I didn't see this particular topic addressed in the recent TF4-related news, so feel free to lock/merge/move as needed.

And please forgive the crude translation, but I was just having the worst luck trying to find the online version of the article that was in my local newspaper, or even the English Jam.ca equivalent of the article. This was the best I could find. That or scanning the article from the paper itself.  

Google Translate

Bay says that he plans on having TF4 clock in at around 2 hrs. and 7 minutes, rather than the 2.5+ hour runtimes of the previous movies.

I'm completely okay with this shorter runtime. It may mean, like, 10% less robot screentime, but that probably means 10% less human screentime too.   I'm all for it if it means a tighter film, but I'll wait and see if this 'promise' holds true.

 

I always said that a TF movie can benefit a lot from a shorter running time.

Thing is if you have the same ammount of robot action as in say DOTM but if you cut out all the useless human crap that served no purpose you effectively have to wait less between the robot scenes thus creating an illusion of robots having more screen time.

 

That will make a few people happy.

 

It it's anything like the last three movies, it gonna 50% less Robot Screen time and 15% less Human Screen time.

 

Completely agreed. It's when you have the robot-centric scenes sandwiched between countless human scenes or unnecessary human filler, that's what makes it seem worse than it actually is.

  I'll take it.  

And all-in-all, the robots tend to get more screentime/focus/dialogue as the films go on. Sure, there are some that get less, or those who fluctuate (Ironhide, Ratchet, Megatron), but there are plenty of characters who get more with each new movie or have new characters that get a (relatively) hefty chunk of screentime. It's just that they keep cramming more and more robots into the movie, meaning suddenly there's more characters trying to share scenes.

 

I like the sound of this, but this could mean more human shtick, or less robot shenanigans, But if it's shorter that might mean the plot will be more focused.

 

Sounds reasonable

 

i need my 20 min sequence of Kup and Springer smoking up (not a cygar) and telling crass jokes about marky marks daughter!!! bonus dvd scene please!!!

 

I remember when movies used to be 90 minutes long

 

..................I'm not paying to see this.

 

I think this is a good idea I think the DOTM was worth it because of how epic it was but still you can just cut out a lot of the pointless scenes and be more plot focused will help a lot

 

Not really sure how you can give an exact time when you haven't even started filming yet.

I guess if he needs some fill-in time he can just add more slow motion shots.

 

It probably will be the best thing about TF4!  

 

Good for you...I will!

 

There will be a less action, but still same amount of toilet humour.

 

He could have added an extra fight scene in those extra 20 minutes the other movie seem to adopt, but I hope the movie at least feels long. Also, that it includes everything we need to know in that time spam.

 

Everybody poops.

 

This.

 

I done thing it will make a difference it could be 2 hours and 7 minutes or 2 hours and 30minutes it's still over 2 hours