Spoilerific DotM reaction post
Now that I've had a week to digest it...
Bad stuff first:
What the heck happened to Jolt and the twins and the Arcees? You can't just drop characters like that if there is no where else they can feasibly be! Miles and Leo, fine, they didn't keep in touch after graduation. And Arcee conceivably died at the end of the last movie, even though we're never clearly shown that. But there is nowhere else for Jolt and the twins to be! There has to at least be some kind of mention that they've died in battle or left the planet or something.
Q was hideous. Skids and Mudflap were more visually appealing. He was the only one the hair really bugged me on. On the rest of them (save Brains), it still looked mechanical. On him it just looked like fake hair. I might have forgiven them if it lit up, like... I can't remember the word. Like those little glowstick bracelet and necklace things.
I am a little bit torn over Carly. I didn't dislike her, but I completely agree with Sakon76 saying that the part was clearly written for Mikaela. I think this became especially obvious towards the end of the film, with her confrontation with Megatron, and Bee throwing around "rings." The Megatron scene would have worked if we'd had some kind of prior showing of Carly having that much backbone. Which isn't to say she doesn't have any; she's a successful woman on her own merits and seemed willing enough to stand up for herself in her day to day life. The lines just felt terribly contrived coming from a character whose only previous personal history with Decepticons involves being briefly held hostage in one. And the story did not convince me that Bee would be that enthusiastic about her; we saw basically nothing of those two interacting. Like I said, I don't dislike her, I just kept seeing Mikaela instead. Someone said that it would have been better if they'd simply cast someone else as Mikaela and not tried to introduce a new love interest, and I agree. That said, I did like Judy's line about that making -two- now that Sam had broken up with, and thought it added quite well to her being upset over the whole thing.
The ending felt rather abrupt. It was very clearly a "This is the last of the trilogy and therefore all the bad guys must die" kind of ending.
It would have been nice if they'd shown Optimus grieving Ironhide and then using that grief to get pissed off. It would have better explained his actions over the rest of the movie, and needn't have taken more than thirty seconds of screentime. Heck, I'd have been happy with some kind of cheesy "this is for Ironhide" line as he was fighting Sentinel at the end.
What I did like:
The highway scene was OMG LOVE. Every second of it. Pure awesome. Actually that may have been my favorite part of the movie.
Followed closely by Ironhide and Sideswipe's Mexican standoff with the remaining SUV Decepticons. We got more character building for the four present in that scene than in any other part of the movie, IMO. Which is kind of sad, actually. But the scene was still awesome.
The three SUV Decepticons. Someone please tell me they have names. I liked their designs, I liked that it appeared they were some kind of team, and I liked that little bit of Decepticon treachery in breaking the standoff. For once, the minor throwaway characters I'm latching onto are Decepticons, not Autobots. O.o
Speaking of awesome Decepticons, Soundwave and Laserbeak exceeded my expectations. Especially Laserbeak. (Even if his face was weird.) Did anyone count how many different alt forms Laserbeak took? Definitely more than any of the other characters, even counting across all three films.
Dutch. Oh my God, Dutch. My brother and I kept looking at each other and chortling every time he came on screen. I think Simmons also really met his potential in this movie. He was able to be his obnoxious self without being... completely obnoxious.
Overall, I thought it was better than RotF, but still like the first movie the best.
Stopped in at Target today. They had a generations Thundercrakcer and a Warpath, and apparently I have very little self control. But I do have some! Because I didn't also get Laserbeak. >.> *shuffles another pile of books aside to make more room*
TC is pretty, if a bit square and stiff-jointed. He's got this shiny luminescent paint. He's also wondering what he did to deserve being the lowest-ranked Decepticon here, save Ravage, and therefore the one stuck with all the grunt work. Also, Warpath would like you to know that his tank mode kicks serious butt.
Bad stuff first:
What the heck happened to Jolt and the twins and the Arcees? You can't just drop characters like that if there is no where else they can feasibly be! Miles and Leo, fine, they didn't keep in touch after graduation. And Arcee conceivably died at the end of the last movie, even though we're never clearly shown that. But there is nowhere else for Jolt and the twins to be! There has to at least be some kind of mention that they've died in battle or left the planet or something.
Q was hideous. Skids and Mudflap were more visually appealing. He was the only one the hair really bugged me on. On the rest of them (save Brains), it still looked mechanical. On him it just looked like fake hair. I might have forgiven them if it lit up, like... I can't remember the word. Like those little glowstick bracelet and necklace things.
I am a little bit torn over Carly. I didn't dislike her, but I completely agree with Sakon76 saying that the part was clearly written for Mikaela. I think this became especially obvious towards the end of the film, with her confrontation with Megatron, and Bee throwing around "rings." The Megatron scene would have worked if we'd had some kind of prior showing of Carly having that much backbone. Which isn't to say she doesn't have any; she's a successful woman on her own merits and seemed willing enough to stand up for herself in her day to day life. The lines just felt terribly contrived coming from a character whose only previous personal history with Decepticons involves being briefly held hostage in one. And the story did not convince me that Bee would be that enthusiastic about her; we saw basically nothing of those two interacting. Like I said, I don't dislike her, I just kept seeing Mikaela instead. Someone said that it would have been better if they'd simply cast someone else as Mikaela and not tried to introduce a new love interest, and I agree. That said, I did like Judy's line about that making -two- now that Sam had broken up with, and thought it added quite well to her being upset over the whole thing.
The ending felt rather abrupt. It was very clearly a "This is the last of the trilogy and therefore all the bad guys must die" kind of ending.
It would have been nice if they'd shown Optimus grieving Ironhide and then using that grief to get pissed off. It would have better explained his actions over the rest of the movie, and needn't have taken more than thirty seconds of screentime. Heck, I'd have been happy with some kind of cheesy "this is for Ironhide" line as he was fighting Sentinel at the end.
What I did like:
The highway scene was OMG LOVE. Every second of it. Pure awesome. Actually that may have been my favorite part of the movie.
Followed closely by Ironhide and Sideswipe's Mexican standoff with the remaining SUV Decepticons. We got more character building for the four present in that scene than in any other part of the movie, IMO. Which is kind of sad, actually. But the scene was still awesome.
The three SUV Decepticons. Someone please tell me they have names. I liked their designs, I liked that it appeared they were some kind of team, and I liked that little bit of Decepticon treachery in breaking the standoff. For once, the minor throwaway characters I'm latching onto are Decepticons, not Autobots. O.o
Speaking of awesome Decepticons, Soundwave and Laserbeak exceeded my expectations. Especially Laserbeak. (Even if his face was weird.) Did anyone count how many different alt forms Laserbeak took? Definitely more than any of the other characters, even counting across all three films.
Dutch. Oh my God, Dutch. My brother and I kept looking at each other and chortling every time he came on screen. I think Simmons also really met his potential in this movie. He was able to be his obnoxious self without being... completely obnoxious.
Overall, I thought it was better than RotF, but still like the first movie the best.
Stopped in at Target today. They had a generations Thundercrakcer and a Warpath, and apparently I have very little self control. But I do have some! Because I didn't also get Laserbeak. >.> *shuffles another pile of books aside to make more room*
TC is pretty, if a bit square and stiff-jointed. He's got this shiny luminescent paint. He's also wondering what he did to deserve being the lowest-ranked Decepticon here, save Ravage, and therefore the one stuck with all the grunt work. Also, Warpath would like you to know that his tank mode kicks serious butt.