July 4, 2011

The dark of the Internet

I have been on the fence about watching Transformers 3. I didn't particularly like the first film. It was okay, but just kind of meh. The second one had a few cool moments, but overall was horrible. The last half hour seemed to drag on for an eternity. I have never been so excited to get out of the theater. Now the 3rd one comes along, and to make matters worse it is in 3D. I am not a fan of 3D.

I've been free all weekend. I had every opportunity to go see it, but I haven't done it. I guess I am scared that I will have a similar experience to the previous movie. Early in the week lots of people were able to go see press screenings. The early reaction was one of surprising approval. Most probably had extremely low expectations, and this film was able to exceed those. Then the second wave was the backlash from the somewhat positive comments that were being shared. It seemed as though some people on the internet have a deep seeded hatred for Michael Bay and the Transformers franchise. I've read several things lately (not all related to TF3) that reminds me some people think the internet gives them the right to be an asshole. I hope I never come across like that. I do write a blog in order to share my opinion about film, so it is already clear that I am full of shit.

I like to wait for the initial buzz to hit the web and then decide if I am going to theater/rental/skip a movie based on that. In the process of this litmus test I tend to get jaded about a film. There is so much opinion spouted out on twitter and blogs that I can no longer go into the film with a unbiased frame of mind. I have a few critics that I trust, and always enjoy hearing what they have to say. I don't always agree with their opinion, but I am able to use them as a barometer. If I could shield myself from everything else and only pay attention to those few, I feel like I would be alright. However, the explosion of twitter updates is hard to ignore, and the overwhelming amount of data clouds things, and sometimes makes me angry.

Transformers is the kind of movie that is only effective on the big screen. That is what makes me sad to pass it up. I know if I don't go see it in all its glory, when I eventually watch it on bluray it will be crappy; even crappier that what it already might be. I would like to see the final Chicago sequence, but I really don't want to sit through the 2 hours of movie that precedes it.

A week ago I had every intention of going to see Transformers 3. I was even a little bit excited for it. Somehow the internet killed that excitement and convinced me that I didn't want to spend the money and waste the time. Maybe I made that decision myself and I am just using "the internet" as an excuse. Either way, I am 90% sure I will wait for it to come out on bluray before I see it.  I promise I won't even waste my time posting a review (most likely).

Filed Under: