For any TF continuinity do you think Liam Neeson would make a good Optimus Prime voice? Me personally I think he would.

 

agreed

 

Same here. I especially like Mr. Neeson's performance in Taken.

 

I think Bay mentioned using him in the first movie before fans rallied for Cullen.

 

I'd actually like to have his voice used for, say, Galvatron. To me, Neeson's voice has the exact opposite quality of Morgan Freeman's. Morgan Freeman can tell you he's going to stab you in the face, cut out your entrails, and wear them as a necklace, and make it sound pleasant. Liam Neeson can tell you he's going to take you out to a great dinner and then give you a big hug because you're such a swell guy, and make it sound pants-crappingly terrifying.

 

No, I don't think he'd be the greatest OP. But I think that he could possibly make a good Alpha Trion.

 

I'd rather see Neeson as someone else, say, Alpha Trion or Sentinel Prime.

 

I'm going to disagree here...

I for one, really thought Liam Neeson would be an awesome Aslan in the Narnia movies (Aslan being, like Optimus, a similar wise father-figure/Christ/mentor type character who benefits from a rich sonorous deep voice). In the end though, I was disappointed with his performance, which was infected with a banal sort of mildness that made him... well... dull.

I like Liam Neeson as an actor, but I suspect he has a hard time really getting into voice acting roles (or perhaps just fantastical talking animal/robot/jedi roles) hence the blandness of his performance. I suspect his Optimus bould be similarly flat and soporific.

He SHOULD be a great choice for the role, but based on past performance, I think he'd sleepwalk through it.

zmog

 

Yeah that would be cool.

 

Actually I think Liam Neeson would make a great Alpha Trion. His voice would be perfect for the role.

 

No, just because at this point, for films, Peter Cullen is too iconic as the voice for Prime at this point. Neeson would be good as Magnus or Alpha Trion, but not Prime

 

problem with him, is he seems to have just one voice; himself. so anytime he voices a character, i know it's him. and that'd be the problem.

with peter cullen, we hear the voice of optimus prime. not the voice of some famous actor.

THAT is why optimus prime can not be voiced by just any one. it's the same with superman, or any other iconic character. with famous actors, you will see let's say Nick Cage, in the superman costume, or in the ghost rider costume, and NOT see superman. that's why reeves was such a wonderful superman. because he was an unknown. we saw HIM fly. not Sylvester Stallone, or Arnold, or any one else. we saw HIM fly, we saw HIM be superman, we saw HIM in the costume.

captain america had Tommy Lee Jones in it, i don't even know what his character's name is, and nor do i care, i only saw Jones. he was awesome, but he was still Jones.

the same goes for transformers. optimus prime is an iconic character. if we want to believe that, that voice IS optimus, then it needs to be a good voice, that is relatively unknown.

IF james earl jones, was to voice optimus, for example, we'd be all hearing darth vader, or mufasa.

you can not take an iconic character, and put Arnold into it, look at Mr. Freeze he played. did any one actually go "oh that's mr. freeze!" no, we all saw arnold.

it doesn't matter how good of an actor or actress they are, we still see them.

we need to hear optimus prime's voice. no matter who plays him. and not the actor's.

I like Neeson. but he does have a habit of always playing the same "Mentor" character.

which is why i agree, he'd be a perfect Alpha Trion. but a great Optimus Prime? no, because he'd be Neeson the entire time he speaks his lines. Sentinal Prime's voice in DOTM, was any one unaware of who he was voiced by? NO. while i was in the theater *saw it twice* both times, people said "hey! it's spock!"

how ever it still worked, because he was playing a relatively unknown character. and he played it well. but if he tried to voice Optimus, it just wouldn't of worked as well.

 

Liam Neeson as Kup and Bradley Cooper as Rodimus  

 

With Sharlto Copley as Whirl and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson as Roadbuster.

 

 

Possible Neeson TF roles:

Overlord (though whenever I read LSOTW, I imagine Hugo Weaving voicing him)
Jhiaxus (G2 version)
Leo Prime
Lord Zarak with Welker's Doctor Claw as Scorponok
Fortress Maximus

 

I'd prefer him as Magnus. Cullen is too well-entrenched in the role of Optimus.

 

It would need to be someone smart, but somewhat grizzled and with an aggressive edge... Galvatron? Straxus? Zarak?

You know, Zarak could work. Rich human industrialist, stealing and reverse engineering cybertronian technology to get rich, ends up modifying himself for power and profit, becomes a headmaster and builds a Scorponok battle mech.

 

Isn't that pretty much exactly what IDW did with Scorponok?  

Y'know... that works almost disturbingly well.

Except Faceman is a bit more Hubcap than Hotrod... but whatever.  

zmog

 

No. He's a decent real life actor, but it doesn't translate well to his voice acting imo.