Dark Of The Moon Rewrite part 1: The Logical Choice

(SPOILER WARNING!!)



I've made it no secret in the past that my thoughts on the live action Transformers movies has changed drastically after watching "Bumblebee" in theatres (review here, incidentally). After going back and rewatching them, they have just become a cacophony of noise and irritation, an assault on the audiences intelligence and patience as a means of pandering to the lowest common denominator demographic. I may hold the first film close to my heart as my introductory point to the franchise, but that still doesn't excuse the lazy writing, the shoddy direction, the blatant sexism and racism on display, the lack of focus on the title characters, and the ever present aura of cynicism and contempt for a franchise that has changed and evolved since it's inception in the 1980's. In short, the movies are bad and Michael Bay should feel bad.

With that said, one could make the case for the third film, "Dark Of The Moon", as the one that could be salvaged amidst the myriad of awful dialogue and concussion inducing narrative if they make a simple change that could fix most of the issues with the story. And that change revolves around the main villain; not Megatron or any of his Decepticons, but Sentinel Prime.



As revealed by the mid-point of the film, Sentinel had made a deal with Megatron to get their hands on the Space Bridge pillars to summon an army of Decepticons to Earth and enslave the human race, eventually culminating in their main goal of bringing Cybertron to Earth's orbit and using the human populace to rebuild their planet.

Straight away, let's ignore the stupidity of using humans to rebuild Cybertron and not the energy sources that Earth has at it's disposal, as well as how this is basically a less coherent version of "The Ultimate Doom" from the original cartoon that Bay claims is the dumber version of the story. Rather, I want to address Sentinel Prime himself; specifically his characterisation and why it doesn't work within the framework of the film.

Essentially, by assuming the control of most of the Decepticon forces and overthrowing the Earth with his Space Bridge technology, Sentinel had no real reason to betray the Autobots. The deal that he had made with Megatron essentially means that ol' Buckethead surrendered his forces to the Autobots, which Sentinel could've told the other Autobots about so that they had the advantage. Would they've been on board with Sentinel enslaving mankind? No, but that's where the conflict should lie. They should be rebelling against Sentinel for this disregard of the morals that the Autobots supposedly uphold and trying to undermine his plan. Questions can then be raised about how much of what Sentinel taught Optimus was genuine or was all a ploy on Sentinel's behalf to have the younger Prime carry on his legacy. Automatically, Optimus has a much more interesting character conflict than "We take the battle to them".

But ultimately, that's not the change that I want to propose with DOTM and the character of Sentinel Prime. To properly set this up, let's actually break down his characterisation and what we could do with that.

As shown in the film, Sentinel Prime is callous towards other forms of life, with his goal revolving around returning Cybertron to it's Golden Age and fixing the planet. He is also seemingly a scientist and an inventor, having created the Space Bridge pillars and is the sole Transformer who can control them. He is ruthless, cunning (or would be if it weren't for this stupid plan), emotionally detached from everyone around him, and uses the methods that he believes is the most logical to achieve his end goal.

Now, with that characterisation in mind, remove the name "Sentinel Prime" from the equation. Try to think of someone; another character within the the 36 year long history of the Transformers franchise who fits the description I just presented. Who else do we know, from every story in the Transformers universe, is ruthless, cunning, emotionally detached, is a scientist and inventor, achieves his objectives via logic driven action and whose main goal is the preservation of Cybertron and its inhabitants above all else? On top of that, who do we know from that description who also happens to be in the movie and was pushed as a major part of it despite the end result?

Right away, you should already know the answer, and it's the character that I feel got a shorter end of the stick than Optimus and Megatron in terms of big screen representation. And thus, we finally arrive to the change. The main villain of the movie should not have been Sentinel Prime, but instead, my personal favourite Decepticon of all-time;

The main villain of DOTM should have been Shockwave.



Now, this really shouldn't be surprising to anybody who has even a bare bones understanding of the character, but it would be pretty presumptuous of me to assume that everyone automatically knows Shockwave's deal within the various pieces of Transformers media. Thus, for those who aren't overly familiar with the character, Shockwave is typically depicted as the Decepticons head scientist and was given the duty to safeguard Cybertron in Megatron's absence. From there, the depiction of character often varies between a Megatron loyalist and a cruel schemer seeking leadership of the Decepticons. One common trait remains through most of his appearances in media, however; his unwavering devotion to pure, ruthless logic.

Ergo, when it was originally announced that Shockwave was in line to be the main villain of DOTM, I was excited to see how it would be done. And with rumours arising that actor David Warner was in line for the role, it was all the better, as Warner's portrayal of Sark in the film "Tron" was Corey Burton's inspiration for when he was cast as Shockwave in the original cartoon. Heck, I'm one of the few people who'll defend the final design he had in the film.



Granted, the only elements we had to tell this was Shockwave was the singular eye and the arm cannon, but it was still an awesome design nonetheless. Just throw in some purple and remove the mandibles, and you have a perfect live action Shockwave design.

Unfortunately, what we got was little more than something that looked like the character, but barely resembled him in any meaningful way. He was simply a snarling, constantly angry sounding monster who did next to nothing and only had a single WORD of dialogue. And with how much he was pushed in the marketing and the way that they kept proclaiming that he was the central antagonist, it thus made it all the more irritating when he got killed off after roughly 5 minutes worth of screen time. In short, the studio had lied just to bank on the people who loved Shockwave just so they could make more money. It was shameless.

Therefore, I am doing this not only as someone who appreciates clever writing and storytelling, but as someone who feels that there was a grave missed opportunity with this character. Starting off right away, Shockwave will replace Sentinel Prime as the main villain. This not only removes the need for another character who looks identical to Optimus, but also allows for an opportunity to create a story focused around a plan that only someone as cruel and efficient as Shockwave can think of.

Having Shockwave be the one who creates the Space Bridge technology not only fits his common role as the head Decepticon scientist, but also acts as a callback to how he used Space Bridges in the original cartoon to transport Energon to Cybertron as well as allow Megatron to cross over easily if the need ever came up. It will also showcase how Shockwave, in this iteration of the character, is a balance of raw strength and unrivalled intellect, which is apparently how his character bio describes him. This personality is otherwise never present in the final film, nor is any semblance of independent thought or characterisation beyond another scary looking robot for the soldiers to attack.

On another note, I think audiences would also be receptive to a simpler design than what was shown on screen, one that was a good blend of realistic looking machinery and the original animation model. Thus, something along the lines of his design from his brief cameo in "Bumblebee" would be better suited for the character.



As for casting, it would be pretty obvious to cast Leonard Nimoy as Shockwave, namely due to the obvious connection that Shockwave has with Spock from "Star Trek" and the fact that the latter was the main inspiration for the latter. That said, however, I think it would be cooler of we had David Warner in for the voice instead because of how his performance influenced Corey Burton. Their voices are similar enough so that fans wouldn't be annoyed that it wasn't Burton in the role.

With all of that said, however, it still leaves the question; how would substituting Sentinel Prime with Shockwave change the overall story? What plan would Shockwave come up with that will make sense for the character and still fit within the Transformers movieverse without contradicting that has come before?

That is a discussion for another time.

But until then, what other ideas do you guys have for what Shockwave's plan could be? Be sure to leave a comment letting me know what you think, as well as what you think of the idea for the rewrite. Otherwise, I'd greatly appreciate it if you would share this on social media such as Facebook and Twitter, as well as following me on Twitter; I'm @MediaHood23. Also be sure to check out my YouTube page; Media Hood Reviews. I know it's been a while since I uploaded on there, but I'm trying to get back into the groove of things and I've been meaning to make more videos for a while.

So until next time; this is Callum Lewis, the Media Hood, asking you to wash your hands and keep safe!

Knives Out (2019)

(Spoiler warning: this review will contain plot elements that are not immediately obvious to newer viewers, which includes character motivations and twist reveals. Reader discretion is advised).



A throwback to the murder mystery stories in a similar vain to Agatha Christie's "Miss Marple" series of books, Rian Johnson's "Knives Out" is the story of a family gathering that falls apart at the seams as they cope with the death of their matriarch; successful crime/thriller novelist Harlan Thrombey, whom had recently celebrated his 85th birthday only to be found with his throat slit open the following morning. With the man's death comes gentleman sleuth Benoit Blanc, whom had been hired anonymously as there is suspicion of foul play and the possibility that someone in the Thrombey family may have had a hand in his demise. Accompanying him is Harlan's personal nurse, Marta Cabrera, as he believes that she have something of an insight due to her condition of being incapable of telling a lie with becoming physically sick. Tensions arise, however, when the Thrombey family learn that Harlan had left his money, estate and private publishing house all to Marta, naturally leading to conflicts and accusations as Blanc continues to piece together not only the mystery of who may had murdered Harlan, but also who had hired him in the first place.

This is not the first time that Rian Johnson has stepped into a "whodunit" style of story-telling; in fact, his directorial debut "Brick" in 2005 is a subversion of expectations with a hardboiled detective story, just with high school students uncovering a mystery revolving around heroin. "Knives Out", however, remains true to the classical nature of a "whodunit" narrative, complete with eccentric and flamboyant personalities constantly clashing amidst the possibility of anybody being the perpetrator of murder. Regardless, this film perfectly captures the spirit of a "whodunit" story purely through how not everything is automatically made clear, but ultimately makes sense when the murderer is inevitably revealed. At it's core, the film is a serious drama with comedic elements thrown in to make the characters better defined as people, all the while adhering to the classic tropes of a murder mystery. To quote BBC Radio 5's Mark Kermode in his review of the film:

"The best 'whodunit's' are films in which the answer is there, but you don't see it."

Essentially, all of the answers are presented to the audience practically as soon as the murderer appears on screen, but the film is clever enough to lay the subtle seeds that eventually sprout into a larger web of mysteries and interpersonal connections between the characters. Thus, when the reveal comes and all of the pieces are put into place by Blanc and Marta, it never feels as if the film is getting self-absorbed with being too shocking or clever, but instead rewards the viewers for paying close attention to otherwise innocuous details.

The casting for this film is absolutely phenomenal; ranging from veterans such as Jamie Lee Curtis as Linda or Michael Shannon as Walter, to fresh newcomers including Ana De Armas as Marta and Jaeden Martell as Jacob. Although not everyone is given as much screen time as each other, including the aforementioned Jacob who spends much of his screen time on his phone posting extreme alt-right political views, they are still nonetheless giving every bit of energy that they have into their performances. But even with all of these powerhouse actors, they pale in comparison to Daniel Craig as Benoit Blanc. As evident in his roles as James Bond, one may be lead to believe that Craig continues to keep his attitude reserved yet tense. Because of this, an unsuspecting audience member will certainly be surprised to hear him speak with a thick, exaggerated Southern country accent akin to the likes of Foghorn Leghorn from the Looney Tunes, on top of sticking to that accent for the entire time he is on screen. This would normally make him something of a live action cartoon character, but Craig is able to reel it in just enough so that the accent is consistent, but does not sound unnatural or forced by the actor. This easily has to be Craig's best performance outside of the more recent James Bond movies, with him getting lost in the role and being virtually unrecognisable as the actor as a result.

The film is also shot beautifully. Say what one might concerning Rian Johnson and his writing; there is no denying that he is capable of leaving the audience at awe with excellent visuals (including the main setting of a Gothic, archaic mansion) as well as capturing a tense, uncomfortable atmosphere simply though how he chooses to set the scene. A key example would be when the entire family is gathered together before Harlan's will is read by a surprising Frank Oz cameo, and they learn that playboy Hugh Drysdale, played by Chris Evans, has been cut out of the will by Harlan. This naturally leads to a massive argument when he starts telling everyone to "eat sh*t" and calling one family member, Joni (played by Toni Colette), for being hypocritical in saying that this is a chance for him to take the hard route and build himself as his own man. The performances are excellent given the calibre of the actors involved, but with the camera angles keeping things intimately close to said actors to let them shine it thus exemplifies the tension and how morally bankrupt most of these family members are. Through visual storytelling, Rian Johnson is presenting us with a broken picture of a corrupt and selfish family.

"Knives Out" is the perfect return to form for audiences how love watching "whodunit's", especially ones that can have the audience laughing one moment and then watching with mouths hanging agape the next. The tonal shifts come off as natural to the scenario and in no way forces the emotional reaction that it is intending to garner. Couple this with an all-star cast of veterans and newcomers, excellent cinematography and direction via Rian Johnson, and a twist ending that audiences wouldn't see coming immediately but works within the confines of the narrative; this was easily one of my most delightful experiences at the cinema and I highly recommend it to anyone if they can find any showings left available.

Overall rating: 9/10 (Brilliant).

Thank you for reading my review, apologies for writing it late. I would appreciate it if this was shared on social media (Twitter, Facebook, etc) and if you could kindly leave a comment letting me know what you thought of the film. Also follow me on Twitter; @MediaHood23. And consider subscribing to my YouTube channel; Media Hood Reviews.

So, until next time; this is Callum Lewis, the Media Hood, signing off.