Just saw it with my son and we both LOVED it. I like the new twists, the origins of CC, Baroness, Destro, SE & SS. The action sequences were astounding! I also loved that the good guys didn't always win (Paris, the PITT)! How refreshing! And a villain could be redeemed (Baroness)! That only happened with SS (who was pretending to be a Cobra all along) and Mercer in the comic Joeverse.
And most astounding to me, PEOPLE GOT SHOT and even STABBED! How amazing is that!?! A Neo-Viper even got his head blown off by a grenade!
Plus, unlike Transformers, we got deep back story on
1. Destro
2. Baroness
3. Duke
4. Cobra Commander
5. Snake Eyes
6. Stormshadow
and even a little personality and motivation from Scarlett (all science, linguistics, intelligence, resists emotion) and Ripcord (wants to be a fly-boy, digs Scarlett, clumsy but tenacious).
That's more than most movies can fit in 2 hours and still have crazy action. The opening rescue action sequence was insane. Especially Scarlett with her crossbow. It showed how she wasn't super-human and had to adapt and overcome to beat the armored Neo-Vipers. And Duke rescues his bud before going after the WMD's? Show's heart, something the Duke character could use more of.
I just loved it, and so did my 7 year old son. Glad I didn't read all the negativity before seeing it. Cynicism is SO COOL, isn't it?
I do wish the Cobra gunship toy looked more like the movie version, and I also don't like the whole "vow of silence" thing. No Elite unit would allow that kind of thing, but I imagine they did that because they already had 4 characters in the movie get their faces deformed, they didn't want to push for a 5th and get an R rating.
Quibbles, though. That was a fun movie!
$20 says Ripcord takes on a the new code name "Ace" in the next movie!