The Energon Pub

[Sabrblade]

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/12/05/ ... sformers-4

While epic in scope, Michael Bay's last three Transformers movies have been criticized in the past for their few hokey moments. (Giant robot testicles come to mind...) However, that might not be the case for Transformers 4, which Bay recently stated is going for a more serious tone.

"I wanted the first [three] Transformers to be very suburban and less cool," the director told Yahoo! Movies while talking about next year's fourth Transformers installment. "This is a much more cinematic one. I focused on keeping this one slick. There won't be any goofiness in this one. We went a bit too goofy [on the last one]."


Of course, it won't all be grim 'n' gritty. Mark Wahlberg's character, for instance, plays a "wacky inventor" who is turned off by his daughter's new race car-driving boyfriend -- not exactly the most grounded premise, on paper. Perhaps Bay is more referring to the Transformers themselves and their storyline.

On what brought him back to direct Transformers 4, Bay said, "It was the Transformers ride [at Universal Studios]. It was seeing this two-and-a-half hour line, with all these kids lined up." Indeed, a literal thrill ride is the way to any action-fimmaker's heart.

Transformers: Age of Extinction hits theaters on June 27, 2014.

Hmm...

[Rodimus Prime]

"We went a bit too goofy [on the last one]."

Is he serious? There wasn't nearly as much lame-ass "humor" in DoTM as there was in RoTF. Instead it was replaced by badass robot screen time. Yes, Devastator ballz. Nothing stupid in DoTM could top that. There wasn't even that much stupidity in DoTM, maybe a few scenes with the miniatures, that's about it. Having said that, I will admit I did laugh at some of the Twins' lines the 1st time I saw RoTF.

Bring on the "serious" ass-kicking.

[El Duque]

IGN caught up with director Michael Bay, and has posted a brief interview regarding his upcoming Transformers: Age of Extinction. Bay says seeing how excited fans were for Universal Studios Transformers: The Ride 3D is what brought him back to direct the forth live action movie. He goes on to say this film will not contain the "goofiness" found in the previous trilogy, and describes TF:AoE as "more cinematic". However, he follows that statement up by describing Mark Wahlberg's character as a "wacky inventor".

I wanted the first [three] Transformers to be very suburban and less cool," the director told Yahoo! Movies while talking about next year's fourth Transformers installment. "This is a much more cinematic one. I focused on keeping this one slick. There won't be any goofiness in this one. We went a bit too goofy [on the last one].

A bit of an odd statement since most fans consider Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen to be the least serious of the previous three films, with Transformers: Dark of the Moon [the last one] being far more ominous.

[BeastProwl]

Yay, no more dick joke.

[spiderbob007]

So it's not going to be a movie full of sidekicks and comic relief?

Honestly, the only reason I support these movies is that they eventually bring new (not movie line) toys.

[Megatron Wolf]

guarantee its a lie, this is bay we're talking about after all

[dedcat]

I absolutely believe this.

Unfortunately, Bay's idea of goofiness is well framed shots, rich character development and a cohesive story line.

[EunuchRon]

Any time you see text in brackets, it's not a direct quote but implied and interpreted by the author. The [on the last one] was added by IGN; Those are not words from Bay himself. It's true there wasn't nearly as much silliness in the third film, though there was the stall-sharing scene and Wang's "chicken dinner" moment, plus Sam's parents were always just plain weird. I think a new cast gives a chance to fix that.

This does give me some hope for the Dinobots. During and after Transformers: The Movie, the Dinobots, especially Grimlock, went from being dangerous and lethal to being almost comic relief. They fixed this in a huge way in Fall of Cybertron. Playing as Grimlock is my favorite section. If silliness is out then perhaps the Dinobots will be utterly ruthless ass-kickers in the film. Hey, we can hope, right?

[Convoy]

My dream movie is an adaptation of the first three episodes of G1 "More than Meets the Eye." (and having nothing to do with Mike Bay, Alex or Roberto.) My dream trilogy would then probably include adaptations of The Ultimate Doom and Megatron's Master Plan. I'd have the next trilogy start with an adaptation of The Transformers: The Movie. Y'know, introduce Unicron, kill off Optimus, (at least don't bring him back from the dead in the same damn movie!) hand the reigns off to Magnus to have Hot Rod become the new Prime... you know the story. This all takes place in the 80's by the way. Like something that actually took place but nobody knew about because... disguises. At least up until the third film in the trilogy. Megatron's plan kind of reveals a lot to the population of Earth.


After all that? Beast Wars movies of course!

[RhA]

'No more goofyness'.

I distinctly remember a giant robot riding a giant robot dinosaur.

[T-Macksimus]

I hate having to check the bottom of my boots so often. Keeping thinking I stepped in something because I would swear I smell bull-s***.

Sorry but I'm just not buying into this. We got yanked around too much the first 3 times, why would we possibly believe that things are going to be drastically different.
The first 3 films, despite everyones varied opinions of them, raked in serious bank and put Bay into the billionaires club. NOBODY ever messes with a recipe that makes them serious cashola, even if half the people think the recipe tastes like crap.
This isn't like Lucas in the years of the original 3 Star Wars movies where he made them for the sake of telling his story and seeing his vision come to life (and HUGE success was just a pleasant side-effect). This is the 21st century and the ONLY driving force in Hollywood is greed, not art, not talent, not story.

[Blozor]

Seriously? He has movies with Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, The Fallen, Sentinel Prime, Shockwave, and he waits to introduce the Dinobots -- basically giant robot morons to promise no goofiness? Has he SEEN Transformers: The Movie from 1986?

Ah well, serious Dinobot barbarians are cool, too, which is basically what the Dinobots are. The main reason, I think, Shockwave is depicted as Grimlock's main nemesis, because if there was ever a Decepticon you could call a wizard, Shockwave would be it.

If Michael Bay could actually write situational humor that wasn't embarrassing to everybody watching it, I wouldn't mind a little goofiness. He should take cues from the likes of Joss Whedon or James Roberts or A Lee Matinez or Simon Pegg if he wants to add some humor to his scripts, not whatever junior high school he's apparently going to.

[Blozor]

Seriously? He has movies with Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, The Fallen, Sentinel Prime, Shockwave, and he waits to introduce the Dinobots -- basically giant robot morons to promise no goofiness? Has he SEEN Transformers: The Movie from 1986?

Ah well, serious Dinobot barbarians are cool, too, which is basically what the Dinobots are. The main reason, I think, Shockwave is depicted as Grimlock's main nemesis, because if there was ever a Decepticon you could call a wizard, Shockwave would be it.

If Michael Bay could actually write situational humor that wasn't embarrassing to everybody watching it, I wouldn't mind a little goofiness. He should take cues from the likes of Joss Whedon or James Roberts or A Lee Matinez or Simon Pegg if he wants to add some humor to his scripts, not whatever junior high school he's apparently going to.

[cruizerdave]

The "goofiness" will be gone. However, the assaultive level of stupidity will remain.

[Mindmaster]

What's that? No goofiness in Age of Extinction?



We will see.

[datguy86]

The "goofiness" will be gone. However, the assaultive level of ignorance will remain.

Fixed that for you. I expect China to take a few hits below the nationality belt despite a good portion of the movie being set there.

[Ultra Markus]

well in dotm prime getting hung up in the cables from the crane was pretty funny
so were the two little guys livin with sam

[Sabrblade]

I'm not one to regularly defend the movies, but the following posts caught my eye:

My dream movie is an adaptation of the first three episodes of G1 "More than Meets the Eye." (and having nothing to do with Mike Bay, Alex or Roberto.) My dream trilogy would then probably include adaptations of The Ultimate Doom and Megatron's Master Plan. I'd have the next trilogy start with an adaptation of The Transformers: The Movie. Y'know, introduce Unicron, kill off Optimus, (at least don't bring him back from the dead in the same damn movie!) hand the reigns off to Magnus to have Hot Rod become the new Prime... you know the story. This all takes place in the 80's by the way.

If I wanted to watch the G1 cartoon, I would, you know, watch the G1 cartoon, instead of a slavish knock off of it that would essentially bring nothing new to the table. "But it's in live action!" So is Power Rangers, yet look how that show's films turned out by sticking so close to the TV series (and I LIKE Power Rangers).

Seriously? He has movies with Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, The Fallen, Sentinel Prime, Shockwave, and he waits to introduce the Dinobots -- basically giant robot morons to promise no goofiness? Has he SEEN Transformers: The Movie from 1986?

You do realize that, in like 75% of G1 fiction, the Dinobots are intelligent, right? Grimlock was even the LEADER of the Autobots (twice!) after Optimus died (twice!). The big dumb oaf from the cartoon is far from Grimlock's only persona.

[Nemesis Maximo]

'No more goofyness'.

I distinctly remember a giant robot riding a giant robot dinosaur.

Yes. There is absolutely nothing goofy about that. That is a totally serious plot point, and a convenient way to shoehorn Dino-riders into this whole shebang. The Autobots should ride the Dinobots more often.

[Blozor]

I'm not one to regularly defend the movies, but the following posts caught my eye:

Seriously? He has movies with Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, The Fallen, Sentinel Prime, Shockwave, and he waits to introduce the Dinobots -- basically giant robot morons to promise no goofiness? Has he SEEN Transformers: The Movie from 1986?

You do realize that, in like 75% of G1 fiction, the Dinobots are intelligent, right? Grimlock was even the LEADER of the Autobots (twice!) after Optimus died (twice!). The big dumb oaf from the cartoon is far from Grimlock's only persona.

Apparently my second paragrah failed to hold your attention.

[SlyTF1]

Seriously? He has movies with Megatron, Starscream, Soundwave, The Fallen, Sentinel Prime, Shockwave, and he waits to introduce the Dinobots -- basically giant robot morons to promise no goofiness? Has he SEEN Transformers: The Movie from 1986?

Ah well, serious Dinobot barbarians are cool, too, which is basically what the Dinobots are. The main reason, I think, Shockwave is depicted as Grimlock's main nemesis, because if there was ever a Decepticon you could call a wizard, Shockwave would be it.

If Michael Bay could actually write situational humor that wasn't embarrassing to everybody watching it, I wouldn't mind a little goofiness. He should take cues from the likes of Joss Whedon or James Roberts or A Lee Matinez or Simon Pegg if he wants to add some humor to his scripts, not whatever junior high school he's apparently going to.

I'm not embarrassed by the humor when I watch it. I like most of it because it is just so weird and out of place. But I would prefer the movies to be super serious, though.

[Muscle Man]

I refuse to believe this film will not include a dog humping a mailbox or testicles on robots. I refuse, bro's.

[5150 Cruiser]

Any time you see text in brackets, it's not a direct quote but implied and interpreted by the author. The [on the last one] was added by IGN; Those are not words from Bay himself.

Agreed. It seems the author just added in his own thoughts and are trying to pass it off as being said by Bay for the sake of discussion. So I'm not sure just how much merit I'd give this interview.

If i take anything from this interview, its that the over the top "goofiness" (such as the devastator testicles, S7 under ware, etc.) will be absent. This isn't "Aliens", its Transformers. Some sort of humor is bound to make its way in. And quite frankly it should.

[ishigoto]

Hey, you guys remember when he said THE EXACT SAME FRICKING THING ABOUT DARK OF THE MOON?! And yet I'm still going to see it because I can't resist a good 3D explosion fest...*sigh*

[OptimusPrime273]

Of course there's going to be some goofyness....its been like that since movie 1, now were stepping into 4 and the masses haven't realized that this is director Bays style? I'm facepalming at the fact that I can never come onto these pages and be able to DISCUSS anything like a fan.....why? Because everyone has a short fuse and can't seem to respect an opinion or news that has the smallest percentage of difference from what they think. I love the movies, but I can't come onto a single film thread w/o bitching and more bitching....anddddd more bitching...about a movie like spoiled kid brats. The sad thing is the majority are grown adults. Complain complain complain about how much one doesn't something... then go and see it in theaters anyway when u supposedly know its gonna suck and call Michael Bay an idiot. Now tell me, whos the idiot again?.....