Action Geography: My Complaint Against Transformers

When I stated the geography of Transformer's action scenes were confusing because we didn't know who was where when the fight moved within the city, I felt not enough attention goes into the geography of action sequences. When Devastator (the tank) is shooting, all of a sudden the Autobots that were standing together are charging at him from far away from completely different sides. Then Bumblebee comes in on a tow-truck at the right moment, but seems as though he drove away for blocks and blocks, only to stay a block from the fight.

Action geography is not always hard and can be benefitial. A few easy examples come to mind. The lobby scene in The Matrix is an good example. (http://youtube.com/watch?v=_ybFnRKUJvw) In this scene, it starts off with the camera pointing in all 360 degrees in order to get every aspect of Neo entering and looking at the gaurds. When the shootout begins, we clearly see Neo and Trinity separate to different sides. Their individual action is divided, but not intersecting so we know who is shooting who. The particular part of interest is when Neo is making progress on his side, we see him farther along than Trinity, providing a distraction for the shotgunner on Trinity's side, allowing her execute him without risk. All of this is part of a carefully cherographed shootout, where if you replay it, you can literally count the pillars each of them have passed and know how many more they have to go, preventing the hallway from seemingly going on forever until it reaches a very sudden stop.

Heat, starring Al Pacino as an obsessed cop tracking down a professional thief played by Robert DeNiro, includes a shootout that is well-shot so there is no question who is where compared to everyone else and which way they're heading. (http://youtube.com/watch?v=zssZQBDUj-A) Before the gunfire, Pacino is up the street (the car heads away from him), and other cops are across the street from the bankrobbers. So to prevent the viewer from getting confused, the camera never deviates from a set 180 degrees, so we see up and down and across the street, but only from one side. This keeps the audience from precieving the car has U-turned. (The only time the camera violates this 180 is when we see the car coming towards the camera, in which the clearer view is an arial shot from across the street.) Key parts that show this is well cherographed is the distance covered by the chase and how Tom Sizemore and Val Kilmer end up heading different directions, but it's clear which way they headed, when they're away from the street, and when they're near it.

The final example of great action geography is Black Hawk Down, when U.S. soldiers are trapped and surrounded in a building overnight during an operation against heavily-armed Somalia fighters. A Delta squad that previously separated to check on a downed-chopper sneaks up on Somalia fighters from behind to free up the building. The brief action in the first minute of this clip is an example of how good use of city-wide geography (listen here Transformers) is effective. (http://youtube.com/watch?v=gMgjA5ZvLNk)

Why is this important? Strategy builds the action. Imagine if Jazz (the Porsche) said to Ironhide (the Autobot chevy truck with really big guns) and Ratchet (the ambulance) for Ironhide to draw the fire while sneaks up and Ratchet then comes to the side, it would have shown greater teamwork, why Jazz is second in command, Ironhide's flips would have been part of the story instead of just a presentation of expensive CGI, and everyone jumping Devastator at once would have looked like teamwork instead of luck, and all it would require is a line of dialogue and showing the Autobots driving in their respective directions. Had Ironhide given Bumblebee a single sign, directing Megan Fox to drive him to the side so they could use teamwork again.

This isn't changing Michael Bay's intentions by adding teamwork. The producers of Transformers even stated they intentionally had the Deciepticons outnumber the Autobots 8 to 5 so the Autobots would show more teamwork. As I mentioned before, teamwork has worked against Somalis, SWAT teams, and Tom Sizemore, showing how they can be surrounded, double-teamed, or sneaked-up on.

This is part of why I'm so critical on Transformers: all the opportunities are there, and Michael Bay has shown he can do so in The Rock, but just doesn't live up on the action side of Transformers.

However, there is a sequel to Transformers, so hopefully we see more developed action then.