ROTTEN TOMATOES: Teaser Bulletin: Transformers

Teaser Bulletin: Transformers

by Scott Weinberg | June 30, 2006

If you have a few half-hours to spend waiting for the website to load, you just might find the first "Transformers" teaser over at the official movie site. Since my computer is a refurbished Apple IIc, I won't even bother, but those of you with "cable modems" might fare a little better.

"Transformers" opens almost exactly one year from now, and I bet there'll be lots more clips along the way. (How's this one, anyway?)

From the director of "Pearl Harbor," "Armageddon," and "The Island," and a semi-successful producer named something Spielberg, "Transformers" stars Shia LaBeouf, Jon Voight, John Turturro, and a whole bunch of young actors I know nothing about.

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(1-20 of 49 posts) | Reply

Derbeste writes:
on Jun 30 2006 09:48 AM

[b]Meh[/b]
Ok...so I just watched the trailer.

Thank goodness "meh" is now a word most people understand. I can't think of any other word that really fits.

First of all....what does Mars have to do with Transformers at all? My favorite childhood show is NOT a War of the Worlds knock off.

Secondly.....Did Michael Bay REALLY have to flash his name at the title like that? Holy undeserved ego! In HUGE font no less? I mean...just because MS Word goes up to 72 point font does mean you HAVE to use it. He MUST realize that most people expect him to ruin this story. So far.....most people's fears seem accurate.

Lastly....does anyone feel that .5 seconds worth of real Transformer "footage" is going to get anyone excited about the film? Yes I know...it's a teaser. But there is good tease and bad tease. This, imo, is bad tease. It certainly won't excite fans of the show to know he's already altering the story quite a bit with the Mars thing. And even though source material does and should change to effectivelly translate a series to a movie, ripping off Independence Day and War of the Worlds is NOT a clever way to do it.

My childhood just puked.

P.S. Am I being overly negative? Maybe. I don't have faith in the director and that is clearly effecting my opinons. But I will say....I really do hope I'm wrong and will be the first poster admitting I am wrong with JOY if this does turn out to be a good movie. Until then....I'm preparing now for the dissapointment.

(Reply to this)

foxprowl writes:
on Jun 30 2006 10:22 AM

In reply to this comment (#839362)
Pretty sure you're being overly negative. Everyone needs to realize that this is an adaptation of the Transformers story/universe. They're not recreating the tv show or any of the comics. This is Bay's (and hopefully Spielberg's) take on the story. Let's all just relax, wait to see what happens, and just thank God that Uwe Boll's name is nowhere near this thing.

PS I'm pretty skeptical about this movie, too, I'm just trying to be open minded.

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frunced writes:
on Jun 30 2006 10:24 AM

[b]Site down[/b]
Despite having read your review, I still want to watch at least the trailer but unfortunately nothing happens when I click on the link. I guess I'll ahve to wait for it to be on Quicktime.com.

Although, to be perfectly honest, with Michael bay you just know what to expect so I've made my peace with it. I'll see this movie sink in a deep, deep vat of crap the moment it hits theatres and wonder what might have been if they hadn't assigned a cool movie from a man whose whole theory of compelling filmmaking is can be summed in three words: "Big (expletive) explosions".

(Reply to this)

chosenone86 writes:
on Jun 30 2006 10:28 AM

In reply to this comment (#839362)
Are you being overly negative? Yeah, just a tad. "My childhood just puked". ? Dude, get a grip! You should work to resolve your Michael Bay issues before seeing the movie.

In any case, this was a teaser trailer..and it does exactly that.

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nogard64 writes:
on Jun 30 2006 11:06 AM

[b]yeah agreed[/b]
I'm starting to lose a lot of interest and patience for this, I'm really disappointed with what Micheal Bay is doing to this project, seriously I would have wrote a better screen play/story. Being a fan some of the material can not be changed.

That would be like making a new Star trek with a hot sexy female Captain Kirk or doing another star wars film where Luke is on the Dark side and Yoda is the main hero, somethings can not be touched or changed, Micheal Bay is screwing this up royaly

(Reply to this)

arpeggio191 writes:
on Jun 30 2006 12:32 PM

[b]weak.[/b]
the mars rover? come on now...

(Reply to this)

Jofo1185 writes:
on Jun 30 2006 01:03 PM

Spiderman 3 teaser > transformers teaser

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AjaxSG writes:
on Jun 30 2006 01:34 PM

Stop it. Seriously. This movie will suck. And if that's Ennio Morricone's score from The Thing on that trailer, which I think it is, I hope to god this movie is so bad, so insultingly smug that the studios decide to throw all this cash at a different director (and not Brett Ratner). They can still let Bay direct the trailer. That's all he's good for anyway.

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Bourne_Identity writes:
on Jun 30 2006 01:36 PM

[b]TRANSFORMERS - more than meets the eye[/b]
And that my friends and fans is EXACTLY it. *more than meets the eye*. Sure, Michael Bay for most (not all) is hated. But for me, he is liked. After all the Island KICKED ASS. However, on the other end of the scale - Bad Boys II - was an embarrasing piece of excrement. Same with Armageddon. So no, I don't like all of Bays films. Only a handful.

Now the teaser, WAS just that. But can anyone explain what the whole mars rover thing has to do with Transformers?

Outro,
Later

PS: all movies suck, blow, hurl, etc until you watch them - then it can go either way :P

(Reply to this)

SozeStrangelove writes:
on Jun 30 2006 01:47 PM

It looks okay, I guess. . .

As for Mars, maybe they are hiding out there and they destroyed the Rover because it gave away their position. That's my guess. Please don't bite my head because i don't know transformers lore.

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Merlin235 writes:
on Jun 30 2006 01:55 PM

How in the world would anyone be able to make a judgement for or against based on that teaser? See, that's what I was worried the Spiderman Teaser was going to be like. Thank goodness it wasn't

(Reply to this)

nogard64 writes:
on Jun 30 2006 01:56 PM

In reply to this comment (#839368)
agreed, a teaser is suppose to raise interest and speculation, Spiderman 3 is getting so much buzz now on what is going to happen. This teaser does nothing, I tried freezing it to see who the robot is and it looks like maybe the robot from Short Circuit, *sign* what a let down

(Reply to this)

Horstradamus writes:
on Jun 30 2006 04:06 PM

[b]Let's hope for the best[/b]
The thing you have to remember, is that the Transformers shows of the 80's (and continuing through to today) are almost 100 per cent written by Marketing guys. Almost no storyline and miniscule character development. Hold on, that DOES sound a lot like a Michael Bay movie.

I did like Transformers: The Movie though and the voice acting was generally top notch.

I agree, Michael Bay lives in his own little world where he is the supreme ruler of "Crash, bang, boom", but I'm still not going to trash this movie until I see it.

And anyone who does trash this movie before seeing it (who hasn't gazed into the future at the final product) pretty much sounds like a moron, just trying to get attention.

(Reply to this)

frunced writes:
on Jun 30 2006 04:23 PM

[b]Bay doesn't deserve a break[/b]
The reason we detest Michael Bay is not that we are purists who won't let anyone who's not George Lucas come within 50 ft from our Ark, that is, the Transformers Universe. Quite the contrary, we're people who like. Cross that, LOVE filmmaking. The real reason we hate the man's guts is that he know absolutely nothing about it! He's proven time after time he's a hack.

It could be the Transformers, whom some of us considered to be the epitome of Cool 20 years ago or any of the utterly ridiculous scripts floating around Hollywood. The point is, the man should not be let anywhere near a camera crew, let alone a highly profitable franchise some people hold so dear.

My childhood didn't puke, but it did throw up a little in my mouth.

(Reply to this)

Ciaranmv writes:
on Jun 30 2006 04:36 PM

In reply to this comment (#839362)
I agree with you! Now I am no transformers fan, but this is a sure indication that Michael Bay is on his way out of Hollywood. Next thing you know, they'll be making "Nerfguns on Mars!"

(Reply to this)

ozoz writes:
on Jun 30 2006 05:06 PM

Why are people hateing on Michael Bay. First of all, Bay will stay in hollywood. Why! Because the guy films make money. The guy has made 6 films so far. All of those films made over 100 million in the boxoffice. Pearl Harbor was the only bad film he has done. Even that made 200 million. Hollywood loves bay because his films make alot of money. To say that he is on his way out of hollywood is stupid. Transformers will make money and be good. The island was the only movie that bay made that did not make that much money. So get off the dude back. Because it seems like alot of people like him and his films. What people saw is just a teaser. The film is not even halfway done filming yet, so how can you say the film will suck. The film still have a hole year befor it comes out. Spider Man 3 is done filming, that is why it was able to show more clips from the film. Stop hating and just wait for the film. Do anybody remember the teaser for Superman and the first POTC. They did not look that good, but look at them now. Just wait.

(Reply to this)

sottile2005 writes:
on Jun 30 2006 05:26 PM

In reply to this comment (#839377)
Did anyone ever stop to think they don't have enough "CG" footage to show in the teaser, and they showed one of the robots being on mars as just coincidence that the decepticons were going from planet to planet, deciding which to inhabit???

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PrecentorEpsilonXVI writes:
on Jun 30 2006 05:44 PM

I can't get the thing to play at all... *shrug*

From what it sounds, their just trying to stoke interest without giving away any story. Meaning, they show little human-made robot get squished by big extra-terrestrial robot. Has nothing to do with the movie itself, it's just one of those "wouldn't this be cool?" things. Kinda like the whole "Bumble Bee" drag racing thing someone came up with earlier.

(Reply to this)

Zen Bullet writes:
on Jun 30 2006 05:54 PM

Bad Boys . . . . . . 5/10

The Rock . . . . . . 7.5/10

Armageddon . . . . . . 6/10

Pearl Harbor . . . . . . 5/10

Bad Boys 2 . . . . . . 2/10

The Island . . . . . . 6/10

Bay's movies are only as good as their scripts . . .

So who thinks the Transformers script will be any good?

I'm not holding my breath.

And the teaser sucked. The studio shouldn't have wasted it's time. It only draws bad publicity anyway.

(Reply to this)

PrecentorEpsilonXVI writes:
on Jun 30 2006 06:24 PM

Well watched the trailer - [url]www.wwtdd.com[/url]

It was pretty vague. But, I don't think it was bad. So what if a Transformer (could have been an autobot, could have been a decepticon) is on Mars - they were moving toward Earth, right? Maybe they made a pit stop? It doesn't say a whole lot about the movie, other than "they are coming..." The shadow of the Transformer is definitely similar to pictures of Bumble Bee that I've seen (could be general car type, though).

I also noticed that someone was complaining about the music? Has anyone noticed how many extremely early trailers use music from other movies because their scores haven't even been written yet? How many times has the Stargate theme music been used in other movie's trailers?

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