Summary
Now that the latestTransformersmovie is officially in theaters, there are a couple lessons that those who make future installments in this long-running series can learn.Transformers Onehas been a critical hit. In fact, it is the biggest critical hit of any movie in the franchise. But it’s also a hit among the movie-going audience. Critics like the flick, fans love it. And that should mean that those who make these kinds of projects will make more of them.
It’s not just thatTransformers Onewas a movie that everyone could and wanted to see, though that’s part of it. There’s something to be said for the fact thatthis was an animated filmthat both adults and children were flooding to the theaters for. That likely helped a box office that is quicklyclosing in on $100 millionworldwide. But there’s another reason why the next installments in this franchise need to follow the model of the latest release.
A Live Action Transformers Movie Set On Cybertron Would Be Compelling
While it’s clear that theTransformersfranchise isn’t going to go “animated only” there could be a push to take at least one more lesson fromTransformers Oneand that the fact that these movies are better when people aren’t involved. Considering the next live-action version will include acrossover with G.I. Joe troops, there will be people in the next one or two films, but the franchise would be well suited to start planning for one that involves nothing but giant robots.
Quite frankly, while bothTransformers: The Animated Movieand nowTransformers Onehave covered the civil war on Cybertron that saw Decepticons and Autobots going their seperate ways, the success of both of those films show that audiences want to see more fights in space. They want to see more about how and whyboth groups eventually left Cybertron. They might even want to see what a modern-day Cybertron would look like in the aftermath of the Civil War.
Alongside the idea of having the movies be on Cybertron and other alien planets the other idea thatmadeTransformers Oneso freeingis that there weren’t any humans in the mix. Aside from the robots not needing to worry about the squishy bodies of humans getting stomped on by giant robots, the latest film allowed the plot to focus on Optimus Prime and Megatron, instead of Sam Witwicky, his romantic entanglements and his family as was done so often in the live-action films.
The latest film allowed the plot to focus on Optimus Prime and Megatron, instead of Sam Witwicky, his romantic entanglements and his family as was done so often in the live-action films.
Too many of the movies have shown the audience how human beings would adapt to alien robots coming to earth and waging their war on our shores. The robots are almost seen as background noise and a way to add some action once the human plotlines have become stale. But that means that when an Autobot or a Decepticon dies, there’s no emotional tie to the death. The audience doesn’t care. And it’s clear fromTransformers Onethat there is a way to really make the audience care if one of the robots is in real danger. The latest installment doesn’tdelve that deep into the ideaof a character the viewers like being killed off, but had it done so, had Elita-1 or another friend of Orion Pax died, it would have had more of an emotional resonance than it ever does in the live-action flicks.
Humans Not Being In The Mix Means Better Action
In addition to being more emotionally invested in the robots when there isn’t a reason to divide the attention, there is a definite argument for the action being betterbetween the Decepticons and the Autobotswhen there aren’t people running around screaming and half the film’s attention is all about making sure the people don’t get blasted, blown up, or splattered.
The obvious reason why people are always included in the live-action films is because the producers want the audience to put themselves in the shoes of the people who are desperately trying to avoid getting stomped on.But the bestTransformersseriesthat have aired both on TV and in the movies are the ones where there are no people or their involvement is very small.
The next Transformers film is expected to bring G.I. Joe in a crossover event.
Being able to focus on the Autobots and the Decepticons for the entirety of the film offers up a better story and when the guns and lasers and missiles come out, it makes for better action. While the next few films are clearly going to have people involved, those behind the franchise should learn the lesson ofTransformers Oneand follow its lead for the same level of success.
