Transformers: Age of Extinction

[Frontier]

Lockdown actually talks! I'll give the movie points for that alone .

Though it's weird hearing him with an accent when I can't imagine anyone but Lance Henriksen voicing him .

Optimus' question "Who sent you!?" has me wondering if the forces the Bots' are contending with are actually Decepticons or potentially are really heralds of Unicron... and there's still the issue of how Galvatron factors into the movie .

[Yui Is My Wife]

I fear the Little Boy in me has won over the logical adult:

Say what you will about the immaturity and idiocy of Bay's Films, the ONE thing even HE couldn't fuck up is how much Love, Warmth and Hope Optimus Prime radiates every second he is onscreen

The Utter Sincerity of Peter Cullen's performance REALLY helps to emphasize that this is a Kind, Decent, Unselfish, Brave and Heroic Man: Even if he is made of metal.

In short, stupidity of the rest of the film ADMITTED, I still want to be there to cheer for Optimus as he bravely charges against adversity to Protect The Innocent.

Just for him and nobody else: Because he was there for me when I was a little boy to give me hope and courage. And it will feel wrong to not be there for My Hero.

Sigh

End of stupid outpour of childish sentimentality.

[Renegade334]

Warning: SPOILERS

Yahoo! film review #1
Yahoo! film review #2

Spoiler for demise of a certain Cybertronian:

Apparently Ratchet dies in the beginning courtesy of a black ops unit and Lockdown. T_T

Also, there is a new McGuffin called the Seed, which may or may not have origins similar to that of the All-Spark.

...Some of us armchair experts already knew it was a bad idea to involve Chinese sponsors (and specifically shoot new exclusive scenes to court the Chinese audience) in the production, and boy were we right. From the looks of it Bay will have to edit his movie or risk it being suspended in China, the one big market Paramount wanted to milk out first and foremost. Ouch.

[Frontier]

Spoiler:

Wow, I thought it was going to happen but it's still sad to hear. Ratchet never got to do much in terms of combat and character development, and lord knows his medical expertise didn't really help that many bots' survive these movies, but it's disheartening to see him go. Especially considering that now leaves Optimus and Bee as the only members of the original earth team from the first movie still alive .

[ImperialKnight]

Originally Posted by Renegade334

Warning: SPOILERS

Yahoo! film review #1
Yahoo! film review #2

Spoiler for demise of a certain Cybertronian:

Apparently Ratchet dies in the beginning courtesy of a black ops unit and Lockdown. T_T

Also, there is a new McGuffin called the Seed, which may or may not have origins similar to that of the All-Spark.

...Some of us armchair experts already knew it was a bad idea to involve Chinese sponsors (and specifically shoot new exclusive scenes to court the Chinese audience) in the production, and boy were we right. From the looks of it Bay will have to edit his movie or risk it being suspended in China, the one big market Paramount wanted to milk out first and foremost. Ouch.

Not sure why you would single out this out simply because it's Chinese. The fact is is that when movies get sponsors they do get a say one way or the other. It's not like the Pentagon has done similar things or pulled strings in the way movies depicted US marines, etc.

In any case as I suspected it's been dropped.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/25/bu...oofinance&_r=0

The thing is is that money talks. The movie is set to make a butt load of money in China and the Chinese government in no way is going to let them screw that up.

[Yui Is My Wife]

So, before I fork out the cash:

(Without telling me the plot) How strongly/heroically/positively are Asians depicted in this film?

Or are we once AGAIN silent shoe-carriers for feminist senators or Jerry Wangs dropped out windows for a cheap laugh?

With a CHUNK of the film being made with Asian-money, I doubt even Bay can do what he wants anymore!

[LoveYouSaber]

Originally Posted by Yui Is My Wife

So, before I fork out the cash:

(Without telling me the plot) How strongly/heroically/positively are Asians depicted in this film?

Or are we once AGAIN silent shoe-carriers for feminist senators or Jerry Wangs dropped out windows for a cheap laugh?

With a CHUNK of the film being made with Asian-money, I doubt even Bay can do what he wants anymore!

I went to see it today, and like typical Transformers movies, it's better not to focus on the plot and just admire the visual effects.

Spoiler for Perspective from a Hong-Konger:

It was interesting to see that quite an important portion of the movie took place in Hong Kong. Let's just say that Hong Kong was turned into a battlefield. The locals there were depicted like typical no-bodies, mostly cannon-fodder or constantly on the run from the battles, though I think the people in the US were depicted the same way, so I don't think there's any discrimination on that part.

Also interesting is that there was a random Hong Kong person in an elevator, and surprise, he knows Kung-Fu really well. Maybe that's a Chinese stereotype in Hollywood films.

Politically, as a Hong-Konger, I found it interesting that in the movie, when the people in Hong Kong noticed that there was trouble coming, their first reaction was to say that they had to ask the Chinese Central Government for help.

And also a Chinese Central Government official also spoke the line that "they would fully support Hong Kong". This fit the real-world situation and is a line we always hear from the Chinese officials.

Having said that, I think the film might get into trouble with the Chinese authorities by depicting a factory in Guangzhou producing weapons for the US army. Can't see the Beijing government swallowing its pride.

But overall, I am still happy that they featured Hong Kong heavily in the film, and they did a good job depicting the scenery and environment in Hong Kong, even though there were factual errors.

[ImperialKnight]

Well movie is officially out so I'm guessing we don't need spoiler tags?

As Love already pointed out, you pretty much go into this movie expecting giant robots battling each other.

In comparison to the other 3 movies I think this one is the best out of them all.

1. There's a lot more focus on the Transformers this time around and they all have lines.

2. While some focus is on the humans it's not as heavy as the previous 3. Seriously during the battle of Chicago the humans decked out more damage than the Autobots and the Autobots weren't even in the fight that much either.

3. The focus on Tessa, Luke and Cade wasn't too much and they all played some role in the movie unlike some other characters in the previous ones. I mean in Dark of the Moon we had focused on Sam's relationships with his mom and dad giving love advice...

4. Optimus actually breaks his vow and kills humans...bad ass.

5. Lockdown I felt was one of the best villains in the franchise.

6. No dog sex scenes or lewd jokes.

7. More transformer action. The last stand by Hound was one of my favourites.

The Chinese scenes well it was expected because China was footing the bill but honestly it didn't feel that bad. As a Hong Kong guy I did cringe at some scenes but when you think about it in the previous 3 movies the American military was literally glorified. I mean half of the battles in the previous transformer movies like I said the US military was doing the major damage to the point it was GI Joe vs. Transformers.

Aside from Cade doing some damage on his own the Transformers were still the ones finishing the fight.

If getting Chinese support only involves product placement and a few Chinese officials saying defend Hong Kong with the major focus on the transformers I'm fine with that. I mean we saw some Chinese jets and that was it.

Dinobots were awesome but their entrance felt too short. Hopefully we'll see more of them in the future.

Though with optimus heading to space and Galvatron likely commandeering Lockdown's ship is Bay looking to shift to outer space now?

[LoveYouSaber]

Originally Posted by ImperialKnight

If getting Chinese support only involves product placement and a few Chinese officials saying defend Hong Kong with the major focus on the transformers I'm fine with that. I mean we saw some Chinese jets and that was it.

I was a bit puzzled about the Chinese jets part and I wondered whether in Hong Kong we were seeing a different version, mainly because after the Chinese official said that they would be defending and supporting Hong Kong, I expected to see scenes of the People's Liberation Army in action, fighting the transformers in Hong Kong. However, all we got was some jets flying by after the battle had ended already, so I wonder if their action scenes were removed or whether they were non-existent to begin with.

Also didn't know what was the purpose of showing the Hong Kong police force at the end, as they just stared at a bunch of foreigners and some giant robots doing a good-bye event.

For product placement, I think the one that drew the most ridicule was where the guy went up to the roof in an old building in Hong Kong while escaping, conveniently found a fridge (why would a fridge be on a rooftop?), opened it and drank milk leisurely...

And on second thoughts about random Hong Kong dude knowing kung-fu, wonder if Michael Bay got the inspiration from being blackmailed while filming there.

[ImperialKnight]

Originally Posted by LoveYouSaber

I was a bit puzzled about the Chinese jets part and I wondered whether in Hong Kong we were seeing a different version, mainly because after the Chinese official said that they would be defending and supporting Hong Kong, I expected to see scenes of the People's Liberation Army in action, fighting the transformers in Hong Kong. However, all we got was some jets flying by after the battle had ended already, so I wonder if their action scenes were removed or whether they were non-existent to begin with.

Nope. I saw the North American version and the most we saw of the military were just the jets which IMO is better.

In previous Transformers we get like a 5-10 minute Top Gun montage of US soldiers getting ready to sortie and be cool and all and destroy dozens of decepticons like they were nothing.