I REALLY do appreciate the movie avoid bathos. Of late I'll forgive a lot in a film if it maintains earnestness.
As a filthy TF casual enjoyer, I came at this pretty much knowing nothing. If I had any criticism it would be:
1. The late second and the third act are pretty rushed. This is where I think it felt more like a series squished together into a movie. After all the establishment of the world and characters in the opening act, the discovery of the rebels (and Starscream) felt so undercooked. I don't recall even a hint that these people might exist in the opening act (which would have gone a long way in this).
2. The final conflict between Optimus and Megatron I wasn't as pleased with (especially as I had been REALLY enjoying watching Megatron's slow fall). The generic "kill him - no we must not" debate bugs me when it's not given better time to flesh out. Especially since we see that Sentinel is a murderer and traitor I think even a paladin would be justified in executing him*. For me I wish they had set it up more where Megatron becomes so focused on his revenge, other random bots start getting hurt in the process and Optimus ends up fighting him just to keep the damage to a minimum.
* Yes I know there is also an issue of lynching vs institutional justice, but given that the crux of the film was that the institutions were corrupt and flawed - Sentinel might not even be executable by their laws - one could argue the paladin's role is then to carry out what must be done. They might have had another angle of debate between the two mains where one argues they should set up a method to try Sentinel and execute him and another unwilling to do that work - but that could also be a bit much for a kids movie.
Otherwise yeah, even I liked it and found it one of the better films with themes of friendship and... well when it breaks, you could see why the most bitter of hatreds and conflicts arose from it.
They should have let Peter Cullen voice Alpha Trion. Let the OG crew voice the elders, dammit!
The earnestness of the movie is a real selling point. Trailers made it seem like the film would be all about humor but it isn't. And yes, it has been a LONG time since we have seen a film for a franchise avoid bathos.
You're right, the final leg of the movie feels very crammed. I think part of it is due to runtime constraints (mentioned here: https://www.indiewire.com/features/animation/transformers-one-star-wars-old-republic-interview-1235017651/). I do not think the filmmakers would have preferred the movie to be this short. It seems this was Hasbro's decision and they simply had to work within the timeframe the company set for them.
I think that contributed to the final confrontation between Orion and D that seems trite until you study the scene further. Orion's still operating from a law-abiding position while D is acting more as a revolutionary bandit leader, but the runtime the filmmakers had really didn't let them explain it any better than they did. If they had had more time, they might have been able to draw it out and make it more satisfactory, but it looks like they just couldn't manage it.
Peter Cullen as Alpha Trion. Now THAT would have been interesting indeed....
I REALLY do appreciate the movie avoid bathos. Of late I'll forgive a lot in a film if it maintains earnestness.
As a filthy TF casual enjoyer, I came at this pretty much knowing nothing. If I had any criticism it would be:
1. The late second and the third act are pretty rushed. This is where I think it felt more like a series squished together into a movie. After all the establishment of the world and characters in the opening act, the discovery of the rebels (and Starscream) felt so undercooked. I don't recall even a hint that these people might exist in the opening act (which would have gone a long way in this).
2. The final conflict between Optimus and Megatron I wasn't as pleased with (especially as I had been REALLY enjoying watching Megatron's slow fall). The generic "kill him - no we must not" debate bugs me when it's not given better time to flesh out. Especially since we see that Sentinel is a murderer and traitor I think even a paladin would be justified in executing him*. For me I wish they had set it up more where Megatron becomes so focused on his revenge, other random bots start getting hurt in the process and Optimus ends up fighting him just to keep the damage to a minimum.
* Yes I know there is also an issue of lynching vs institutional justice, but given that the crux of the film was that the institutions were corrupt and flawed - Sentinel might not even be executable by their laws - one could argue the paladin's role is then to carry out what must be done. They might have had another angle of debate between the two mains where one argues they should set up a method to try Sentinel and execute him and another unwilling to do that work - but that could also be a bit much for a kids movie.
Otherwise yeah, even I liked it and found it one of the better films with themes of friendship and... well when it breaks, you could see why the most bitter of hatreds and conflicts arose from it.
They should have let Peter Cullen voice Alpha Trion. Let the OG crew voice the elders, dammit!
The earnestness of the movie is a real selling point. Trailers made it seem like the film would be all about humor but it isn't. And yes, it has been a LONG time since we have seen a film for a franchise avoid bathos.
You're right, the final leg of the movie feels very crammed. I think part of it is due to runtime constraints (mentioned here: https://www.indiewire.com/features/animation/transformers-one-star-wars-old-republic-interview-1235017651/). I do not think the filmmakers would have preferred the movie to be this short. It seems this was Hasbro's decision and they simply had to work within the timeframe the company set for them.
I think that contributed to the final confrontation between Orion and D that seems trite until you study the scene further. Orion's still operating from a law-abiding position while D is acting more as a revolutionary bandit leader, but the runtime the filmmakers had really didn't let them explain it any better than they did. If they had had more time, they might have been able to draw it out and make it more satisfactory, but it looks like they just couldn't manage it.
Peter Cullen as Alpha Trion. Now THAT would have been interesting indeed....