I personally don't care for any of those. In the Highway chase, Hatchet dies immediately, then the rest of the sequence is just the Dreads throwing cars, which, while not bad, isn't that thrilling. The Mexican standoff, and Optimus' rampage both have the same problem as AOE fights, being too short, but don't have the excuse of the 'Bots fighting drones. Apparently regular 'Cons just have zero reflexes, nor a have the smarts of drones, which actually took cover in battle.

IMO, ROTF is just DOTM lite. Sideways just runs away until he gets one-hit-killed, massive Demolisher kills some humans then lets Optimus shoot him in the head, Devastator gets one-hit-killed by humans, and the Fallen, after being hyped all film, goes down in a couple of minutes, even with Megatron's help. The Forest Battle is OK, but overrated. Rampage goes down way too easily, but not as easily as Soundwave. The Egypt Battle has its moments, and is a cool back and forth between the 'Cons and NEST, but the 'Cons, with all those giants and fliers in their ranks, really should be overwhelming the handful of carbots, couple of Earth tanks, and swarm of squishy foot-soldiers, all of which were ground bound.

I personally think the first film still has the best action. Their fights really depict an up-hill battle against the 'Cons, seeing all it takes for the humans to beat Scorp, all the 'Bots working together to take down Brawl, Megatron beating Optimus around, and Starscream blowing off Bee's legs, then beating Ratchet and Ironhide, before taking out a bunch of F-22s. Heck, in the few moments before they cut away, Barricade does more against Bee than Rampage and Soundwave combined.

 

You could say its a problem with the movies as a whole though. There was the chase scene with Cemetary Wind, and Shane and Cade fighting Lockdown's soldiers in AOE. Not sure what it is, but DOTM's extended human scenes don't really bother me a lot. It may just be that the circumstances made them fun in a way.

DOTM definitely shares issues with AOE in things happening too quickly, Hatchet especially being a disappointment. For what they were though, the Mexican standoff and Optimus's rampage worked for how fast they went, more so Optimus Prime's scene than the standoff.

I'll be honest though, I do disagree with ROTF. The Shanghai scene, while definitely shafting Sideways, was a cool way to open the film. Chasing down Demolishor, even the chase with Sideways and seeing Arcee, the twins, and Sideswipe in action was great. I excuse that one just because its supposed to be an opening action scene to give the audience something cool, while also introducing new characters and plot points. The Forest battle, IMO, is the best fight the film series has had and hasn't come close to being surpassed yet. The Bee and Rampage fight is a tad short, but its brutal and has some good parts to it. The Egypt battle may be my favorite final battle in the series so far, even if the Decepticons should have done more to take control faster, although I will admit the Devastator's death was a low point. I will agree with The Fallen's fight though. For what it was, it isn't the most terrible thing, but there was no pay off to the threat The Fallen supposedly imposed.

The first movie has a lot of great scenes, and definitely had more of a threat aspect from the Decepticons, even if I think some people on the boards go overboard with their portrayal in the sequels. Starscream did a lot of damage to everyone, Brawl took on everyone, Megatron dominated the fight with Optimus, even Bonecrusher and Scorponok did enough. The Bumblebee and Barricade fight should have been longer, and definitely is a low point for action scenes in that particular film, but I feel that was more of a "tease" to hold off the audience for the action at the end.

All of this is subjective obviously. I definitely see a lot more of the flaws in ROTF and DOTM's action, but I just find them a bit more engaging than AOE's scenes. And that isn't meant not knock AOE a whole lot, I still greatly enjoy its action scenes as well.

 

i just don't understand why the decepticons where such a massive and strong force in the first film but where then demoted into cannon fodder witch each movie. i know that the humans have adapted their weapons to them but that still should not excuse the paper made cons of the last 3 films. well actually 2 because AOE didn't have real decepticons.
now that i have seen the decepticon vehicle modes (tow truck in particular) i really expect them to be a raw and brute force again like in movie 1. but i'm having this feeling that they will be defeated by humans yet again (isabella aka rey 2.0). i just want some important autobot deaths at the hands of the decepticons to show us that they are still a dangerous force rather then fodder to make the kids happy about their heroes. have some rivals build up like bee and barricade and have them fight 1v1 for longer then 30 seconds without human help. tow truck and hound are possible candidates.
also great character development on both sides so that the death of the autobot or decepticon will actually hit the audience.

 

I can definitely see the appeal behind the second and third films' action. I do like ROTF's action, to an extent. The Egypt Battle is a really cool, prolonged fight of a larger scale, showing a constant back and forth between sides. It's just absurd that NEST won. The Forest Battle is pretty well choreographed, but the filming and editing are flawed, and it creates the sense that Megatron's an idiot. Also I hate that Optimus can fight him and Scream, still be able to kill the giant Grindor, and then needs to be distracted before finally being defeated. Oh, and speaking of the Rampage battle, the film is very brutal, but I personally don't care for brutality for brutality's sake, and the ROTF doesn't have enough emotion to really make me hate the 'cons enough to want to see them die so brutally.

DOTM was a very epic film. Lots of things flying through the air, lots of slo-mo, and some huge CGI spectacle. From the dread tossing cars at the 'Bots, Bee's transforming trick evade them, Crowbar being shotgunned mid-air, the 'Cons shooting up a whole city, the Driller knocking over a building, and the ships chasing those wing-suit things. I just don't find it substantial enough. None of the fights are well-choreographed, and the 'Cons never put up any sort of fight, outside of capturing the 'Bots offscreen, and when Sentinel gets involved.

For me, what makes the action is AOE so good is that there's meaning behind it. Ratchet's death is treated as a real tragedy, as he tries running, then reasoning with his killers, and only takes out his gun at the last second. Better yet is it's actually referenced later, so the 'Bots storming KSI is fueled with emotion. Also, as I said before, each of the main TF brings something unique to the fight scenes, and since they're so well developed, I actually felt concern for hound when it looked like he was going to die. The final battle is also a great example of humans and TF working together. So that's all why I think AOE had the best action of the sequels.

 

To me, AOE will always be a transitional film. Because of it being so different from the previous films and being before the formation of the TFCU.

 

It's gonna be extremely weird. It is like it's the set up film, TO the set up film. Considering TLK will technically totally start the TFCU, AOE will be the odd ball guy, just kinda there. I do think all of AOE's concepts (excluding KSI) will be explored more then any of the concepts prior to DOTM. So there is that. But it still will feel like the place holder film.

 

With Bay saying that he wants to return to first movie (or something like that), and if Barricade and Megatron are any indicator, this movie will be more like the first three. I can't pinpoint what it is, but the fourth movie felt different, albeit not in a bad way. Maybe it was the new cast.

 

Hmm. I'm not really sure to be honest. I wouldn't really call it the odd one out. I'm not avoiding the question, by the way. I'm just not sure why one would think AOE is a 'odd one out'.

Mind you, maybe it was the human cast - It's obviously from a different perspective of different people. Plus, there's the concept of 'knights' and 'creators' all of a sudden, so it's easy to conclude that AOE was obviously a launching pad for TLK and the (pending) future of the TFCU - there wasn't anything about a 'TFCU' until 11 months later we hear of the writers room!

Speaking of which, I've said this before but thank god Ehren Kruger is not involved anymore. That's my second reason I'm excited for TLK. XD

 

Been thinking about this topic, and have arrived to similar conclusions about AOE standing out from the rest

-No aspect left from movie 1 outside of Ratchet's death and later mention. Bee and Prime change looks
-All new cast of humans/new Transformers-based establishments
-Introduction of knighthood theme
-No beginning Optimus Prime narration
-Different font presentation
-Smaller Decepticon presence
- Full blown usage (imho) of an international territory. ROTF may have had Egypt, but I don't believe they made the best use of its potential. China's "urban" fight really created a new battleground
- No filler Autobots, every introduced new character felt like they belonged plus their get together scene a la Arrival of Autobots part 2

I'll update as I think of more. With that being said, The Last Knight is shaping up to evoke a quality that can hopefully feel familiar for comfort yet different enough for enjoyment.

 

You've got to see the later ones. They are great fun in their outlandishness. In one of them (6, I think) Vin Diesel does this ridiculous flying headbutt on a guy... he just appears from out of frame like he was shot from a cannon, and it is just hilarious.

edit: here it is:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75ugANpKNAg

 

On the subject of fights, AOE's CW/Lockdown chasing Optimus/Cade should have been more on the Marmon wooping a Lambo's arse.