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It's More than Meets the Eye (first!)

Posted on July 3, 2007 by Jeremy Toeman

Just saw The Transformers movie. Had a grand ol’ time. Kudos to Michael Bay for, well, not over-Michael-Baying it. I’m not doing any sort of review here, I’ll leave that to the pros, but I will say it most certainly stirred all the memories playing with the toys and watching the cartoon as a 13-year-old.

What’s bad:

  • Dialogue could only be worse had George “metachlorians” Lucas written it himself.
  • Way too many characters with way too many mini-plots.
  • Couldn’t always tell which Transformer was which during the action scenes.
  • Did I mention the dialogue?
  • The scene Bay lifted from The Rock (his own movie).
  • Little too much time in the backyard (you’ll know what I mean).

What’s good:

  • Best. CGI. Ever. Seriously, only after walking out did I have that realization of “those weren’t really robots!”
  • Novel action sequences – it wasn’t just one long punch-em-up.
  • Solid(ish) plot. Look, it’s a comic book movie, so you have to start with fairly low expectations. That said, they weaved together a decently credible storyline with only a few “really?” scenes here and there.
  • Not scared of a little violence, but also not gory or nauseating. I think Gears of War actually has more violence in the opening sequence than the whole movie had.
  • Not too ridiculous a use of technology (other than the whole cars-turning-into-robots thing), although “hand me a screwdriver” was a bit silly.
  • Quite a few throwbacks/references to the original cartoon.
  • It’s just plain fun, and doesn’t take itself too seriously!

Considering I don’t get to see many movies these days, I was glad to make it through the 2.5 hour (OMG yes) flick and not do a watch-check or anything else. I had a lot of fun. It’s no masterpiece theatre, but I have a hunch this’ll go down as the most fun movie of the summer.

Happy 4th o’ July everybody!

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6 thoughts on “It's More than Meets the Eye (first!)”

  1. Ricky Cadden says:
    July 3, 2007 at 4:50 pm

    This confirms my thoughts that perhaps this one is better viewed at a dollar theatre, as opposed to the full price.

    Reply
  2. tivoboy says:
    July 3, 2007 at 9:25 pm

    Apparently, with exception of the robots, most of the items were real live action.

    This was the first movie appearance for the military F-22 raptor, JSF.

    Also, the first movie for the osprey, otherwise known as the VTOL V-22. Gotta a BMOC movie maker to get the military to pony up the latest gear for a movie.

    Although, at 2,000,000,000 a day in Iraq they could probably use the $$

    🙂

    Reply
  3. tivoboy says:
    July 3, 2007 at 9:26 pm

    As a long time transformer fan from years ago, i will definitly see it in the theatre.

    Reply
  4. Dave Zatz says:
    July 4, 2007 at 6:41 am

    All the Michael Bay “GM Commercial” references were bringing me down – glad to hear an alternate option.

    Reply
  5. Daniel R says:
    July 4, 2007 at 1:48 pm

    To Ricky:

    I would actually definitely see the first week of opening, in a big screen. It’ll just feel cheap at a dollar theatre (do those still exist?) or at a home theatre.

    Part of what made it fun for me was the cheering of the crowd in all the gloriously tacky Michael Bay scenes, including the kids behind me screaming “oh damn dawg! that’s crazy”.

    This is a classic American summer movie. Nothin’ artsy.

    Reply
  6. brandonc says:
    July 4, 2007 at 7:58 pm

    From AP:
    http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FILM_TRANSFORMERS_BOX_OFFICE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2007-07-04-23-25-27
    The sci-fi adventure “Transformers” had an unprecedented Tuesday haul of $27.4 million in its official debut, beating a record of $15.7 million set last year by “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.”

    Reply

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About

Jeremy Toeman is a seasoned Product leader with over 20 years experience in the convergence of digital media, mobile entertainment, social entertainment, smart TV and consumer technology. Prior ventures and projects include CNET, Viggle/Dijit/Nextguide, Sling Media, VUDU, Clicker, DivX, Rovi, Mediabolic, Boxee, and many other consumer technology companies. This blog represents his personal opinion and outlook on things.

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