Merrick here...

Lord Bullington sent in this write-up from Tuesday night's TRANSFORMERS event in New York.

This report contains many details here about the movie & its tone (they screened 20-something minutes of film at the event), and Bullington's perceptions of how the evening (and the footage shown) shook out.

Interestingly, he indicates that humor plays a big part in the film - surprising given THE TRAILER's "mysterious monster/alien attack movie vibe"...but perhaps not so surprising if there's a desire to get kids into theaters (to sell toys?)

This is a pretty well-reasoned, well presented piece & we truly appreciate Lord Bullington's time. With that...

...BE WARNED...

SPOILERS AHEAD!!!

Hundreds of Hasbro executives, as well as a handful of media representatives, packed the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center in New York on Tuesday evening for a special TRANSFORMERS “event” that featured 25 minutes of footage from the pic, scheduled for release on July 4th.

Both director Michael Bay and Dreamworks production president Adam Goodman were on hand for a rather un-spontaneous pre-screening Q&A, during which they both expressed intense enthusiasm about the movie. Goodman noted that Dreamworks has high hopes for TRANSFORMERS as a long-running franchise, and stated that the effects would as groundbreaking as those seen in JURASSIC PARK and THE MATRIX.

Goodman went on to compare what he’s seen of the movie so far to classic, Spielberg-driven pics like BACK TO THE FUTURE and CET3K. Not surprisingly, all of this talk excited the Hasbro folks a great deal, since the tied-in toyline will likely spur soaring revenues.

When asked about how he became involved in the project, Bay said that he initially turned down the opportunity to make, what he called, a “stupid toy movie.” He reconsidered, however, after reflecting on his early days as an underling at Lucasfilm when, after seeing early production art for RAIDERS, he told his friends that “it would suck.” Bay said he called back, took a meeting and subsequently signed on after seeing “some images,” which one can imagine were early animatics of the ‘transformation’ process.

Prior to the screening, Bay noted that the scenes we would see were the ones that were “the most ready,” effects-wise, but that they would include some temp-music and sound, as well as some incomplete effects-work. He went on to say that the most impressive effects will be seen in the last reel of the movie. He called these effects “mind-blowing.”

SEQUENCE ONE

The first sequence involved an intense nighttime air-traffic control situation wherein an unidentified helicopter approaches a U.S. Air Force base in Qatar. After failing to make contact with the aircraft, the base rallies its reinforcements and waits for the copter to land. Once it does, and nobody gets out, the transformation begins. CGI is very strong here, and the crowd reaction echoed that sentiment. The classic “transforming-sound” from the cartoon is heard, albeit briefly, which garnered a lot of laughter and applause. I have a feeling that this sound effect might exist in the temp-version only, since it didn’t last long and was not as slick-sounding as the ‘new and improved’ Skywalker Sound version of the transforming process that could be heard for the majority of the transformation. The helicopter transforms into a very impressive and complex-looking Decepticon that failed to remind me of anything from the classic comic/series. This is to be expected, however, since all of the characters have undergone such an intensive redesign.

The Decepticon commences to unload its blasters on the confused troops, and the results are rather “mind-blowing” indeed. When the Decepticon fires, a massive shockwave emanates, sending tanks and other vehicles flying through the air. The audio here, although ‘incomplete,’ already makes TRANSFORMERS a serious contender for the 2008 Best Sound Oscar. Scene plays out with continued destruction of the USAF base. Upon fading out, the scene drew the most intense applause of the evening.

SEQUENCE TWO

I’m not really sure why they chose this sequence as one of the handful that to be screened for a group of toy executives, since it contained ZERO special effects shots. I imagine they intended it to convey the human element of the picture, which sadly has the potential to rub the core fanbase the wrong way. The sequence involves the dorky Shia LeBouf character and his quest to impress the ‘hot girl,’ played by Megan Fox. The scene moves into Herbie the Love Bug territory, as LeBouf’s car (I’m assuming it’s Bumblebee) begins to react to the situation, “breaking down” and slowly rolling towards the edge of a cliff overlooking a romantic vista of the city below before automatically playing Marvin Gaye’s “Sexual Healing” on the radio. The scene is pure slapstick, and played well with the crowd, who laughed throughout. This will likely happen in the first 30-45 minutes of the movie, before the real fireworks have begun. Shots of Fox leaning over the hood of the car will have fanboys salivating.

SEQUENCE THREE

In the third sequence, the Shia LeBouf character returns to his parents' house and attempts to conceal the three massive Autobots (Prime, Bumblebee and another that I couldn't identify) that have accompanied him. This results in even more slapstick, as the Autobots stomp around in LeBouf's backyard, trampling flower beds and bird baths. It's in this scene where we got to hear the great Peter Cullen as the voice of Prime. It sounded familiar, although Cullen has obviously aged considerably since TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE in 1986. A little more than half of the effects in this sequence were complete -- some of the closeups were still in animatic form. However, the completed effects shots showing the side of Prime's head, which featured a group of continously rotating pistons, were very impressive. A sidenote for TRANSFORMERS fans, Prime's mouth is totally visible in this scene, whereas in the series, it was covered.

It was in this sequence that I (a fan of the series and the 1986 movie) began to grow seriously skeptical. In the TRANSFORMERS texts with which we're all familiar, the Autobots are wise and capable of handling themselves in the human world (except for the episode where they wreak havoc in a museum). Here, they were characterized as clumsy, loveable buffoons in the vein of Pete's Dragon.

Also, it seems like the humor is going to be played up big time in Bay's film. This sequence featured some shennanigans involving a dog that inadvertantly urinates on one of the Autobots, causing it to aim its blasters at the pooch (in a DOOM-esque POV shot) until LeBouf intervenes in a humorous plea for the dog's life.

SEQUENCE FOUR

The lights came up after the third scene, but the event moderator asked Michael Bay's permission to show one more clip. He granted it, which excited the Hasbro folks a great deal. The scene in question is the much-ballyhooed Skorpinok attack - the scene being shot when Quint visited the set in the desert a while back. Scene didn't show us much, CGI wise, that we haven't already seen in the trailer. A lot of the additional shots were incomplete and in 2-D. It's a very intense scene but, as a TRANSFORMERS fan, it left me wondering: "Who the hell is Skorpinok?"

As I mentioned, I'm a BIG fan of the 1986 movie. It's highly underrated and sadly not taken seriously by a lot of people, sci-fi/fantasy fans included. Therefore, it worries me when the scenes I've seen of Bay's film, as well as what I've read about it so far, paint it not as an extension of or re-introduction to the mythology of TRANSFORMERS, but rather as an alien-invasion movie that happens to be called TRANSFORMERS (and conveniently so, for the sake of Hasbro).

Bay's comments regarding his connections to the project generate concern over whether or not he truly respects or even knows about what the franchise is truly all about. Sure, Bay might have signed on solely to make a movie about giant, fighting robots, which is fine. It's just that, when the movie features the moniker of one of the most beloved franchises of all time, it would make sense to consider its origins.

I'm still optimistic, however, since I'm a Michael Bay fan. At this point, it will be hard for me to take this movie seriously as an authentic part of TRANSFORMERS lore. Instead, I will be there on July 4th for the "Michael Bay Giant Fighting Robot Movie." And that's fine, as long as Energon Cubes are mentioned at least once.