Part 1: Transformers(2007) Ten thousand years ago, Cybertron, a planet in the Small Magellanic Cloud. The race of sentient machines that inhabit this planet have became engulfed in war. At the center of that war is the All Spark, an ancient artifact of unimaginable power, that according to legend gave life to the Cybertronian race. The All Spark is guarded by the Autobots, led by Sentinel Prime. His second in command, Optimus Prime, stands guard at the temple in Simfur where the All Spark is housed, along with Bumblebee and five other unnamed Autobots. Explosions can be heard all around them, and Optimus tells them to be ready. As his mouthplate shuts and Bumblebee's battle visor come down, the barrier they had erected is blasted through, and they are face to face with Megatron. Megatron tells Optimus that they can do this the easy or hard way, either way is fine with him. Megatron tells his lieutenant, who is later revealed to be Barricade, to get word to Shockwave that the All Spark is almost theirs. As Megatron boasts that he will take on the seven Autobots alone, he is reinforced by a horde of Decepticons who lay siege to the position. The Autobots fall one by one, with only Optimus and Bumblebee left standing, and as Optimus prepares to take on the last of their attackers, Bumblebee engages Megatron solo despite Optimus's pleas not to. Bumblebee holds his own while trash talking, albeit briefly, before Megatron catches him and violently rip out his vocal processor and dropping his battered body to the ground, telling him to make a wise crack now. As Megatron moves on the damaged Optimus, Prime pushes a button and the All Spark is launched into the blackness of space. Megatron screams in anger and prepares to to fight Optimus when Autobot reinforcements arrive. As Megatron stands over Bumblebee, he and Optimus argue back and forth with Megatron telling Optimus the All Spark would be his as the title card comes up. Present day, Langley Air Force Base. An MH-53E Pave Low touches down as assigned. Unbeknownst to those inside, this is not a normal military aircraft. As it sits on the pad, it remotely accesses the bases databases. However, they are detected mid-breach, and as the humans scramble to stop the hack(which they cannot tell where it is coming from), a nearby Buffalo MPV transforms, unseen, and fires on the base, causing massive distraction. Unfortunately for the intruders, the NSA also caught on and severed the connection with them only getting half of the information, and in they confusion they slink off into the night. In Shaker Heights, Ohio, young Sam Witwicky is woken by his father Ron, telling him he has a surprise for him. Ron takes Sam outside and says "happy birthday", revealing a yellow and black beaten up Nissan Skyline GT-R, telling him he won it in a contest, although he didn't really remember entering it, but he got a phone call the other day and they delivered it that morning, it was sitting in the driveway when he woke up. In Hawaii, Captain William Lennox is called into the commander's office, his CO telling him to take a seat and then leaving the room. In walks Tom Banachek, who introduces himself and asks Lennox if he knows what his teams job is. After giving a standard military answer, Banachek tells Lennox that he is wrong. Lennox, he says, is the latest in a long line, handpicked out of ROTC, to lead a unit with a very specific task. Lennox didn't know it, but he has been training his entire career, along with his team, also handpicked out of training, to tackle extraterrestrial threats should they arise. Back in Ohio, it is Sam's turn to do a project about his family history. He tells the story of his great great grandfather, an explorer who was attempting to reach the Arctic Circle. He tells a story about his grandfather apparently going insane after making a discovery in the frozen wilderness, ranting about an "ice monster" he thought he had discovered. Also in class is Sam's crush Carly Spencer, who was rather unimpressed by his presentation. In Washington, D.C., Secretary of Defense Tom Keller briefs a room full of bright eyed NSA analysists on the security breach in their systems, unaware that the super top secret organization known as Sector Seven had already picked up on it as well and dispatched their assets. A helicopter carrying Captain Lennox and his men flies across mainland USA, and he briefs his team on what their actual purpose is, and they do not really believe it, Lennox himself having trouble coming to grips with it.He tells them they are to investigate, but he is not sure how they are going to do it or even where to really start, outside of going to the source. They touch down at Langley Air Force Base and survey the damage caused Sledge's attack. Back in Ohio, Sam and his friend Miles arrive at a lake party, and have trouble fitting in. Sam tries to strike up a conversation with Carly, but is rebuffed by her boyfriend Trent. Sam and Trent get in a bit of a word fight, but Carly intervenes before it can come to blows. However, Trent and Carly get in a fight over some pretty blatant chauvinism, and Sam sees an opportunity to give her a ride home. Back at the NSA, analyst Maggie Madsen and her small group realize there is something to this hack way above their-or anyone on Earth's-skill level, and she discreetly makes a copy and smuggles it out, heading to acquaintance Glen Whitmann, a fellow hacker's, home. In Ohio, Sam and Carly have a heart to heart before she gets out of his car and goes inside. Back at home, Sam is awakened in the middle of the night by his car seemingly being stolen, and he does his best to follow it. Catching up to it at a junkyard, he sees-much to his disbelief-the car seemingly stand up and shine a light into the sky. Sam is then chased by the guard dogs, saved by his car, which he does his best to ignore what he saw, still treating it like a theft. The car drives off and Sam is arrested by the police who had just shown up. In suburban Virginia, Maggie arrives at Glen's house and convinces him to take a look at the data. Neither one can really believe what they are seeing, but before any headway can be made the house is raided by the FBI, Maggie having stolen the files not going unnoticed. Sam and Ron get home from the police station, and as Sam is getting cleaned up his Skyline pulls back into the driveway. He runs out after it and, seeing there is no one inside, runs away in shock. In the middle of town, as he is hiding under an overpass, he is approached by a black sportscar that turns into a giant, ill-tempered robot. Sam runs in terror, but is chased by the monster, wanting to know about his grandfather's glasses. Running into and knocking over Carly, they are saved at the last minute by Sam's car, who knocks over the monster car. During the ensuing chase, Sam's car plays the song "Relax" over the stereo to try to get the terrified kids to calm down. Driving into an industrial park, the car waits for their pursuer, revealing itself after throwing Sam and Carly from the car, transforming into a giant robot. A fierce battle rages that the kids can just sit and watch in disbelief, with Sam's car eventually emerging the victor. As the pursuer lay in a twisted heap on the ground, Sam and Carly try to figure out what is going on, but information is hard to come by as the robot can only talk through his radio. Eventually, it earns their trust enough for them to get in, with Sam having to plead with Carly a bit more, but she eventually relents. On their way to their destination, however, she makes a crack about the crappy look of the car and it suddenly stops, leaving them stranded in a tunnel. It eventually returns, scanning a new Nissan GT-R, and Sam and Carly cannot believe their eyes as they get in. They are taken to a hill where they watch as a rain of meteor-like objects rain down on Earth. After the beings have landed and disguised themselves, Sam's car takes them to a rendezvous point where they finally get introduced properly. The leader introduces himself as Optimus Prime, and tells Sam and Carly the car is named Bumblebee, and that he had been his guardian for quite some time. They are on Earth because an ancient artifact known as the All Spark had landed here eons ago, and Sam has the knowledge of where its location lies. We go to a flashback, back to Cybertron. Optimus calls out for Ratchet who tends to the badly damaged Bumblebee and pursues Megatron. As Megatron is getting ready to personally retrieve the cube, Optimus catches up with him and prevents him from doing so. In his stead Megatron sends one of his minions, Icepick, to track it and relay its location as Megatron tussles with Optimus. Back in the present, Optimus says that he assumes Icepick was either damaged or destroyed because aside from giving the cube's approximate location Megatron never learned where exactly it had landed. Optimus explains that the search had been narrowed to this and a few neighboring systems, eventually learning it was on Earth. Sam asks why Bumblebee cannot talk like the rest of them, and we see in another flashback that, despite being damaged, Bumblebee offered to go after the Cube himself. He crash landed on Earth like the Cube, but was knocked offline, his injuries slowly healing beyond what Ratchet was able to fix, back to his normal self outside of his voice processor, as he lay dormant until the early 20th century. When he came back on, the cube was nowhere to be seen and he began his search, not alerting the other Autobots until it was necessary to make sure the Decepticons did not find it as well. Bee settled into watching over Archibald and his descendants, and it was not until he happened upon Barricade that he realized it was time to call in reinforcements. Back in the present, Optimus explains that the location of the cube was imprinted on Archibald's glasses and that it is imperative that they locate them. In the American wilderness, another fireball comes in hot but does not crash land like the others. It slowly comes to the ground and, after skulking around for a bit in the shadows, scans a truck. At the Witwicky house, Sam and frantically searches for his backpack containing the glasses. Optimus sends Carly up to help, but some mishaps knock the power out. As Ron and Judy come in to check on Sam, they interrupt the two but Judy tells Sam the backpack is on the table. As Sam and Carly go to retrieve them, there is a knock at the door. Agent Seymour Simmons and a large group of what looks like federal agents take Sam and Carly. They are rescued by the Autobots, but Sam and Carly are reacquired, along with Bumblebee. As they are being prepared to be taken away, Simmons gets a call and tells them that their military assets are en route. In the NSA office, Tom Banachek pulls in Keller for a meeting and explains exactly what is going on as the virus the Decepticons planted knocks out global communications. At the FBI, Secretary Keller comes in and tells Maggie and Glenn it is time to go. Everyone rendezvous at FirstEnergy Dam, where everyone learns the complete truth, at least so far as everyone knows. The cube landed in this spot thousands of years ago, and some time after its discovery in the early part of the country, a president had the dam built around it to hide its energy. Alongside it was an alien who they are told all of modern technology is reverse-engineered from, who Sam informs them is a being known as Icepick, who was one of Megatron's warriors sent to retrieve the cube. Just then, outside, another alien, Starscream, fired on the dam and Icepick begin to thaw. Not knowing what to do, Sam begs for them to release Bumblebee. Bee makes his way to the cube chamber and is able to activiate a failsafe which shrinks it down into manageable size. It then comes over the radio that Icepick is awake and laying waste to the chamber. As Starscream gloats about how Sledge had narrowed down the location enough for them to wait for the Autobots to lead them to it, the same truck pulls up next to him and transforms, revealing Megatron. Starscream tells Megatron he should have stayed in space looking from planet to planet, he and his team had found the cube just fine on their own. Back in the Icepicks chamber, Bumblebee discreetly hands the cube to Sam and engages Icepick. After some trash talk, with Icepick telling him he will finish what Megatron started, they tussle. The confined spaces make it hard for either to gain a true upper hand. But after Icepick sees the cube, he is distracted enough for Bee to hit Icepick with the Stinger and then shoot Icepick point blank in the face with his cannon, killing him. Lennox tells Bumblebee they need to get the cube to safety and suggests a convoy to Akron where a detail from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, which will need to be notified somehow, can be dispatched, meet them, and get the cube to safety. Unbeknownst to anyone, the cube-now out of its housing-has spawned some feral Transformers. On the way, they meet up with the other Autobots but realize the Decepticons are hot on their trail. Sledge transforms on the highway, destroying a bus, but is met by Optimus, who after a brief fight kills the over matched Decepticon. However, as Prime transforms and starts to head towards the group, he is t-boned by Barricade. While a straight fight between the two would leave Barricade easily overpowered, the sneak attack did do some damage to Prime(and Barricade as well), but enough to let him fight on a more even footing. However, Prime is able to overcome this and leaves Barricade in a heap on the ground, like earlier, but does not have time to finish him off. In downtown Akron, the group looks for the best place to have the meetup with the Air Force, when they are besieged by the Decepticons. Starscream fires on the group from the air, which blows off Bumblebee's legs and kills Outback. As the Autobots make a perimeter, Megatron arrives. Jazz orders them to fall back, but stands with Hound, Pipes, and Huffer to lay down cover fire. A blast from the fusion cannon incapacitates Jazz and Hound. Pipes and Huffer move in for the attack but Megatron swiftly catches them. Holding one in each hand, he forces Pipes to watch as he crushes Huffer's head with his bare hands, then morphs his arm and fusion cannon into one with a pincer to hold, firing on point blank, disintegrating the upper half of Pipes body, before nonchalantly dropping both husks to the ground. As Hound and Jazz recover, Megatron walks past not even caring enough to kill them, telling someone off screen that they can do what they wish. As Lennox and his men battle against Dreadwing with Ironhide, Cliffjumper, Windcharger, and Fizzle's help, Blackout lands in the distance. Rollbar and Tailgate go to intercept, but Ratchet calls them off, telling them they need to make their way to Jazz and Hound. Ironhide tells Ratchet they have it under control for the time being. As Jazz and Hound come around, they are ambushed by Tarantulus. Hound makes sure to note he does not like creatures like this. As they fight, Tarantulus has the upper hand due to the damage done by Megatron's fusion cannon. As it is going in for the kill however Ratchet intervenes, giving enough of a distraction for hound to shove a grenade in Tarantulus's mouth and kick him up into the air, with Jazz using his magnet to keep his mouth shut, unable to spit it out, exploding and killing the creepy Decepticon, his body flopping to the ground. Ratchet asks if they are OK to move, because they need to regroup. Falling back to Sam and Lennox's location, they see Starscream looking to make another attack run and Megatron walking down the other street. Back at the dam, Keller, Simmons, Maggie, and Glenn work out a way to get Morse code out to the Air Force Base, but they are attacked by the All Spark Mutants. Back in Akron, the Autobots and their small group of human allies are trying to make a stand, but despite their numerical superiority they are outgunned. Lennox gives Sam a flair and tells him to get to the highest building, and Ironhide tells a group to go with and give him cover fire. Ratchet says he has to stay put while tending to the injured Bumblebee. Cliffjumper, Windcharger, Gears, Brawn, Fizzle, Rollbar, Hardhead, and Tailgate go with Sam while Jazz, Ironhide, and Hound form a perimeter around Ratchet and Bumblebee and give suppressing fire to Lennox and his men against Dreadwing. Carly has the idea to put Bumblebee on a tow truck and get him off the battlefield, and is able to tell Sam before he runs off that she is glad she got in the car with him. The group at the dam, despite fighting some All Spark mutants, was able to get a message out to the Air Force. A group of F-22s and a helicopter squadron is en route. Sam and his group make their way to the building, but Megatron has caught up to them. He uses the fusion cannon which hits Tailgate diretly in the spark, killing him instantly, and throwing Cliffjumper back, taking him temporarily offline. As Sam runs up the stairs, Megatron unsheaths his mace and brings it down directly onto Rollbar, killing him by crushing him. The force of the blow also knocks Hardhead over, who trash talks as Megatron steps on his chest, and slowly crushes it, and Hardhead's spark along with it. Megatron calls for Blackout to come and take care of the rest of the annoyances while he retrieves the Cube. As Blackout engages Windcharger, Gears, Brawn, and Fizzle, Megatron chases Sam up the building. As Blackout decapitates Windcharger with his Blade, he simultaneously shoots Gears with his cannon directly into the spark, killing him. Megatron gives Sam an ultimatum, hand over the cube or die, just as the helicopters and fighter jets arrive. Starscream takes to the sky to take out the jets while Megatron deals with the helicopters. Back on the ground, Dreadwing is taking on the group of Autobots on the ground. They are able to do enough damage that Carly, driving in reverse with Bumblebee in tow, backs into battle unnoticed and Bee is able to land a direct shot to Dreadwing's exposed spark, killing him. The group is badly damaged from the prolonged battle with Blackout and Dreadwing, however, and can only watch as Optimus drives by, back in the battle, while Ratchet tends to them. As Fizzle tries to flee, transforming and attempting to drive off and get Blackout to chase, Blackout is quick enough to grab him and throw him in the air directly into a fusion cannon blast from Megatron, which distentigrates Fizzle. Moving onto Brawn, laying on the ground, who is saved by the timely arrival of Prime. As Optimus battles Blackout, Megatron gives Sam one last chance, who upon refusing is met with a flail which crushes the part of the building he was standing on. As Sam falls, Optimus breaks contact with Blackout to rescue Sam, dropping Blackout to the pavement. As Brawn attempts to talk tough, Blackout, laying on the ground, shoots Brawn in the head. Optimus is able to catch Sam and prepares to do battle with Megatron. He tells sam that if he cannot win, shove the All Spark into his chest, he will sacrifice himself to keep Megatron from getting it. Hound, now walking, makes his way over to Blackout. Pulling out his pistol, he shoots Blackout in the spark, one time for each comrade they had lost that day. Jazz says that was probably overkill to which Hound and Ironhide reply in unison that "no it wasn't". Out of the corner of his eye, Hound sees Cliffjumper moving, slightly, and calls "MEDIC" for Ratchet, before telling Jazz he guesses he did go one bullet too many. Back at the dam, the crew finishes off the last All Spark mutation before sitting down in front of a news report, which shows the warzone Akron has become. Optimus and Megatron battle in the street, and Jazz orders the rest to keep out and cover Optimus from Starscream up above, who is busy finishing the last of the F-22s off. It is a fairly even fight, until Starscream makes an attack run, avoiding the Autobot fire and hitting both Optimus and Megatron with missiles, not really caring which one he hits. However, Ironhide and Hound are able to tandem well placed shots, hitting Starscream in the fuselage and wing, making him crash and taking him out of the battle. Sam, losing his composure for a moment, runs towards Optimus, but is intercepted by Megatron who takes the cubs and knocks Sam aside violently, only saved by Bumblebee breaking his restraints and lunging with one arm off the truck to catch him. Megatron, holding the cube, gloats over the Autobots, saying there is nothing keeping him from becoming supremely powerful now. He opens his spark chamber and, as Optimus pleads not to, attempts to merge the All Spark with his own spark and become omnipotent. However, it does not go as planned, and Megatron is overwhelmed by the sheer power, blowing a hole out his back and falling to the ground dead, his spark extinguished as the All Spark is left as a single, charred shard of what it used to be. The battle over, Optimus gives a somber speech about their fallen friends. During the voiceover, a military convoy approaches what they think is the dead Barricade, who springs to life and attacks, decimating his would-be captors. Transforming and driving off, he sends a message to his true superior, telling Shockwave that Megatron has failed just as Shockwave predicted he would; Starscream regroups and departs Earth for space. As Ratchet tends to Bumblebee and Cliffjumper, Bumblebee reveals that his voice has returned, and asks permission to stay with Sam, which Sam and Optimus both willingly agree to as Sam and Carly embrace. On an undisclosed military base, the remaining Autobots and Lennox are chatting when Keller arrives and tells them that Lennox is being put in charge of a joint human/alien task force to respond to any future Decepticon threats that might arrive, while Optimus-surrounded by his remaining teammates-sends a message to Autobots wandering the stars, as we see Sam and Carly telling Ron and Judy there is something they need to tell them. Ron wants to know what happened to his beater Skyline and where he got the slick new GT-R from, Judy whispering in his ear that "her dad was a car thief you know". Carly asks what she said and Judy says "oh nothing", trying to laugh it off. Sam tells them to get back on topic and tells them there is someone he wants them to meet, and a newly repaired Bumblebee transforming and greeting them, telling Ron is nice to be able to finally talk to him face to face, as Ron and Judy both faint. Autobots: Optimus Prime(Leader)-same character model just with a G1 color scheme and transforms into a Kenworth W900. Voiced by Peter Cullen. Jazz-same character model with a G1 color scheme(1, 2 and a Audi TT alt-mode. Voiced by Darius McCrary. Ironhide-same character model just with a G1 color scheme, transforms into Freightliner SportChassis P2-350. Voiced by Jess Harnell. Ratchet-same character model and alt-mode, just with G1 color scheme. Voiced by Robert Foxworth. Bumblebee-same robot mode, Nissan GTR. Mute at first, then voiced by Dean Winters. Cliffjumper-same character model as Traxx from AOE with a different head based on WFC Bumblebee's. Alt-mode is a Volkswagen New Beetle. Voiced by John Leguizamo. Hound-same as Age of Extinction with the Unimog alt mode from The Last Knight, just a transport Unimog and non-military. Voiced by John Goodman. Windcharger-uses modified Jazz model with different head and kibble placement. Transforms into Ford Mustang GT. Voiced by Mark Ryan. Dies. Gears-uses modified Ironhide model with different head and kibble placement. Transforms into single cab GMC Sierra Z71. Voiced by Mark Ryan. Dies. Huffer-uses modified Ironhide model, transforms into Mitsubishi Fuso. Voiced by Mark Ryan. Dies. Pipes-same design and alt mode as Huffer, just predominantly blue. Voiced by Mark Ryan. Dies. Outback-uses modified Ratchet model with different head and body kibble. Transforms into Jeep Wrangler. Voiced by Mark Ryan. Dies. Brawn-same as Outback. Voiced by Mark Ryan. Dies. Fizzle-uses modified Jazz model, transforms into Cadillac XLR. Voiced by Mark Ryan. Dies. Rollbar-same as Outback. Voiced by Mark Ryan. Dies. Hardhead-uses a modified Cliffjumper character model with different head and kibble placement. Transforms into a Volkswagen Eos. Voiced by Mark Ryan. Dies. Tailgate-uses modified Jazz model with different head and kibble placement. Transforms into Pontiac Solstice. Voiced by Mark Ryan. Dies. Decepticons: Megatron(Leader)-uses Josh Nizzi's concept art with a Transformers Animated color scheme. Has a Cybertronian jet alternate form to start, switches to a Mack Titan once arriving on Earth. Voiced by Frank Welker. Dies. Starscream-same character model and alt-mode, just with a G1 color scheme. Voiced by Charlie Adler. Blackout-same as movie. Voiceed by Mark Ryan. Dies. Barricade-same robot mode as movie and not a police car. Transforms into an Ascari KZ1. Voiced by Robin Atkins Downes. Sledge-Same as movie Bonecrusher. Voiced by Mark Ryan. Dies. Dreadwing-Design mix of Starscream and Sledge. Transforms into a Cybertronian jet. Dies. Tarantulas-uses design based on this concept art, just with a tarantula alt-mode. Voiced by Mark Ryan. Dies. Icepick-same base model as Cliffjumper, just more jagged edges and with no visible Earth kibble, a different head, and much darket paint scheme. Voiced by Mark Ryan. Dies. Humans: Sam Witwicky-Shia LeBeouf Carly Spencer-Leighton Meester Seymour Simmons-John Turturro William Lennox-Josh Duhamel Robert Epps-Tyrese Gibson Jorge Figueroa-Amaury Nolasco Ben Donnelly-Zack Ward Glen Whitmann-Anthony Anderson Maggie Madsen-Rachael Taylor Tom Banachek-Michaele O'Neill Ron Witwicky-Kevin Dunn Judy Witwicky-Julie White President William Bolling-Bernie Mac
Honestly, this was pretty good until the final battle. One of the strengths of the first movie was keeping the cast smaller, and the Autobots as more heroic. Pipes, Huffer, Tarantulas, and others are brought up just in time to see them diced, and the Autobots only kill in the heat of battle (Hound's kills here strike me as a little bit overkill, pun not intended). I would agree that the story of the movie itself was fine, and just needed more development for the core Autobots and Decepticons. Megatron comes across as a little more stupid here, willingly merging the Allspark with his spark, instead of simply using it to activate machines and recruit them as new Decepticons.
I was going for a "Autobots are just outgunned". Outside of Optimus who was born on another level and Ironhide and Hound, they aren't really soldiers. They are a resistance movement who will learn how to fight and be field combatants as time goes on. Basically a version of the story Animated told. As for Megatron, while Optimus knew they could not handle the power of the All Spark. But Megatron through his arrogance thought he could harness its power and merge with it and become a supremely powerful being.
Those serve as decent concepts, but I personally don't feel they're really conveyed all that well. A movie requires the audience to become invested in the characters and what happens to them. Cutting down the cast to no more than ten Autobots and introducing them all earlier on allows for that better than merely introducing them for the first time in the middle of an action sequence. Characters like Tailgate and Tarantulas don't seem to really do anything tgat important before they get the axe and end up feeling superfluous, which is never something you want your characters to be. Megatron's death also feels off since we're supposed to take him seriously as a threat, and yet he stupidly ignores the dangers of the thing he is obsessed with. You're left with the feeling that the Autobots could have avoided all the death and destruction just by giving Megatron the Allspark to begin with. Don't get me wrong, there are strong concepts here, but it doesn't really come across, and the final battle feels like more of a mess. With some rewriting, it could work as an improvement over the first movie.
