Transformers

Absolutely agree. I just saw it myself. Great movie.

Me and another "old lady" were watching movie previews while waiting for the main attraction when the preview for Transfomers came on. When it was over, I looked at my old lady friend and said, "Suprisingly enough, I want to see that!" She thought I was crazy, but after your review, I will go see it for sure.

Had agreed a year ago to go to see the movie on 07/04/2007 with some friends, though was very skeptical of how it would turn out. The date turned to 07/03/2007, and as we realized they were actually showing it last night, changed it to 10pm last night.

By far, much better than I was expecting. I grew up with the original Transformers and am still a huge fanatic (having watched the 1986 movie 100+ times....). I was very pleasantly surprised and will probably end up going several more times....

Sounds typical....the Air Force makes movies. The Navy makes war.

uh, hello....Top Gun?

Mike, the service that has probably been most involved with Hollywood in the past has been the Marine Corps. And John has pointed out the most glaringly obvious hole in your logic. Anyway, let the Air Force have Transformers for their recruiting drive, we've still got Full Metal Jacket.

I do like the quote from the wing commander, "showing what our airmen do evry day." Airmen battle transforming helicopters every day? Damn, and I thought I was only missing out on shorter deployments and better chow.

bwahahahahaha!

No UAV's? That would really be "type casting"...

naw they had a predator make an appearance, Solomon.

It called in some Warthogs and an AC-130 to take care of business.

Like I said, you gotta see this movie.

I saw a "making of Transformers" preview thing on either HBO or Cinemax and they stressed the interaction with the US Military (and General Motors for the cars). They also showed that they had the actors train with US NAVY SEALS so that they would be more realistic in their portrayals. They also rode along in flights in some of the aircraft.

Prior to seeing that "making of" piece, I wasn't too interested in seeing Transformers, because I was not too impressed with the previews. I watched the cartoon as a kid and had a lot of the toys as well. And this just didn't look to be too reminiscent of the cartoon.

But seeing that piece and now reading your "review", I think I may go plunk down some cash to go see it.

We need more movies which portray the military in a positive light.

Oh yeah, they also talked about how they were entrusted with the F-15s (I believe?) which they stated were not even in the military arsenal yet.

As the wife of a former boom operator - I have to say that there is a little bit more to your inventory than your short list. All is forgiven as you had an awesome picture of the day a while back.... :)
Even with that unintended slight on refueling operations, your review makes me rethink sending the boys to the movie while I go shopping with our daughter.

Michael, I'd bet money you're talking about the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The F-15s have been around for close to 30 years. In the original cartoon, one of the Decepticons was an F-15.

Ya, I really wanna see this. Looked great in the previews.

I saw it last night with my husband. It was truly awesome and is now in my top 10 movies of all time. Also, my husband commented he's pretty sure he saw a C-5 in the film. The sequel's already been greenlighted.

Great movie, but don't forget to give a nod to that badass CCT member.

The AF is FINALLY catching on and emulating the Navy PR machine? GOOD! I remember taking a day of leave and going to see the very first showing of The Hunt for Red October in Salt Lake City. Two remarkable things (outside of the movie itself of course) still stick out in my punkin' head.
1. My wife was one of only two(!) women in a huge theater with an SRO audience of about 5% military and 97% geeks (there is some overlap as you know).
2. The Navy had a full team of recruiters in the lobby with a very large scale cutaway model of a Los Angeles-class attack sub and working the crowd hard.
I remember thinking something along the lines of 'great, the AF PR Machine lets "Iron Eagle" happen and the Navy gets this.'
Good to know that while the AF may be going downhill, the PR is getting better.
IYAAYAS!

Starscream (an F-15 in the original) is a F-22 Raptor in the new movie (not a F-35 Joint Strike Fighter). This is why he is able to blend in with the Raptor squadron that gets called in for close air support towards the end...

one of the Decepticons was an F-15.

G1 Starscream and the Seekers were F-15s. Of course, giant robot or not, they'd get stomped by modern aircraft.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starscream
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seekers_%28Transformers%29

Wasn't that F-35 the Marine V/STOL version?
IRRC, he was called in by the BadGuys pretending to be a Marine FAC.

The F-22 and the F-35 are completely different planes that went through two different acquisition processes.

And the only reason why they had to train with a SEAL is because Air Force Combat Controllers and Pararescue Jumpers haven't made it into the public eye yet and are VERY small in number.

There WERE Navy SEALs in the Transformers movie. Not just training the AF boys, but actually in the footage. The big underground lab scene where Sam asks to get his car back, and the Sector 7 jerk gets grabbed by the Rangers, those dudes in black trying to protect the Sector 7 agents, with weapons drawn and fixed on the Rangers, those are REAL NAVY SEALs! It doesn't get any better than that! They were so good at training the flyboys, they got to be in the flick.

Well Mike M., I think for many, many years the Navy and Marines got the most media coverage: JAG was one ongoing Navy/Marine showcase, Top Gun, Navy SEALS, Jarhead, FMJ. Heartbreak Ridge, etc. The last time the Air Force got some attention was in Armageddon, also by Michale Bey. So Mike, be a big boy and no sour grapes, OK?. The Navy can't have all the marbles. SEALS are famous; how many people know about PJs and Combat Controllers?. Play nice and share the limelight