Quote:When I first heard that voice in the opening, it sent shivers down my spine. When we SEE him for the first time and he speaks... The combination of seeing him scan the passing truck, modify himself, letting us KNOW who it is, then seeing him pull up, transform, and have the classic Optimus Prime voice... The entire THEATER erupted in spontaneous applause and cheers, not just me!!
I just wanted to hear Peter Cullen as the voice of Optimus Prime; figured, no matter how badly Bay screws it up, there'll still be Pete's incomparable Texas twang for the first time in twenty years. The hero of my youth, none of the succeeding Prime voice actors could compare.
Quote:I was thinking this movie was gonna suck all the way until I saw a trailer that actually showed some transformation footage. Even then, though I realized the effects were going to be top-notch, I still had my doubts. Then word of mouth started filtering back and I was hearing nothing but good things. So I went with high hopes but middling expectations... And I was blown away. I agree with everything you say above with some additional comments -
I wasn't expecting a pretty darn decent action movie to go with it, but that's what I got. Alien invasion, military mayhem, an excellent portrayal of President Bush, the problems with having a black-book government agency that's so secret they can't actually exert half the authority they believe they can, and oh yes, Megan Fox, who registers something like one million Scoville Heat Units and made me forget what Eliza Dushku looks like.
Like every Hollywood portrayal that attempts to portray the President these days, they caricaturize him as a bumpkin and a buffoon. Or a drunken frat boy. Michael Bay had the actor do a badly overdone Texas accent and had him order ding dongs. As such shots across the bow go, it was relatively mild, and the scene was mercifully brief, moving on to focus on the secret service staff. Who the director actually treated with some respect. They didn't do stupid things. They just had no frame of reference to know what they were dealing with. And even then, they had the presence of mind to just _pull the damn plug_ when they couldn't stop Frenzy's downloading any other way.
Speaking of treating people with respect, the US military comes off surprisingly well in this movie. True, they are outclassed and out gunned, but they don't give up, they adapt, get intel, and find what will work. Even though they get blown up a lot, they contribute to the fight in a meaningful way. And how they deal with Scorponok just had me cheering! A-10 Warthogs for the WIN, BABY!!!
Even the asshat from Section 7 turned out to have some use in the end, though I still wanted to punch him.
Megan Fox - oh my... Hot chick who knows cars? Oh my, yes. (Oh, why must you taunt us geeks, so? ^_^
Quote:As I understand it, Frank Welker was auditioned for the part, but his voice had aged so much that he couldn't pull it off effectively anymore. And of course, Chris Latta has been dead for around 10 years or so. So they didn't have a choice, there. I thought Hugo Weaving was an inspired casting choice, though. And he did a damn fine job with what little he had to work with. I hope they find some way of bringing Megatron back for the 3rd film. NOT the second! Let's have some other main villain for the second film. But bringing him back for the 3rd would work.
In the good old days, the banter between Frank Welker as the supremely confident Megatron and Chris Latta as his snarky, reflexively traitorous second-in-command Starscream could carry whole episodes; Hugo Weaving and Charlie Adler have maybe two brief exchanges.
Quote:I second that! And I WANT that soundtrack!
The score. Steve Jablonsky finds all the right buttons and smashes 'em with big fucking hammers. Combined with the right visuals, the effect is brilliant.
To sum up - I'll just say what I said to my friend Glenn as soon as we got back to the car and I felt I could vent without looking a total fool.
"JUMPIN' JESUS JACKRABBIT CHRIST!!! That was AWESOME! That was a full platter of awesome with a side order of awesome and topped off with awesome sauce!!!"
-Logan
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"Wake up! Time for SCIENCE!"
-Adam Savage
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