I don't agree that the situations are comparable. The distinction is that though the actual romance is scarce, it drives at least part of the films. Besides the Macguffin, very little drives Transformers. And, of course I was simplifying, but you understand the point.
Yes, I understand your point. But there are different kinds of stories. Some stories have the main characters mostly reacting to things, and some have characters actually doing things to drive the story forward, and in some, there's a combination of elements. I think this is the latter. In this story, the characters do things based on a discovery, and then, in the course of them doing things, they discover more things that they must react to and make decisions about that inform their next actions. The basic stories of REVENGE OF THE FALLEN is Sam's quest to discover his role in the Transformers struggle, and the Decepticon's revenge (Mikaela's bit is in there, as is the government stuff, and there's a small subplot with Sam's parents, which is mostly tied to Sam's "leaving home and growing into his role" element). And there are very clear "drives" to both stories. Sam drives his own story for the most part (although he doesn't get to choose his route) as do Megatron and the Decepticons. The main issue I have with it is that everything is painted in broad strokes, so the story ends up feeilng a bit haphazard. Which it almost had to, or it would feel even more contrived.
What do you mean by there being nothing that drives the story? There are several elements that do. Do you mean they never crystallize a reason for Sam to doubt himself and his role in the struggle early on, therefore it sort of comes out of nowhere?
I think there's a decent balance of Sam's actions driving the story, though, him reacting to changing story elements, and moving forward through the story. It's the pieces of the story that are the problem. The shard imprinting itself on Sam's mind isn't a terrible idea, if an over the top one. Most of the story unfolds fairly logically, until The Tomb of the Primes which is just, it feels like the writers ran out of ideas and needed a roadblock to give the characters. Even that scene, though, has some value, in the crumbling Matrix and Sam's rededication to his quest. And after that, random or not (which makes it a bit more realistic, I think), obstacles feel fairly genuine, given the story that's been built around them.
I don't know. That's not my qualm.
I know. I keep hoping someone else will chime in. People scream foul, but then when you ask "What would be better in terms of the actual storyline", there's nary a peep.
I tried to get into the industry writing screenplays, but it's next to impossible. It's more about who you know and not so much the quality of your work in many ways.
