IMHO, being a "hardcore geek" means you DON'T go see crap that masquerades as sci-fi. Frankly, it probably mean that you found the first movie insulting and stupid. Insulting even to the legacy of the Transformers, a property that most real "hardcore geeks" probably already found stupid. If you think Transformers rock you probably should re-examine your geek credentials.

of course, maybe i'm just being grumpy. Have fun. Get the large popcorn.

Magen Fox..... Nuf said.....

Film critics forget long ago that summer movies are supposed to be fun, none of the actors or the director is going to win an oscar for transformers. But it can still be fun.

Haha, can't wait to see it now! I don't care what anyone says, this is going to be a huge, dumb and fun movie. That's all I want. Save the heady art-house stuff for a different day.

The first movie was almost tear-jerking for me, insomuch as it was like watching someone take my childhood, throw it in a trash compactor, pulling out the remains to have sex with, then finally urinating on the remains.

Michael Bay should have been hit in the head with a shovel just for even whispering sequel. I think we should splatter him with motor oil for killing these characters, in the same tone as PETA throws fake blood on people wearing fur.

As far as going to see it JUST for Megan Fox, It only shows that Bay KNOWS he's cheezing off the fans, and sees those fans as still-living-in-thier-parents-basements who he thinks will go to see it just for bewbs.

Isn't the whole POINT that it's robots fighting each other? i mean, that's the premise of the film. how can you fauly a film for delivering on its premise?

when you watch a war movie, that's about a war, do they get angry at all the battle scenes?

i don't remember these clowns saying that "Saving private ryan" was just a number of battle scenes strung together (i understand this is an extremem example, but you get my point).

what an odd double standard.

"With machines that are impressively more lifelike, and characters that are more and more like machines..."

Funny (and so true). :P

Well, the cartoons were based on a toy line of robots that transformed into vehicles so don't expect to see a freaking masterpiece. While the 1st one had alot I did not like, overall it got a B-. I did not like the humorous elements actually involving the Transformers, of course the writing in general was lackluster but like I said giant fighting robots. I will watch it with my geek status firmly intact but always wishing it was much better. Besides I know going in what to expect having seen the first one...

What do I expect when going to see a Transformers movie? Giant robots fighting each other

What will make the movie a disappointment? If there are no giant robots fighting each other.

Those are my expectations for the movie. We'll see if they're met.

Roger Ebert didn't like the new Star Trek movie either. I guess that means this may actually be good.

I don't care how many robots are fighting each other, the first film was barely OK. I don't care how good the special effects are, w/poor writing and directing, I feel the same way as K-Zed. Take out the campy humor, kill off Megan Fox, and put Shia Laboef into some machine where he comes out mangled and they have to do reconstructive surgery on him and hey presto, you can re-cast his butt.

I grew up with Transformers comics and cartoons and always remember the characters fondly. Sadly, other than the hotness of Ms. Fox, the first movie did absolutely nothing for me. I felt no connection to anything in the film. I'm so uninterested in this sequel, I probably won't even download it illegally.

Unlike most of the Sci Fi community, Roger Ebert was spot on about Star Trek and surely is about the latest from Orci/Kurtzman. Remember when action films could also make us think like Terminator 2 or the early Star Trek films. I realize that TV is only place Sci Fi can be smart nowadays (the last thinking person's sci fi film I saw was "Serenity") with DS9, BSG, and The 4400, but this is ridiculous.

I was watching a pretty mindless show yesterday called "Entourage" and there was a scene in which the star gets really pissed off because Michael Bay is going to be directing and Kevin Smith is going to be writing his sequel to "Aquaman". I thought it was hilarious! If it were updated, I'd hope they'd slam Abrams.

It's a movie ispired by toys. I don't see why people are moaning about their childhood. These movies are probably marketed more towards todays kids anyways who crave ACTION TO THE EXTREME apparently. I'll see it because I want to see robots beating the piss out of each other, not storyline. It's mindless story telling and I don't care.

I don't care what they say, the trailer looks awesome! I'll go see it, no matter what, Ebert never likes anything vaguely cool & Star Trek rocked, but be on the lookout for Tobey McGuire in Robotech "I can barely contain myself!"

I'm with K-Zed, these films are abominations to the classic designs and characters.

It's not a double-standard. The first film wasn't even "fun". Watching stuff blow up, if that's all the film is, isn't "fun". When I go to an action film, I want good pacing, characters I care about (so that when they die in a bloody or scrap-iron heap, I actually CARE), snappy-witty dialogue, and action I can rock-out to.

If I'm going to go see something calling itself "Transformers", I want to see transforming robots, "good versus evil", the characters I remember from when I was growing up, some comic-book plots, as few humans as possible (except for getting underfoot and gettin' squished), and NO SHAKEY CAM!

Saying that fans shouldn't criticize a film because it'll just be good, goofy, blow-em-up fun is disingenuous because, frankly, it's not fun enough for even that if its anything like the first. I hated the first film so I'm not about to waste my money on the second. If the first Transformers movie is any indication, Michael Bay couldn't direct an action film if his life depended on it.

Remember: Ebert likes almost every geek film. He had his reasons for not liking "Star Trek" and they made sense (even though I disagreed with him). The key, here, is to read his reasons. Ebert has always been a geek at heart: a Godzilla-loving geek! Generally, I trust him. He's not always accurate, but he's closer than any other critic out there ... even Harry Knowles.

I stopped listening to reviewers. Most of their comments harp on one or two things they didn't like to the point where you believe that's the entirety of the movie.

It's an action sci-fi movie. As long as it delivers on that it will be at least okay. Being true to the original cartoon is silly as the cartoon was just based on the toys, the dialogue was horrendous, the ideas and storyline are horribly dated, and humans had lasers because bullets were deemed too violent by the studio.

Most of the people goin to see it are there to see cool action scenes with giants robots; many of whom won't have even seen the original 20+ year old cartoon.

The complaints I've read so far seem largely silly if not completely ireelevant. It would be like complaining that a Star Blazers movie sucked because the uniforms of the actors didn't include bell bottoms.

aintitcool reviewed it, too. An actual Michael Bay FAN thought it was garbage.

Said it was just...too much. And racist with a greasy side of ethnic stereotypes. But since they're robots, they can get away with it. I believe the term "Car Car Binks" was used in one review. Add to that some very tired robot anatomy and fart jokes, and I call "uncle".

A quote from the review, "Most of the time the fighting is so fast and furious that it is a series of digital blurs – the audience left unable to discern which is the Autobot and which is the Decepticon. " What is that an elbow? A quadracep? Or a robot kidney?

That's what irritated me the MOST from the first movie. And while I admit that, yes, Megan Fox is hot, I'm giving this a miss.

I agree with others that this was a desecration ti the 1984 cartoon. Even if that show was childish, this is so much worse. It's also very sleazy the way they use Megan Fox; compare that to Carly from the 1985 cartoon, who was supposed to be smart.

The main thing is that the Transformers cartoon won us over because of the CHARACTERS. That's why lots of us lost interest as the stories worsened after the film in Season 3. The characters were fun and had personality and a sense of duty and integrity. The new film refuses to capture any of that. Most of the Transformers have no personality or just make irritating sounds. They're also very ugly and engage in confusing fights. Just a terrible franchise.

While it makes sense to blame Bay, I really blame Steven Spielberg because he's a smart man who's directed politically-insightful films, and deliberately gave it to a moron like Bay. Spielberg might have done a good movie, but he didn't care, so he gave us more garbage.

I will similarly blame Tobey McGuire for acquiring the rights to Robotech only to give it to the duo that brought us garbage like "Smallville" -- Millar and Gough.

PS Captcha is being a pain again.

Saw this at the weekend - is it too long, maybe, will it win an oscar, doubtful.

However did the kids in the cinema love it...yep! and so did most of the parents....

Megan Fox only if she's naked.
Nuf said.

"Film critics forget long ago that summer movies are supposed to be fun"

And yet, Ebert is one of those left who DOES recognize this. The fact is, some movies just aren't fun, no matter how much you want them to be.

When other 'critics' scratch their heads over movies like Dark Knight, Iron Man, etc, Ebert will give them the praise they deserve.

There's only one true Transformer movie. And it starred Orson Wells as Unicron.

I saw the movie at a screening Monday night and for a film that is nothing but wall-to-wall action, I found it to be terribly boring. Granted, I don't know all the minutiae of the Transformers universe so maybe I just don't get it (but I enjoyed the first one immensely), but my friend who is thought the film was terrific. Unfortunately, he was in the minority as several others I spoke with also felt the boredom (and some of them know everything about Transformers). It was just overloaded with robots that you really can't tell apart (except for the obvious ones - Optimus Prime and Bumblebee) hitting each other and then it all just becomes a blur. The first film was economic in it's effects and robotic characters, but Michael Bay again shows that he does not really know the meaning of the word restraint.

@phoenix1172

Roger Ebert, as long as I can remember has NEVER liked ANY Star Trek movie. He has always been negative towards Star Trek.

If you go back in the archives and read his reviews of the past Star Trek movies, he has been more than fair.

Are they serious? A robot dog humping Megan Fox's leg? Sounds more like a Paris Hilton movie!

Everyone keeps commenting on likes and dislikes.. It's a movie!! I have never went to the movies expecting anything but entertainment. If people would learn that you will never see a remake or a reboot or even a live action movie about anything that was never real exactly as you remember it then they can get down to enjoying the movie and having a good time.

Like it, see it again. Don't like it, don't buy it on DVD or Blueray and go see Sophie's Choice again.

okay I one of the reviews in the article says it's like getting hit in the head with a very large train set... That's what I want I want to have sensory overload it's the point of this type of movie.

Another cash movie for kids of this generation who simply don't understand the merits of a good movie.
Overload of CGI action with no story, I'll put this one up there with X-Men 3 and Spiderman 3.
So sad, thanks Michael Bay for ruining the Transformers legacy.
Please don't make Gobots.

They ruined my childhood! Waaaaah. I'm sure Optimus Prime is proud these fans are keeping his legacy alive. Only the original art house cartoon series can live up to his true character.

And Ebert has been having so many factual errors included in his smarmy reviews lately I'm wondering if he's even watching the movies he reviews unless they involve some social allegory and human drama™. Oh man, I don't want to be some smarmy asshat like him too. Too late.

This is based on a 1980's and comic. Technology has allowed the tranformers come to life on the big screen. So, all you transformers fans go see the movie.

Critics suck!This movie was awesome!

This movie sucks!! The critics are awesome!!

If your *entire* childhood was ruined by a movie, perhaps you have deeper issues than your love of a franchise.

Seek professional help.

Love of God; if Megan Fox is your only reason for seeing the movie, you should stick to porn and let the rest of us push for movies with substance.

I saw an early premiere of this movie and it was awesome. Just because you are a critic, does not mean you know what everyone else likes or enjoys. This movie was 10 times better that the 1st. It was hilarious, serious at times, way more action, the cars and graphics were amazing and the girls...well lets not forget the girls. HOT and Megan Fox is ....well you know where I am going with this. As a critic you criticize movies that you do not like and well...its not about you...its about what the people want and the people want sex, explosions, action and comedy and what better way than to throw them all together in a single movie.

This movie was awesome and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys what I described. Also Megan Fox... I love you!!!

This.
Just because a bunch of middle aged men/women didn't enjoy a movie that is based on, lets face it, a cartoon for kids..doesn't mean that young people won't enjoy it.. bet you more than half of these critics haven't even watched/read transformers apart from this movie franchise.
yeah, some people won't have enjoyed this movie anywho, but that doesn't mean the rest of us wont.
Last time I checked, we all have different tastes.
peace out.

So disappointing. The first Transformer was great. TF 2 had way too much childish dialogue. Even thought the fighting and transformations were cool...but I couldn't get past the middle school level jokes -- way too many, and oh so lame. This one totally missed the boat - and lost a huge audience. I'm all about summer blockbusters - but they need to be a bit more intelligent than this - just a little, not much. Bummer.

As a female transformer fan I will say I absolutely HATED this movie, it felt like it was made by a bunch of guys who just hit puberty.

The only people that did their jobs on this movie were the Concept Art and CG / SFX Departments. I cant blame the actors, the script and directing was terrible and dont get me started on the editing.

The Transformers movies had the potential to be longer lasting collectors items. But will now only be remembered as a dumb summer flick that defines stereotypes.

What a waste!

OK, the people defending this movie are idiots. It's already been refuted that simply because something takes place in the summer, and it's aimed at a certain demographic, doesn't exempt it from being crucified like it deserves.

This movie deserves all the badmouthing it gets. I came to this page because I Googled the words, "Michael Bay defends Transformers" hoping to see this man be held accountable for such a train wreck of a movie.

Think of how many children could have been fed, and how many collective hours and brain cells could've been saved if this movie wasn't made.

For people saying that this is a movie for kids, HELLO!! TRANSFORMERS TOOK PLACE IN THE MID 80'S!! TODAY'S KIDS WEREN'T BORN YET.

You can't just adapt Gen X'ers fond memories into a show for a completely different generation, meanwhile urinating all over the franchise. I'm sorry, but that won't fly.

This movie sucked. F-

"I saw an early premiere of this movie and it was awesome. Just because you are a critic, does not mean you know what everyone else likes or enjoys. This movie was 10 times better that the 1st. It was hilarious, serious at times, way more action, the cars and graphics were amazing and the girls...well lets not forget the girls. HOT and Megan Fox is ....well you know where I am going with this. As a critic you criticize movies that you do not like and well...its not about you...its about what the people want and the people want sex, explosions, action and comedy and what better way than to throw them all together in a single movie.

"This movie was awesome and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys what I described. Also Megan Fox... I love you!!!"

To the person who wrote this: I hate you.

Should have known ever since they put Michael Bay on the first one that he'd ruin this franchise with his horrible movies. Yes they're entertaining as a blockbuster to watch once and never again, but I think most fans of the transformers would have preferred some more seriousness brought to the franchise and not just constant explosions coupled with lousy and cheesy jokes and horrible storyline that seems to be made up on the spot. I'll admit the transformer CGI's are impressive and innovative but the film is such a travesty that nothing can make you look past it, not even as a fan who grew up watching them. I wanted to love these movies just because I loved it as a kid but the grotesqueness of these films is just too much to bare. Maybe in another 20 years someone else will remake it and it'll be better off, we can only hope.

"This movie was 10 times better that the 1st. It was hilarious, serious at times, way more action, the cars and graphics were amazing and the girls...well lets not forget the girls. HOT and Megan Fox is ....well you know where I am going with this. As a critic you criticize movies that you do not like and well...its not about you...its about what the people want and the people want sex, explosions, action and comedy and what better way than to throw them all together in a single movie."

Some people are actually mature and don't get all excited about hot girls and explosions and actually expect a decent story line out of a movie, imagine that. The adolescent teens of course love it as they drool over every minute of it's stupidity with your hot girls, stupid immature jokes and explosions. That's the demographic Michael Bay's films are made for unfortunately.

"Isn't the whole POINT that it's robots fighting each other? i mean, that's the premise of the film. how can you fauly a film for delivering on its premise?

when you watch a war movie, that's about a war, do they get angry at all the battle scenes?

i don't remember these clowns saying that "Saving private ryan" was just a number of battle scenes strung together (i understand this is an extremem example, but you get my point).

what an odd double standard."

There's a difference when the movie is full of slapstick comedy and a story line full of wholes that a two year old could have written. Just like all his movies he uses the same redundant comedy and doesn't care about the story making any sense.