Welcome to Gripe Numero Uno from the wife. Kind of my fault, but mostly Bay's. I got her all hyped up about the Fembot, then the Fembots, then the combination rumor, etc. She was stoked. We all know how that likely went. I know I do. Right? Eh, that's hardly an excuse.
I stopped having any hope of redemption for the mess that ROTF created when Bay claimed that his favourite characters were the ones the viewers hated the most (the twins). Since the film was a hit in theaters, I'm 100% sure that Bay will direct the third one, with an even bigger budget. My only hope is that now, people who saw and hated ROTF (because let's face it, a sequel's target group is initially the people who were pleased with the PREVIOUS film) won't go to the third, and it will hurt Paramount's estimations. I wouldn't mind if they bury it for five years and then helm a director who can give the franchise justice, like Nolan did with the God-Damn-Batman.
Yea I can't see the live action franchise continuing on and on without some major changes somewhere down the road. It seems that even the general public at some point gets burned out with the same old same old so while Pirates was red hot for a while by the third film the public seemed to be tired of the same movie three times in a row. Since Bay isn't a change sort of person and tends to do the same things in all his films it's really just a matter of time before the public says been there done that now I want something different. All we can really do is just cross our fingers that when the public gets tired of the films as is that the next direction of the live action films will include more character for the robots.
perhaps just one so we didnt have to suffer the toys design x3, each bending in just a slightly different way so we can tell whos who, well aside from the colours.
I think one of the huge problems this movie had was the clash between Bay and the writers. Orci said that they wrote a ton of stuff about Arcee and her tri-personality, which Bay cut most of. Orci said they wrote the Twins as Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, but Bay changed them to Skids and Mudflap. And Bay was the one who added most of the toilet humor and was behind most of the Twins' dialogue. And, because he hates Arcee, and is numero uno himself, it's his right and pleasure to basically throw out whoever he wants.
Ok to give him his due I think it was a better idea by Bay to have them all as seperate characters, even though they had 0 charcater development so much so that we are still not even sure of the pink bikes name (Flareup??)! The sad thing is because the second transformers movie has been such a success, and that they've been apparantly getting this positive feedback from the audience (where do they get these people!!??). Bay will be even more up his own arse and think that he can do whatever the hell he wants with the franchise e.g add more toilet humour, more twins, new crappy villain. The sad thing is I really like the first Transformers, I just wish the studio and producers could push a bit more pressure on him to right the mistakes he made on ROTF and make another awesome Transformers Film.
Agreed, but just like the 86 movie part of this movie's role is to be a toy commercial, and apparently a car commercial. Car dealers can't keep the new camaros in stock. Hasbro wants to sell as many toys as they want, and that's probably why they made decisions like that.
This, this, THIS. ANY dialogue or mannerisms can be used to give a "shorthand" version of a character's personality, if used correctly. Watch a cop movie, or a war movie, and you see it all the time. Here's my take on it from an earlier thread: http://www.tfw2005.com/boards/transformers-movie-discussion/242674-rogert-eberts-review-8.html#post3779374 It doesn't matter if you loved the movie or not, it is not up for debate that Bay made deliberate choices about who got screentime, dialogue, and characterization. Judy got a crazy pot brownie scene that ate up time. The bikes got one line of dialogue between the three of them. That's a choice. It tells us what Bay wanted to prioritize. I happen neither to be afraid of, nor to particularly make a habit of objectifying women. When I see what seems a deliberate omission of female characterization, I notice it. Bay's past films hardly make a good case for him in that respect, either. We have one/three female Transformers among the Autobots, and they effectively get nothing. We get one "female" Decepticon, and it's basically a robo-slut. Whether it's deliberate or not, this tells me things about the movie's "attitude" towards women. Even the film's supplementary material about Fox does this. The nonsensical "CGI Megan Fox is SO hot." thing...it says something about this. It's not as if attractiveness cannot be remarked upon, but when that's all there is? Maybe I'm jaded, I live in Vegas, and there are women at my gym I would say are far, far more striking than Fox. Honestly? If I didn't know who she was and passed her on the street I very well might not even turn for a second glance. This debate is completely academic. One being or three, "Arcee" received no characterization anyway, so whatever she/they are, in the actual movie itself, it never mattered. - Coeloptera
I'm still not sure which idea would be bes suited for the film. Three robots restricted to only one conscience is unique, and would have been interesting to see, and since it was rumored they were capable of also combining, maybe it was going to be a good idea afterall. But the problem with combining, to me, I think was due to budget constraints (hence, Devastator), which was also the reason we never got to see Skids and Mudflap do there combining thing other than the IceCream truck accident. The final idea that made it into the movie regarding the Bikes was still a good idea. Each bike with a different personality is also a win, but most likely was the final decision due to the general audiences perception of Transformers, any confusion could cost million's in sales for HASBRO toys.
How would we know? We saw so little of the Arcees in the movie (not that I mind) that it's impossible to offer a credible opinion.
This. If anything, it was a side effect of Bay's decision to give Arcee the boot in favor of tweedle dee and tweedle dum.
Well ... All indicates the 3 Bikes were 1 one character, but Bay couldn't change the whole thing on time!! This may indicate Bay's hatred of the design and idea about Arcee as 3 bike and as he said on that interview months ago that he was going to kill the pink bike, and he did (ALONG WITH THE PURPLE BIKE): what we got?? : ONE Arcee bike standing( Chromia-Arcee). I believe the writers got away with it and Bay had to kill 2 and have 1 Arcee to fix for TFs 3. As matter of fact one of the writers stated having the intentional idea of Arcee as all 3 Bikes(likely for the combine mode) not of Bay's liking no doubt. The fault(on my opinion) lies with all 3 parties; Bay, the writers and Hasbro. Because there wasn't a sit down moment by all sides for a more thoroughly discussion about their attitude and characterization and Bay, having seen what he saw, had to fix the Tri-cee problem "in his own way"(BOOM-BOOM) 2 Arcees are out and 1 stays as the real Arcee for TFs 3. Lets think for a moment: Bay, giving a huge spoiler in the middle of his misinformation campaign knowingly he was going to face the bad Rant of the Fans (especially Arcee fans who waited 2 years to see their favorite character in action, in the intended movie 1 design, and now are disappointed with what was done to her). Bay, having known he was going to face their negative opinion about the Tri-Cees did what he did. Now only one stays as the real deal and I really hope we see her as a decent looking feminine face fix robot,and above ALL biped (whether on wheels as with Sideswipe or with feet)