I’m almost positive. My two friends I saw the film with thought the same thing.
I haven’t read the prequel novel yet, but I believe the two groups have some sort of dealings in it. I also remember a leaked audio clip (allegedly real) that I guess was cut from the film in which Starscream was talking to a Sector Seven Agent.
I just got back from seeing this, and I enjoyed it. I liked the fact that the film didn’t take itself seriously in some parts, seeing as this is, after all, a movie about giant robots. I even enjoyed the obligatory Habsro product placements (My Little Pony, Furby).
My friends left after the main credits. Was there anything else besides
the two interview pieces and the only surviving Decepticon flying away?
I was wondering about the little girl’s stuffed animal. I missed the Furby, however – where was it?
Just got back from seeing it with the family…and all I can say is “WOW!”
Holy shit that was an awesome flick! Giant robots! F22s! AC130 gunships! Hot chicks! What the hell ELSE could you ask of a movie???
Definitely gonna see that one again! 
I tried to stay through all the credits, and thought I’d made it through all of them, but I didn’t see any “interview pieces”. And I think barricade survived in addition to Starscream.
[spoiler] Another criticism I have about the plot is the finale. While it was awesome seeing all this chaos with goodguy giant robots vs badguy giant robots vs US military (at one point Megatron, while getting up, flicks a bystander with his finger as if the guy were a bug) I think the Decepticons really dropped the ball strategy-wise.
Seriously; it felt like a team of Counterstrike noobs scattering about pell-mell. Instead of keeping their focus on getting the allspark, the Decepticons scattered through the city and seemed to engage in individual losing battles (its obvious the Decepticons weren’t trained for urban combat 
) As cool as he was, Devastator was knocked out simply by wailing on him for five minutes.
While this does create a contrast of ‘good guys work as a team, bad guys are glory hounds’ I think it would have been more characteristic of the show/series if the Decepticons failed to get the allspark due to infighting i.e. Starscream. It would have been great to have an Et-Tu-Brute! moment when Megatron has the allspark in his clutches. [/spoiler]
I also would’ve preferred the transformers to be immune to our weapons. That would have made us seem more like ‘ants’ (Megatron talks a big game considering even our pea-shooters can hurt him). When the movie trailers came out, I really got the impression that humans were portrayed as the civilian side of present-day conflicts- people that live in the wrong country at the wrong time, and suffer greatly for it (sort of like many Iraqis now, I guess). It also would have made trusting the Autobots more important, since they’re primarily in it for the Allspark, not us.
The fallability of the Decepticons makes me kind of figure that humanity would’ve have been able to kick Decepticon butt even without the help of a friendly Peterbilt, pickup truck, camaro, solstice, and H2 rescue vehicle…
Suburban Plankton, the Kiddo (almost 9), and I went to see it Tuesday afternoon. We loved it. Totally fun movie. I’m the only one of us who watched t as a kid, and I thought it was great.
I agree, though with those who say thw whole plot line of the Aussie girl hacker and her friend was totally unneccessary.
I think the film is in the running for worst of the year. It was terrible. They went out of their way to come up with a stupid plot then added even stupider sub plots. It did have cool special effects. Beyond that the movie has no redeeming qualities.
Then it must be the only movie you’ve seen this year…
I’m not sure how old you are, or even if that matters, but I’m in my middle 30’s and remember the cartoons and action figures as a teen in the early 80’s. The movie brought something long dead, back to life even if it was only for 2 hours. I loved the movie and thought the plot oddities were fine to bring the big picture back into focus. To me, how cool was it to see Optimus Prime roll in, transform and kick ass in a dignified manner. I loved it. People were jumping up in their seats…when I looked around, they were all 20/30 somethings who remembered the transformers from their youth.
Sam’s parents were being interviewed by the news. There were two clips- one in which they were saying the government wouldn’t cover anything up, and another in which the mother says the reporters look bigger on television.
There isn’t a Furby toy, but the Autobots use a Hasbro truck with a Furby ad on the side to shield themselves from a Decepticon missile.
I agree. This was painful to watch when the robots weren’t fighting each other. Growing up in the 80s I loved the Transformers and I thought it might be a chance for Bay to redeem himself after Armageddon. Instead I got typical Bay overracting and retarded filler subplots. I hated that Megatron wasn’t a gun. If they had a problem with his earlier image, they could of made him Galvatron.
The producers said they thought it was ridiculous to have the main villain turn into a weapon that someone else has to use- it would be like Darth Vader turning into his own lightsaber and someone else swinging it. I’m not really a Transformers fan, but I have to agree with them there- the Optimus Prime vs. Megatron scene, though a bit long, wouldn’t have been as exciting if the two weren’t fighting hand-to-hand. Plus, we’d be deprived of that neat scene where the two crash into that office building.
Not anymore ridiculous than having giant robots from another world fighting in the middle of the city. Megatron cold still use his barrel in robot form, it just wasn’t as powerful. Which might be a reason why he kept Starscream around because he often wielded Megatron in this form with devastating results (see the TV and animated movie).
My random thoughts after seeing it:
Wow. Is VW going to be sorry, if they aren’t already, at their stupid “prove a point by not letting a VW be a war machine” stance. Big mistake.
Ditto to Porsche.
Since when do computer nerds look like supermodels who run around in 5 inch stilletto heels.
“Stop thinking about Fourier Transforms and start thinking about quantum mechanics” Huh? I am well versed in both and that made no sense at all
What was with the civilian abercrombie hacker crew anyway? Why was that even necessary? Very stupid sub plot.
Wiring a computer into a SWR to do morris code? Huh?
So Blackout is flying in Qatar and the scene goes “Hey you, you’re in our airspace. Leave” He doesn’t leave. Then they say “You come to use with ours escorts and land at our base” He doesn’t respond. Then it’s nightime and the radar dude says “Hey, there’s something landing on our base. Gee what is it? BOOOMM!!” AF would have intercepted that chopper after the first request and shot it down 45 seconds after non-compliance with the second. That was hard to sit thru.
EBAY, GMC, EBAY, GMC you can buy a GMC on EBAY. What? EBAY has GMC? Why yes, EBAY has GMC. GMC GMC GMC EBAY EBAY EBAY!!!
Those were some mighty agile F-22’s
BUT…
I loved the robots and the fighting. Overall a good movie. I liken it to the Hulk movie. The HULK/Transformer scenes were badass. Rest of the movie sucked.
That reminds me: did they really have to put text on screen (twice) reading “Qatar - The Middle East?” I know where Qatar is. And if I didn’t, I can surmise it’s in the Middle East because of the U.S. military presence and the enormous amounts of sand!
Well, it might have been had that been the way it happened, but it wasn’t. They tracked him a long way off at around dusk. When he wouldn’t respond, they sent out a flight of fighters to intercept. The fighters IDed the chopper as one of our Pave Lows, and one of the guys in the TOC IDed the tail numbers as coming from a bird that had gone down in Afghanistan a year ago. The OIC was confused but didn’t want to possibly shoot down one of our own choppers so he had the fighters escort it to a landing and had it surrounded by armed Bradleys and troops.
Did you hit the john in the middle of the scene or something?
The only thing I went to see was hot robot-on-robot action. There was far too little, and what little there was suffered from Bays insistence that no frame be a stable shot.
There were about 2 cool scenes - where Starscream transforms while leaping into the air, and Starscream again in the dogfight with the other F-22s.
The other scenes could have been cool, if I could tell what the hell was going on.
I had no problem figuring out what was going on…neither did my 10 year old son.
Well, at least with cars, transforming didn’t violate the laws of conservation of mass quite as egregiously.
A boombox or a microscope on the other hand… They better be a DAMN big boombox/microscope!
(Don’t get me started on the casettes. :))