Well, it does appear they've effectively jumped from the world of transformers to the world of He Robot Man in King Arthurs court who also transform and I'm sure Bay's version of a logical explanation won't be.

Given how much money ROTF made despite being pretty incoherent it's probably fine, but I could see where there might be room to be doubting themselves right now.

Hell, despite my misgivings I'm sure I'll eat it up.

 

DOTM to me was a huge disappointment, and I look to this movie to be basically the same thing. For one, they keep changing how the characters look, and inconsistency bugs the hell out of me. After the freeway battle in the first movie and everything in ROTF everyone one the damn planet knows they're here....they don't need to keep changing their looks. No one has ever changed their looks as much that I know of, I thought it was stupid on Prime that Prime got a new look, a to me stupid new look. I know he got damaged, but hell, he actually died in G1, turned gray and still looked exactly the same after he was rebuilt.

I'll go into this movie with a lot of doubt, at least I won't be disappointed that way, if it surprises me, then I'll admit it was good, but after ROTF holes and DOTM period....I'm not holding my breath. I mean, all the bad guys are dead....unless they pull Galvatron or someone out of their asses....who are the bad guys now? That, I have never heard.

What is wrong with Mark Walberg? I haven't seen a movie I've watched of his be bad (Jason Statham on the other hand....can't stand him, if he was in the movie I'd have to bear him, he was Okay in Expendables, but he's not an actor). Now his cousin Donnie....should stick to being a midlife crisis. To me he over and underacts at the same time a little on Blue Bloods.

Mark is the main reason I am thinking the movie might be OK....but even then I know one person can't carry a movie if the script and direction is crap. COUGH DOTM....

 

New bodies sell new toys plain and simple. besides beasthunter prime is a better design than his previous form.

 

They probably might be referring to the human cast specifically, not the robots. Hollywood is so out of touch, they might think any fans of the TF movies would be disappointed if Sam, Carly, the Witwickys, Simmons, Epps, etc. were not there.

As if TF fans go to see the human cast.

 

I love how every time one of them posts something the next one will come out and say something different, I know that it's confirmed etc. etc. that's it not a reboot or whatever.

It's like they didn't check in with each other before they talked to media.

 

How about just getting rid of the humans altogether ? Would it really hurt for the movie to take place in another galaxy ? Havent we seen enough humans on earth ? Its time to move on like they did in G1 by Season 3.

 

I don't think they can do this without the movie being entirely in CGI. CG Transformers, CG spaceships, CG Cybertron (or what's left of it)...there would be no realistic photographical element to film. Might as well be a CGI movie like Beowulf or Final Fantasy: TSW.

 

Glad someone said it in interview most people wont get confused upon its release date

Here is something for anyone who hasnt seen death at funeral

Death at a Funeral is a 2010 American black comedy

Death at a Funeral is a 2007 British comedy film directed by*

 

This would be what I consider a reboot, but it would take an entirely different production crew to accomplish something like this. I have faith that one day we will see a reboot, but it may not be for years / decades.

However, I don't think we need to get rid of the humans altogether.. I doubt a movie studio would invest in the project without a central human element. But it should be presented in a similar ways to G1, Animated, or Prime. The human characters are integral parts of the story, but they are not the whole story.

The first three films are presented like disaster movies, following the human perspectives of characters that don't really matter all that much. The plot devices used to keep Sam in the films were ludicrous at best.
1.) He has special glasses that show where the Allspark is.
2.) He has special knowledge transferred to his brain through the Allspark. Also he sees Transformers in his afterlife.
3.) His girlfriend is captured by human allies of the Decepticons.
None of this is necessary to tell a story about two battling factions of aliens. In fact, in each movie we are presented with new and conflicting information about why the Transformers are on Earth to begin with.

Judging on what little we've seen so far, it appears that some of these patterns will continue in AOE.
Here's a quote from Mark Wahlberg:
"It's an ordinary man trying to do extraordinary things to save his daughter and keep her alive-and this boyfriend he didn't know anything about. He'd had a child when he was in high school and his wife passed away, and the promise he'd made to her was that she wouldn't date any boys until she graduated and that she'd be at the graduation-because we weren't due to the pregnancy."
Does any of that sound like a good plot for a Transformers movie?

Also, this parallel between 9/11 and the Chicago attack in DOTM is a bit worrisome. It confirms that the characters we grew to love are now either Alien Terrorists, or Alien Terrorist Defenders. We're so far from the original source material, that's it's no wonder there's so much confusion about the identity of the brand. Again, Michael Bay's movies are about humans under attack, not Transformers.

So yeah, we know it's not a reboot. It's gonna be more of the same.
Of course we will all go see it, buy some of the toys, etc. etc.
But a true reboot would be very welcome, and could actually show the rest of the world why we grew to love these characters in the first place.

 

nope. I bet less than 10% did, and that's a generous estimate.

Yes. There have been a ton of people on here saying that.

 

Yea it would hurt because it'd need a billion dollar budget...

 

No. It would just be a photorealistic CG movie or comparable to a greenscreen movie like 300. They are expensive, but so are TF movies. In fact I'm not positive but I think they actually spend more on TF movies than they tend to on CG features. (I could be wrong on this, but ALL will be budgeted somewhere between 120 million and 250 million)

That being said, as much as I dislike the heavy emphasis on the humans with the robots as (often stupid, under developed) supporting characters- if you left earth and went full CG I think something would be lost. Part of the magic and joy is in seeing giant toys from childhood interact with humans and actually exist in the real world.


But I was quite disapointed when we went from a possibly full reboot with a new director to more Bay. I very much doubt he has anything new to bring at this point.

 

This is clear indication that nothing has changed in terms of how Bay and company view what should be the main characters of this franchise - The Transformers themselves.

As others have indicated in this thread, if it weren't for the human-centric perspective there wouldn't be a question of whether or not it's a reboot.

Let's phrase it this way and see if it still sounds like a reboot:

Transformers 4 follows Optimus Prime and his remaining crew of Autobots as they face the repercussions of bringing their war to Earth. Seen by much of the world as a threat, the heroic Cybertronians must leave the humans they had befriended behind and conceal themselves - protecting their new home planet as robots in disguise while realizing that their presence on the planet has changed the course of humanity forever. The Autobots encounter new allies and enemies as they face a threat like no other they've seen!
​

 

I think it could be pulled off. As unorthodox as Bay is, he seems to be very traditional on the human role of his films. He is just stuck on the human aspect. Not all movie watchers care about drama and acting. And technically even if it's a CGI character it's still acting because somebody had to draw the character showing his emotions to a script. In the G1 cartoon movie there was no human hero. Daniel did have an important role, but there is no dispute Hot Rod was the hero and the movie was centered around his maturing from young upstart to leader. The movie also set the stage for the outer space themed storylines that followed. I would like to see the Bay TF series go in the Avatar direction where humans are mere cannon fodder and only a handful have minior roles.

 

only thing that hasn't changed is the people complaining about humans being in it. get over it. if this live action movie with just transformers, it wouldn't do well. stop thinking like a fanboy, its the general audience that makes a film a hit or flop.

the reason why the first three Transformers film did this well at the box office has to do with a car transforming into a robot, but thats not the only reason, Its the human element and their interaction with the Transformers was a huge reason.

I wasn't a Transformers fan before watching the movies and to me the best part of movies were humans and transformers interacting and plot surrounding them. I wouldn't be bored if its 2 hours of just transformers fighting and interacting especially in a live action movie. it would work in a animation movie but not live action/

 

I'm thinking the 100 million+ that's needed to pay actors, make up artists, camera men, and the guy with the stupid black and white clicking sign could help foot the CGI bill. If the whole movie is done in a lab and travel costs have been eliminated, that's even more money in the budget that can be spent on CGI.

 

Every time I read "This is not a reboot" I feel more and more it WILL be a reboot... come on... Different human actors (And humans are 70% of the movie) different Bumblebee, and Optimus Prime... no Ratchet... once again Bumblebee has a classic car mode and then he upgrades to the latest concept... sorry but i'm not buying the "It's not a reboot" lie.

 

Dejavu. They've said this before.

 

I don't think it's a statement meant for us. We follow all the movie news so we've known for some time that it's not a reboot. They may have to repeat that it's not a reboot several times for people who aren't 24/7 Transformers fans because a new cast has often meant reboot in the past. Although I guess they need someone other than Bay to say it because there have been several occasions when Bay has lied.

Although I wonder if not reboot is such a good idea. Not being a reboot people might feel like it's not a jumping on point if they haven't seen the other films. Film series not based on a book series have a bit of trouble convincing people to stay with a franchise that feels sort of been there done that after 3 films. Plus just a whiff of arrogance that they haven't done anything wrong in the series and there is something worth keeping from the previous films.

 

At this point I think eradicating the Idiotic Comic-Relief Characters (human AND robot) and coming up with a plot that doesn't involve more Ancient Buried Crap would be enough a fresh startover. But that's just me.

I was unaware there was even still a question as to whether or not it's a reboot, frankly...It's labelled TF4 and it's directed by Bay. I mean, seriously, what are you expecting?