> > > > I’m watching Age of Extinction tonight, and I honestly don’t think it’s bad as everyone says it is. It’s definitely not in my list of top movies, but I am enjoying it. People bring up a lot of good reasons why they don’t like the Transformers films, but at this point, otherwise it’s become somewhat of a fad.
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> > > Michael Bay’s take on the Transformers is terrible (I could give you a whole list of reasons why), but at this point I’m used to his style, so I accepted Age of Extinction for what I knew it would be before watching it. I enjoyed it.
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> > Wrote up a long post but scrapped it. Here’s the new one:
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> > At the core, the Transformers movies are about the battle between the Autobots and the Decepticons on our world with the side human story, and then the Michael Bay humour and other aspects of his directing style. I personally feel like Michael Bay is sticking with the same thing to avoid taking risks, and regardless of critical reception, Transformers already appeals to different demographics and is making lots of money. It’s a bit like Call of Duty, why change so much when it’s so financially successful and people pay for the same thing?
> >
> > I know very little about Transformers lore but I do know that there is so much rich story material in the franchise. If Bay can really delve in and bring some great story elements about the Autobots and Decepticons out and make the human characters stronger characters that the audience cares more about at the expense of some of the lame humour, I think Transformers movies would be a lot better. He should sit down and take a few days to read the comics, watch the movies, or play War for/Fall of Cybertron or something. When I heard they were getting a new director for Transformers after Dark of the Moon, I was excited because we could see Transformers being done differently, but they brought Michael Bay back and I believe he’s still in for the next ones.
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> One of the main problems is the treatment of the most notable and popular Transformers. Optimus Prime was turned into some remorseless, sociopathic Decepticon murderer, Jazz was killed off in the first movie, Megatron was turned into a wuss who can’t fight (and we all know how wrong that is), Jetfire was some bumbling old idiot, Arcee wasn’t fleshed out at all, and Soundwave went from being characterized almost perfectly in Revenge of the Fallen to being just your typical Decepticon grunt in Dark of the Moon (and then being unceremoniously killed off).
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> I don’t want to hate on Michael Bay, but he just doesn’t get Transformers. There needs to be a new continuity with a director who knows what he’s doing.
Agreed on all, (Jazz was one of my favorite Autobots, got so mad when he said, “Want a piece of me?” and Megatron responds, “No! I want two!” JAZZ, NO!) I don’t have major problems with Optimus though. But I’ll admit when Megatron said he didn’t want to fight (even saved Prime’s life) and Sentinel asked for forgiveness at the end of Dark of the Moon and Optimus killed both of them, I was like “wow”. Even if Optimus knows that they would turn their backs when they get the chance, as a role model figure do you really know before they do it? However, I really liked how they did Shockwave in Dark of the Moon, and I wish we get to see Sideswipe again.
Maybe not, but he definitely knows how to make Transformers movies that make lots of money. Personally, I still have a good time watching these movies but there’s so much potential unreached, Transformers can be and should be a lot better. Well, that goes for a lot, if not most, movies.
EDIT: So Bay says he won’t return to direct the next Transformers movie AGAIN but Peter Cullen wants him back to direct T5. Apparently Wahlberg is not likely to return.
