TF Views

Sam as a character is just too much at once, he's got too much going on simply because his grandpa had some glyphs on his glasses, that automatically means he has the natural skills to defeat both Megatron and Starscream, function as the Autobots' ambassador to Earth, handle being nabbed by super secret paramilitary forces, and survive a million other things that his character didn't have aptitude for, all with barely a scratch on him. He is the main character not by virtue of any ability or talent, but simply BECAUSE he is the main character, and he's only that because Spielberg is his pimp or something.

Wesley Crusher had natural born gifts, talents that helped him excel in his position. And he often failed only to have to learn from those mistakes or learn how to rely on his fellow shipmates to get past that. Wesley was a wunderkind not because Roddenberry was trying to pander to a youth audience, but because that's what Roddenberry's ideal of his own youth was. Granted, the writers on TNG really didn't know what to do with that and overused the character, constantly making him smarter and smarter to fit the needs of the script, but I'd take a thousand Wesleys over Sam any day.

Bottom line, Wesley Crusher is a gifted young person whose situation and talents drove his experiences; Sam Witwicky is only "gifted" in that the producers and writers of the movieverse make him the central character without anything to justify that.


As for performance, Shia LaBeouf plays his type of smarmy yet slightly charming character very well, but a little goes a long way, and he doesn't show any range beyond "smarmy yet slightly charming". I neither love him nor loathe him, but I side more towards the latter, I think he's woefully miscast and overused in Transformers, and it seems like his significant successes are largely a piece of Hollywood backroom shenanigans rather than actual ability, which I find more grating than his smarminess.

JediTricks wrote:Sam as a character is just too much at once, he's got too much going on simply because his grandpa had some glyphs on his glasses, that automatically means he has the natural skills to defeat both Megatron and Starscream, function as the Autobots' ambassador to Earth, handle being nabbed by super secret paramilitary forces, and survive a million other things that his character didn't have aptitude for, all with barely a scratch on him. He is the main character not by virtue of any ability or talent, but simply BECAUSE he is the main character, and he's only that because Spielberg is his pimp or something.

Wesley Crusher had natural born gifts, talents that helped him excel in his position. And he often failed only to have to learn from those mistakes or learn how to rely on his fellow shipmates to get past that. Wesley was a wunderkind not because Roddenberry was trying to pander to a youth audience, but because that's what Roddenberry's ideal of his own youth was. Granted, the writers on TNG really didn't know what to do with that and overused the character, constantly making him smarter and smarter to fit the needs of the script, but I'd take a thousand Wesleys over Sam any day.

Bottom line, Wesley Crusher is a gifted young person whose situation and talents drove his experiences; Sam Witwicky is only "gifted" in that the producers and writers of the movieverse make him the central character without anything to justify that.


As for performance, Shia LaBeouf plays his type of smarmy yet slightly charming character very well, but a little goes a long way, and he doesn't show any range beyond "smarmy yet slightly charming". I neither love him nor loathe him, but I side more towards the latter, I think he's woefully miscast and overused in Transformers, and it seems like his significant successes are largely a piece of Hollywood backroom shenanigans rather than actual ability, which I find more grating than his smarminess.

My biggest problem with the humans cast in the live action TF movies. is their was too many of them & they had radically different lives.

I would have preferred the IDW TF G-1 On-going approach where the army guys were the main humans & their were no civilian humans getting in the way by stealing dialogue/screen time.

I honestly think Josh duhmal could have played the spike royal & been the main attraction. by showing his army life. showing how his family deals with things at home while he's away at war. showing him move up in rank & get more professional in the army.

I kinda feel the whole Shia & shia's civilian friends/family felt very forced on the live action TF movie.

I think it might have worked out a bit better. If sam had joined the army & was in their for a few weeks. then he met the transformers & things took off from their. somehow the writters could have transformed sam into the IDW TF G-1 on-going Spike role.

Sorry having too many humans running around with radically different lives in the live action TF movies. just seemed messy,un-focused. time wasted developing too many humans personas/roles. all this ofcause stole time+dialogue+scenes away from the transformers robots.

I wouldn't say that fans loathe Shia.
I don't.


He is a good actor.
I mean since I watched him in Even Stevens way back, he has been a good actor.
I'm not really why fans would loathe him.
His movie roles always have an edge. He delivers well.

You know what, I hadn't considered it that way. Thank you, Fast-Debrid, I think I'll just click on that link in your-- HEYWAITAMINUTE

There's no such download host as " "! You jokester, you.

That's the weirdest spambot post I've ever seen.

Amazingly well done, isn't it? I'm gonna give it the benefit of the doubt and assume it's a real person who just wants to plug their site.

We have a real one down in the "board business" though.


Dom
-actually kind of impressed with the one above though.