Why Sam Witwicky Is the Most Important Human Character in the Franchise
The Transformers film franchise has always been a topic of debate amongst fans and critics. While the original series of cartoons, comic books, and source material has a dedicated following, movie-goers have been divided on the ways that director Michael Bay has brought the franchise to the big screen. It seems like the Transformers series is now moving in a new direction beyond Bay, but the mixed responses to Bumblebee and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts suggest that some of the lessons from the past have not been heeded. What’s interesting is that each installment in the Transformers franchise seems to make different mistakes.
Bay is a filmmaker who divides opinion, but he has made some good films before like The Rock, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, Pain & Gain, Ambulance, and 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. However, the first Transformers film from 2007 stands as the most competent compared to the disastrous sequels that followed it.
The 2009 sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, created a convoluted mythology that made little to no sense, and attempted to tie in the mythology of the Autobots and Deceptions into world history. While 2011’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon featured more cohesive action and less obnoxious humor, it still suffered from many of the same plot inconsistencies.
The “original trilogy” of films are not to be celebrated as “great cinema,” but they do feel much more cohesive than the wild directions that the franchise has taken in the years that have followed. A significant part of this is due to Shia LaBeouf, whose performance as Sam Witwicky stands as the most integral “human” character in the entire franchise.
LaBeouf is an actor who tends to be in the headlines a lot due to his erratic behavior and controversial statements. While it’s unfortunate that scandals, gossip, and LaBeouf’s personal issues so often dominate the conversation surrounding his performances, they don’t have any merit on his films themselves. LaBeouf is an actor who can elevate the source material he is working with, and Sam’s character arc throughout the three Transformers films is actually much more understandable than any of the mythological nonsense that Bay tries to add in about the role of the Autobots and Decepticons in reaction to human history.
The lack of likable characters is one of the franchise’s biggest problems. LaBeouf’s Transformers co-stars can’t be faulted for the lackluster material they were given to work with, as no actor can make some of the terrible dialogue sound any better. Even though John Turturro, Frances McDormand, Jon Voight, and John Malkovich are among the best actors of their generation, they can’t turn Bay’s characters into anything other than filler roles that just waste time between the plot points. That being said, LaBeouf shows that Sam is at least a character that the audience can sympathize with.
The franchise spirals out of control once Sam exited the series. 2014’s Transformers: Age of Extinction attempted to “soft reboot” the series with Mark Wahlberg’s new character Cade Yaegar as the protagonist. While having a character that is a father as the new face of the franchise may have seemed like a good idea to distinguish Age of Extinction from its predecessors, Wahlberg proved to be an obnoxious addition to the series, only distracted from a storyline that got even more confusing with each passing revelation.
The reason that 2007’s Transformers remains the best live-action film in the series is that it’s the most straightforward. The search for the “All Spark” is a compelling enough way to introduce the Transformers on Earth, and Sam serves as the audience’s “avatar” as he learns about the history of the planet. At the same time, he’s also an awkward teenager who is trying to pay for college, work on his first relationship, and deal with his annoying parents. Of all the films in the series, 2007’s Transformers feels the most closely tied to executive producer Steven Spielberg, who knows a thing or two about “coming-of-age” stories. While Transformers is much cruder than any of the Amblin classics that Spielberg produced, there’s an integrity to seeing Sam try to define what type of person he wants to be that is more emotionally authentic than anything else in the franchise.
To say that the Transformers movie franchise has been a divisive one would be an understatement. While the original series of cartoons, comic books, and source material has a devoted following, fans have been divided on the ways that director Michael Bay has brought the franchise to the big screen. It seems like the Transformers series is now moving in a new direction beyond Bay, but the mixed responses to Bumblebee and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts suggest that some of the lessons from the past have not been heeded.
What’s fascinating is that each installment in the Transformers franchise seems to make different mistakes. Bay is a divisive filmmaker, but he has made good films before like The Rock, Armageddon, Pearl Harbor, Pain & Gain, Ambulance, and 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi. The first Transformers film from 2007 isn’t necessarily a classic, but it stands as much more competent than any of the disastrous sequels that followed it.
Amidst the pressures of a different writer’s strike, 2009’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen created a convoluted mythology that made absolutely no sense, and attempted to start tying in the mythology of the Autobots and Deceptions into world history. While 2011’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon featured more cohesive action and less obnoxious humor, it suffered from many of the same plot inconsistencies.
While this “original trilogy” of films aren’t anything to be celebrated as “great cinema,” they do feel much more cohesive than the wild directions that the franchise has taken in the years that have followed. A large part of this is due to Shia Labeoufwhose performance as Sam Witwicky stands as the most integral “human” character in the entire franchise.
Shia LaBeouf’s Star Power
LaBeouf is an actor who tends to be in the headlines a lot due to his erratic behavior and controversial statements; while it’s unfortunate that scandals, gossip, and LaBeouf’s personal issues so often dominate the conversation surrounding his performances, they don’t have any merit on his films themselves. LaBeouf may have earned the reputation of being “hard to work with,” but he’s certainly earned the interest of major, influential directors like Steven Spielberg, Lars von Trier, Oliver Stone, Robert Redford, Andrea Arnold, Francis Lawrence, David Ayer, and most recently Abel Ferrera, who cast him in his latest film Father Pio.
LaBeouf is an actor who can elevate the source material he is working with, and Sam’s character arc throughout the three Transformers films is actually much more understandable than any of the mythological nonsense that Bay tries to add in about the role of the Autobots and Decepticons in reaction to human history. The first film sees him as a likable young man who is searching for a way to find himself, which makes Optimus Prime an interesting mentor to him. While most of the actors never feel like they’re interacting with anything other than the green screen, LaBeouf actually tries to make it seem like Sam has a real relationship with the Autobots.
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is not a film that needs any sort of defense; Bay himself cited the film as a stain on his career, per The Guardianas the screenplay was not completed when the film began shooting amidst the early writer’s strike that began in 2007. Most of the film’s issues are with its humor, which often relies on racial and ethnic stereotypes and becomes very disrespectful; the only humor that actually works in the film is LaBeouf’s erratic choices and bizarre performance. The more serious tone of Transformers: Dark of the Moon is reflected through LaBeouf, whose maturity as an actor was evident when Sam attempted to find work in modern New York.
The Lack of Likable Characters
LaBeouf’s Transformers co-stars can’t be faulted for the lackluster material they were given to work with, as no actor can make some of the terrible dialogue sound any better. Even though John Turturro, Frances McDormand, Jon Voight, and John Malkovich are among the best actors of their generation, they can’t turn Bay’s characters into anything other than filler roles that just waste time between the plot points. That being said, LaBeouf shows that Sam is at least a character that the audience can sympathize with. It’s striking how much the franchise spirals out of control once Sam exited the series.
2014’s Transformers: Age of Extinction attempted to “soft reboot” the series with Mark Wahlberg’s new character Cade Yaegar as the protagonist. While having a character that is a father as the new face of the franchise may have seemed like a good idea to distinguish Age of Extinction from its predecessors, Wahlberg proved to be an obnoxious addition to the series, only distracted from a storyline that got even more confusing with each passing revelation. It didn’t help that the film’s regressive sexual politics, frequently inappropriate humor, and plot holes made it even harder to take Cade seriously. Audiences may not have realized how good they had it when LaBeouf was the face of the series!
The Coming of Age Elements
The reason that 2007’s Transformers remains the best live-action film in the series is that it’s the most straightforward. The search for the “All Spark” is a compelling enough way to introduce the Transformers on Earth, and Sam serves as the audience’s “avatar” as he learns about the history of the planet. At the same time, he’s also an awkward teenager who is trying to pay for college, work on his first relationship, and deal with his annoying parents.
Of all the films in the series, 2007’s Transformers feels the most closely tied to executive producer Steven Spielberg, who knows a thing or two about “coming-of-age” stories. While Transformers is much cruder than any of the Amblin classics that Spielberg produced, there’s an integrity to seeing Sam try to define what type of person he wants to be that is more emotionally authentic than anything else in the franchise.
