Anyway, I’m right there with you on this film. I’m all for lowbrow art, action films, any genre in fact if they do it *right*. Heck, I’ve even liked Michael Bay from time to time (the first half of the Island, etc). But I’ve felt like I’ve been in some sort of body snatchers plot lately as friends keep coming up to me, their eyes wide, mouths agape, pointing and shrieking at me when I say “I was disappointed.”

So I’m glad to read any alternate view points than the typically lazy “it’s just a summer/blockbuster/big budget/leave your brain at the door/don’t get so wound up” I’ve had lately. Thank you!

If you got the point, and you realise its a big dumb cheesy summer action blockbuster. Why did you bother to address the “story” in your review? Why even bother?

Because a movie’s got to have something good in it to warrant a good review. And after seeing the first action sequence filmed in confuse-o-vision, I realized that they’d made their giant robot movie with way over-animated and over-designed giant robots that made it impossible to judge what was going on in the action scenes.

I’m no artist, but that’s one of the first rule character designers and animators have: make characters with recognizable silhouettes. And if you can’t make it so you can immediately tell them apart, then at least make it so that you can tell what they’re doing.

Since the action scenes were a wash, I looked for something to redeem the movie, and kept getting shot down. You forgive a bad story if the action’s good, but it wasn’t. You forgive a bad story if the comedy’s good, what it wasn’t. And “good sound design” isn’t enough to save a 2.5 hour movie.

If you liked it, then fine. You made better use of your 10 bucks than I did. I’m not arguing against anybody for liking it; I’m arguing against being told that I didn’t get it or that I missed the point. I don’t like being told that I don’t get big dumb movies when two of my favorite movies ever are Wing Chun and Big Trouble in Little China.

If you try to dissect a movie like that you’ve already missed the point.

Now hang on. Anybody who had fun watching it, more power to ‘em.

But I’ve gotta object to anybody saying I’m the one who missed the point. I got the point just fine: big, dumb cheesy summer action blockbuster. I say that doesn’t give it a pass to do whatever it wants.

I’ve got a great big long list of favorite movies that are rock stupid, but they work at whatever it is they’re trying to do. Transformers is a comedy action movie about giant robots that isn’t funny, and makes it so you can’t ever get a good look at the giant robots. That’s not dissecting it, that’s just saying FAIL.

Like looking at my watch angry; and wanting to walk out except I’ve only ever walked out of one movie in my life; and spending the last 30 or so minutes yelling at the screen, “JUST END!!!”