TheTransformersmovies were once a mighty ethnical colossus , but multiple stumble have brought the automaton in camouflage back down to terra firma . The films are , of course of action , based on the wildly successful toy transmission line which has been conk secure in one shape or another since 1984 , supported by dozens of comics , animated cartoon , and TV game .

The Transformers actually made their initial jump to the silver screenland in 1986 withThe transformer : The Movie , an animated spinoff of the video series that made very lilliputian box office racket - though did manage to traumatize a generation with thedeath of Optimus Prime . After a few delusive starts , Transformerswould return to the big screen in 2007 with the live actionTransformers , directed by legal action movie extraordinaire Michael Bay .

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Sidious, Tyranus, Maul, and Vader.

Transformers would find new height of popularity with the twenty-first century flick franchise , pull in lineament like Optimus Prime andMegatroninto household names . But it was n’t all smooth sailing , with major problems popping up in theTransformerssequels . Ultimately , theTransformersmovies went from being extremely - anticipated press release to easily forgettable . So what went haywire ?

The First Transformers Movie Was A Winner

Bay ’s firstTransformersmovie was not only a box part titan but a crew pleaser as well , and it even catch mildly positive review . That firstTransformersmovie had a heart , best displayed in Shia LeBeouf ’s Sam Witwicky , a likable lead human character who had a warm , laughable relationship with Bumblebee , the mute Autobot scout . The plot was something akin to a scatterbrainedNational Treasuremovie , but most of it worked nonetheless ; the humor was large-minded , but most if it bring down , and the activeness sequences were thrilling . Plus , the activity modernized the Transformers for the twenty-first century , which is something that had n’t happened up until that power point in the series .

The robots themselves did n’t get a gross ton of characterization , but what was there worked . Optimus Prime was distinctly the same persona fans had come to know and bed , full of bromidic speeches and respect for all life , even featuring the voice of Peter Cullen , the histrion who ’d been sound Optimus on and off since the original cartoon .   The movie was n’t stark , featuring a litany of cartoonish human characters like Jon Voight ’s Secretary Heller and Anthony Anderson ’s broad nerd caricature , but it was a big , fun motion picture that did n’t inquire much of its audience . It feel like a solid porta chapter that would eventually lead to big and better things - but that was not to be .

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Kaitlyn Santa Juana in Final Destination Bloodlines Interview header

Troubles Begin With Revenge Of The Fallen

The secondTransformersmovie , Revenge of the Fallen , is a mess . It had a nice excuse - writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman were unable to refine the script due to a writers smasher . Bay move forrard with production with an incomplete book , leading to a story that scarcely made any sense , roping in the Egyptian pyramids , the Matrix of Leadership , and the titular Fallen , an ancient Decepticon that had visited Earth grand of age before the outcome of the first movie . It ’s simply too much plot , and it never coalesces into a chronicle worth telling .

Bay compensated for the photographic film ’s lack of a lucid taradiddle by amping up the ( confessedly still telling ) action episode , as well as the inauspicious commode humor . Worst of all , the automaton themselves were give broad , aggressive personalities , with Optimus Prime coming off as a more sadistic warrior than antecedently run across . Horrifically , Autobots Skids and Mudflap were given incredibly offensive stereotypically African American vox , and were ignorant .   By the time you get to   Devastator ’s bust up ball testicles , the movie had well and truly gone off the rails . critic pillory the movie , but it still made a jumbo amount of money , assuring the series would continue . Orci and Kurtzman would start out , but Michael Bay was in for the longsighted haul .

Optimus Prime Is Ruined

As remark , Revenge of the Fallensaw a more violent , aggressive adaptation of Optimus Prime than in any anterior iteration . That vogue would continue in the third film , transformer : Dark of the Moon , where Optimus not only uphold to display a sort of perturb mirth at take on the Decepticons , but also examine him hatch a programme that result in the decease of untold thousands of humans . The Autobots are forced off of Earth , with the man blaming them for the war with the Decepticons . The Autobots fake their own deaths to win over the Decepticons that they have free rein over the planet . But before Optimus and booster make their desperate tax return , the Decepticons eradicate Chicago and other large cities , resulting in monolithic destruction and devastation . Optimus fundamentally let people die to prove a degree , which could not possibly be less desperate .

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The fourth cinema , Transformers : Age of Extinction- now with a new jumper cable , Mark Wahlberg ’s Cade Yeager - would continue Optimus ' descent into red mental disease . By the clock time Optimus murders the Dick Cheney fend - in play by Kelsey Grammer in the motion picture ’s orgasm , the case has well and truly lose its room , along with the franchise as a whole .

A collage image of Luke Skywalker in A New Hope

The Last Knight And Bottoming Out

By the metre of the fifth picture show , transformer : The Last Knight , it was observable Michael Bay ’s heart was no longer in the franchise . A silent , tongue-tied heap of a movie , even by the standards of this franchise , The Last Knightwas the first of theTransformersfilms to mislay money . Beyond its box seat bureau failure , it ’s simply an unwatchable mess , contradicting the prior movie at every possible chance and have actors who are clearly cash lewd assay as they mug their manner through dense plot points .

Perhaps tough of all , Bay ’s sorcerous tinge with action sequences was nowhere to be find inThe Last Knight , which was not only puzzling and off - putt , but at over 150 minutes was gruelingly boring . Bay announced he was done with the franchise after directingThe Last Knight , and the franchise was on the edge of limbo for the first time .

Bumblebee and Hope For The Future

Down but not out , theTransformersfilm franchise would reorganise in a big way with 2018’sBumblebee , a prequel of the first cinema lay in 1987 and revolving almost exclusively around the titulary Autobot scout and his relationship with the young human female child Charlie Watson . The photographic film not only captured the magic of Bay ’s first outing , it cope to improve upon it , making a heartfelt , worked up story out of the attendant friendly relationship between the teenaged girl and her unenlightened untested golem fellow traveler . Director Travis Knight , a huge fan of the franchise go back to the ' 80s , pepper the film with references to Generation 1 , a nice nod to longtime devotee who ’d stuck with the dealership through its peaks and valley .

Bumblebeewas a minor box office success- it had to take on the the like ofAquamanandMary Poppins Returnsat the box office , but held its own well enough to guarantee talk of the town of a sequel . It ’s unreadable incisively what figure that potential continuation could take , but if it can maintain the spirit and heart ofBumblebee , thenTransformersmovies may finally be poised for unqualified achiever .

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Transformers Optimus Prime with Shia Labeouf and Mark Wahlberg

Transformers 2007 poster featuring Optimus Prime, Megatron, and Bumblebee

Devastator in Revenge of the Fallen

Transformers: The Last Knight poster (cropped) - Optimus Prime

Optimus Prime and Bumblebee in Transformers The Last Knight

Charlie and Bumblebee in the 2018 Transformers movie Bumblebee

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