The Energon Pub

I think it's safe to say that there are many people who openly dislike "Transformers 2: Revenge Of The Fallen." And, after sitting with him for a half-hour yesterday to talk about the third chapter in the giant robots franchise, I'd say Michael Bay is one of those people.

And just wait till you see his apology.

There will be a new trailer for "Transformers: Dark Of The Moon" that appears in front of "Fast Five" next weekend, and Thursday morning, a small group of us met at Paramount to see the trailer, a chunk of scenes from the movie, and a 3D sizzle reel. And the trailer is, in a word, outrageous. The scale of this film is so different than what I thought it was that I'm almost at a loss to describe it. It's not even the same genre as the first two "Transformers" films. This time out, Bay is making a full-blown alien invasion movie that just happens to use Autobots and Decepticons, and the result looks like the craziest action movie ride this summer.

And, yes, I'm prepared to say that after just one presentation. I've certainly had my problem with some of Bay's films over the years, but he is as in love with pure action for the sake of action as any filmmaker working right now, and it looks to me like he's gone out of his way here to build scenes that no one's ever done before. It also looks like he's embraced the idea of 3D as a tool to enhance those action scenes, and like he's having fun with the pure little-boy-game of imagining giant robot mayhem this time.

There was certainly an emphasis on introducing Rosie Huntington-Whiteley to us through a number of clips that played up the relationship between Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) and Carly (Huntington-Whiteley). When she ends up trapped in Chicago after it's been taken over by Decepticons, Sam has to go into the city to find her, setting off what looks like one of the wildest series of scenes that Bay's ever orchestrated, and he was given unprecedented access to the city's resources to help stage his invasion. The result is a sense of urban chaos that I've never seen staged on this scale.

And "scale" seems to be a big word for this film. We saw battle sequences set on the home planet of the Transformers. We saw a crazy accident on the moon, and we saw what happens when all the robots scattered there by that accident finally wake up. We saw a jaw-dropping sequence involving soldiers jumping out of a transport over the city and using cutting-edge flight suits to glide down to the ground, racing between buildings as they do. We saw a piece of a scene involving an attack on a skyscraper where the Decepticons appear to saw an entire building in half using a giant sandworm-looking robot that burrows deep into the building while the human heroes struggle to find a way to ride it out in the upper half of the building.

We've been asked not to go through all the footage beat-for-beat, but honestly, I don't think I could even if I tried. The footage was that overstuffed with imagery. What I can tell you is that if you hate the sense of humor from the first two films, you'll probably hate the sense of humor in this one as well. One of the major themes of this film is the stress of finding your first real job, something that Bay sees as a major rite of passage akin to getting your first car, which was the sort of emotional heart of the first film for Bay. In the footage we saw, Sam interviews for a position at a high-tech company, and John Malkovich is positively chewing scenery as the guy interviewing him. We saw another scene involving Ken Jeong and a men's room that was positively manic, ending with a "Three's Company" style joke about what Jeon and Sam were up to in a stall.

But the emphasis was on action in the majority of the footage, and it looks like things get very personal for Sam in this one, and like he's learned some new tricks that help even the odds when he has to face the Decepticons. We saw a chunk of an alley fight between Starscream and Sam in which Sam reveals that he's been given some new weaponry, including a grapping gun glove of sorts that seems fairly effective.

OptiMagnus10 wrote:This looks promising, except one phrase made me stop: full-blown alien invasion.
How original. Everything nowadays is an alien invasion, and the plot is always the same. Big thing appears in sky, thing starts sending stuff to attack people, the world is close its end, heroic human somehow finds a way to defeat big thing in sky, the end.
I hope this isn't just another cliched alien invasion movie.

OptiMagnus10 wrote:This looks promising, except one phrase made me stop: full-blown alien invasion.
How original. Everything nowadays is an alien invasion, and the plot is always the same. Big thing appears in sky, thing starts sending stuff to attack people, the world is close its end, heroic human somehow finds a way to defeat big thing in sky, the end.
I hope this isn't just another cliched alien invasion movie.

NatsumeRyu wrote:While the alien-invasion deal is typically a cliche, Battle: L.A. has proven that any cliche can be done well and not feel like the cliche it might be associated with.

That being said, alien-invasion, especially to finish a Transformers trilogy does not bother me one bit. That's what I always hope for by the end of any sort of "secret" stuff, be it films, comics, shows, games, etc. The big reveal.

Two of the parts that caught my eye most were:
1. bad: "if you hate the sense of humor from the first two films, you'll probably hate the sense of humor in this one as well"
2. good: "We saw battle sequences set on the home planet of the Transformers"
plural. Eee.

Everything's really juicy though. Great news.

NatsumeRyu wrote:While the alien-invasion deal is typically a cliche, Battle: L.A. has proven that any cliche can be done well and not feel like the cliche it might be associated with.

MINDVVIPE wrote:

NatsumeRyu wrote:While the alien-invasion deal is typically a cliche, Battle: L.A. has proven that any cliche can be done well and not feel like the cliche it might be associated with.

Ew, no. haha. Battle LA was such a drag, so much buildup for not much payoff. I hope it isn't at all like Battle LA, coz that means we get soldiers looking at aliens and not really shooting much for the first half of the movie... not really seeing the aliens in detail much with all the overdone camera shake, overstuffed american patriotism, and a lame ending with barely any solidarity to the logic of the scene.. Oh god, i'm describing the TF movies.

Whatever, atleast i'll get way more action this time, that hopefully isn't crowded with unrecognizable generic bots.

NatsumeRyu wrote:

MINDVVIPE wrote:

NatsumeRyu wrote:While the alien-invasion deal is typically a cliche, Battle: L.A. has proven that any cliche can be done well and not feel like the cliche it might be associated with.

Ew, no. haha. Battle LA was such a drag, so much buildup for not much payoff. I hope it isn't at all like Battle LA, coz that means we get soldiers looking at aliens and not really shooting much for the first half of the movie... not really seeing the aliens in detail much with all the overdone camera shake, overstuffed american patriotism, and a lame ending with barely any solidarity to the logic of the scene.. Oh god, i'm describing the TF movies.

Whatever, atleast i'll get way more action this time, that hopefully isn't crowded with unrecognizable generic bots.

Lol, we differ there in interests then. I loved B:LA. Thought it was great as an action/sci-fi movie. Kept me interested throughout.

I don't want it to be the same as Battle:LA though...just using it as an example that I thought it was good when I was going into the theater expecting a typical alien-invasion flick.
A lot of stuff would be wrong with Transformers if it tried to mimic Battle:LA - first and foremost to me the fact that the opponent is an enemy that we are not taught to empathize with much...We'd get even less characterization from the Cons, lol.

amcgrath929 wrote: Yes the beginning was slow but I think that is necessary for some plot building. It also allowed for us to believe the situations was desperate and "world ending."

amcgrath929 wrote:The only problem I have with the third film is that it seems like it is going to be a stand alone movie, and in a sense, thanks to ROTF and the inconsistencies in this trilogy, it has to be. I think this will be a great movie but it's a shame it isn't a great trilogy like LOTR or the Matrix Trilogy. All of them can stand alone but are best when viewed together. The TF trilogy is unfortunately not the same way.

NemesisMonkeySupreme wrote:Meh. Bay and crew have been milking that hat-in-hand "yeah, ROTF was a piece of crap" bit for a while now. If you thought it was a piece of crap, why did you release it?! If I remember correctly they spouted all the same "this movie is gonna be great, it'll blow your socks off" stuff before ROTF was released too.

He may be rich, he may be famous, but he's an idiot as far as I'm considered… I mean, he obviously still thinks "Shia l'Erreur de Nom" can act.

NemesisMonkeySupreme wrote:Meh. Bay and crew have been milking that hat-in-hand "yeah, ROTF was a piece of crap" bit for a while now. If you thought it was a piece of crap, why did you release it?! If I remember correctly they spouted all the same "this movie is gonna be great, it'll blow your socks off" stuff before ROTF was released too.

SlyTF1 wrote:

OptiMagnus10 wrote:This looks promising, except one phrase made me stop: full-blown alien invasion.
How original. Everything nowadays is an alien invasion, and the plot is always the same. Big thing appears in sky, thing starts sending stuff to attack people, the world is close its end, heroic human somehow finds a way to defeat big thing in sky, the end.
I hope this isn't just another cliched alien invasion movie.

Hollywood's giving us a warning.

I've always wanted an alien invasion Transformers series!

Capt.Failure wrote:I've said it before the guy made Pearl Harbor and didn't apologize, and that's the second worst movie every made (Battlefield: Earth was first, for the record).

Burn wrote:

Capt.Failure wrote:I've said it before the guy made Pearl Harbor and didn't apologize, and that's the second worst movie every made (Battlefield: Earth was first, for the record).

Never seen Gabriel have you?

Capt.Failure wrote:

Burn wrote:

Capt.Failure wrote:I've said it before the guy made Pearl Harbor and didn't apologize, and that's the second worst movie every made (Battlefield: Earth was first, for the record).

Never seen Gabriel have you?

No but something tells me ignorance is bliss. <_<