Transformers This film needed more MacGuffins.

[Killgore]

I counted no fewer than five perplexing MacGuffins in the film. This film suffered from MacGuffin overload. For the definition of a MacDuffin, go http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?p=12117062#post12117062.

First there were the eye glasses. Why would an evil frozen robot etch a holographic map on a set of glasses? And exactly why would he just so happen to have a
glasses etcher?

The second one was the giant Allspark, the device that Megatron was hoping to use to transform all mechanisms on Earth into his Decepticon cohorts. Problem is, the he was supposedly frozen on the planet for thousands of years. What, was he going to make giant robots out of caveman spears?

A third MacGuffin was the elusive code that the “Brainy Blonde Bombshell” was trying to decode. I have yet to figure out what she had to do with the plot. She had no introduction, no characterization and no purpose for being on the screen. Roughly related to the third is the fourth MacGuffin; the files that the Decepticons attacked the military base and Air Force One for. Why they had to resort to transforming into a boombox and a helicopter I have no idea. Wouldn’t Dick Chaney’s laptop, hell even his iPod, be a lot more efficient?

The fifth and final MacGuffin was the plate of doughnuts. They must be a MacGuffin, because they were the only reason for “Chubby Black Kid” to be in the movie. Unless the doughnuts were the character and CBK was the plot device.

MacGuffin’s aside, and I know it’s just a Big Dumb Action Movie, but I want at least some internal logic for my B-DAM. If the Autobots were so concerned with saving human life, why flee the unpopulated area surrounding the Hoover Dam to set up base camp in the heavily populated downtown LA? Of course it is because skyscrapers and cityfolk make for great cover and blow up better than scrublands, but come on! And what was their great plan to safeguard the human race? Give the wimpy seventeen-year-old the MacGuffin and not the giant friggin’ Rockem’ Sockem’ Robot. Nah, they’ll just provide ground cover while he runs beside them, INSTEAD OF TRANSFORMING INTO A CAR AND DRIVING HIM! And of all of the things to scan and transform into, certainly choose a Camero and a Solstice and not a, oh I don’t know, a friggin’ TANK!

So run little Shia LaBeouf, run your little heart out climbing the only building in the city without an elevator to deliver the MacGuffin to the helicopters piloted by puny humans being TROUNCED BY STARSCREAM!?!

Worst part is, it was shaping up to be a great “Boy and His Robot-Car” movie until Michael Bay jammed a dozen unnecessary and underdeveloped characters into the mix. You can definitely tell that Spielberg had his hands in the first act and then let Bay run it into the ground for the proceeding two acts.

 

[Lando81]

Hahahahaha your logic is most amusing. Its called thinking too hard. you doing just that.

 

[WarBlade]

I counted no fewer than five perplexing MacGuffins in the film. This film suffered from MacGuffin overload. For the definition of a MacDuffin, go http://forums.superherohype.com/showthread.php?p=12117062#post12117062.

First there were the eye glasses. Why would an evil frozen robot etch a holographic map on a set of glasses? And exactly why would he just so happen to have a glasses etcher?

The loose explanation in the movie was that Captain Witwicky accidentally activated Megatron's guidance system. Megs probably had a similar holo-display trick to Prime's, which evidently projected an overpowered rendition of a map in one glasses-etching burst...

Ok, it's a flakey explanation and full of amazing coincidences for dramatic purposes, but I'm sticking to it.

The second one was the giant Allspark, the device that Megatron was hoping to use to transform all mechanisms on Earth into his Decepticon cohorts. Problem is, the he was supposedly frozen on the planet for thousands of years. What, was he going to make giant robots out of caveman spears?

This was explained in the movie: Megatron went to Earth to find the Allspark. He did not go to Earth with the purpose of transforming the planet's technology. That idea is a myth probably springing from Sam's statement near the end of reel 5 where he claims that Megatron wants to use the cube to build a new army and take over the universe.

 

[Man-E-Toys]

some good points. mainly this whole part...

MacGuffin’s aside, and I know it’s just a Big Dumb Action Movie, but I want at least some internal logic for my B-DAM. If the Autobots were so concerned with saving human life, why flee the unpopulated area surrounding the Hoover Dam to set up base camp in the heavily populated downtown LA? Of course it is because skyscrapers and cityfolk make for great cover and blow up better than scrublands, but come on! And what was their great plan to safeguard the human race? Give the wimpy seventeen-year-old the MacGuffin and not the giant friggin’ Rockem’ Sockem’ Robot. Nah, they’ll just provide ground cover while he runs beside them, INSTEAD OF TRANSFORMING INTO A CAR AND DRIVING HIM! And of all of the things to scan and transform into, certainly choose a Camero and a Solstice and not a, oh I don’t know, a friggin’ TANK!

So run little Shia LaBeouf, run your little heart out climbing the only building in the city without an elevator to deliver the MacGuffin to the helicopters piloted by puny humans being TROUNCED BY STARSCREAM!?!

 

[Baba Ghanoush]

Link doesn't work.

Anyway, you cannot scrutinize the plot to a Michael Bay film. This is a BIG NO NO!

 

[TNC9852002]

The entire code/hacker subplot was there for exposition and through it, a lot of the plot was explained so that the movie could move forward. For instance, we needed to know what the Transformers were looking for, why they were looking for it, why they shut down the defense systems and all that other stuff. This was used to tie into the later part of the movie when Prime arrives and gives more exposition and backstory and then also to move into the Sector 7 scenes.

The donuts thing was not a MacGuffin at all...WTF? It was there to relieve the dramatic tension and to set a toned balance between Maggies and Glenn's characters...

-TNC

 

[Man-E-Toys]

Link doesn't work.

Anyway, you cannot scrutinize the plot to a Michael Bay film. This is a BIG NO NO!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin

 

[TNC9852002]

Link doesn't work.

Anyway, you cannot scrutinize the plot to a Michael Bay film. This is a BIG NO NO!

C'mon, you give him credit for all of the wrong things...

-TNC

 

[Killgore]

The donuts thing was not a MacGuffin at all...WTF? It was there to relieve the dramatic tension and to set a toned balance between Maggies and Glenn's characters...

-TNC

Spoken like a true apologist.


It's a joke. There was no need for the blond girl or the chubby black kid, unless you enjoyed watching their lame subplot instead of actually developing Jazz, Ironhide and Ratchet.

 

[TNC9852002]

It's called pacing...

-TNC

 

[Avangarde]

The second one was the giant Allspark, the device that Megatron was hoping to use to transform all mechanisms on Earth into his Decepticon cohorts. Problem is, the he was supposedly frozen on the planet for thousands of years. What, was he going to make giant robots out of caveman spears?

Actually Cavemen were a lot longer then that, I'm thinking Horse Chariots and sail boats, but we get the idea

 

[Killgore]

It's called pacing...

-TNC

You're actually telling me that you prefer seeing some random blond chick and a chubby black kid OVER AUTOBOTS??!?!?!? Because that's what it is. Every second that their pointless subplot was on the screen were seconds that were robbed from getting to know Jazz, Ironhide and Ratchet.

 

[WarBlade]

You're actually telling me that you prefer seeing some random blond chick and a chubby black kid OVER AUTOBOTS??!?!?!? Because that's what it is. Every second that their pointless subplot was on the screen were seconds that were robbed from getting to know Jazz, Ironhide and Ratchet.

And $$$ that were saved paying... whoever they were... their 15 minutes of fame fees instead of blowing it all on talking robots. Of course you could always front up with $20 million of your own money and say, "This is only for talking robots," if it's that big a deal.

 

[Wolfwood]

The film needed more cowbell!

Sorry.

Anyways, I agree with a few of your points, mostly about the hackers. I thought they were just a waste of space, sure they added a little bit of exposition, but it would've been just as easy to have other characters reveal the bits of info. To me they weren't needed, they were shoehorned into the movie.

 

[Darkwulf]

its spelled CAMARO

now that i got that off my chest, allow me to retort.

i would guess the eyeglasses weren't etched but rather burned, the markings looked to me like melted glass, not etched. which would also explain why the guy wearing the glasses went blind, as mentioned in Sam's show and tell segment.

Megatron didn't come to earth to create an army, he came looking for the allspark to take it back to cybertron. Ratchet's line about creating an army on earth was a speculation, not a fact.

i didn't care much for the hacker story either, nor the loud fat NOT-funny black guy, so i can't argue with you there. although the Austrailian chick was hot! t:

also i thought there was a bit too much "control room chatter" we don't need to see 30 seconds of guys sitting in front of computers with headsets saying things like " ALPHA BRAVO TANGO NINER" we already know its the military, we don't need to be reminded every other scene.

i wouldn't go so far as to call it a "dumb action movie", nit-picks aside, i rather enjoyed it.

 

[Killgore]

i didn't care much for the hacker story either, nor the loud fat NOT-funny black guy, so i can't argue with you there. although the Austrailian chick was hot! t:

Megan Fox was already the token hot chick. The blond chick was pointless, unless they would have found a way to get them to make out! Woot indeed.

 

[[A]]

It's a Bay movie. It's supposed to be idiotic.

 

[Killgore]

It's a Transformers movie. It's supposed to be cool.

Fixed

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Spoken like a true apologist.


It's a joke. There was no need for the blond girl or the chubby black kid, unless you enjoyed watching their lame subplot instead of actually developing Jazz, Ironhide and Ratchet.

THIS i agree on, Maggie and Glenn just werent needed, at least not as much, more time should have gone to developing the Autobots. Although I believe budget was the reason this didnt happen.

 

[Killgore]

THIS i agree on, Maggie and Glenn just werent needed, at least not as much, more time should have gone to developing the Autobots. Although I believe budget was the reason this didnt happen.

Then spend more time with Sam Witwicky and Bumblebee. That was the best part of the movie -- the relationship between a boy and his car. We don't need more characters, just more of the characters we already have. I felt gypped that the movie didn't concentrate more on them. The first act was brilliant. It felt like old school Spielberg ala ET, Close Encounters and such. The rest derailed the main thrust of the story, a boy and his car. Every scene needed Sam and Bumblebee, just like every scene in ET had to do with ET and Elliott. I cared about those characters.

Hell, there wasn't any resolution between Sam and the Jock Bully. And Bumblebee's reveal was LAME.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Then spend more time with Sam Witwicky and Bumblebee. That was the best part of the movie -- the relationship between a boy and his car. We don't need more characters, just more of the characters we already have. I felt gypped that the movie didn't concentrate more on them. The first act was brilliant. It felt like old school Spielberg ala ET, Close Encounters and such. The rest derailed the main thrust of the story, a boy and his car. Every scene needed Sam and Bumblebee, just like every scene in ET had to do with ET and Elliott. I cared about those characters.

Hell, there wasn't any resolution between Sam and the Jock Bully. And Bumblebee's reveal was LAME.

Again this was due to budget, BB needed all kinds of effects shots that they couldnt afford, so you cant really blame them for that. I doubt scene between Sam and BB in car mode would have been very interesting.

 

[AnorexicBatman]

I was frankly offended by the token black character Jazz
Its the stereotype that every man of African descent is some punk kid
And they are the first ones to die in (horror) movies

He's the first lieutenant?!?
Poor Optimus must be losing it!

If Spielberg directed this movie, it would be an instant classic
What was he thinking?? He's good with aliens (E.T.) and robots (A.I.)
Then again neither were action flicks

 

[Daredevil_2003]

Umm Indiana Jones?

I'm fine with the movie. I understood the plot, the reasons for why they did it the way they did, and I still enjoyed it tremendously.

All this over-analyzing is silly. This is Transfomers. Not Shakespearean art. The shows some are obsessed with were just as, if not more brainless and corny. Can't reference the comics as I've never read them but I can't imagine they'd be much deeper. More mature, maybe.

 

[Killgore]

Umm Indiana Jones?

I'm fine with the movie. I understood the plot, the reasons for why they did it the way they did, and I still enjoyed it tremendously.

All this over-analyzing is silly. This is Transfomers. Not Shakespearean art. The shows some are obsessed with were just as, if not more brainless and corny. Can't reference the comics as I've never read them but I can't imagine they'd be much deeper. More mature, maybe.

It's not over analyzing. It doesn't have to be Shakespeare to be good. The first 30 minutes showed potential, but it was squandered by a sloppy poorly executed script.