First up, loved the movie. Have seen it on the big screen twice now and plan to see it once more before it goes out. On repeat viewing though, I nitpicked the film a bit more and realised that one thing I wish they had handled differently in the film is the role of Jazz. It seems that Jazz and Ratchet had by far the least lines in the film (OK, so BB didn't speak but expressed his character in different ways) and that Jazz didn't really fulfil the role of Primes second in Command. Here's what I mean:

 

He DID:

- Offer to scout ahead of the other Autobots when looking for Prime - a role he should have allocated to a subordinate (i.e. Ironhide)

- Question Optimus decision to leave BBs fate to the humans, like a good second in command should

- Make the first strike against Dev/Brawl - not sure if this was appropriate as, seeing as he was in command in OPs absence, he should have sent Ratchet and Ironhide in. (a bit too nitpicky but worth a mention)

 

Now, for the real issues, things he DIDN'T do:

- When they arrived in the city, he didn't take control of the operation at all, but rather left it to the humans.

- When Starscream attacked, he didn't even transform or give ANY orders. Instead it was down to Ironhide to do everything while Jazz just sat there. (OK, so he could have ordered Ironhide to do that by internal comms)

- When BB was injured after Starscreams strike, Jazz STILL just sat there, rather than tending to his comerade which he had shown such concern for earlier.

 

I'm also a bit peeved that the scene with Megs arriving and knocking Jazz down cut straight to Jazz being thrown up on that tower and meeting his maker. (with a small human scene between) I personally hope that there was a scene in the middle there that made the cutting room floor (and will hopefully see DVD release) where the other Autobots go back for Jazz (where were they???) and a small skirmish takes place with Megs before he flies off with Jazz in tow. I think a lot of the 20 missing minutes must have been from the end fight in the city as (and this might just be the shaky camera effect) the whole scene just feels a bit disjointed to me. Characters appear, then disappear, then appear again later on and no wonder both fans and non-fans were a little confused by the whole scene.

 

Anyway, my main problem with the characterisation is that, apart from Prime (and BB by default) the weighting of lines seemed unevenly shifted towards Ironhide, when they could have been distributed more equally between the other 3 characters. (i.e Jazz saying 'It's Starscream and ordering [ironhide and] BB to create a shield / Ratchet shouting for Sam to 'keep moving' every couple of minutes) Hopefully if extra footage is included in the DVD version this will be amended somewhat - here's to hoping!!

Well, the only "second-in-command" thing I think I've ever seen Jazz do in the first place is take roll call in MTMTE, so it seems to be fitting with the character.

 

Also, I really like that you're simultaneously complaining that Ironhide stole too much focus from Jazz and that Jazz didn't ask Ironhide to do more stuff in place of himself. :07laugh

I think you've got some good points there. I thought Jazz wasn't done too well in the movie and yeah the last fight is hard to keep track of. I think alot of that is down to the fight scenes being shot to in-close. Jazz had some good moments, but I just think he needed a special mission in there to show he's a top spy as well as Prime's second.

I just figured that if they (scriptwriters that is) are gonna take the time to introduce each Autobot and assign them a specific designation (i.e. medic, weapons expert, second in command) they should at least try to make the flow of the story and the roles of the characters fit in with it. (much as I like G1, I'll admit that neither Jazz nor Prowl ever seemed to be consistantly second in command - Ironhide seemed to fulfil that role)

 

As for the Jazz/IH role reversal thing, ummmm, yeah. Guess what I meant was that IH had several lines and roles I thought would better suit Jazz, hence why IH stole much of Jazz's role and, as a result IH wasn't ordered about by Jazz as much as he should have been. Sounds contradictory I know but it does (kinda) make sense... :wtf

I still say 30 seconds more of TF dialog would have done wonders for this Movie.

I think the whole thing with your issue with Jazz commanding and sending those under him to do stuff has some problems.

 

First of all, most of the Autobot commanders in history while they do designate certain jobs, they don't shy away from battle, and as Primal said in BW "I wouldn't give an order I wouldn't be willing to do myself". So Jazz taking it upon himself to find Optimus under the bridge was not something that he would have told Ironhide to do when it wasn't even a dangerous task, but just finding Prime. He can easily do it himself.

 

Also, a good commander/leader IMO leads by example. Not by sitting behind the lines ordering his troops (I know it doesn't work that way IRL, but lets not forget, these are ficticious alien robots, and they may function differently). So him being the first to go up against Brawl also was not stupid. He needed to be stopped, and the humans were otherwise occupied. Did you not notice Ratchet following him into battle, probably under his orders of "come on".

 

As for the whole thing with Starscream, everyone thought that he was from the Air Force, and the only one who clearly recognized him was Ironhide, which is fitting since he (probably aside from Prime) is one of the oldest warriors on the team, so he's going to realize something's not right and that it's a Decepticon probably before Jazz, so he took action w/o being told to do so.

 

As for Jazz sitting there after Bumblebee got his legs blown off, well, there's possible explanations. Laziness is one. But that's not likely. When Starscream attacked, something could have been happened and it stunned him for a moment. Or his attention was otherwise preoccupied by something else.

 

As for other stuff you mentioned, meh.

 

Now, the whole thing with Megs killing him. Well, it would have sucked if all the Autobots survived and all but Starscream died on the Decepticons side. Why they chose Jazz I don't know, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't a random choice like "okay, let's kill him". But because they killed him, they're not going to spend a great deal of time characterizing him as they would if he was going to survive. Besides, there's a possibility that he may return in the sequel. This has been stated by people who worked on the movie and are going to work on the sequel, in an interview.

But because they killed him, they're not going to spend a great deal of time characterizing him as they would if he was going to survive.

 

Right, like those soliloquies Ratchet, and Ironhide gave cuz they were gonna live.

Going off what the Writer said about wanting one of the Autobots to die that was next important after Prime and BBB, I think it should have been Ironhide. As mentioned, He commaned the screen way more than Jazz and Ratchet. Ironhide's death would have been way more meaningful. After heroically taking charge and jumping around saving lives, if he died, it would have made more impact. Jazz may as well have been Cliff jumper

Jazz may as well have been Cliff jumper

 

Hey, I think you're onto something...

 

If we just had CJ, a red BB and Ratchet and Ironhide were just repaints of eachother maybe they'd have had enough dough for the TF's to have Characters.

But because they killed him, they're not going to spend a great deal of time characterizing him as they would if he was going to survive.

 

Right, like those soliloquies Ratchet, and Ironhide gave cuz they were gonna live.

 

:roll

 

Why don't you get down off of your high horse about the movie PC?