Steven Caple Jr Talks about Next Transformers Movie, Sector 7, and Why Bay Focused More on Action

Just realized I never typed out all my spoiler thoughts on ROTB. I saw it again in Imax on sunday, and the sound is what really made it. Bee and Battletrap's weapons sounded so good!

Overall, I really enjoyed it! There's a lot to talk about, so I'll kinda summarize into my pros and cons!

Pros:

- I really liked Prime in this one! He's still very much like Bayverse Prime, which I appreciate. His interactions with Scourge were some of my favorite parts of the movie, "I'm taking back Scourge's key - and then I'm taking off his head" was an awesome line. He followed up on it too, Scourge got the DOTM Megatron treatment!

- Bee, while not in the movie too long, was used really well! They picked some great movie quotes for him to use, and his arrival later in the movie was a super cool scene.

- Mirage was surprisingly great! His humor was spot on, and the hologram abilities were used in cool ways.

- The action scenes as a whole were much more of what I was hoping for compared to BB. Prime and Primal taking out Battletrap and Prime's final fight with Scourge stood out as highlights, but I like how all the bots in the museum fight got a moment to shine. The fight scenes weren't quite as fast as they were in the Bayverse (which I do prefer), but the ones here were still very cool.

- The music was great! The use of Steve Jablonsky's themes at the end was perfect and I loved it, but the original stuff was really good too. Arrival to Peru, Switchback Chase, and the theme as the Autobots and Maximals line up for the final battle were all notable examples!

Cons:

- The movie does drag a little bit after the opening with all of Noah and Elena's setup. Some of it definitely does pay off later, but it takes a little too long for my liking.

- Not sure what to think of the GI Joe scene - I almost feel like that scene and the mid credits scene should have been swapped, since Mirage was more central to this movie and would have been a more fitting note to end the main movie on.

- Scourge's design felt a little out of place next to the other Terrorcons. The others had more vehicle kibble and felt much more detailed (Battletrap and Nightbird could really almost pass as Bayverse designs IMO), whereas Scourge seemed to have a lower parts count if that makes sense.

I'm still working out my ranking with respect to ROTF, but here's what I have right now:

1. DOTM

2. 2007

3/4. ROTF/B

5. AOE

6. TLK

7. BB

Overall, I really enjoyed this one and I'm excited to see more!

"Why Bay focused more on action"? Like we need anybody to explain that? That's all Bay ever does. It's not like Bay movies are well-known for depth, or emotional appeal, realistic characters, appealing personalities, pathos, or intelligent writing and dialogue. Screaming, mumbling, chases and explosions are what his films are 'known' for. Doesn't take a degree to figure out what you're in for when Bay's name is anywhere in the credits.

I agree with a lot of your thoughts EvasionModeBee, except I didn't really get the feeling that Scourge was simpler than the other Terrorcons, I think he still blended in well.

The "welcome to earth" tones in that final charge away from the collapsing portal was awesome. I loved it!

A shame the Transit scene was cut, but glad to hear they will try to get it into the deleted scenes section of the physical release. I still hope Transit gets a toy.

I would welcome Cable Jr. back for a sequel, I think he did real good here. I also appreciate all that went into Mirage now that we know more about how that character, personality, and design all came along. I also welcome back Noah, he was my favorite of the human leads in the TF movies.

Also, my new favorite bot:

I loved the movie as well with just two complaints- one was Unicrons voice was very underwhelming, it didn’t need to copy 86 but when a being like that speaks I figure it would be a voice that commands attention. Also the “there’s a battle on earth” song. That seemed so ridiculously out of place. Bees return and song were great, then reinforcements were called for and that stupid song came on and for like 10 seconds I was like what is Unicron trying to say!? And to top it off that’s not a 90s song is it?

But quick question, with Scorges mask comes off (sorry about spelling) didn’t his face seem organic? Maybe indicating at that point he was some kind of mutant due to Unicrons corruption but was never originally a transformer?

william-james88 wrote:Yes, his face did seem organic

Scourge made several mentions of the biomass (I think?) of the Maximal planet at the beginning of the movie. I wonder if they are setting Unicron up to be a biomechanical organism. The odds of biological life in the universe (normally) would be far higher than mechanical life so being able to utilize both would be advantageous and could open up several potential storylines.

zerozep wrote:
But quick question, with Scorges mask comes off (sorry about spelling) didn’t his face seem organic? Maybe indicating at that point he was some kind of mutant due to Unicrons corruption but was never originally a transformer?

I hope so man, because the story was shallow as a puddle with minor 1 sentence reference to something that's actually interesting and worldbuilding.

If they up that by 500% next time and have connection between these lore moments and effects on the events of the movie then you have something that won't be seen as a shallow sunday morning 30 minute toycommercial. Which it's seen as by virtually everybody. (nothing wrong with it, but I think Transformers can be more, just like video games the transforming gimmick has soooooooooooo much potential, same as Unicron, civil war, factions, minicons etc. etc. etc.)

On potential, the GI Joe Classified line is very cool and has great designs especially the nameless Cobra soldiers. If they somehow take that visual style and god forbid take on the military style/mood of Captain America Winter Soldier/GI Joe 2 mix and then... and then merge that with Rise of the Beasts. ... I don't know man, I can't write that in 5 minutes but I think Hollywood has more than 5 minutes to write that movie.

The Pitch Meeting is pretty much on point!

william-james88 wrote:Yes, his face did seem organic

Really don't think it was, it was more DotM Megatron than anything. It was definitely Ultron-like, but it was cool, especially with the chains through the center of the face

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember Rhinox speaking at all in the movie, yet David Sobolov is credited as his voice actor. I remember Cheetor speaking one or two lines very briefly, but nothing from Rhinox.

william-james88 wrote:
And the same goes for the final part of the first trailer where Elena sees Arcee.

There are also lines that were dropped such as:

Mirage saying “He eats planets, so uhhh way bigger than a planet”

Airazor saying “Optimus, we must trust each other to protect the home we all share”

Scourge saying “In the end, everything you ever cared for will be consumed”

You'll let us know of other moments you remember from the trailer that did not end up in the film in the end.

To me, even if they weren't in the movie, leaving in the trailer makes sense from the standpoint that, although Unicron was briefly mentioned in TLK, I'd wager that the vast majority of the general populace/moviegoers probably aren't aware of what he represents. By leaving those lines in the trailer, it gives a very brief summary of just what is at stake to those unfamiliar to the Chaosbringer.