Actually Matt, the “fanboys” didn’t like Transformers, that’s what the controversy was about.
And since this was the last SFX frontier to be tackled it was a no-brainer than Bay’s slick cinematography combined with ILM’s CGI would put some butts in the seats.

But this is a trick you can only pull once. Like Starship Troopers. Unless Paramount can convince audiences that the sequel will be less silly and more like the franchise it was bastardized from then expect the sequel to also be the last.

^^^^
I’m sure the same bonehead mass audience that saw and loved number 1 will run off to see number 2 so no it’s not a one trick pony.

Indeed, never underestimate the stupidity of drooling losers who sit slack-jawed in a theater and say, “Oooooh, purty pictures!”

There’s a heck of a lot of them too, so yeah, it’s entirely possible the same morons who liked the first one will once again respond to the subliminal signals embedded in all trailers for a Michael Bay flick (the signal usually says, “Calling all idiots!”) and put down their bowls of Trix cereal long enough to amble to the local multi-plex and “turn off” brains that were never on to begin with.

Sad that the theater has become a haven for the most ignorant, least intelligent, lowest-common denominator. This is what will wind up killing cinema.

While you make a valid point JaySmack, I have to disagree solely because if they are idoits then what does that say about us?

What it says is society degenrates when art is allowed to devolve. Books, music, media is what we put into our heads -brain food. And yeah, we all want some cake and candy from time to time, but when that becomes the MAIN staple of our diet, we got a problem. Likewise, when we skip our usual double cheeseburger with extra fries and instead begin opting for the Mega-Buttbuster Coronary Combo meal, then even if we only get one of those a week, we still got a problem.
When we know something is crap, say it’s crap, but defend it vigorously, and say we WANT crap, we got a problem. It says a lot about us, the things we want.
Comic book movies are fine, as are cartoon adaptations, but not when they become rehashed, cliched, dumbed-down exercises in direct-marketing: add one hot babe -partially anorexic-, then two screenwriters who can’t write their own names, much less a quality script, one would-be actor -talent optional- a few good supporting actors -don’t give them any good material to work with though- and then a shitload of SFX. Let sit for two years gestating, and then let Steven Spielberg, (a guy who neither knows nor gives a crap about the property) come along and try to re-invent it into something he’s mroe comfortable/knowledgeable with, even though it doesn’t improve it worth a damn. Then give said concept the name of a quality franchise that the producers of said crapfest are too dumb to have created, cover with metric TONS of publicity and voila! A quickie blockbuster lacking any merit or quality but still making a profit.

When we allow people to excuse pure shit with a casual, “Well, this is the kind of movie/TV show/song etc where you just turn off your brain…” what they’re really doing is saying, “Who cares abot quality or redeeming value, all that matters is if i’m suitably distracted for five minutes or a couple of hours.”

Want to know why cable has become such a great place for TV shows made for adults? Because network TV devolved into a playground of crappy comedies and dumbass reality TV shows. Yeah, it came out all right in the end, but do we really want to create safe havens for crap and the people who ingest it?
No!

And what it says about us is that we still want standards but are being outnbumbered by those who can’t be bothered to give a rip. That’s all it says. And the people who raved for this film three months ago won’t whisper a syllable of praise for it today.
What does that say about them?