14 More TRANSFORMERS Films In Development

[Quincey]

According to Michael Bay, anyway: https://www.comicbookmovie.com/transformers/michael-bay-says-there-are-14-more-transformers-films-in-development-a150177

You'd think they'd run out of storylines by 10. Still, there are at least 8 Fast and Furious films out there.

Were any of the Transformers films any good? As a child I used to love the actual Transformers toys and the tiny storybooks.

[Glebe]

I only saw the first one. It was watchable stupid nonsense. The impression I get of the series as a whole is endless CGI robot fights and dumb sexy girl characters helping out Mark Wahlberg for three hours.

[Shaky]

T1 is a genuinely fun film, I think. There are a few moments of (almost) Spielbergian wonder, it's decently paced and it's intentionally amusing in places.

2 was a crap retread, though, 3 was utterly unwatchable and 4 stars Mark Wahlberg.

[Bad Ambassador]

The first I remember being good fun.
The second was effectively incoherent, openly racist and misogynist and had a pair of robot testicles.
The third made me doze off and sleep through a massive battle scene.
The fourth was totally unmemorable, and even manages to squander the notion of Optimus Prime riding a dinosaur.

The Transformers films are basically aimed at those people who pay to see a film and then play on their phones for the entire running time, with some empty spectacle to occasionally persuade them to lift their heads towards the screen. Why the scripts have to be so overcomplicated is beyond me, as shorter films means more showings and thus more tickets sold. I suspect Michael Bay is not a good filmmaker.

[AsparagusTrevor]

2 was a crap retread, though, 3 was utterly unwatchable and 4 stars Mark Wahlberg.

Probably the only time those words have been used together in a sentence.

[Blumf]

T1 is a genuinely fun film, I think

Seriously?

The first I remember being good fun.

Seriously!!?

It was boring. Even the SFX, which should have been the main draw, was dull, a mess of CGI bits. The story was barely there, and none of the characters were worth caring about, let alone entertaining.

It seems the only reason the series continues is that Chinese people like sitting in dark rooms with flashing lights whilst they stare at their phones.

[Glebe]

It seems the only reason the series continues is that Chinese people like sitting in dark rooms with flashing lights whilst they stare at their phones.

MICHAEL BAY: Damn! Blumf has discovered my secret formula!

[greenman]

The main positives thing I remember from the first one were that visually is was quite interesting visually at points and Turturro was somewhat amusing, not much else.

[SavageHedgehog]

It was boring. Even the SFX, which should have been the main draw, was dull, a mess of CGI bits. The story was barely there, and none of the characters were worth caring about, let alone entertaining.

I'm with you. I was 21 when it came out, and that seeing it held up as an example of premier popcorn fun (whereas Spider-Man 3, a film I have no particular fondness for but don't recall being anywhere near as bad, was the worst thing ever because he danced) made me feel very, very old indeed. The designs were an eyesore, the teen-plot was beyond banal, and the comic relief was incessant and absolutely bargain basement (look, he's riding a girl's bike!). I get bored at the Marvel hegemony sometimes, and never quite learned to love the Fast & Furious franchise as much as everyone else, but compared to a world where Transformers was the standard...

That said, when critics and the louder part of the public turned on the series and it fell out of fashion (though not out of pocket) amongst all the other competition, I did find some love for the series in the trashier part of my heart. Part 3 at least had the audacity to be genuinely tasteless, and had maybe the best action scenes of Bay's career and no(?) toilet humour. 4 was mostly forgettable but fairly easy to watch, and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't intrigued by the prospect of the forthcoming Part 5 where they flashback to the era when Transformers rode proudly with King Arthur and rumours say Churchill and Hitler are involved too.

[Lord Mandrake]

I was a Transformer obsessive in my youth, even having a letter printed in Grim Grams. So I was very much looking forward to the first film. Sadly it went tits up at the design stage and then Bay.

Its a sad indictment that the Citreon advert from 2006 is a better realisation than the many hours of unintelligible fuckery he's churned out.

[Mister Six]

I thought the first one was mildly amusing up until just after the bit where the Transformers try to sneak around Shia Labeouf's back garden.

"Oh," I thought, "this is a mildly amusing comedy bit before the big fight climax."

And then John Turturro arrived and i realised there was at least another hour of this toss left.

Couldn't be arsed with the other ones.

[mothman]

I suspect Michael Bay is not a good filmmaker.

I suspect that when you learn what bears do in the woods, you will be quite alarmed.

[AsparagusTrevor]

I'm sure Michael Bay is one of those directors who surrounds himself with 'Yes-men' too sycophantic to speak against his bullshit ideas. He definitely needs a more ruthless editor. I saw the third Transformers film on a flight and all I remember is a scene where some guys glide about in wingsuits for what felt like 45 minutes, it was just one of a Bay's militarygasms which brought nothing to the film.

[ajsmith]

[Replies From View]

I saw the first one and it was a load of old shite.

Anyone who saw that and then bothered with the sequels - why?

[chocky909]

I went to see number 2 at the IMAX and the only thing that stopped me from falling asleep was the sound of two other people either side of me snoring loudly.

The action is so constant and undynamic that it is actually soothing in it's backgroundness. The CGI looks expensive but there's nothing worth focussing on. The script is geared towards morons and foreigners. It's not for us. Pacific Rim 2 is out soon though!

[momatt]

Were any of the Transformers films any good?

Only the 1986 one.  Which is genuinely my favourite film of all time

The first Michael Bay one was ok.  They got progressively shitter after that.  I can never get over how shit the design is, making all the robots look the same.  All the complex fighting scenes are a big mess where you have no idea what's happening.

Of all the directors in the world, why did they have to get that useless twat Bay to ruin my childhood?
There's no light and shade, just progressively bigger explosions that numb your brain into boredom.

[FredNurke]

Get the bluray of the original TFTM, if you haven't already - it's wonderful.

[momatt]

Weirdly I don't have the blu-ray!  I must have already bought that film about five times in various formats, so I never felt like buying another one.

[FredNurke]

It's a new transfer from a very good print, so it doesn't have the problems that some of the DVD releases had (in particular, space being coloured red / green / blue according to what colour filter they'd used on that section). It's extremely crisp, so you can see all sorts of details that can't be picked up on the DVD versions. And it's gone down in price on Amazon from £25 to £13, which is what finally swayed me. You really won't regret it. Also, the extras are quite fun.

[momatt]

Thanks, I'll look into that now.

I wonder if they'll ever tackle Unicron in a future live-action Transformers film?

[Blue Jam]

I really enjoyed 1, though all I can remember of it now is the ludicrous plot device of a pair of glasses which once belonged to a famous explorer having a code etched on them in tiny characters, and the Autobots trying to buy them on eBay, or something.

2 was overlong and a bit racist and had that ridiculous robot with HUHUHUH ROBOT TESTICLES and the "British accent" (a mish-mash of various English and Scottish accents as I recall) who overused the work "bollocks".

4 had some really nice CGI with those shapeshifting robots forming from bits of metal flowing through the air before combining into the form of a robot.

I can't remember 3 at all.

They're just a bit of undemanding mindless fun CGI eye candy really. I generally enjoy them and I will probably keep watching each new one until I get bored.

[Blumf]

Chez Lindsay (Nostalgia Chick) is doing a mini-series on Michael Bay and his Transformers effort, using it as a introduction to film studies.

First one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRXI__Wixas

Yes, Bay can be classes as an Auteur. A terrible, boobs obsessed, military fellating, man-child, producer/director auteur.

[Quincey]

that ridiculous robot with HUHUHUH ROBOT TESTICLES and the "British accent" (a mish-mash of various English and Scottish accents as I recall) who overused the work "bollocks"

That actually sounds worth watching.

[biggytitbo]

The last Transformers film made more money in China than it did in the US.


That's why they're planning 14 more.

[momatt]

I understand that they're making loads of money with these films, so will continue.  But wouldn't they make more money if they were actually good as well?
It is possible I'm certain.

[Head Gardener]

I'll no doubt be seeing T5 next week as I've seen the others so I guess I have no choice, resistance is futile

[Spiteface]

Are any of these films going to have fucking Unicron in them?

No?

Fuck that, then.

[checkoutgirl]

The last Transformers film made more money in China than it did in the US.


That's why they're planning 14 more.

Well yeah. Apparently these films have made the guts of 4 billion in revenue. It would be bad business to stop making them. It would be insane from a business sense to stop making them. I'm surprised they stopped making Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings films to be honest. Just buy the rights and get writers in and you'd make a bundle. Keep churning them out until they stop making money. One positive from the Transformers films and Michael Bay is they make mad money and that might help finance decent films because it helps the studio.

I tried to watch one of the Transformers films on telly once, not from the start, it was just on. I watched for about 4 or 5 minutes before serious boredom set in. One of the films has a model in it. Just some young one who presumably is a terrible actress, Rosey Huntington Whiteley or something. I don't know who watches these films. Are Chinese people that easily entertained? Is this the only film that the communist Chinese government will allow to be shown or something? It's a bit mad.

I think Bay once justified the films by saying they were for young boys. I can imagine loving these films if I was 9 or 10. I used to love the oeuvre of Jean Claude Van Damme when I was 13 and some of them were terrible. But I suspect grown adults are watching these films which I have no explanation for at all because they seem very juvenile and shit and above all boring. 

[saltysnacks]

I think this video by the RLM boys is pretty damning. Not that anyone who likes the films actually cares.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Rfup0XKx7o