Probably, he is a good comedy actor

 

It is entirely possible to produce a Transformers movie featuring a narrative that is more authentic to the source material; is populated by a cast of well-rounded, complex characters; and is punctuated by clearly depicted, integral scenes of action. There are numerous other franchises that have been adapted into critically lauded and financially successful films, despite their fantastical nature and demanding special effect requirements; there is no reason as to why the Transformers franchise should be any different.

However, I am of the opinion that as long as Michael Bay is involved in the production and direction of these films, that the end result will always cater to the lowest common denominator. This is partially because Bay is historically weak in the areas critics espouse as signifiers of quality, and partly because at this point, there is a financially successful formula that all parties involved may be loath to deviate from.

 

I am honestly tearing up at this response, because it's so -- factual. Although I do enjoy Bay's live-action Transformers films for what they are, I am tired of fans saying that the mystical and fantastical properties of Transformers won't appeal to the general audience. I beg to differ. That entire mindset is just erroneous.

 

The problem is that Michael Bay is making a sci-fi action movie, but it seems most of the fans of the previous genres of Transformers go into the movie theater expecting more. If you don't look for a deep plot or story in the movies, then it becomes more enjoyable. Trust me, I used to think a while back that the movies were terrible until I came to that realization, now I enjoy them a lot. They should be more than they are right now, but unfortunately they aren't.

 

I believe the movies give us a unique perspective on the Transformers war on Earth.

From other series it's been more from the Bots/Cons view (except maybe Armada), whereas the movies show the humans point of view, which more people can relate to than just the fans.

 

One thing I'll say for Bayformers, at least it doesn't pretend to be any more than it is. It doesn't have pretentions about being deep or anything. Unlike a lot of blockbusters in recent years, hehe.

 

The thing that bothers me is that there's a very sizable and vocal portion of the fandom that feels as though we should be getting "deep" Transformers films, and that we don't is an insult. I don't get that at all.

 

Well for me, I don't need incredibly deep. Just a slightly more sophisticated sense of humor would be nice. Bay needs to learn to work with more people.  

 

Yea you do have laugh at the short sighted some times. Over the recent holiday the big money making movie was about a short humanoid that lives in a hole in the ground who uses a magic ring that turns him invisible attempting to steal a massive jewel for another mythical race of humanoids from a fire breathing dragon that can fly.

DC gave us an alien who looks human but because of our yellow sun bullets bounce off his skin, he's got heat vision, and he can fly just because he's Superman.

Movies are filled with all sorts of fantastical things that you can't find in the real world. Yet people pack theaters for things that break the rules of physics, biology, and a host of other sciences all the time. It's kind of like the old Star Trek line, ticket buyer like to "boldly go where no man has gone before".

 

You really can't listen to people who insist "they won't get it in Peoria" or "it's too nerdy for most people." Hollywood never knows what movies will or won't work. They pretend they can predict these things, but they are surprised all the time.

 

Holy zombie thread

 

Except we've had a couple of them.

 

For like the 1,847,354 time.

 

Personally, kinda hate the Bay movies. I can forgive them a lot of stuff, but not Optimus-the-Homicidal-killer. But having said that, they made money, they brought in new fans and they have really amazing soundtracks. Even though I didn't personally like them, I've gotten a lot of enjoyment listening to the score, and I know other people did enjoy them so power to them.

Also we got the 86 movie, so like, in my opinion we've already had an awesome TF movie. (Doesn't have to be live action to count!)

 

Very true.  

 

I still find it borderline hilarious how many people take the Bay films as an insult to the franchise. They look at G1 as if it's the holy grail of any Transformer-related, when i actuality, I've seen a couple episodes of it, and it's cheesy as fuck. Don't get me wrong, I still enjoy it, but it's not the be-all, end-all of Transformers. It's a crappy 80's cartoon aimed to sell toys. Honesty, Beast Wars and Transformers: Prime do a better job of adding any depth to the mythos at all.

And yes, I know that without the G1 series, none of this stuff would exist in the first place, but I don't think that means we can't look back and say "Alright, that was actually pretty laughably bad," and admit that the more recent iterations have improved upon it tremendously.

Maybe the Bay movies aren't great filmmaking, and I know this, but they at least make the effort to entertain. And they do deliver on the whole.

 

Honestly, Beast Wars and Prime also exist purely to sell toys.  

I don't know if you grew up with Beast Wars. But either way it often feels like people who did grow up with Beast Wars are just as blindly nostalgic about it as many G1 fans are about their show. ::shrugs::

 

In my opninion, the 86 movie was the worst of the bunch. I'd rather go watch Bee pissing on secret agents and Mudflap and Skids reading me a bedtime story than go through that again.

Best thing out of that movie was the music. Which I can just listen on youtube for.

Beast Wars was pretty good, but Prime was a bit more of a....eh....snorefest? But that's neither here nor there.

 

I don't know if you grew up with Beast Wars, but I have to say I'm honestly wondering if nostalgia plays a role for a lot of BW fans, the way it does for G1 fans. I really don't see the big deal about Beast Wars. It's a decent cartoon for middle schoolers and all but I don't get depth from it.

No offence to BW fans, I'm not saying it's a bad show. But hey, G1 fans are accused of nostalgic thinking often enough, hehe.

 

What's bad is with a big budget live action film and a premium release date you expect the best version of things. The live action Spiderman films might have borrowed the song from the 1967 cartoon series, but people expected something better than the 1967 cartoon. Iron Man, Thor, Loki, so many characters seem better than their cartoon and comic book past. As much as I loved Cesar Romero as the Joker The Dark Knight Heath Ledger Joker beats 60's camp Joker.

But with the Transformers live action films the only best we seem to get is the best effects from ILM. Beast Wars Megatron just stomps all over bland movie Megatron when it comes to character. A sadness to the death of Dinobot while the movie bots it's more eh some robot I hardly know died. Waspinator was funny while the live action movies just try too hard for a cheap laugh. Even with the human cast I'll take the humans from Transformers Animated and Transformers Prime over the humans from the live action films. Unlike Megan Fox at least Sari Sumdac and Miko Nakadai are entertaining.