Mixed feelings. I appreciate what Bay did by bringing the Transformers franchise to the forefront of people's daily vernacular, which gave birth to a resurgence of toys and action figures, the MP line in general, but I don't appreciate him turning the franchise into a mockery with juvenile toilet humor, poor character designs, horrible humanoid plot devices and misplaced comedy. Hopefully, someone else can do Transformers right.
I think in 2007 it was a necessary evil to get the normies into the seats. Today, after Marvel's movies, we should be able to get a movie that is dripping with the most nostalgic stuff from the comics/cartoons.
That's because George Lucas apparently knows when to stop directing (apparently, after revenge of the sith)
What are some good things I am grateful about Bay being the head of the live action franchise? I'd rather keep it positive, because he's definitely not the most subtle guy in the world, but there's really nothing wrong with that. Here we go: Practical effects: Bay uses practical effects when possible. This results in real looking explosions as opposed to CGI ones like those in Snyder's films. Much of the stuff on Lockdown's ship and the underwater ship in The Last Knight was practical. The Tomb of the Primes in RotF. Designs: The designs in all of the films are pretty amazing, and Bay undoubtedly has an eye for them. Bay is the king of visual and audio layers: Not just my opinion. Spielberg said he was the best in Hollywood. As a person who is more into how things sound than how they look, I couldn't agree more. The score, the visuals, and the sound effects are like layers in an onion. What else is like an onion that I'm a fan of? Willingness to take risks: He's willing to take fans out of their comfort zones. The designs of the first movie were undoubtedly risky for the time. Obscure antagonists like the Fallen and Sentinel Prime and Lockdown. Using lesser used characters and new ones. Changing the cast and robot designs and scope and focus of the movies after the third movie. Concepts like Transformium. I think all of these things were some of the better things about the films. Tone: I think Bay is very good at tone. Just about all of the films had tones that were great for the stories that were being told. He is great at making stories with ominous scenarios and implications have enough fun moments, so they aren't too depressing, but they still have moments of less happy emotions like Ratchet's death, Bee getting captured by Sector Seven, and Sentinel's betrayal. It's a good balance for me personally. He understands the brand: I think Bay understands what the brand really is. He recognizes that it is over-the-top, campy fiction with ridiculous scenarios and cartoon-like characters meant to sell toys. I think he actually did a great job with some of the robot characters; based on footage he seems to take the voice direction of the robots seriously, and he seems to especially like some robot characters, like Lockdown, Hound, and Cogman, based on interviews. His films cover most of the brand's core concepts, and the films actually parallel the development of the source material very well. Every film has major plot points and concepts taken straight out of G1 and sometimes other parts of the brand. I think he understands the brand better than a majority of internet fans. He's self aware: An old man in the movies complaining about current movies being sequels and remakes; Crosshairs' comments about Hound using, "Textbook machismo;" Sherman's comments about Cade sounding racist. Yes, he's aware this is a series of movies that is meant to make money. Yes, he's aware these movies relish in masculinity. Yes, he's aware that some things in his films have been controversial. The Rule of Cool: The Allspark making cell phones and video game consoles and vending machines alive. The Forest Battle. A Driller destroying skyscrapers in Chicago. The Autobots riding Dinobots into Hong Kong. The Watch that killed Hitler. These are cool, fun things. What's the point of Transformers if it doesn't follow the Rule of Cool in some way? Just remember that strengths and weaknesses are often the same characteristics viewed through different lenses.
"jaam" is an extremely outdated joke from the earliest days of Armada. Essentially, somebody took the pack-in comic that came with the Wave 1 Armada toys, which were bilingual so you had these HUGE speech balloons but short snippets of actual text repeated three times over in English, Spanish, and a third language I don't recall, and put in new text to fill all the space. Hot Shot thus becomes a mentally challenged tortured soul who calls a big green energy canister "jaAm". It's not relevant at all and beyond the nice little homage on the Universe 2008 Hot Shot toy...nobody thinks its that funny anymore.
I am glad we got Age of Extinction out of this franchise. And I do thank Bay for that. I love the autobot s and the sense of adventure and finally we see some characterization of our heroes made of metal. It had beautiful cinematography and action, something Bay is fricken amazing at! It had jokes and scenes that dragged on way way way too long... something else he is sadly amazing at. I can watch the stinger/Bumblebee fight on Strafe every single day, it is absolutely incredible. For me it is the transformers film that falls just short of what I always wanted in live action. Yes there really weren’t any decepticons but hey that’s less of a letdown than a movie with decepticons aplenty but no characterization whatsoever! Also something else this franchise has given me is a transformers movie directed by Travis Knight. Yep, haven’t seen anything besides a helmet and an RC beetle, but it’s gonna be great.
While I will forever be grateful to him for the first movie, I am glad he is off the reins. I am hoping for a better, more solid story this time around.
@Moy, you are the most self-contradicting member here. You wrote tons of good comments and then say, that you don't like Movies You were registered on S4TE. You never write anything on other sections on TFW, so I can assume, you aren't interested much in other TF-related media. What are you doing here if you really don't like Movieverse? You are just an evidence, that Michael Bay's movies are considered as GUILTY PLEASURE. People just care about their look in the eyes of others and CAN'T put their pride in a pocket and sincerely say, that they love MB Movies. Because tens of people will say "oh, he is an idiot!" But it doesn't mean that he is actually idiot - it's just an opinion. And normal people base their opinion on actual person's features, skills and actions, not on tastes in movies, music, clothes and food. Someday being bold and open-minded will become a VOGUE, because it says about wisdom and independence of human. And, seriously, Michael Bay is alive, thanks God, and I wish him good health. Why I need to farewell him?
2/5 films that were good, and TF07 and DOTM were legit good, is not a strike rate I'm happy with as a fan of Transformers or movie series in general. Brought some good stuff, a lot of shit stuff. More interested in who’s next on the chopping block for captaincy of this ship.
I may not like the Transformers movies as much as i want other movies. But i love the robots more than anything the digital world could offer me. Specially the 1st three films. I am somehow emotionally attached to them. And i really value the Brilliant minds behind these masterpieces.
I guess I should be more specific... "I think Bay understands what the brand really is. He recognizes that it is over-the-top, campy fiction with ridiculous scenarios and cartoon-like characters meant to sell toys." That's the thing, though. It's not really campy, over the top, or ridiculous. In theory or execution. I don't think Bay ever really understood the "spirit" of Transformers. TF1 got close. "I think he actually did a great job with some of the robot characters." A few, sure. Ratchet, Lockdown, Sideswipe and Crosshairs are basically perfect. I'm talking vehicle choice, robot design, etc. Most others, I have complaints about. Optimus was too bloodthirsty. Bumblebee not talking was funny at first, then became annoying. Ironhide should have had a cowboy accent. Jazz was too stereotypical. Why on earth did we get the Twins before Ultra Magnus, Prowl, Mirage, Wheeljack, the Sweeps, etc? Shockwave was designed perfectly and executed horribly (figuratively and literally). So yeah, there were things done right, but a LOT done not so right. "based on footage he seems to take the voice direction of the robots seriously" He is the director. He should be taking the entire thing seriously. His films cover most of the brand's core concepts, and the films actually parallel the development of the source material very well. That's what is supposed to happen. He doesn't get credit for doing the exact thing he should be doing. I think he understands the brand better than a majority of internet fans. That's obviously subjective, and I can't "prove" that point either way, but I do disagree.
I completely agree... for the FIRST movie. That was somewhat necessary to attract the casual movie goer, but once solid viewership had been established, the childish antics were ramped up x10 (in RotF) instead of dialing them down and focusing on plot and bots. It was like a horny 13 year-old wrote this stuff: Devastator's balls, Bee STILL not speaking, Skids and Mudflap behaving embarrassingly stereotypical, d!ck, piss, fart and coochie jokes up the yin yang... All of that is great in American Pie, but I don't need that nonsense in my Transformers movies. Again, hopefully whomever takes over the reigns will do TF's right and not use any its previous films as examples... and as far as Bay. Thanks, but good riddance!
