute the shooter(s) for killing the bad guy instead of taking him into custody. Yes, Sentinel Prime and Optimus Prime are fictional characters in a popcorn movie, but the guy in the article was judging Optimus by real life moral standards, so I offered my real life moral response, which is SP was looking to enslave humanity and given enough time and a chance to escape he might try it again, but he can't, cause he's dead. Who cares how he died or who pulled the trigger?
 
Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

^^^
I get what was going on but it's a fictional movie about alien robots.
Seems some are overthinking the film, was it the popwatch article? I didn't bother to read it I've read to many rants on the film to date. I'm hitting rant overload. LOL!
 
Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

Okay, Admiral2, I'll play. :) Apart from the fact that he wasn't necessarily obviously unarmed, one of the most compelling arguments for killing OBL was the prevention of sympathizers threatening to take and execute hostages unless he was released. Could Prime really say the same if Sentinel were apprehended?



T'Baio said:
http://popwatch.ew.com/2011/06/29/transformers-optimus-prime/?hpt=hp_bn11

Here's a pretty good article focusing on one of the many reasons these movies suck.
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:cardie:

And between this and The King's Speech and Once, this gets a PG-13?

... R-word you, MPAA. R-word you. :borg:
 
Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

While I don't disagree with the sentiment that The King's Speech's R-Rating was harsh, this movie hardly calls for an R-Rating either.
 
Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." I thought that line was randomly thrown in there as an homage to Spock's character.
 
Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

Same here, it didn't bother me quite as much as it seems to have bothered some, but it also did not seem to fit. Bumblebee's use of Star Trek sound clips worked better for me than Sentinel's forced dialogue.

And come-on, it's been several years and Bumblebee's voice still isn't fixed?!
 
Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

This movie was entertaining. That's all I ask for from, you know, my entertainment.
 
Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

Those disappointed with the film... I'm not sure what they expected to see in this film. Especially if they'd seen the two previous. It's like listening to someone who is complaining about Revenge of the Sith... after they'd seen and loathed Menace and Clones before it. What exactly did they expect? That film makers would randomly forget that marketing towards armies of kids and tweens was more important than pleasing small, organized clusters of Comic Book Guy clones?

BTW, as per the Sentinel Prime discussion, isn't it possible with Cybertron essentially dead and destroyed that Prime executed Sentinel because he didn't "get" it at all that the humans were more or less willing to host the surviving Transformers on Earth? And that they would need to adapt properly in this situation to survive?

This film, garbage or not, as long as it (Bay)explodes makes good summer popcorn munching fare. Intellectual stimulation was not present in the original series, so why would it find itself in the film series?

For the record, I hate the insect-face versions of the decepticons (I've always felt that the Autobots were well translated to film but not the 'Cons). But that's not enough to deter me from enjoying the movie for what it is.

StarTrek1701 said:
This movie was entertaining. That's all I ask for from, you know, my entertainment.
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Agreed... again I'm just not sure I can clearly picture what people were hungry for and didn't find. Transformers has never been anything but silly and frivolous fun... well, that and selling lots of toys.

I do hope they reboot this franchise rather than continuing, though. It would be interesting to see something fresh. 3 Bay fueled films are enough.
 
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Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

The movie is deeply flawed, sure, but millions of dollars' worth of us weren't bored.
 
Re: Transformers: Dark of the Moon - Discuss, Grading, Reviews (SPOILE

Yes, because getting your money back from a movie is common practice these days.
 
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