Scene Analysis #16: Blackout’s Debut-Transformers (2007) · 12:20am Apr 23rd, 2023

Scene Rating Scale:

9/9: Flawless! Outstanding scene!
8/9: Great scene! Totally Rewatchable!
7/9: Pretty good. Not as perfect as I expected though.
6/9: Decent. Doesn’t ruin the movie/episode.
5/9: Mid.
4/9: Pretty bad. One of the weakest scenes of the movie/episode.
3/9: You hear that? It’s the wind of lameness.
2/9: One of the worst scenes of the film/episode.
1/9: Horrible, unwatchable, and unacceptable.

Hello, hello, hello, my wonderful friends! Mr. J is in the house with another scene analysis for you all today! This evening, I will be reviewing Blackout’s epic introduction from the first Transformers film! This scene alone testifies of how amazing these action scenes are in these movies, and it shows the overall awesome potential it had going on during the run of its first trilogy. Plus, it was a great way to introduce Blackout as our first on-screen Decepticon in the cinematic universe of Transformers. The way it was set up, designed, and established was flawless from start to finish.

In this scene, we see our Decepticon friend in the form of a Paw Low Helicopter arriving at the U.S. military base in order to discover information about the AllSpark and the location of Megatron. As he’s surrounded by dead men with guns, he transforms into robot mode and destroys nearly everything in his path! Like a beast!

First off, the CGI is immaculate—considering this came out in 2007. Movies nowadays have very average to bad CGI whereas this gem has such gorgeous animation which still holds up. The way Blackout silently terminated almost everyone in the base is terrifying at first glance. Because if he started monologuing to the humans about who he is and how doomed they are, it would’ve somewhat ruined the tone of this scene.

He’s not an ordinary villain; he’s an extraterrestrial entity who decided to wake up and choose violence. Without saying anything, he kills nearly everyone. Think about it from the perspective of his victims: you’re seeing this mechanical monstrosity for the first time in your life who is killing everyone you admire, and it has no other objective in mind other than to kill all of you. That’s absolutely horrifying to think about.

Notice how the moment he began to transform, the soldiers instantly opened fire on him. That means they were terrified at what they saw and wanted to stop the threat before it would do damage. Alas, it was in vain.

Also, nice callback to the original animated series by using that G1 transformation sound effect!

Anyway, I think the use of the shaky camera makes sense in this context because it’s supposed to represent the chaotic nature of the attack as well as adding to the perspective of the viewer. Imagine being one of those guys who are helpless, scared, and desperate to survive…yeah, you would be moving around and running. So the cinematography here is used in excellent taste.

The sound design for Blackout is incredibly satisfying to listen to. It reinforces the fact that he is an alien robot who actually looks threatening and intimidating. He has one of the best designs out of all the Bayverse Transformers in this series.

Now, here’s another interesting detail that I’ve never noticed until one of the users in the comment section of the video pointed out: watch closely during the part where Sergeant Epps falls from the impact of Blackout’s footsteps. As he looks up with his binoculars, the Decepticon curiously scans the item.

Blackout thought the binoculars was an Earth weapon, so he decided to scan it so he could replicate it in order to kill the human with it…as a sadistic way of playing with his food apparently. That’s where that cannon appears around his chest area; as soon as he deploys it, he “fires” it which was actually taking pictures. You can tell by hearing the camera shutter sound effect. Then once Epps gets up and runs, Blackout “fires” it again twice…hence, the freeze frame effect. It’s a very subtle detail that not many people notice.

Gosh, this scene is so relentlessly awesome to watch. Funny story, back when I watched this film with my parents for the first time, I actually cheered for Blackout during this part. My mom said, “Um, isn’t he a bad guy?” I replied, “Yeah?” And she said, “Why are you cheering for him?” I was like, “I dunno. He’s so cool!” Hahaha, I was always a sucker for Decepticons! 😂

So yeah, I am giving this scene a 9/9! It has everything that makes it stand out from some of the other action scenes of the movies, and it establishes how the Decepticons were a major threat in this movie. It’s a shame how they were later treated in the sequels despite how cool they were.

Peace!