This is something that was kind of nagging me. I was watching through the film the other day and when it got to Megatron amputating Jazz's lower half, I noticed, its really quite boring. The scene doesn't make you feel sorry for the 'bot, it doesn't make you mourn. Its kind of distant and univentful, like a stuntman getting a beat down in a martial arts film. Jazz just became a 'mook'. Now, something that occured to me was this. Aside from the fact the Autobots were poorly introduced, poorly written and had less lines that car salesman from the start of the film, could his death of been made to seem any more.... 'interesting'? If this has been brought up before... meh, i dun care Now, discuss
Probably if the camera was closer to Jazz when it happened, so you could probably watch his face while he died. Maybe if they also showed a closer view of the blue stuff (energon? his spark?) coming out of his midsection. Maybe even a cry of pain. There's a lot that they could have done
Well, I thought Jazz was the only Autobot who was poorly written, and the problem is a culture vulture like him is more difficult to characterise than Captain Optimus, Bumblebee.T., Doc Ratchet or Clint Eastwood. I felt Ironhide should have sacrificed himself considering he is the one who's not sure about protecting humans, is an older friend of Optimus and actually took command when he saw Starscream. Orci and Kurtzman chose Jazz because they thought audiences would like him as much as Optimus and Bumblebee, but they admitted on the official forum his death came across as unimportant.
It wasn't an action-packed death, but you did feel a sense of mourn when Ironhide was carrying Jazz near the end of the film.
Would have liked to see Jazz do a little more cool stuff in combat during the movie. Stunts like kicking off Brawl's shoulder cannon. As a first lieutenant, I expect Jazz to be quite capable in a fight, even though he's small. Some of the things I imagined Jazz doing: ramming Barricade off the road during the highway chase, taking a few more shots at Brawl or even Starscream or Blackout, taking out Dispensor or the other Allspark robots. If you can create this image of him in the film, as the bot who's a legit badass despite being small, the audience would care more when Megs kills him.
I felt more emotion in Ironhide in the game =/ I was hoping for a mechanical Legolas, but alas. Jazz fan disappointed.
Yeah Jazz definitely should have had a few more scenes to let people warm to him a little more before offing him. I always thought they should have had a part with him in the backyard scene, maybe something like him hiding and hearing music coming from an open window of the house next door to Sam's place. Then slowly the beat gets to him and he starts dancing (also a little nod to the dancing robot commercial) before the guy/girl listening to the music passes by the window and almost spots him. When they do a double take all they see is a Pontiac parked outside. They could have trimmed down some of the other Autobot hiding stuff for this part. He was definitely the most underused Autobot, even Ratchet has way more lines than him. Therefore there's just no zing to it when he's killed.
Something along the lines of your idea would have been cool too, Thundercrackah. It would endear Jazz to the audience. I'm reminded of TF Animated Jazz, who came across as cool and likeable from his first episode in the series. Movie Jazz needed to be a bit more like that. For those who watch Animated: "Traffic Lights. Solid!"
Well he did grunt a little when he was torn apart, but what bothered me was that Optimus blew off his death pretty quickly. Aside from that, it wouldve been awesome to see Arcee get torn in 2
It more reminded me of a kid holding a broken toy. Specifically a Jazz Transformer figure he just broke in two, but didn't really care cos he much prefers his Optimus Prime toy. But definately, a close up, a scream and one of the autobots going 'JAAAAAAAZZZZZZZZZZZZ!' with out going seriously over the top. It just felt like nobody seemed too bothered about his death really.
Gotta agree with the general consensus here; even as a fan of the movie, it's difficult to argue that Jazz's death didn't go off a bit half-cocked. As has been mentioned, the death itself was hardly given any dramatic weight. It just sort of happens, cut in there in the middle of the big action scene with no fanfare at all, and then brushed away offhandedly; compare that to the anguish and drama over Bumblebee getting captured or losing his legs, and the contrast is especially pronounced. But then, it's not like he had ever come across as an important character anyway. I've always been curious about Bob Orci's comment that Jazz was considered the character audiences would miss most after Bumblebee and Prime; earlier drafts must have given Jazz a lot more to do, because he was by some distance the least developed Autobot in the final cut, never even getting a camera close-up, let alone any important plot or character points. I agree with Alienbot; killing Ironhide would have worked much better. He had a much more developed and memorable personality, seemed like a much more important figure - heck, they could have even worked "such heroic nonsense" in there and made it a full-blown homage for extra points. As it was, all we got was a damp squib of a death that didn't even seem like it was meant to mean anything...
jazz was actually my favorite bot in the first movie and i was really upset when he diei was just like why not bumblebee? i actually liked him cause he was small and comedic and i hope the twins are like jazz in some ways.
if he had been given a more prominent role within the film it would have been easier to mourn him upon his death, but he had little development(time and budget constraints) and his death was so sudden, it was a case of "well that happened, what's going on over here"
that was the first mistake the movie verse made. but definately not the last. I have to say it is atleast refreshing that of all the topics this is one that really kinda draws people into the middle about the movie. It was a horrible way to dispatch the character and makes the whole excuse well we had to kill one autobot seem shallow. I get the feeling they were more or less ordered to do it last minute or so. It just seems that way cause it is such an after thought. The way it happens just seems like um I dont know the person in charge of the direction of the film may not know the subject matter he is toying with ( pun very intended on so many levels ). The movie verse is not my favorite version of TF by any stretch but its not the lack of familiarity in the designs but in the characters personality that kills it for me. This movie is just a bad ass explosion fest with little depth to what has been a very deep franchise just not a very cohesively deep franchise. I have been thinking if they can bring back carnage in the comic and megs what the hell why not Jazz and give him a grand reentrance into part three as a deciple of the all spark or something. He could come back like an all powerful angelic bot much in the way gandolf comes back in the third movie of lotr. I dunno Jazz was one of the few I really liked pre movie launch and bone crusher was the other so you can imagine my dismay at both their departures Oh thanks now im going to be laughing everytime i see that part. LOL ( reminder to call hasbro about jazz puppet idea )
