It speaks volumes about how pathetic the Decepticons have become when even the guy who is not even a Decepticon relies more on the humans as a more effective means to take out Autobots.

Seriously, don't the humans in AoE have a higher kill count of Autobots than the Decepticons across all four movies do?

 

That could work if the filmmakers gave a damn about character based interdynamics and conflict, and just let the story flow from there.

Every time I bring up the fact that the character's motivations in a scene are unclear, all I get are responses saying "Well, they don't have to explain why they're doing these things. It should just be clear that [insert fanon here] is what's going on in their heads. That's why Optimus was saving Sam by chasing after Megatron with Sam in tow and then the movie changed it's mind and Megatron was behind them," only you absolutely do have to explain these things.

Clarity is at the heart of drama. If I have to guess at why characters are doing things in a scene, then I'm not invested in seeing them fail or succeed, now am I? Your audience shouldn't be left grasping at straws unless you're intentionally being mysterious. Your characters goals should be clearly tied to deeply rooted motivations, and if those goals change, the impetus for those changes has to be shown.

Note that I'm not advocating expository speeches before/during every fight; all of this can be shown visually. Look at the opening scene (not the news footage, the hunting in the woods) from "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes", and see how it tells the audience everything they need to know about the characters, what they're feeling (and, more importantly, why they're feeling that way) at any particular moment, and the interdynamics of their relationships, all with minimal use of subtitles, instead letting their expressions, gestures, and actions tell their story. That's masterful, purposeful cinema right there.

Also note that there is no hard and fast recipe for a good movie. But when you're trying to invest your audience in a traditional narrative, these are just basic guidelines and tools for how to do so.

 

That isn't true at all. You have the other two seekers, the Combaticons, the Stunticons, the Predacons, Rumble, the DJD, (Oh god, I would do sooooo many things to see them on the big screen) Cylconus, Thunderwing, Slipstream, Scourge and the Sweeps, Dreadwing, the Insecticons, Blitzwing.....

There are so damn many Decepticons the Bayverse could use, it isn't even funny. If there's a lack of good bad guys, it's because Michael Bay and Krueger and co prefer flailing, impotent genericons who get killed after five seconds, don't even have names, and only ever existed in the first place to make the Autobots look extra cool over actual characters that would necessitate hiring voice-actors to provide lines beyond garbled gibberish and story-elements beyond "wow blumbelee look very cool whil kill eight billion Decpeticon at once".

Not because he's killed off all potential bad-guys.

As a matter of fact, that in itself is probably not doing the Bay movies any favors critically....

 

So why didn't they do them for AoE? There was literally no reason they had to write themselves into a corner that they did.

Except for the part where the movie is more about Autobots vs. humans and the Decepticons pretty much don't exist anymore.

Which is also the problem with Kruger: he doesn't give two shits about these films. There's a ton of bad guys - hell, Overlord just coming down and being fucking evil for the sake of being fucking evil would have been better than Lockdown - that Kruger isn't going to care about. Lockdown only got through because AoE is a rip off of Animated because not-Bulkhead and not-Prowl are also present to fill out the team, the only subsitution difference from Animated at all is Ratchet out for Crosshairs who is kind of a grouch nonetheless.

 

That.... That was my whole point, man.

Though I will fight you to the death for insulting Movie Lockdown, who is one of, like, three genuinely great things the Movieverse has produced.

 

The three greatest things the movieverse has produces are Landmine, the reissue of the 2006 Classics Optimus Prime without having to sacrifice a bodily organ, and ROTF Bludgeon I will fight you if you disagree.

 

 

 

But can all this be possible and still not exceed $300 million budget? I don't mean to regurgitate the same thing over and over, but every time there's a robot on screen its been said it costs a lot.

 

Wrong, you filthy casual. The three best things the Movieverse has produced are the ROTF leader Optimus Prime mold, Movie Lockdown, and the Forest Battle scene.

I will 460 noscope you and meme at you in thirteen different languages. Come @ me, m8.

 

Well, reaction shots and more clear cut action scenes that aren't just everything remotely "cool" looking and the kitchen sink with no order and flow actually ought to be cheaper. Especially as technology continues to advance.

And besides, the human story ought to operate on the same principles.

 

The trick will be avoiding cool shots, but then again most transformers art cool anyway lol.

Surely close up shots are more expensive.

 

As 'cool' as it is they need to stray away from, killing of the bad guys 24/7. Give leeway.

 

I'm hoping this series can have a Fast & Furious revival when it comes to the critical reviews. 1st 4 get mediocre to bad reviews and then 5 & 6 get great reviews. It also needs to happen if they're going to get the box office up because he bad reviews definitely hurt AoE at the domestic box office.

 

Which is more expensive? A robot's expressive face, or a shot with literally every single robot you can jam in, doing so many different things that it just becomes an impossible to follow mess, all rendered at the same quality as that robot's face?

Good expression is a matter of rigging the model's face, not the actual animation.

 

Well the Fallen was an obscure character that nobody expect hardcore fans knew. so if they can take an obscure character like the fallen, they can take another obscure character to be the next big bad

 

I'd say it's more expensive to have a group of transformers than a shot of say Shockwaves expression.

 

I'm not so sure if it was the reviews so much as franchise fatigue. With the films coming out so close together and the film formula being the same every time it get's harder to get people excited over a movie that's almost identical to the film they just saw a few years ago.

I think part of what helped Fast and Furious come back as a franchise was offering up something different. Fans of the Rock and fans of Vin Diesel could get excited about getting a Rock vs Vin Diesel fight at last. Fast 5 having the bank heist plot provided something that felt different while still keeping all the crazy car action the long time fans wanted.

If Transformers can't shake things up I'm not sure if they can get back that domestic box office appeal even if the writing, editing, and acting were all improved.

 

Overlord on the big screen would be awesome...provided he doesn't become a jobber. Overlord needs to be the most dangerous character.

I am praying for that.