The Energon Pub

I know a lot of people have been commenting on how there was a bit too much human in this movie for it being a Transformers movie. (I do concur, but I also understand why it was there)

Going to call on my knowledge of movie making to comment on the nature of this.

In addition to the normal problems a movie has to go through to get rated, if you want any military help with a movie, use of aircraft, navy, etc. You have to send your movie to the military itself for approval. And the best way to get approval, is to show the military in a positive light. (Nothing wrong with that. I support our troops 200% however) This is mostly due to the effects these kinds of movies have on Military recruitment. When "Top Gun" was made, recruitment for the Navy/Air Force soared.

Particularly with our current situation in the military, recruitment has been in a serious slump. Movies with the Military being "cool" are an effort to change this.

When "Independance Day" was being made, initially the Military loved it. When James Cameron refused to take Area 51 out of the movie, they withdrew all of their assistance.

When you think about it, this is also one thing that was different from typical Trannsformers. In the old days, the human military was a joke when they tried to fight the Decepticons. (Blackout's attack on that base comes to mind) but as the movie progressed, the military came around quite a bit in this situation. The Marines did more damage to the Decepticons then Jazz did. Starscream did kill some YF-22 pilots, but they got organized and went after him for it. The A-10 pilots wasted Scorpinak.

You can imagine that it is possible that this turning the tables in favor of human vs Decepticon probably was there to help ensure military assistance for this movie.

well im sure now that the "origin story" aka movie 1 is out of the way movie 2 and on will prob have more TF then human like it should with the exception of Sam and his girl who are now pretty much Honorary Autobots.

Rodimus_Prime13 wrote:
When you think about it, this is also one thing that was different from typical Trannsformers. In the old days, the human military was a joke when they tried to fight the Decepticons. (Blackout's attack on that base comes to mind) but as the movie progressed, the military came around quite a bit in this situation. The Marines did more damage to the Decepticons then Jazz did. Starscream did kill some YF-22 pilots, but they got organized and went after him for it. The A-10 pilots wasted Scorpinak.

Man, I totally agree with you... I'm a former US Air Force member and the weapons and instruments and reconnaissance the Armed Force have nowadays are so sophisticated. Their coordination and how quickly they respond to alert really impresses me well, and I know this is only a movie but in reality... that's how military really is... intelligence, reconnaissance, coordination is just top notch...

Rodimus_Prime13 wrote:
When "Independance Day" was being made, initially the Military loved it. When James Cameron refused to take Area 51 out of the movie, they withdrew all of their assistance.

You mean Dean Devlin and Roland Emmerich

Rodimus_Prime13 wrote:Particularly with our current situation in the military, recruitment has been in a serious slump.

This isn't true. The only branch of the armed forces which has had trouble meeting it's recruitment goals is the army. The rest have met their goals and some even have a waiting list (Air Force). In fact, the USAF has a special program right now called "Blue to Green" where they are basically booting people from the USAF into the army when their enlistment expires.

You can imagine that it is possible that this turning the tables in favor of human vs Decepticon probably was there to help ensure military assistance for this movie.

I don't see how military effectiveness would have any role. You can still paint the armed forces in a flattering light and have them be completely ineffective. Spielberg's War of the Worlds basically did this.

I think the reason for the armed forces having the impact they did on the Decepticons was to create a balance between the two opposing sides. The Autobots are smaller, less armed, and fewer in number. The armed forces were the equalizer in this case which gave the good guys just the edge they needed to win out in the end.

one of my favorite parts was when those A1's were locking in on scorponok and the way they organized it

"all units target hit box alpha"

that was really cool

Bottom Out wrote:one of my favorite parts was when those A1's were locking in on scorponok and the way they organized it

"all units target hit box alpha"

that was really cool

Did you mean A-10 Thurderbolt "Warthogs?" heheehehhe

Because Michael Bay is not particularly concerned with stuff like subtext, depth, and texture. What you see is what you get; like biting into the thin candy shell of an m&m and then finding that there is no chocolate center inside. In trying to decipher why Michael Bay makes certain choices, one need only ask oneself, "What is the easiest solution to this problem?" That is why the "comedy" in his films tends to be so low brow, why the women in his films are so drop-dead gorgeous, and why the military is portrayed with such unflinching reverence.

Whereas it would be relatively difficult to achieve the same result by answering such questions as "Why are they fighting?" "What are they fighting for?" "Who decides what is right and what is wrong?", it is much much easier to simply wave flags and appeal to the same base sense of blind patriotism found in the average Army recruitment commercial. And then when defending those choices, it becomes much much easier to hide behind the sacrosanctity of mindless refrains about "bravery" and "honor".

muzicdox wrote:

Bottom Out wrote:one of my favorite parts was when those A1's were locking in on scorponok and the way they organized it

"all units target hit box alpha"

that was really cool

Did you mean A-10 Thurderbolt "Warthogs?" heheehehhe

hehe, so i was off....my a few words

Our military is one of the coolest things on the planet! I love any movie with military hardware in it. A movie with sci-fi mixed with military is double awesome. I live in Las Vegas and there is military everywhere out here. I am not that far from AREA 51 and the Nevada Test Site. I love how they showed Nellis Air Force Base in the movie too. Bay always portrays the military very realistically and I love that because alot of movies do it silly and cliche.

I am glad Bay deicided to highly emphasize the military in this movie. I am currently in the navy and whenever someone speaks highly of us (navy, air force, marines, army, and coast guard) it is very much appreciated. It allows the general public an insight into how we do things and that we do care about people. Also, I know that the military was protaryed poorly that some of the fans who are military might not go see it. I wouls still have gone, but I might not have gone back to see it again.

The scene with the AC-130H Spectre gunship in a pivot turn pumping lead into scorp was truly amazing. Bay definitely has an ace up his sleeve when it comes to military cooperation.

Did anyone else notice agent Simmons USMC ring when he was interrogating Sam in his house?

Rodimus_Prime13 wrote:Starscream did kill some YF-22 pilots, but they got organized and went after him for it. The A-10 pilots wasted Scorpinak.

Nit-picking I know but I think you mean F-22A. YF-22 "Rapier" is the prototype that went up against the YF-23 "Black Widow II" to become the United states next gen fighter. After winning the Air Force's contract, it was redesign slightly eventually becoming the F-22A Raptor which is in service today.

...sorry, I love me my jets and cars, lol.

The don't necessarily have to be effective, you just have to portray the military in a positive light. Not only do you get their cooperation, but you get free use of just about everything they have to offer. Need some shots of jets flying, they'll give them to you. Need to blow up some tanks...they have a whole tank graveyard to choose from. They'll even give you military personnel, advisors, everything you need to make the movie. Bay was able to stay in budget by doing this, and he still got to blow up a lot of stuff and have a lot of military extras.

Kind of a fun fact, in the movie Broken Arrow, even though John Travolta's character was the bad guy, they still got military support for the movie after they made it abundantly clear that the character broke all ties with the military (I.E. he took off the uniform).

You have to have the military I mean, you think they're just gona sit there and be like "lol wut?" while giant robots have a droid deathmatch in the heart of a major metropolitan city or a US Base?

I'm just going to state my opinion...

The military HAD to be in the movie to make it realistic. Think of it this way: if there were giant f'ing robots on Earth and they were beating the crap out of each other while the bad ones destroy everything, would the military just sit and watch their country be demolished or try to stop them?