Movie Review - Transformers 4 : Age Of Extinction (spoilers)

[dsphatlite]

From here:

Hence why I said...

Ah damn I was referring to Jetfire. I read your post and the bit at the end.

Should of been clearer, which means should of gone to sleep and posted in the morning.

I love reading other thoughts.

You are correct on the consistency piece though. He was more G1 like in TF than the other films. I was thinking PTSD because if you watch the films there is a undercurrent of negative military themes even though on the surface it seems to support the military. AOE is a good example of this, but more on the surface.

[Jetfire in the sky]

Movieverse Optimus Prime, on the other hand, is presented to be the noble and altruistic character akin to his G1 namesake. The first movie very clearly established this, especially with the way that he was willing to sacrifice himself to destroy the AllSpark (whereas Sam used it to kill Megatron, and even then, Prime cried, "No, Sam!"). The Optimus Prime that we see in Revenge of the Fallen and Age of Extinction is a far cry from the Optimus Prime that we saw in TF1.

YES!

[Jetfire in the sky]

Ah damn I was referring to Jetfire. I read your post and the bit at the end.

Should of been clearer, which means should of gone to sleep and posted in the morning.

I love reading other thoughts.

You are correct on the consistency piece though. He was more G1 like in TF than the other films. I was thinking PTSD because if you watch the films there is a undercurrent of negative military themes even though on the surface it seems to support the military. AOE is a good example of this, but more on the surface.

Oh, just saw this, yeah, pretty much how Gok explained in his post with the comparison with Vader etc.
The first movie portrayed Prime as he should be, then they took a huge steaming dump on his legacy, the Prime I grew up watching was the noble hero. Something that all kids loved. (well in my school)
I get that people like their heroes these days to be flawed, I mean even the older Marvel heroes had flaws but it is more written into stories now to add an edge to a character, to add some darkness, and to me more suitable for teenagers and 20 somethings, rather the under 12's.
I am a Star Wars nut and have loved The Clone Wars series and Rebels series so far and even the great Obi-Wan in TCW has flaws, not necessarily massive dark ones, but they exist, but going from the original movie trilogy you would never guess this, he was the perfect wise man who made the ultimate sacrifice for the greater good, and I think showing his flaws in TCW reflects more modern attitudes in the creation of a character that we have now, so that's why I can definitely see your point.
I was born in 1977 so was the perfect age when He-Man and Transformers started on the TV in Australia to be influenced by what they represented. I grew up with these two ultra heroes and they definitely affected who I became, so that is why I think the TF movies after the first one are a travesty to Prime's character after doing a pretty good job of establishing his G1ness in TF1.

[dsphatlite]

Great replies. I wonder if any of the canon in between the movies sheds any light on the character development.

[Jetfire in the sky]

Great replies. I wonder if any of the canon in between the movies sheds any light on the character development.

I'd be the last person to ask that. I know Star Wars Canon, and cheekily get joy from how Expanded Universe lovers cracked it big time when what is and isn't canon was made clear.

Gok is a TF canon guru imho, although I wonder if there is a Leland Chee (Keeper of the Holocron) equivalent in the TF World somewhere?

[Jetfire in the sky]

I've just back read this thread to Griffins post #297 and was amazed to see such similarities with my earlier post, and BTT in support of the theme.

A good read and one I am glad to have seen as I don't comment on the movies much on here because I mostly focus on the toy side of Transformers these days (although TF Prime is bloody awesome) and I get a little bugged that so many of us who pay out Bay all day long will be the first in the door at the cinema to essentially give him money for f-ing up our passion.

[GoktimusPrime]

Think of the Transformers franchise as a political party. We die-hard Transfans are like people who always vote for the same party at every single election, because we consider ourselves to be absolute loyalists to the brand. The brand may take directions that we don't agree with, but we still stick by it in hope that it will get better, but we never abandon the brand. We got into Transformers in around 1984/85 and have never stopped since.

But much like a political party, the key to the Transformers brand's success is not in winning over our loyalty -- they already have it no matter what happens -- but in winning over 'swinging voters.' People who aren't steadfast die-hard fans. People who have given up Transformers before, and may be willing to do so again if the brand goes in a direction that they displeases them enough. IMHO these "swinging" fans are the ones that the brand needs to work on maintaining, because they're the ones who may very well walk away from the franchise, causing the fanbase to dwindle (which in turn affects the franchise itself). I'm not saying that the Transformers franchise is at all currently in danger of dying off, but it's not absolutely impervious either.

Going back to the discussion about Optimus Prime's persona; the latest issue of Windblade/Combiner Wars features Optimus Prime at a moral crossroad... either option would challenge his core values. This is discussed in more detail here, but be warned that this post (and the thread itself) contains spoilers. I continue reading the IDW comics because I genuinely enjoy them and I can't wait for each installment to come out. I watch the Michael Bay films because I feel obligated to do so as a TF fan and whenever the next installment comes out, I hope to Primus that my skepticism will be proven wrong. I still anxiously wait to be wrong. Come on TF5... prove us critics wrong -- I dare you to be good!

[FatalityPitt]

I watched Transformers 4 for the first time last night.

While channel-surfing last night, I managed to chance upon Transformers: AOE on channel 99 (GO!) about 30 minutes into the film. I never thought I’d ever watch it, but given that it’s on and I had free time; I gave it a chance.

I was pleasantly surprised, it wasn’t as bad as I expected, but my expectations weren’t high to begin with.

It still contained hallmarks of a typical Bayformers film; over-the-top destruction porn, sub-intelligent humans who have an ability to fall from great heights and land on broken glass without harm, and the occasional cultural stereotype, etc, etc. But unlike the previous 2 films, it wasn’t a complete torture session. It had some (only SOME!) redeeming features.

Firstly, it was visually beautiful; especially the last act of the film that was shot in China. The scenery was nicely presented (until it got destroyed by big dumb robots!). The Transformers themselves (namely Drift, Crosshairs and Stinger) had beautiful animation models. They had vibrant metallic colours and a smooth fluid-like quality to their movements (not sarcasm!). I think if you’re a GeeWun crowd member like me; to appreciate the visual beauty of the robots, you need to discard any preconceived ideas about how Transformers should look. Basically, just pretend they’re not Transformers. Some of the transformations were nice to look at, like Galvatron’s T1000-ish transformation (I can’t think of a proper description). From a toy designer / fan perspective, it’s a nightmare because it’s physically impossible to replicate that transformation in a plastic toy. But who cares?? It’s not a toy ad, it’s a movie!

Secondly, the other improvements were in the human characters. They were certainly not Oscar material, but they were a step-up from those of the previous 2 films. For me, some of the things that made ROTF and DOTM almost unwatchable were the sheer amounts of unsophisticated humour, embarrassing sexual innuendo, and outrageously dumb characters that make Mr. Bean look like Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes!

(Side note: I now understand why Shia LeBouff had his public meltdown. What happens when you take a dedicated method actor and make him play Sam Witwicky in ROTF? The best possible response: This).

Sure, the humans in AoE were also outrageously dumb at times, but I didn’t experience as much cringe-worthiness from them as I did from previous movies. They were just OK. Besides, a little bit of dumbness is excusable in this case, given that it’s supposed to be a fun Sci-Fi Adventure Comedy.

I thought they used Fan Bingbing quite well. It wasn’t an Oscar-worthy performance, but her role was a lot more impressive than the one she had in X-Men DOFP (which I think is the 2nd best movie after Deadpool in Fox’s X-Men Film franchise. FYI – I’ve still not seen Logan yet, but my expectations are high). As far as human characters were concerned, I thought Fan Bingbing did a decent job.

I think to enjoy this film, you got to put away your common sense (and preconceived notions about Transformers). It’s not Oscar material, but it’s a fun ride if you don’t take it too seriously.

I can see Michael Bay’s attempt at making a “respectable-enough” Transformers film, but fundamentally; he’s not the director/producer you’d want for a serious movie with a deep intelligent plot. If you want to experience such a story that involves Transformers, best bet would be to read some of the IDW comics like Sins of the Wreckers, etc… Actually, that wouldn’t be a bad story to adapt into a film..

---------------------------------------

Oh yeah, and if you think this is Mark Walberg's worst performance, then I challenge you to watch these 3 clips in a row without laughing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2r_qjEHf7c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iuus2oOseXw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhmEo-46vUQ
(FYI - They're not from a comedy!)

[GoktimusPrime]

I struggled to stay awake while watching it last night, no joke. It's a great movie to watch if you're having insomnia.

Btw, Su Yueming's actress is Li Bingbing. Fan Bingbing did play Blink in X-Men Days of Future Past though. You confused your Bingbings, you ding-ding!

[FatalityPitt]

Btw, Su Yueming's actress is Li Bingbing. Fan Bingbing did play Blink in X-Men Days of Future Past though. You confused your Bingbings, you ding-ding!

<... Thinking hard how to respond...>

I got nothing. Yes, you're 100% right.

I got my Bingbings mixed up. Li Bingbing (the Chinese lady in TF4:AOE) was not in X-Men DOFP.

<... Eats a spoonful of humble pie..>