Darkman20xx wrote:You hit this right on the head. Money is the only reason why he signed on for these projects in the first place. I can give the first 3 movies a little more of a pass because 1...they weren't as bad as this last one was. 2....Even though he went a little crazy with stories, designs, etc....he was trying to put his artistic vision to work whether we liked it or not. That I can respect even if the movie turn out bad. AOE however just seems to me to be the film that said "Transformers fans will go see it and it will make a lot of money no matter what we do."
While I'm one of those despicable dregs of society who actually liked AOE (
) I do agree that Bay is back mostly because of the money. Paramount reportedly had to beg on their hands and knees for Bay to do AOE, and stated in a recent article that they'll do whatever Bay wants to make him stay for TF5 and 6.
And let's not forget that he had to do Pain and Gain before starting AOE; he had to take a break from filming TF movies. Let's face it; Bay's true passion is non scifi action bromance movies. Bad Boys, Armageddon, The Rock--that's his thing, and it's cool, because I liked those movies.
I simply don't think he's all that crazy about TF's, and he's always been a little self-conscious about directing a TF movie. Gotta give him kudos for at least "giving it a try" though.
SlyTF1 wrote:I forgot where, but there was an interview with Bay. He said he wanted to treat this movie, and possibly the next sequels like a mythology, and not something just meant to sell toys. And that's exactly what it was. The Transformers weren't just background characters like they were in the previous 3. Even though, ROTF and DOTM at least tried to make them more than that. They had actual weight to the story and their personalities, especially Optimus. Lockdown, too.
That's certainly good to hear.
And AOE actually felt that way--like a proper trilogy, I mean. You know how I feel about ROTF, so let's not get started with that anymore, but AOE truly feels like a proper TF movie with an emphasis on TF's. While it was just baby steps, DOTM started the ball rolling with Sentinel, who's by far the most well-developed character in the original trilogy, human or Cybertronian.
Overall, I feel that AOE has more "substance" to it than the first trilogy, but of course, that's just my personal opinion.