CORRECT PATH vs. LIFE-SUCKING ABYSS

As I've already established within my earlier thread, The Red Cup FREAKOUT Scene is THE CORE OF THE MOVIE [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1399103/board/flat/186375820], John Malkovitch's character of Bruce Brazos is not only clearly a symbolic cipher for Bumblebee [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1399103/board/flat/186364151]but is ALSO a character who serves as a literary device for delivering KEY bits of foreshadowing which encapsulate CORE elements of the movie in a nutshell with his extremely subtle and cleverly conceived dialogue.

Yet another clear-cut example of this is to be found in his lesson to Sam about the importance of choosing the correct career path following one's graduation from college. As the second Transformers film dealt with his collegiate matriculation and the third film begins with his subsequent job search after completing his college studies, Bruce Brazos' brief yet overwhelmingly poignant life-lesson for Sam may likewise be seen as an overview of the entire third film itself, in terms of the overall moral of its story and the film's lessons to its own audience.

And what ARE these lessons?

I hereby submit that the bulk of the film concerns itself with the importance of dealing properly with the "hard decisions" in life, a point readily visible at the very center of the film's primary conflict between Optimus and Sentinel Prime, for example.

One of this film's most controversial masterstrokes is the liberation of Optimus' character from the constant dithering and self-doubt which had so often plagued him in past incarnations, as well as his idealism-to-a-fault which had painted the character into so many corners and kept him from finally winning the war for Cybertron, a problem from which Sentinel clearly did not suffer. As Optimus himself confesses to Sentinel, "I've wondered what might have been if you had fought the final battle instead of me."

The animated 1986 Transformers film even went so far as to kill off Optimus entirely and replace him with the far more rash and impulsive yet likewise definitively more decisive Hot Rod to circumvent this problem, whose ascension to leader of the Autobots as Rodimus Prime even suggested that all previous Primes were mere warm-up acts for he, "the chosen one," who would lead the Autobots to ultimate victory and finally save Cybertron from complete destruction.

In the absence of that role, however, the live action films instead resolve this issue by teaching Optimus himself to settle and work through his doubts for the sake of the greater good by forcing himself to commit to making these hard decisions on his own; in a way the final, greatest, and most morally complex lesson taught to him by his wayward mentor Sentinel.

At the heart of their philosophical battle, of course, was the choice to either forsake their homeworld entirely in favor of adopting Earth as their new home, or else to forsake their ideals as Primes -- "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings" -- and to indeed forsake Earth itself in favor of rebuilding Cybertron with the enslavement of humanity, the age-old war over which had claimed countless Cybertronian lives over thousands of years, ravaged Earth, and indeed rendered Cybertron itself a dead world.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you...

CORRECT PATH vs. LIFE-SUCKING ABYSS

http://i.imgur.com/pNlhp.jpg


Absolute filmmaking GENIUS!!!

O_O

Furthermore, one might easily extrapolate from this primary visual and thematic motif a greater sense of understanding for the moral dilemmas faced by the rest of the principle characters as well.

The stunted-yet-ultimately-rekindled romance of Simmons and Mearing and his played-for-a-laugh punishment for being so bold may seem like a strange endpiece for the entire film -- and it certainly is, lol -- but as it directly echoes this same overall moral with its resolution of the choice he makes to pursue and reignite the passion they shared in Quantico rather than remaining mired in bitterness in the wake of having had his heart torn out by her when she left him, I believe it begins to make a bit more sense as a celebratory emphasis of this central idea. Their smiles say it all. CORRECT PATH.

Sentinel Prime, obviously, chose wrongly and betrayed his own idealism and consequently paid dearly. He sided with the Decepticons rather than the Autobots and chose Cybertron instead of Earth and paid the ultimate price for it, even spending untold hundreds of years in stasis and half-dead on the Moon before being revived and finally executed for his betrayal by Optimus. LIFE-SUCKING ABYSS.

Optimus Prime, conversely, faced his dilemma and maintained his ideals as a Prime courageously, earning his final reward of a new home and, ultimately, victory and peace at last, following his finishing off of Sentinel and rejection of Megatron's too-little-too-late and disingenuous offer of a truce. CORRECT PATH.

Even Megatron himself was originally able to see the ultimate folly of his ways in the original script (until his fate was reconsidered, of course) and set aside war to instead strive for peace and harmony. Elements of this change-of-heart remain in the film and are front and center in the comic and novel adaptations despite the more violent and decisive end of the finished film...but still. CORRECT PATH.

Well, almost anyway...haha.

Nonetheless, Megatron finds himself in either case also faced with the realization that his plans to rule over all of Cybertron AND Earth have been subverted and that he will no longer be master of both planets but rather "nothing more than Sentinel's bitch." A bit of a darker spin on it, lol, but still. CORRECT PATH.

Up until the new, more violent and decisive conclusion of his battle with Optimus, that is!

Wisely, I think, the filmmakers chose to downplay Megatron's honor and instead gave Optimus the chance to make another hard decision and redeem himself while also acknowledging Megatron's historically all-or-nothing, war-mongering evilness. LIFE-SUCKING ABYSS.

Speaking of which, Carly begins the film utterly unable to cope with Sam endangering himself, even for the sake of saving the world, due to the trauma she suffered at the loss of her brother. Yet by its conclusion she ultimately redeems herself from this mistake by seeing the virtue and wisdom involved in Sam's decision and likewise heroically throws herself into danger by facing down and outwitting Megatron himself to trick him into saving Optimus and, ultimately, the entire planet Earth. CORRECT PATH.

And Dylan of course had multiple opportunities to redeem himself and return to the side of good, particularly once he was no longer forcibly rendered subservient to the Decepticons after passing his wristwatch-bot torture/control device off to Sam and after the Autobots were clearly en route to victory, but instead he chose to maintain his turncoat allegiances and remain enslaved to evil all the way up to his painful and inglorious death. "You chose sides? You chose wrong!" ORLY? Bam. LIFE-SUCKING ABYSS.

Even NEST and the Autobots themselves are forced to decide between honoring the commands of Earth's leaders or -- in their own, more noble way -- to essentially turn traitor themselves and act against those orders for the greater good. CORRECT PATH.

Which leads me to Sam Witwicky.

In many ways he starts the film facing the same dilemmas of maturity most youths are faced with in the real world. He and Bumblebee are old friends with a bond literally beyond words, yet in the wake of their parting for Sam to go to college and the responsibilities they both face with their respective jobs they inevitably grow apart and see less and less of each other. Sam, of course, tries to deal with his abandonment issues and fill this void with surrogates (echoing the Autobots' own abandonment issues and their newfound home on Earth and *ahem* NEST) by attempting to replace his missing pal Bumblebee with his lackluster Datsun and a new job and even his new girlfriend Carly, to varying degrees of success.

But, naturally, the principal dilemma he faces in this film is dealing with recapturing his former status as HERO versus the more ignoble and unfavorable role of MESSENGER, neatly and cleverly echoed and reinforced by Sam's OTHER dilemma of figuring out a way around the wristwatch-bot torture/control device which forces him to turn traitor against the Autobots and aid in Sentinel Prime's enslavement of humanity by essentially turning him into a human wiretap-spy who's forced to comply under the threat of grievous physical agony (*ahem* "Visceral betrayal," anyone? [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1399103/board/flat/186375820]).

Of course, in the end he's able to outwit his evil new masters by subtly hinting to Optimus that his worthiness of trust has been bitterly compromised -- "No other HUMAN will ever know," he says...and just check out that telling reaction shot of Optimus' face upon hearing it -- and Sam is able to once more save the day and indeed the entire planet Earth for a third time, ultimately reclaiming his status as hero and returning to the arms of his newly-freed lover.

"If we just do what they want, how will we ever live with ourselves?" he asks Optimus, himself, and indeed the very audience of the film.

And the entire film demonstrates to us all how to overcome this dilemma; by making the hard decisions but never forsaking your ideals.

CORRECT PATH.

That's how I see the whole thing anyway, and furthermore PRECISELY what I believe the filmmakers intended throughout.

Sure, there's a ton of spectacle to help the medicine go down and some ham-fisted delivery here and there, but I feel it is indeed the overall message of the film and -- surprise, surprise -- that message is either blatantly supported by or otherwise subtly hinted at by almost every single element along the way.

Thank you, Bruce Brazos!

\o/