Apparently during the strike, Michael Bay wrote the general outline and much of the script for Transformers 2, so he could make the release date of June 26, 2009. He stressed he wanted to make the date, so he wrote what I’m guessing is the general story and action scenes of the script. He also said he writes much of his own movies. Other writers will be coming in to finish the sequel’s script.
Barring an actors strike (their contracts expire late June, 2008–don’t count on it happening, though), it looks like they’ll be able to start production soon. The visual effects look amazing, according to actor Shia LeBeouf and visual FX supervisor Scott Farrar. There will be more robots in the film, too. But no dinobots. “Me Grimlock not happy about decision!”
My thoughts: Bring it on! Transformers 2 was the best action movie last summer, along with Live Free Or Die Hard. The film had some issues, like the extended bit with the glasses/All Spark map, but I felt Shia really gave it life. I also thought the visual FX were the best in years, and made me feel that I’m not too jaded about CGI. I hope the movie wins an Oscar for FX; it’s already done well in other FX awards.
Source: Superhero Hype!
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28 Comments
LOL, well… I’m going to differ with you on it being “awesome.”
BTW, how does Shia know the “visual effects look amazing”???? The movie hasn’t even started shooting yet, and most VFX work is done AFTER the actors are done.
Vic
He’s prob read the script Vic, and he’s just assuming.
^
Did Micheal Bay write the first one?
They sure have alot to make up for!
I’m hoping this one at least makes sense and dosnt have any bad street lingo. (My bad).
Uh, no… it was written by the Orci and Kurtzman. Ring any bells?
Vic
Yea Vic more like Red Alert. Raise shields Sylar, I mean Spock.
^
Well I hope the other writers on Trans2 won’t be Orca and Kurtrussell or what ever there (hard to remember) names are.
Well, it was fun entertainment for me, lol. I should’ve written that the pre-viz and conceptual art looked amazing, according to Shia.
heath
The secretary of defense never leaves the Pentagon in a crisis let alone pick up a Shotgun and help out the marines.
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Plus I can’t stand jon voigt. (I hope he’s out of the next film).
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This next installment can only get better.^
Huh?
Uh… Transformers was a terrible movie, through and through. The dialog was entirely over the top (count how many “no! no! no!”s there are coming from from entirely different people), the “comedy/plot” was childish at best, and the only machine that brought about even a shred of interest was Optimus. Megatron, the supposed villian mastermind, is a monstrous buffoon and didn’t even require nor deserve screen time. I couldn’t even follow the poor choice of CG shots, but I’m assuming a lot of robots banged and clanged into each other.
Honestly, my sister’s been really into “Beast Wars”, the sequel of sorts to the original Transformers TV show, and that kids show exhibits a maturity way beyond what I saw from Transformers.
Am I the only one who felt this way?
If there’s one thing that I think could possibly allow Transformers 2 to ascend from dribble is to include the Megatron from “Beast Wars” as the villian. You know.. I don’t know… a little bit of thought?
(end rant)
Ed you make some good points.
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Dialog was sub-par with certain characters others it was fine.
IMO the film could have been trimmed down a bit I personally didn’t care for the relationship aspect I wanted more of the (first scene) action not teen angst.
But ya get what ya get.
(IMO).
They tried to please the fans of this tv show while at the same time make a star out of Indiana Jones kid.
I only call him that because I don’t know how to spell his name and I can’t check the Transformers dvd box for it because I don’t own that stinker.
Ed!
You’re a man after my own heart, bro. Check out my Transformers review here on the site and join the elite few here at Screen Rant.
Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman did get the credit for writing the first movie, but they supposedly only tweaked a script written by John Rogers. i don’t know who wrote the leaked script for the first movie, but the movie final product was pretty much the same script, despite the writers and director both saying there was no similarity. In any case, both Orci and Kurtzman are back with Bay for Transformers 2.
I have to agree with Ed that Beast Wars and Beast Machines, both, were far, far better than the movie released last year, and are far better representations of Transformers than that movie will ever be. That movie was not written for the fans, despite the claims that they wanted the fans to have input into the movie. Having been through that experience, I almost suspect they wanted fan input so they could try to go in the exact opposite direction from what the fans wanted.
Given the extreme lack of respect the fans and the Transformers franchise got from everyone making that film, I’m not surprised they made such a bad movie out of it. Even with free passes to see it I felt ripped off.
I have already decided that I will not, under any circumstances, be seeing Transformers 2.
Hahahah, yeah, I think I remember reading your review Vic, and I foolishly dismissed it as coming from someone who couldn’t enjoy a good action movie.
Big mistake, it won’t happen again.
LOL, thanks, Ed. You wouldn’t believe how often I hear “you just can’t enjoy a movie” schtick. Every time I slam a weak but popular film people come out of the woodwork to call me an idiot.
Vic
I guess I’m in the minority on this one because I enjoyed the movie. I admit it does have many problems: dialogue, acting, storyline. But I thought the CGI was first rate and Shia did a wonderful job. I do hope that the writing is better but I hope they continue with the type of CGI they used in the first.
Ed,
I loved Beast Wars. I used to watch it before class when I was in college, and not ashamed to admit it. It’s one of the few TV series on DVD I actually considered buying.
I for one enjoyed the 2007 movie. It’s no ‘classic of our time’, but neither is Spider-Man. Bay and Spielberg said they would show us what it would be like to watch 20-foot tall robots fighting and they did, and enough Easter-eggs for the fans of the TV show to make it fun.
Michael Bay is just an overrated version of Uwe Boll. A director that’s as inept at making movies as an inanimate object. I don’t know what kinda crack people were smoking when they started giving Transformers 8/10 - 9/10 scores, but I’d sure as hell like to know.
Transformers 2 will just be another retarded piece of crap. CGI effects will be top notch as ILM is certainly going to be on board. But as far as story, action and dialogue. It’s going be another migraine inducing affair. How this director keeps getting work is simply beyond me.
Because his movies are wildly popular and make tons of money.
Vic
I guess as long as the crack flows Bay will have a job?
Oh yeah and like Vic said he makes money and that’s all they care about.
That and the crack.
“enough Easter-eggs for the fans of the TV show to make it fun”
No there weren’t. I am a fan of the TV show, and I didn’t find anything fun about the 2007 mockery.
As for Michael Bay, I was hoping Transformers would continue the trend of his movies bringing in less and less each time compared to how much was spent making the movie, but it seems that didn’t happen. Too bad.
I don’t know why you all hated Transformers so much. It was much better than Spidey 3.
I thought I would be disappointed by it, but wasn’t so much. It’s not the end-all be-all of action movies, or even of comic / toy movies, but what do you want from a concept like Transformers?
I’m not a big Bay fan either, but I can’t say I’ve dreaded having to sit through his movies (like Sommers: Mummy, Mummy Returns, Van Helsing - those are crap movies).
Transformers had some great robot battles but the story was horrible.
Spider-man 3 had some comic canon problems but was we’ll written and had way more emotional scenes.
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What was your major gripe about S3 Panda I’m curious.
Steve -
My main gripe with S3 is Venom was thrown in with no development. The story was fine if Venom was deleted completely. I’m not a ‘doesn’t follow’ canon kinda person so the creative license with Sandman’s character didn’t bother me. It wouldn’t have bothered me if Venom’s character was changed to fit the story either if done well, but instead he wasn’t developed at all.
That being said, the ‘dark Peter Parker’ would have been better if it wasn’t done in a laughable way. Did the Beegees play in the background when he walked down the street with the black hair and clothes or was it my imagination?
We hear that Raimi was forced to add Venom, and this is obvious when Venom and Sandman team up (after never having met if I remember correctly) with a 90 second “we’re both bad, let’s team up!” dialogue. What was strange is Venom was less than a secondary villain, and the Venom story arc was what every poster and trailer advertised. Didn’t make sense.
I haven’t watched S3 since it was in the theater, maybe I should watch it again and see if my feelings changed.
BTW - what about the Transformers story was horrible? The magic cube that defies the law of conservation of mass (and can turn inanimate electronics into sentient beings) or the bad-a$$ gov’t agents that were used as comic relief? There were a lot of scenes that should’ve been trimmed / removed but the overall story was ok: alien robots fighting on earth to obtain something they both desire. All of the elements are there.
Will there ever be a movie that will win both best picture AND best VFX? Return of the King?
“I don’t know why you all hated Transformers so much.”
Well, speaking as a fan of Transformers going clear back to 1984, I’d say it was the fact that the movie got everything Transformers connected completely wrong. There was nothing about the movie that me feel like I was watching Transformers at all. The visual aesthetic of the robots was completely gone, the characterizations of the robots, what little there was, was completely wrong, and the story was missing in action.
That, combined with the complete lack of respect shown to the fans and property during the production of the movie, made it impossible for me to enjoy it. All in all, it wasn’t Transformers.
“but what do you want from a concept like Transformers?”
How about something resembling what made Transformers successful in the first place. At it’s best, Transformers was had some serious science fiction writing, stories that commented on human nature, on the nature of life, and developed characters so that they were more that just one dimensional stereotypes. Some of the best entries in Transformers packed more development into one line of dialog than we saw in Bay’s entire movie. Even at its previous worst, Transformers was treated more seriously and with more respect, and had more of a story to it, than the live-action movie.
“BTW - what about the Transformers story was horrible?”
There’s the fact that it was exactly the kind of thing that the movie makers were criticizing the 80’s cartoon for being. There’s the fact that everything they said they wanted to avoid doing was exactly what they ended up doing, only worse. The movie’s story was practically non-existent, the characters were all stereotypes, except for the Transformers themselves who were little more than mobile props when they should have been the stars of the movie, and the only redeeming feature was the quality of the CGI effects, assuming you ignore the designs of the robots.
What it all comes down to, at least for me, is the movie wasn’t even remotely enjoyable, and there wasn’t even the ability for me to console myself with the feeling that I was watching a Transformers story, not even a bad one. I just felt like I was wasting my life watching a bad alien invasion movie, something like Independence Day with robots. When it comes to entertainment, I expect something more.
Flame-
It’s all subjective.
“The visual aesthetic of the robots was completely gone”
You prefer the hand-drawn transformers?
“the characterizations of the robots, what little there was, was completely wrong”
There have been multiple incarnations of the Transformers. The Generation 1 isn’t the only one - not that the movie resembled the more recent ones either.
“At it’s best, Transformers was had some serious science fiction writing, stories that commented on human nature, on the nature of life, and developed characters so that they were more that just one dimensional stereotypes”
Agreed, but that was maybe four episodes out of the 70-something episodes of Generation 1. A TV show can develop characters over time, a 2-hour movie has to rush things and character development suffers. This is a fact I’ve come to grips with. If the 2007 movie had been a live action version of the first four or five episodes of the TV show… well, just imagine. When was the last time you watched the 80’s cartoon? I thought it was cool back then too but now it’s really corny.
“Transformers themselves who were little more than mobile props when they should have been the stars of the movie”
Would you prefer the movie focus on, say, Bublebee rather than Sam? I can’t imagine how this would have worked any better, but then again I’m not that creative.
I know I just contradicted myself regarding character development (complaining about Venom in S3 and shrgging it off regarding Transformers). I guess my point is that the Transformers never had that much more than one dimension to them in the TV show so I didn’t miss it in the movie.
Venom is a great character and S3 was a missed opportunity to develop that.
“You prefer the hand-drawn transformers?”
Actually, I was thinking that more detailed versions of the Alternators or Masterpiece lines would have been far better. That keeps the traditional aesthetic, makes for far more realistic transformations than we saw in the movie, and the additional detail possible with the CGI would have made it possible for them to move realistically.
“There have been multiple incarnations of the Transformers. The Generation 1 isn’t the only one - not that the movie resembled the more recent ones either.”
Yes, I know there are more incarnations than the G1 cartoon/comics. Beast Wars, Beast Machines, Armada, Energon, Cybertron, Robots in Disguise, Animated, IDW comics, etc…. I’ve seen or read almost all of them, and those are just the American released versions. All of them were better than the movie, even in the worst episodes.
Even so, the writers specifically stated that they were following the G1 incarnations for the characters, or at least those whose names appeared in G1. The resultant movie, however, proved that to be a lie.
“Agreed, but that was maybe four episodes out of the 70-something episodes of Generation 1.”
98 episodes over 4 seasons, all of which I have on DVD. Not to mention 88 or so comics from Marvel, 332 from Marvel UK (a count which includes the American issues), and maybe the DW and/or IDW comics based on G1. And the episodes or issues I can mention that include the kind of depth I’d hope for are far more than the 4 you mention.
“A TV show can develop characters over time, a 2-hour movie has to rush things and character development suffers. This is a fact I’ve come to grips with.”
Not if the movie is done well, it doesn’t. If a TV show written for kids can pack a world of meaning into one line of dialog, a 2.5 hour movie intended to be for a more grown-up audience should be able to do far more, with the right writers and director. Transformers had neither.
“If the 2007 movie had been a live action version of the first four or five episodes of the TV show… well, just imagine.”
I can, and that would have been a vast improvement over what we got, I’m sorry to say. We got far more development of the robots in those episodes than we got in this movie.
“When was the last time you watched the 80’s cartoon? I thought it was cool back then too but now it’s really corny.”
Early 2007. Yeah, some of the episode were pretty bad, but others could, in my opinion, stand with the best Science Fiction stories on TV today, animated or live-action. And this is just confining ourselves to the original series cartoon, which isn’t the best Transformers has had to offer.
“Would you prefer the movie focus on, say, Bublebee rather than Sam?”
Unfortunately, I have to agree that Sam as our way into the Transformers was probably the best way. But that doesn’t mean we can’t give the robots themselves more time and development. That’s one of the complaints I’ve heard, repeatedly, from some non-fans who have seen the movie. I also would have preferred more time with the Decepticons than we got. Many of the fan favorite characters happen to be Decepticons, and they were treated as non-characters here.
“I guess my point is that the Transformers never had that much more than one dimension to them in the TV show so I didn’t miss it in the movie.”
Unfortunately, for most of the characters, you’re right. Still, there were a number of them that had a great deal of depth to them, even before Beast Wars came along.
“Venom is a great character and S3 was a missed opportunity to develop that.”
That, I can’t disagree with. That’s one reason I’m hoping a Venom movie goes through. I’d like to see him treated as he should be.
Sorry Panda. Not a fan of Transformers.
And I’m not going to waste another MB on the subject.
Flame
How can I argue with that? I can’t. The franchise is cheesy and so was the movie. But it was fun IMO
Anyway, I will let this thread die too…
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