I saw the movie over the weekend. Absolutely awesome. I literally dragged my wife to the movie and she was adamant that she would make fun of the movie for years to come, because she was sure it was going to be completely stupid. Thirty minutes in, she was hooked. She loved it too. My hat's off to Michael Bay. He did an incredible job.

EDIT: On another note, we watched the making of... on HBO after we saw the movie. That camaro they used for the updated Bumblebee is one of only four in the world. GMC ought to mass produce that bad boy and capitalize on this widespread advertisement.

As for Barricade in the final scene, he wasn't there because he was killed before that by Optimus Prime on the highway.

Lilman is correct. He was be-headed courtesy of Optimus' wrist sword. Awesome finish, if you ask me.

Argh. Isn't out over here until the 27th!

Previews on saturday and sunday though....

Saw it two nights ago. Wasn't impressed. Transformers should have been like Starship Troopers - a ridiculous, over-the-top, utterly improbable action flick that didn't take itself seriously. Unfortunately, someone forgot that last part, and it made what could have been a classic action-flick a sad, sorry piece of film-making. Bay has no idea how to give the viewer any kind of true satisfaction, instead opting for gratuitous gratification shots and unintentional cheese. The action scenes, while well-choreographed, are edited so spastically the viewer can barely tell who's fighting, much less what they're actually doing to each other. When the titular giant robots clash, they blend into large chunks of twisting, screaming metal on-screen. The human characters are largely throw-away and forgettable, doing little or nothing to push forward the piss-poor plot, mouthing their lines like cashiers at a fast-food joint. The entire film reeks of stagnation in conception and laziness in execution. Had Bay instead turned it into an ironic, humorous look at mecha culture with a whole lot of self-deprecation and self-awareness of how bad the movie actually is, it could have been enjoyable. As it is, I'm glad I wasn't the one who paid for my ticket.

You must have watched a completely different movie then I. I am pretty much evertying the opposite and then some.

See, I saw a lot of potential for an awesome movie, something like Starship Troopers or Pirates of the Caribbean, but Michael Bay got too serious with his film-making. Had the movie come out and said (like my two examples): "Hey, this is a horrible piece of film-making, but we know it, so it's ironic and funny!" it would have been much better. But it didn't - it tried to take itself seriously, and that ruined it for me.

I thought the movie was hilarious. Many parts didn't take themselves seriously AT all, and it was nice to have thrown in there.

Watched it this weekend, at last(Bloody Europe), and I loved it. Especially the part when Prime introduces the other 3 Autobots. Anyone saying the movie takes itself seriously need to watch that scene over again.

Going to try and get tickets this Sunday