Transformers 3: The General of the Shorty, the pinnacle of the series

Cielo 2022-04-22 07:01:03

First of all, I wrote this film review purely by accident, because I watched "Transformers 5" the day before yesterday. I had heard that it was very bad before, but I didn't expect it to be bad to that extent. Under the indignation, I suddenly felt that the first three "Transformers" were simply "classics of the world". I happen to have never written a film review of "Transformers 3", so I decided to write an angry one to calm down my mood.

First of all, it is stated that the first three parts of the "Transformers" series are not that good, and they are only the results of comparison with the latter two. Guo Degang has a famous saying, "It's not how good I am, but it's all about the background of my peers." It is also very appropriate to put it here. Nevertheless, as a boy and die-hard fan who has loved Transformers since he was a child, I watch the first three films almost every year. How to describe this feeling? It's like everyone knows that fried foods are unhealthy, but they can't resist the temptation to come to a meal. Of course, for this type of commercial film, I always lower the standard to look at it, and the eye addiction is the first, and no one expects to cultivate their sentiments by watching "Transformers", right?

Are there any flaws in the first three? Not only are there, but there are many, even if you look at it from a standard perspective, some places are quite irritating. This is determined by director Michael Bay's own style and the appeal of the entire project of the "Transformers" series. I won't say much in this article, and I will talk about it in detail later in the film review of "Transformers 5". What I want to mention here is that some flaws run through this series from beginning to end, but starting from "Change 3", a large number of implanted advertisements (including Chinese products) are rampant recklessly, and some even forcibly interrupted The rhythm (such as a dairy product) makes the audience seriously play, resulting in a very poor viewing experience.

Well, let's focus on the relatively good part. Since this series takes spectacle-like images as its biggest selling point, the audio-visual aspects must be excellent enough. Taking "Change 3" as an example, it has won many awards and nominations for sound effects, visual effects, and special effects. Of course, these kinds of awards are more of an affirmation of the strength of the hardware, and basically you are willing to spend money and you are done. In the last week before the completion of "Change 3", ILM fully started its own "rendering farm" (covering an area of ​​several thousand square meters, which is full of computers for CG rendering. server). The most complex CG character in this film is undoubtedly the pet dagger beside Shockwave. The whole body is made up of more than 70,000 parts. In contrast, Optimus Prime has only more than 10,000 parts. The most complex character "Change 2" Hercules encountered is only more than 50,000. As evidenced by the fact that it took nearly an hour to import each shot of it destroying the Chicago building, it took a horrific 288 hours to render a single frame.

Another point is that Michael Bay experimented with 3D technology in "Change 3". To be fair, Michael Bay's choice was riskier. He has always been cautious about 3D, but the problem is not technical, but stylistic. What is Michael Bay's style? To sum it up simply, high-speed chase shots, fragmented violent aesthetics, and sporadic fast-cut editing, but most of these will conflict with the 3D viewing effect. To give the most obvious example, the car chase scene has always been an action scene that Michael Bay is very good at and loves, and it was the highlight in his early works such as "Jedi Boys" and "Stone Shattering". And in the first two parts of this series, there are five times in "Change 1", four times in "Change 2", but only once in "Change 3". The reason is very simple, the 3D camera body is bulky, it is difficult to follow focus, and such a fast lens will make the audience uncomfortable, so I have to reluctantly give up. Also reducing was a lot of hand-held shaky shots and close-up combat shots, for similar reasons.

In response to this situation, in order to ensure the viewing quality of the film and defend his personal style, Michael Bay chose to increase the objectivity of the shots, and used the panorama shots to make up for the intense feeling after losing the fast-cut shots. On the other hand, due to the different creative requirements, the director must reorganize and plan the picture composition, depth of field, angle and scene layout, such as reducing the blurred lens, increasing the coherence of the lens, and increasing the depth and positional relationship of the picture. In particular, Michael Bay also experimentally designed two subjective shots, one is the outside world seen by the armed members through the masks at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, and the other is a shooting when Optimus Prime and the natural enemy are in close combat. The main view of the soldier. Although the first-person 3D lens may cause dizziness to the audience, the 3D effect will theoretically be maximized by using a subjective lens to narrate the stereoscopic space combined with 3D simulation of the human eye. Personally, I haven't seen the film in theaters, so the actual effect is unknown. Aside from the narrative issues, there is no doubt about the image quality of "Change 3" itself and Michael Bay's efforts in this regard.

Another aspect of the first three that I quite agree with is the soundtrack. In fact, Steve Jablonski wrote the soundtrack for the entire Transformers franchise. Some people may not know him very well. He used to work in Hans Zimmer's music studio and is a well-known composer in the film, television, and video game circles. Although film soundtracks represented by Hans Zimmer and his team since the 1990s have created a soundtrack style that combines the heaviness of a large-scale orchestra and the sharpness of electronic synthesizers, it has been well received by major filmmakers. The favor of the factory makes the soundtracks of a large number of commercial blockbusters show the same rhythm and industrial flavor, but it does not prevent some fine products from being born.

There are three of my favorite soundtracks in the entire series. One is "Autobots" from "Change 1". It is majestic, majestic and tragic. It breeds hope for the rebirth of the Jedi in depression, which is very consistent with the mission of Optimus Prime and Autobots; the other two are from "Change 3". One of them is "There is no plan" , in the grand vicissitudes of life, the violin brings out the memories and sadness, as the soundtrack when the Autobots are forced to leave the space shuttle; the other is "Sentinel" Prime" , five similar simple syllables are repeated continuously, the piano, viola, and timpani cooperate with each other, from far to near, from low to bright, like a tide, it is full of epic sense, as if it has exhausted the natural enemy ( Sentinel Prime) tragic and storied life.

When it comes to "Anti-Guardian", it can be said to be the most charismatic villain in the series. Compared with Megatron, who is just a rival to the Autobots, the Royale is much fuller and more three-dimensional. If Optimus Prime is an idealist, then as the leader of the Autobots before Optimus Prime, Yu Natural Enemy is undoubtedly a realist. In order to save his home planet Cybertron, which is on the verge of destruction, he cooperated with the enemy Decepticon against his will, even if he took the name of a traitor, even if he would join forces with Megatron, who he had always despised, who would bear the burden of humiliation? Can you feel it?

To some extent, the natural enemy is similar to the villain General Zod in "Superman: Man of Steel". The goals of the two are to continue their ethnicity and rebuild their homeland. Whether the difference between the former and Optimus Prime or the latter and Superman is just a different concept of the earth (human beings). But just as Optimus Prime said when he was determined to kill his relatives righteously to this senior who is also a teacher and a friend, "You did not betray me, but you betrayed yourself." Civilization, such behavior is obviously contrary to the justice and freedom that the natural enemies once pursued. As the source of belief of Optimus Prime and even the Autobots, the natural enemy can be called a tragic heroic villain.

In addition to the highlights of the characters, the plot of this work is relatively the most story-telling in the entire series. As long as you have survived the various advertisement placements and embarrassing jokes in the first half, starting from the sudden reversal of the natural enemy and killing the iron skin, the rhythm suddenly becomes tighter, and there are more ups and downs and reversals (the Autobots did not appear in the space shuttle. Sacrifice in explosion). The climax of the Battle of Chicago can be called the essence of the series. When the airspace was basically controlled by the Decepticons headed by Starscream, the Autobots cooperated with a part of the US Army's nest troops to feint to cover the protagonist Sam and others to break into the enemy's core area and win the battle. A battle of the weak over the strong. Among them, there are also classic scenes such as "Lair Troop Glider Suit Airborne", "Optimus Prime Destroys the Diamond Demon", "Human Outsmart Shockwave, Starscream" and other classic scenes.

Of course, there are also Easter eggs worth mentioning. For example, the astronaut Buzz Aldrin, who went to the moon with Neil Armstrong, made a cameo as himself, and the voice of the natural enemy was Leonard who played Spock in the "Star Trek" series. · Nimoy, the old voice and the character of the natural enemy are actually seamless, which can be called the welfare of geeks. By the way, the Trump Tower in Chicago is also shown in this film, and the scene where Sam rescues his girlfriend is shot here. Comrade Jianguo is not well regarded as president, but he is indeed a good businessman. Trump Tower has appeared in movies more than once, including Nolan's "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises".

View more about Transformers: Dark of the Moon reviews

Extended Reading

Transformers: Dark of the Moon quotes

  • [at the Lincoln Memorial]

    Starscream: Oh, my master, such a brilliant scheme! So when Sentinel left Cybertron, it was to defect!

    Megatron: He was meant to rendezvous with me here on Earth, before fate waylaid us both. The only way to revive him: we needed Prime and his Matrix.

    [blasts the Lincoln statue]

    Starscream: Excellent strategy!

    Igor: [chomping Lincoln's head] Mine! Mine!

    Starscream: So, he is now your partner.

    Megatron: He is my greatest triumph.

    Starscream: So impressive!

  • Megatron: Here we are. Fight us NOW.