Well the aliens from War of the Worlds and Independence Day were one-dimensional and homogeneous. They all looked alike, act alike, and had the same motivation. They were more mechanical than Transformers themselves. Ironic isn't it?
Transformers has alot more storytelling potential because Transformer mirror human behavior. They all have different personalities, histories and motivations. One autobot is afraid to fight another is willing to sacrifice everything for the cause. One decepticon wants to rule Cyberton another wants to nothing more than to serve Megatron or kill autobots. This is just the tipe of the iceberg and we all already out of basic alien invasion territory. You also have how transformers view each other and the war itself. Every Transformer has something unique to offer skill wise and thought wise just like human platoons. So it's really not your paint-by-the-numbers alien invasion flick. These aliens go through the same tragedy and honor of war that we do. Did War of the Worlds or Independence Day cover this territory?
Then you have the whole living machine/blade runner/ghost in the shell aspect where the question of what consitiuties a living thing and a soul. How are autobots brought into the world do they have viking funerals to pay respect to the dead. The cartoon episodes where they recover Optimus Pirmes dead body suggest they do. If the a "silly" cartoon for kids can explore these themes why not a major live action film franchise for young adults.
Then you have the origins of the Transformers. Decpticon were built for military porposes and autobots were built to be worker-slaves/consumers and scientist that learned to fight to free themselves from tyranny. Why throw these concepts away and give Transformers the LXG treatment? What would Braveheart mean to anyone if it was nothing but mindless swordfights? What would Star Wars mean to ppl if is was nothing but mindless lightsaber fights?
You can say Transformers didn't have the potential to be anything more than mindless giant robot fights but you're only fooling yourself.
When did I ever say the Transformers were mindless?!? My point was that there are too many people who want to ignore the fact that first and foremost, The transformers are lifeforms "ALIEN" to our planet, who have "INVADED" IT!! I wasn't dismissing the implications of them being individuals, or mirroring human behavior, and I've yet to see indication that that WON'T be part of this film. My point is, people keep complaining about the "alien invasion" aspect like it doesn't make sense in the context of reality. People complaining about the humans getting too much screentime. . . .THEY'RE ON EARTH!!!!
From a storytelling standpoint, but more specifically a marketing standpoint, they way they're portraying the film at THIS POINT, makes sense. At this point, where all we're supposed to be getting are minor glimpses of action and story in the trailers and commercials, there has to be an introductory point where the present the film and say, "These beings have come to Earth, some to destroy, some to protect." Which, I'll ad plays into all that detailed stuff you're taking about. Portrying the Autobots as beings who wish to preserve life. The filmmakers even had a contest, and fans voted to have Prime's classic line, "Freedom is the right of all setient beings" spoken in the film!
But like I said, first and foremost, There has to be a point, a beginning, where humanity at large is scared ****less. And they would be. The idea of this happening in real life is unfathomable. And the film needs to have that approach. Before we can connect with them and portray them as beings who will eventually assimilate into humanity, but when the story begins, they're aliens from outer space, plain and simple.
