Transformers Live Action Movie Series producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura sat down with Collider to share his thoughts on Transformers Universe: Bumblebee.
“The objective of that movie is to develop more time with less robots, and to go back to 1985 and to go back to the original heritage, if you would, of the Transformers, G1.” said Mr. di Bonaventura “So, it has a very distinct idea in it, and whatever is going to happen with the chemistry is what’s going to happen. But it really is a young female lead opposite of Bumblebee, and I think that Optimus is going to be jealous that Bumblebee has his own movie.”
The producer also stated that the new movie will feel like The Iron Giant.
“There are less Transformers, dramatically less…We hired, purposely, Travis Knight who’s a very distinct filmmaker. You can’t compete with Michael [Bay], you’re going to lose. Also, the audience want’s something different all the time, let’s keep them interested. So, they’re going to get a very emotional, complex story. A very tight story, in terms of its location, in terms of its storytelling. In fact it reminds me a little bit of The Iron Giant when I did that movie at Warner Brothers. It just reminds me a little bit of that, where that it feels contained, but it doesn’t feel small.”
MrNiceGuy
Besides the fact that if something so obvious was their intention, they would have just stated it in the movie? But that would imply something was actually thought out well.
And I guess because it opens up a whole can of worms about Optimus having supernatural powers that is never brought up again.
Plus like I said earlier, why couldn't the other Primes kill him themselves? All 12 6 of them being immune to The Fallen's powers, they should have demolished him easily.
That's a good way to give yourself a head-ache. You've got to consider the intent, especially with a made on-the-fly mess like ROTF.
But didn't it heal the gaping wound in his chest? I don't think it makes much sense. But funny, if I recall correctly, even the novels and comic shared the same idea that Prime was still weak after being revived.
The thing about that is it makes for poor storytelling. We have no idea how powerful the Fallen is when he's just stomping on an already weak and disoriented Prime. We needed to see him really cut loose, which sorta happened with the pyramid scene but not really. Definitely should have had a short battle between a full-strength regular OP and Fallen to showcase his abilities. Remember this ad?
I would have expected something like this to occur. Optimus charges forward, throws his hardest punch, and The fallen easily catches it and tosses Prime aside like he's nothing. But nah, it was just a pointless thing made up for an m&m's advertisement.
Can't argue with that.
I think Megatron always shows potential, but stops short of reaching it, especially in DOTM and TLK. And for The Fallen, it's funny you say that because they upped his role a bit in the movie, but actually reduced his role in the desert scene where he appeared from the very beginning, gave Megatron orders, took down the incoming helicopters himself, and also took down the autobots (more specifically Ironhide and Sideswipe) when they tried to stop him from stealing the matrix.
Good idea with Jetfire fighting The Fallen to atone for his past mistakes. I think that occurred to me before, too. Look at the final movie. They don't even interact. A little taunt from The Fallen would've been nice, about how Jetfire failed and finally he can watch the Earth die as it was meant to so many years ago, etc
Scorponok's cameo was hilarious. Most people would probably think he hid in the sand for like 2 years, and when he finally decides to rejoin the battle, he dies in 10 seconds.
beardy
No problem.
SPLIT LIP
How does it not hold up?
I'm not saying it's some grand hidden genius, or even that it was just intentional, just that there isn't actually any continuity error with the whole "only a Prime can kill the Fallen" thing.
Regardless of intent, I'm just going off what happened in the movie.
Exactly. All we have is what's presented in the movie.
Also, the Matrix restored his Spark, but he was still just as damaged as he was by the end of the forest battle. The Matrix didn't actually heal him at all, just his Spark, it seems he was only able to even stand because of Jetfire's parts.
That would involve the movies actually functioning like movies and not just an assemblage of noise and visuals.
But yeah, I agree. These movies have always sucked with the villains except for maybe Sentinel and Lockdown. Hell, the Fallen should've been the main enemy of the desert attack, maybe even him being the one to mortally wound Jetfire. Just have him fight everybody without much backup. The Autobots just barely slowing him down for Sam to revive Optimus.
Ech. What could have been.
Ash from Carolina
Part of the problem is it is not explained very well. But the biggest problem is you need to show that concept not tell.
For example in the original Star Wars movies we have scenes where things like blasters just can't stop Vader. They even had Vader out fight a not fully trained Luke to show hey this is a really bad ass dude that can't be defeated by any ordinary means. Instead of only a Jedi can defeat a Sith they have scenes to actually show you it's not just some mumbo jumbo Obi-Wan was making up to get Luke to train harder. Or take Transformer Prime, we have an episode where Megatron wipes the floor with all the Autobot except for Prime to show that Prime is the only one of the Autobots who can stand against Megatron in a fight. We even get an episode where Prime loses emotions and Megatron can beat him to show that only a calm focused Prime can stand a chance at beating Megatron.
SouthtownKid
Keep hope alive. I think the focus will still be the human characters.
BumblebeeFan71
Well it doesn't mean that. It could also mean we get more focus and development time for the small amount of Transformers. From all the series I watched, it seemed Transformers actually does better with a small cast to focus on. Gives each character a nice amount of character development and story growth.
They are capable of it, AoE and at least the first part of TLK shows that. Remember this will be a different director at the helm and he worked on "Kubo and the Two Strings."
SouthtownKid
"Dramatically less" robot characters. Oh, joy! That way, we can really spend a lot of time developing the many, many human characters the movie will really be about. Sounds lovely.
And yeah, as pointed out by Ikkstakk, G1 aesthetics is mentioned nowhere. It's almost like wishful thinking on the part of the article writer. More CBR BS.
FoolishDoomedCreature
Huh, then it might be a dub error, because i remember they said only a Prime could kill another Prime.
MrNiceGuy
Let's be real here, this is an oversight. Even Bay apologized for how un-epic the final battle was on the commentary. And this is from the same movie with farting robots and humping dogs.
It's a good fan theory, but it doesn't really hold up. Also, as it was in the novel and comic The Fallen was more able to open wormholes and had to move through them, the movie sort of sped this up and made the effect "Sexier" so to speak, making it seem like could just teleport his body around instantly. They accidentally made him look more powerful than he really is.
Optimus was still weak (because the matrix is slow to heal? come to think of it that's confusing as well) we don't even know what a proper confrontation between him and the fallen would look like as he got stomped on as soon as he got up.
SPLIT LIP
Maybe? That is, if Megatron were a Prime. But he isn't, so he can't. Why? We don't know, but again, evidence suggests it's because Prime's are immune to his "supernatural" powers. (and by evidence I mean the Fallen never uses any of his magic powers on Optimus, even when Optimus flies through a debris field being levitated by the Fallen, he's unaffected)
A decent movie would've actually explained all this, but it's not technically an incongruity.
But as the movie pointed out by Jetfire, the Fallen was the strongest among his brothers. Also, just because a Prime can kill him, doesn't mean they automatically will no matter what. Optimus would've stood no chance without Jetfire's parts, after all. He could barely stand. He was just the only one who'd ever be able to actually defeat him.
Megs can kill Optimus Prime, the Fallen can kill Primes, but only a Prime can kill the Fallen himself. I'm not seeing the contradiction here.
MrNiceGuy
I wouldn't try to defend that mess. Megatron can kill Optimus, who's the only one who can kill the fallen, which makes Megatron just as powerful if not more than The Fallen?
Besides, they still had that "only a prime can beat the fallen" idea back when the story involved the fallen slaughtering all the other Primes save one. Single-handedly.
So explain that, if you can. Power levels.
Shockwavers
Ah, who could forget good ol' Scrapperbot. He was the best thing of TLK outside Optimus jogging. At least he had a story arc:
After he tried to catch Sam and Mikeala in ROTF and being cut in half by Optimus in DOTM he started to realise how meaningless the entire war was so he decided to defect. So by just by willpower alone he managed to pull himself together (literally) and joined the side of the autobots along with Wheelie. He was also very shy and ashamed of his past as a decepticon so most of the time he would hide in his vehicle mode until his old masters appeared at the junkyard…
SPLIT LIP
Only a Prime can defeat the Fallen. As in, the Fallen specifically can only be killed by a Prime. Primes can be killed by anyone tough enough.
For as many errors ROTF had, that was not one of them. The movie never stated only Primes could kill Primes, only that the Fallen couldn't be killed by anyone who wasn't one. Presumably because Primes are immune to his magic powers, which Optimus certainly seemed to be, but it was never explained in detail. But there is an internal logic at play there, and nothing in the film contradicts the Fallen's statement.
BarricadeLives
sadly, it appears our dark & gritty transformers has left with kruger…prepare for ultra-cuteness
FoolishDoomedCreature
Yet Megatron was able to kill 2 of them
96megatron
The Fallen: Only a Prime can defeat me and now only one remains.
Megatron: Yup only one. Hehe.
Russian fan
Agreed. Nice moment for Megatron.
The Fallen isn't commander, he's spiritual leader of Decepticons. And he was bounded on Nemesis at that time.
To love something or someone you don't need a logic – you need a heart
BarricadeLives
there is something about seeing the transformers on screen that is just…tantalizing
Strawberrytop00
Because I love the Transformers as characters, I know they don't get much screentime and characterization but what little I do get to see, I enjoy it…There is no logic behind why I do this haha!