The Energon Pub

[Renne]

Critical opinions do not matter in the long run (look at how the original Willy Wonka did in theatres, and how it's loved now). Neither do sales figures (you can't honestly tell me everyone here loved Titanic?) Neither of those prove either quality, or fan status.

This.

One does not necessarily denote the other. See: cult films that were panned critically but loved by the fans, and cult films that did poorly in theatres but were loved by the critics.

[Cyberstrike]

What you don't seem to realize is that if enough people don't like the movie franchise it wont be around much longer. And you are so very lucky to have anything else...

Its dumbfounding to find any kind of opinion like yours from an apparent Tran fan, however from what I have experienced you are much less than that, someone too dedicated, too precious, to listen to any other kind of view point.

If you look at other Transformers series like Beast Wars and Beast Machines you will find that a lot of fans don't like it. I think that they still are best TF shows however.

A lot of fans like Robots in Disguise and the recent Animated shows I hate the former and thought the latter was an OK series (although I still think season 1 sucked). I really enjoyed Energon and Cybertron a lot of people didn't.

It basically boils down to personally taste I loved Termintor: Salvation (storywise it still beats Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen) and I think that Star Trek 11 was just average.

[metaphorge]

It was so-so. There was a lot to like about the film, and a lot that could have used some improvement. A LOT of improvement.

The Good:
*) The robot-on-robot fights were excellent, especially the Shanghai battle and especially the forest battle. Worth the price of admission.

*) The characterization of Starscream and Megatron were much improved from the first film.

*) The comic-relief characters in this film were far less annoying than in the first film, and I actually found myself liking Scalpel and Wheelie quite a bit.

The Bad:
*) Biggest pet peeve: excessive reuse of CGI models. I'm sorry, but no matter how much you try to justify it, the multiple-Constructicons-of-each-type or Long Haul-and-Mixmaster-are-two-places-at-once was just sad and seemed cheap, not to mention created confusion.

*) You could fly a C-130 through the plot holes. For example, if the Decepticons certainly did not seem to give disentegrating Sam a second thought when they were supposed to be capturing him and extracting the Allspark fragment from his brain? The U.S. military has battleship-mounted rail-guns? How exactly would extinguishing the sun create some huge supply of Energon? I could go on, but then I'd be here all day. I give something like Transformers a pretty big suspension-of-disbelief allowance, but ROTF went way beyond even this.

*) Maybe related to the above, but there were a lot of dangling plot points as well. What happened to the Allspark shard that zapped Sam... did it just get left in Mikaela's safe?

*) Is Michael Bay twelve years old? Can you pack more dick jokes, etc. into three hours? (Though I'll admit, the Constructinuts were actually pretty funny.)

*) Devastator got served by Skids and Mudflap. Riiiiight.

*) Not important to most viewers, but fresh on my mind because I was just there in April: the actual geography of Egypt bears little or no resemblance to how it was presented in the film.

I found the film very frustrating. The action set-pieces looked cool as hell, and there were a lot of neat ideas worked into the film (like the ball-bearing 'Cons Ravage dispatched), but the pacing was off and the plot was both thin and incredibly convoluted when it really didn't have to be in order to justify the action sequences. Particularly frustrating was that a lot of the problems with the film seem like they would have been pretty easy to fix.

I'm glad I went, but really, you could have cut this down to forty-five minutes and I would have enjoyed it just as much if not more.

2.5 out of 5 stars.

[Cyberstrike]

Critical opinions do not matter in the long run (look at how the original Willy Wonka did in theatres, and how it's loved now). Neither do sales figures (you can't honestly tell me everyone here loved Titanic?) Neither of those prove either quality, or fan status.

Actually I can honestly say I did. But that's because I'm a huge RMS Titanic buff. Loved studying since I was in grade school.

I'm a fan of Titanic because I'm hopeless romantic at heart. That said I haven't seen the movie in quite some time.

[yongkykun]

I assume that those of you who don't particularly like this movie is because you are familiar with the story from the comics or cartoons or what have you. I have no prior knowledge to the TF lore before watching the second movie. And as a new fan, I find this movie better than the first and thoroughly enjoyable. I brought two girls watching this movie and they loved it as well. They, in fact, love the twins so much. I believe that Bay, as a movie maker (not a big TF fan), see this movie strictly as a medium for entertainment. Which is why his movies are more directed toward those who are not familiar with the story.

Face it guys, I heard that a lot of fans are angry with the design of the robots back in 2007 when the first movie was released, but now those action figures (especially RotF Leader Optimus Prime) are sought after by fans and new fans alike. I guess what I'm trying to say is this, if you want a TF movie with a story that is more familiar and more true to the lore, then watch the cartoons.

BTW, will it answer some of you here who dislike the profane language and the amount of violence they used in the movies if I say that in my country this movie gets "adults only" rating?

[Binaltron]

despite of being a mediocre fan of the 80's series, i have some figures. but i can't show myself in love for this sequel. the problem is plot hole is everywhere. the characters are boring, humorless and cheap. i mean there's a scene where megan fox land on a guy's crotch, doggy sex, robot balls and tears and guy wearing a closeup thong, these are very cheap sexual suggestive humors!! i hate the stereotypes of twin autobots as displaying a dumb redneck yankee dude. and what's up with jetfire with robot beards and holding a cane!!! the pros are the cgi scenes are great but nothing special!!
the negatives are the film is wayyy tooo long. i mean most long hour movies are either drama or artistic film. but this is a cheap slapstick comedy with huge robots smashing metals against each other and that's it. it should be at least 90-100 mins max!!!
sorry but this is no masterpiece but i will still own it on blu-ray, and i'll be fast-forwarding to the actions and sexy megan fox scenes (good parts)!!!

[Cyber Bishop]

despite of being a mediocre fan of the 80's series, i have some figures. but i can't show myself in love for this sequel. the problem is plot hole is everywhere. the characters are boring, humorless and cheap. i mean there's a scene where megan fox land on a guy's crotch, doggy sex, robot balls and tears and guy wearing a closeup thong, these are very cheap sexual suggestive humors!! i hate the stereotypes of twin autobots as displaying a dumb redneck yankee dude. and what's up with jetfire with robot beards and holding a cane!!! the pros are the cgi scenes are great but nothing special!!
the negatives are the film is wayyy tooo long. i mean most long hour movies are either drama or artistic film. but this is a cheap slapstick comedy with huge robots smashing metals against each other and that's it. it should be at least 90-100 mins max!!!
sorry but this is no masterpiece but i will still own it on blu-ray, and i'll be fast-forwarding to the actions and sexy megan fox scenes (good parts)!!!

There was no reason to post this here and make a separate thread for it.
I removed the other thread BTW.

[Omega-1]

The Bad:
*) Biggest pet peeve: excessive reuse of CGI models. I'm sorry, but no matter how much you try to justify it, the multiple-Constructicons-of-each-type or Long Haul-and-Mixmaster-are-two-places-at-once was just sad and seemed cheap, not to mention created confusion.

*) You could fly a C-130 through the plot holes. For example, if the Decepticons certainly did not seem to give disentegrating Sam a second thought when they were supposed to be capturing him and extracting the Allspark fragment from his brain? The U.S. military has battleship-mounted rail-guns? How exactly would extinguishing the sun create some huge supply of Energon? I could go on, but then I'd be here all day. I give something like Transformers a pretty big suspension-of-disbelief allowance, but ROTF went way beyond even this.

*) Maybe related to the above, but there were a lot of dangling plot points as well. What happened to the Allspark shard that zapped Sam... did it just get left in Mikaela's safe?

*) Is Michael Bay twelve years old? Can you pack more dick jokes, etc. into three hours? (Though I'll admit, the Constructinuts were actually pretty funny.)

*) Devastator got served by Skids and Mudflap. Riiiiight.

The Transformers universe constantly reuses molds, which makes the movie more realistic ~ Also, Insecticons, Sweeps? Two Cyclonuses in TFTM? We accepted so much of it in the past, why start complaining about it now?

By extracting energy and creating energon from the sun, that would destroy it.

I thought the All Spark shard was used to revive Jetfire. Not 100% sure about this, though.

I have I agree with the stupid childish jokes. I could have done without those.

I actually have a question about the Devastator fight scene. He came out on top since we see him climbing the Pyramid at the end. So what happened to Skids and Mudflap? Did I miss something?

[Renne]

I thought the All Spark shard was used to revive Jetfire. Not 100% sure about this, though.

It was. We don't know what they did with it after that, though.

[Predaprince]

My fiancee and I saw it on Thursday as part of our last vacation day in Disney. After the first film and its disappointments with me personally, I was not really excited about the sequel, but it was actually really good. Starscream and Megatron were both characterized a lot better in this one than the first and the majority of the new TFs were wonderful. I was fine with Jetfire being geriatric and loved the "super mode" from Unicron Trilogy being added in.

The things I didn't like: The Fallen was an interesting character, but I do prefer the dark and brutish look from the comics rather than this one; Mudflap and Skids got a little irritating and I HIGHLY enjoyed when BB smashed them together; the whole "Alice" thing was not only pointless but also a huge plothole (how did the Decepticons get a humanoid drone into his college before he got there and if they did now that that is where he is going then why not just grab him like they eventually did); there was no time to familiarize us with the new decepticons

All-in-all, I would have to say that I now have faith in these live-action TF films and I am actually looking forward to seeing a third one. It appears as the first film was about the humans and their reactions to the TFs and the second one is actually about the TFs and their war coming to Earth. My hopes for a third one would be for Megatron to discover that The Fallen worked for Unicron, who makes him Galvatron and make it related to TFTM (not the same, of course, but based off of it).

[Evil_the_Nub]

I think the Decepticons used Alice to try to use a more subtle approach. A giant robot smashing his way in and snatching Sam would have drawn a lot of attention. A college girl sticks her tongue down a guys throat is an everyday thing. Like Ravage sneaking in and stealing the Allspark fragment, rather than just blasting their way in. Last time they fought in the open they got their asses kicked so I think they're trying to stay under the radar as much as they can.

[Renne]

The time Alice shows up leads to the question of when did the Decepticons realise that Sam was relevant to their interests? I don't remember the timeline. Can anyone help with that?

[Predaprince]

When Sam gets to college, Alice has already been there being talked about by what's his name, so that is the plothole. A Decepticon drone in human form is at the college to capture Sam before he even arrives.

[Renne]

When Sam gets to college, Alice has already been there being talked about by what's his name, so that is the plothole. A Decepticon drone in human form is at the college to capture Sam before he even arrives.

It's entirely possible, Decepticons being Decepticons that they just wanted him dead anyway. It's not even sure that she's there to capture him. Play with him, then kill him.

[Omega-1]

I thought the All Spark shard was used to revive Jetfire. Not 100% sure about this, though.

It was. We don't know what they did with it after that, though.

I thought that maybe it got destroyed after it was used. Dunno.

When Sam gets to college, Alice has already been there being talked about by what's his name, so that is the plothole. A Decepticon drone in human form is at the college to capture Sam before he even arrives.

It's possible that Alice was a real person and the Decepticon killed her and took her identity after Sam arrived. I don't think it's really a plot hole but as I've said before, the movie is a bit disjointed. It would have been nice if these things were explained better.

[Rodimus2006]

I loved the movie but it really was all about the explosions and there wasnt enough story in it. However the story that was in it was done really well.

You have to remember Bay finished most of the movie bye himself during the writer strike.

My only complaints were the movie was like one big explosion from start to finish.

However I did enjoy the excellent action scenes in the film.

Also I didnt like my Prime being a sadistic bad ass, I know he is to lead bye example leader but this is not the Optimus we all grew up with. This Optimus is more of a take no prisoner kick ass and take name Prime.

When in the cartoon series he was less violent more of a preachy philosophical leader.

Pros:
Tons of Action
New Robots
Prime
Decipticons had more time
The Nemesis
Alice (The Pretender) New Look on an old concept
Sideways
Arcee Twins
N.E.S.T.
Jet Fire


Cons:
Not of Certain Bots
Devestator not enough screen time
Multiple clones of Devestator he was seen simultanously in Combined mode and in his Counterparts at the same time.

Alice - Really Freaky I give her Pros & Cons she is a cool character but really freaky

The Fallen - Looks like something straight out of the Aliens or Predator movies he was a Wussy Old Grandpa

Megatron acting like a Servant he bows to know one, also the fact he seemed weaker than he was in the original movie.

Some bots didnt get much screen time: Sideways died way too early and way too easily.

Not enough of Soundwave however he did play a major role in the film.



The Autobots and Decipticons are exactly the same they both fight to protect life. However the Cons only care about themselves not others and will destroy anything to preserve their way of life.

The Autobots also care for life but also protect life and other life forms.

Think of how it is between the Jedi and the Sith same concept between the cons and autobots just one his evil and one is good.


I didnt mind the Twins welcomed addition in my opinion I liked the comedy duo between them they were really funny and it deviated from the non stop action throughout the film.


So What to expect in TF 3

Megatron & Sream escaping back to the Nemesis or going back to Cybertron for re-inforcements, more tension between the Bots and the US Goverment.

The final conflict taking place on Cybertron maybe and Sam being an intergral part in it possible sacrificing himself in someway or full filling his destiny.

On whether or not Unicron well be in the Film a slight possiblility I really dont know since the film is still 2 years away from now still to early to tell about rather or not he will be in it or will it be a new character like the Fallen was.

I guess we will learn overtime about the details however I dont know since Mr. Bay is taking sometime off from the franchise so it will be quiet for sometime about TF 3.

[GetterDragun]

When Sam gets to college, Alice has already been there being talked about by what's his name, so that is the plothole. A Decepticon drone in human form is at the college to capture Sam before he even arrives.

You normally have to register months in advance when you go to college, so maybe she looked up in some databases where he was going.

[Tigertrack]

I think the Decepticons used Alice to try to use a more subtle approach. A giant robot smashing his way in and snatching Sam would have drawn a lot of attention. A college girl sticks her tongue down a guys throat is an everyday thing. Like Ravage sneaking in and stealing the Allspark fragment, rather than just blasting their way in. Last time they fought in the open they got their asses kicked so I think they're trying to stay under the radar as much as they can.

I believe they were trying for stealth at this point. After all, they were being hunted by the Autobots previously. Only Megatron's return caused the COns to want to make things more visible in the war.

Alice doesn't even need to be in the college to be accepted. It's move in week, random people everywhere, sure she's in class, but that didn't bother me. She is also, shown in the movie adaptation, picked her 'alt mode' from some famous celebrity chick from a commercial I believe. I'd have to reread it though. The roommate sees her on TV, and crashes the little 'party' they were having.

NO need for her to look up where Sam was going...Soundwave. I am sure he sent her, as he seemed to be coordinating things on Earth when Starscream left.

[Renne]

When Sam gets to college, Alice has already been there being talked about by what's his name, so that is the plothole. A Decepticon drone in human form is at the college to capture Sam before he even arrives.

You normally have to register months in advance when you go to college, so maybe she looked up in some databases where he was going.

Possibly she just wanted an education.

[Galvatron628]

LOL lets not even get into Alice... the most worthless Character in the movie! Its pretty obvious Bay just wanted to show off Isabel Lucas's hot body, and thats the only reason she's in the movie at all!

[Renne]

Which is a bummer anyway, because she's not even particularly hot. If I wanted a hot Decepticon chick to troll me in real life, I wouldn't have picked her.

[Bloodlust]

Just saw it in IMAX here in Kawasaki Japan!

Two words:

EPIC WIN!

My only major complaints were the lack of characterization and little screen time for some bots. Nothing big. Didn't really care that they used repeat models, or scenes over again, i still came out of the theater all giddy....

Never cared about plot holes. Wanted to see giant robots beating the crap out of each other and a whole ton of destruction and I got it.

Now, I'm a geewunner, but i'm happy the franchise has been revived.

Soundwave gave me chills, he was bad ass. Ravage was by far my favorite, he was awesome and his death was awesome also!

Jetfire was great.

The twins and wheelie? I liked them as comic relief. Don't care if i'm 26, i'm still immature (same with Devastators balls)!

Megs and Starscream? Spot on.

The Fallen could of been a little more characterized and the fight could of gone on longer, but was still FREAKING AWESOME!

Of course, my favorite was the Prime I always wanted to see, the Bloodthirsty one that i knew was buried down under that programming!

Forest Scene = infinite win

[Obiprime]

Hey I thoght Isabel was beautiful. And had no idea she was a Decepticon. I think that was the point. Overall the movie was definetly better than the first one. Cant wait for part 3.

[SunScourge]

Love the movie as a whole. But MB needs to fix the problem that keeps happening.....Decepticons keep dying. I am a decepticon fan and there were so many cool decepticons that died in the first 10 minutes of the movie sideways and demolisher. They died before I finished my first nacho. Maybe a thought this was going to be our time to shine but boy was I wrong. Other than that I love the movie.

[Eyeglaze Prime]

I think ROTF could possibly be the greatest movie ever. It's a lock for a clean sweep in probably every category at this years Oscars.

Awesome. Michael Bay, I want to have your children. Obviously all the haters on here are just jealous of you brilliance.