Eyebrows were raised when Transformers 4 was said to be making a fresh start (don’t call it a reboot) – but now Michael Bay is explaining the fictional reasons for ditching the leads, secondary characters, and majority of the robotic back-up.
The previous stars and familiar Autobots may have taken the franchise’s unique brand of action to unrivaled heights with Transformers 3, but the world is a different place come Transformers 4. Four years after the attack that leveled Chicago, T4 takes the series in a ‘different direction.’
It isn’t the first time Michael Bay has insisted that Transformers 4 will be charting a new course for the future, and the early word is that the film will possess a more serious, darker tone than its predecessors. The claim may sound like the more of the same marketing speak (how long until the word ‘Nolan’ gets thrown around), but the decimation of Chicago that served as the final battle of Dark Side of the Moon makes the premise somewhat feasible.
Speaking with TMZ, Bay provided some information on the setting of the upcoming film; specifically, how a new human and alien cast won’t be the only thing that separates 3 from 4:
“The movie is going to continue 4 years on from the attack on Chicago which was in the last movie. So it’s going still to have the same lineage but going in a full, new, different direction and it actually feels really natural how it is going in that direction.”
Besides adding deeper meaning to the Transformers 4 logo, the new timeline established by Bay gives a better sense of what the director meant when promising that the three previous films will “all still count.” The last movie offered no explanation as to how the military, government, and public at large would react to an all-out alien attack. It’s safe to assume that the battle cost thousands of lives – should T4 choose to acknowledge that, the story will automatically feels closer to Iron Man 3 than the goofy, out of place gags and slapstick of the preceding movies.
While the four-year jump will likely skip much of the actual fallout of the citywide devastation, it gives Bay and company an excuse to try something completely new – and, with an apparent second trilogy on the way, that would be welcome. Now that Mark Wahlberg is actually involved (well done, Internet) and could bring some more believable action, the opportunity to see humans primarily fighting with robots will present itself more frequently. Especially if the military takes over the vacancies left by the lack of a teenage goofballs.
Wahlberg would make a believable soldier, and his attitude alone could make any verbal sparring with Optimus Prime seem a bit easier to believe. Since Michael Bay enjoys portraying military brass as ‘them, not us’ in his films, a shift in perspective would be a wise choice (again, we point to Battleship director Peter Berg as a successor). Framing the Autobots as no longer ‘the world’s best kept secret,’ but active allies defending Earth would at least open doors for whoever replaces Bay come Transformers 5.
Call us optimists, but we’re not ready to believe that it’s impossible for Bay to tell a good story alongside immense action. Do you think the jump in time and tone is a wise move, or will you only be excited when a new director takes over (if ever)?
Transformers 4 (still waiting for a new subtitle) will hit theaters June 29th, 2014.
-
Follow me on Twitter @andrew_dyce.
Source: TMZ (via BleedingCool)
Stephen King ‘Zombie’ Film ‘Cell’ To Be Directed by ‘Paranormal Activity 2′ Helmer 
‘Arrow’ Season 1 Finale Review 
J.J. Abrams Planned ‘Star Trek’ TV Show; Rights Issues Led to Jump to ‘Star Wars’? 
‘Riddick’ Full Trailer: Riddick Gets Unchained (Plus New Images) 
I’m not sure why people expect Doctor Zhivago from Transformers. It’s giant robots with rockets and swords. I got to see Bay movies for in my face action, which none of the Transformers movies have let down on. I am glad Shia is gone though.
It’s not supposed to be a dramatic masterpiece, yes. But does it have to be such a bore, with a script that isn’t really funny, and an interesting back story? I liked the animated shows a lot better because the characters were far better. It’s also a reason why people and critics liked The Avengers movie, and The Avengers is NO Doctor Zhivago either, but it still knew how to make a move which generates more than a bland story and constant explosions.
how dare you say yo glad shiais gone are you insan
Mikey Bay promised a more “serious and darker tone” for both Transformers 2, and 3. He’s a known, compulsive liar, just to get people into the theatre seats.
Yeah, my big issue is why does he keep killing everyone? Prime has died, iron hyde is dead, stars cream is dead. Bay keeps killing all the main characters, there is not going to be anyone left by T5, I go to the movie to see them not sit through 1.5 hrs of Laural and hardy without the main characters, disappointing. Its like going to a superman movie, and superman gets killed in the first 3 min. of the movie, and does not come back in the movie until last 3 min. everything in between is fluff. maybe its the writers, but Im sure BAY has final cut, so he is just as responsible. Also why does he always have megaton more powerfull than prime, someone needs to explain to Bay what a PRIME really is. A powerful ultra soldier created by Primus himself the first 13 that is. He has prime getting his but kicked all the time lesser transformers, sad I can hardly watch anymore. Used to be a big Bay fan but he is letting me down on one of my favorite cartoons as kid, heck Megatron wanted to be a prime, why is that, so he could get his butt kicked all the time, no because they are POWERFULL not weak and jokers as he portrays them! Imagine how much the movies would gross if he did it right! Get rid of the human love story crap too, waste of time…. I was looking forward to see sideswipe engage some decepticons 1on1, nope he got 2.5 min of screen time like all the other transformers only the humans in a transformers movie get all the screen time sad.
Apparently you only know the movie ‘story’ as far as Megatron vs. Prime. Megs has always been and always will be the big BA on the block. If anything, the films weaken him. Try reading the comics which are the true canon. Everyone (and I mean everyone) is afraid of Megatron. Optimus has more heart and is a better leader but Megs will win 6 times out of 10 in a stand up fight.
Maverick is right. I love Optimus, but Megatron was a freaking gladiator back in the day. Optimus was originally just an archivist. So even though they both fought in the war, Megatron had been fighting long before Optimus was, and has a lot more experience.
please dont add dinobots or vector prime the primes are meant to be dead for go sakes and circuit breaker died in number 2 to the car please am begging you dont messes it. dont bring the dinobots inside trnsformers 4. they are meant to be the only survivers of there race.
Ok well Optimus always did kick ass.. the only reason he died in number 2 is because Megatron took a cheap shot and hit him from behind…Optimus himself is not weak but his character flaw is that he cares to much for the humans. he was distracted and looking for Sam and that gave Megatron his chance to give a killing blow. Before that however Optimus took on like three including Megatron in a fist fight and was winning easily. He wiped the floor with Megatron and The Fallen afte coming back. In number three he also killed Megatron pretty quickly too, he only really had trouble fighting Sentinal but that is only because Sentinal was leader first and had more experience and there fore is logically better then Optimus. However Optimus still overcame Sentinal and killed him so I don’t understand why you think Optimus was so weak he was actually a badass.
There is a huge difference between good & s***. All of them have been s***.
Shut the heck up those movies are probably better than u those and lord of the rings are the only good movies out there
I don’t no why everybody likes avengers
thats not f***** true!
I think Mark Walhberg is supposed to be an aged Sam Witwicky?
whats up
I think so too!
In only four years Sam goes from looking like Shia to Mark’s age? Haha ya think again Mark is definitely not Sam
UNICRON/Galvatron storyline. Should Galvatron be another Transformers altogether for this/these films or should it be Megatron reborn yet again??? I think if they are going to have Megatron being remade into Galvatron it should wait until Film 5. Have a different Villain for Film 4. Wouldn’t it be better for Film 4 to be a lead up to Film 5 and/or 6. How are they going to handle another Autobots save the world yet again story without it becoming stale or watered down. It will be interesting that is for sure to see what direction they go. If Galvatron is in Film 4 he should not die. Neither should Prime.
I agree with Larry. If they put Unicron in T4, what will they have to offer in the sequel? Maybe Galvatron returns hinting for Unicron, only to face him in the next movie. I’m hoping for less “save the world” and military involvement, hence their new approach. Thinking back to the 80′s cartoons, after Unicron they introduced a lame season 3 then Headmasters. Hey maybe Grimlock would make a show. And please, more transformers that we actually know, they were not short on characters to introduce new useless ones. Making it darker won’t be a bad idea either, droids humping dogs don’t go well with the Matrix of Leadership.
One word – UNICRON
whats up yall
I would defenitely call you optimist for saying that. THREE Michael bay led productions and he just barely toned down the slapstick. Sam’s parents in green sweat pant suits, Sam’s Datsun, Dutch, bill o’reily, mr deep throat, the sad crippled megatron (note that he leaned on sentinel prime as he leaned on The Fallen in the second movie) the brief killing spree by the decepticon force on the city of Chicago was hardly enough to even mention Nolan. Nolan stayed consistant in his portrayal of the batman series and Bay’s 3rd tranmsformers was him doing his best to tone it down? Nolan just needs to be included. Bay has left enough of a mark on the franchise.
Shia Labeouf sucked…..im glad that piece of dog s#*t wont be ruining anymore Transformers movies.
ignorant piece of dog s*! taking shia off was the DUMBEST move ever so i hope thats not true! & bumblebee BETTER be in it or i will definitely not be watching cause so far it all sounds like a bunch of BS
I don’t care if the cast change as long as they have the same voises for the robots that’s all I care about
guys, im thinking it will be unicron or galvatron. or it may even go FURTHER than unicron. it might go BACK to UNICRON’S CREATER. cause if you read the transformers wiki, unicron wasn’t just,you know THERE, he was CREATED by some super ancient dude i forgot the name of. but anyways, thank you for your time.
I agree with everyone who says the robots themselves need more legitimate screen time. Bumblebee in the comics and cartoons was almost the most charismatic Autobot, and Bay reduced him to a humming radio at times. Granted he was more of a warrior, but then Bay went and killed the most charismatic warriors in Ironhide and Jazz. To make it worse, there was barely a mention of their deaths. Autobots are not meant to be soulless robots, they mourn greatly in comics and cartoons alike.
I am frankly disgusted with Michael Bay’s human-centric, and terribly unfunny, productions. While the work he did in creating the technology, film techniques, and templates for the Transformers was impressive, he never managed to craft a story that does those creations justice. Shia had to move on, and so does Michael Bay. No matter what new villain emerges, or which autobots get their token screen time, the franchise needs new direction from someone who will capture the essence of what it means to be a transforming robot stuck in an endless war, on a world in which you will always be an alien.
i for one can not wait for this movie i dont care what anybody says its going to be epic keep it up bay
I would like to see Peter berg take over director duties. I think he’s a really good director enjoyed all his films. He can make it dark ( the kingdom ). Transformers 5 should be Peter berg bags.
Hope this one does have a darker tone (some laughs tho). Also a better storyline (definitely than #3) and more camera time for both Autobots and Decepticons.
Cool that Mark Wahlberg is going to be in it. But yeah…. Can’t wait!!!!
TF1 was abit ok, and TF2 was better,TF3 felf like it was a different movie, i bet TF4 will be a huge dissapointment
You’re a huge disappointment for thinking Transformers 2 was better than the first one. TF2 sucked. Not TF3 sucked but it still sucked.
michael bay da best hollywood scam artist ever!! a real pain to watch the movies he directed
“Emospark holds the power to create worlds, and fill them with life”. It also powers your digital world with independent life. EmoSpark is that indefinable, indescribable energy that will make the digital world truly alive, more than mere machines or avatars”
They should make prequels, that take place on Cybertron!
TF3 had the bones of a first trully good TF film, but most of the human centric stuff was so much crap, though 3D finally finds its use in shots of Rose HW going up the stairs in her panties. Nobody else thought the battle at the end of Avengers was stolen holu bolus from TF3? Must just be me. Ryan’s right. I’m a cartoonivore, so don’t quote comics as cannon to me, though I understand the argument. Prime was meek, like autobots were, but Megs was a hardcore badass, so Prime was re-engineered specifically as a warrior, but at no point did they take out his compassion chip