Sam Witwicky: Hero or Colossal Douche?

[Turd Ferguson]

So I just got around to watching Transformers: Dark of the Moon. I have to say, it was pretty entertaining, even for Michael Bay fare. Lots and lots of explosions and I don't think the camera stood still for a fraction of a second of the two and a half hour run time. Lots of cameos and amusing scenes. A pretty good movie to turn your brain off for. It was even better with all the Star Trek references and realizing Leonard Nimoy was voicing Sentinel Prime.

My main complaint, as with the other two movies, is with Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay and Hollywood in general shoving Shia LaBeouf down our collective throats. He was in especially whiney form this time around, expecting the government to hand him out a job just because he happened to dodge a few fireballs while Tyrese Gibson and Josh Duhamel did the majority of the work. I guess if you can get a paying job pissing and moaning while yelling "OPTIMUS!!!" every thirty seconds, Sam Witwicky is your go-to guy.

Which brings me to another complaint. Just what in the hell is this guy's deal? So his dad takes him to a car lot, he buys a shitty-ass Camaro that happens to be a transforming robot. Megan Fox is his neighbor, who also ends up dating him. Why is this guy whining all the time? "Oh, boo-hoo. Woe is me. I have a hot girl friend and a kick ass Camaro that also saves my ass all the time. Somebody console me."

Speaking of Megan Fox, I was pretty disappointed when I heard she was fired. That disappointment was short-lived as I was introduced to Rosie Huntington-Whitely. Damn. She looked good. She looked even better on Blu-Ray hi-def. And that little bastard still had the nerve to bitch and moan. Let me give you a little advice. If a hot girl is telling you not to get shot at for the next two hours, and wants you to get in the car and go off with her, you go off with her.

So, I pose the question... is Sam Witwicky a colossal douche? Or, is he the hero that he tries convincing everybody he is for the duration of the movie?

 

[Cicero]

I didn't see Dark of the Moon, but he was certainly heroic in the first two films (especially the second).

I don't mind Shia LaBeouf at all, though. He was wrong for the part in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, but I've liked him in everything else I've seen him in. He seems to be at his best in moderately budgeted family-oriented movies, like Holes and The Greatest Game Ever Played.

 

[Jono]

So he's a douche for wanting to help his friends and save the world instead of getting action with a hot girl? You'd think it would be the other way around.

In the job scenes he did come off a bit entitled, but it was clear that he'd been job hunting unsuccessfully for a while so you can understand he might get frustrated as he wants a job and doesn't just want to sponge off his hot, well off partner.

He was a bit of a douche from time to time, but he was heroic, so he was a little from column A and a little from column B.

 

[Whofan]

Sam (Although known as Spike) Witwicky and Carly actually originate somewhat in the old cartoons (Micheala was an original creation). However they're far more one-dimensional (Although less obnoxious) than their movie counterparts. In the toons Spike is usually paired with Bumblebee like in the movies. Sam/Spike's father is also a recurring character.


Small correction, Megan Fox's character is actually not his neighbor, but a classmate.

 

[saturn5]

I never really understood what people see in Shia Labeouf, he's ok but I'm not sure he deserves the success he's enjoyed.

Rosie Huntington-Whitely, great legs, great lips, great backside, (all of which we see in great detail in her first 30 seconds on screen) not as buxom as Megan and lacks her raw sexuality. But maybe that was the idea, she was a very different, classy sort of girl and not just a Megan clone. As for acting well all she has to do is pout and scream 'SAM!' every so often.

 

[davejames]

Yeah I didn't have a problem with him in the first two movies, but for some reason in the third I found him PROFOUNDLY annoying. Instead of just being understandably panicky and nervous at all the crazy shit going on around him, he was suddenly abrasive and angry and lashing out at every little thing as well.

It was like watching someone do an over the top parody of his performance in the first two movies.

 

[Admiral2]

All three movies had giant transforming robots beating the snot out of each other and babes like Megan, Rosie and Rachael Taylor (first movie). If it weren't for him screaming "Bumblebee!" and "OPTIMUS" every ten minutes I wouldn't have even noticed Sam, so I can't honestly judge whether he's a douche or not.

 

[saturn5]

Yeah I didn't have a problem with him in the first two movies, but for some reason in the third I found him PROFOUNDLY annoying. Instead of just being understandably panicky and nervous at all the crazy shit going on around him, he was suddenly abrasive and angry and lashing out at every little thing as well.

It was like watching someone do an over the top parody of his performance in the first two movies.

That's well put, I don't know why they didn't just cut the whole subplot of Sam's jobsearch and all the John Malkovich stuff

 

[hyzmarca]

The guy had a fragment of God stuck in his brain for a significant chunk of the previous movie. He shouldn't have been job hunting. He should have been a messianic figure of a robo-cult.

 

[captcalhoun]

i don't hate him. i actually find him rather amusing in a juvenile way.

i'd say he's more a hero than a douche. i mean, he does a) die to save Prime in 2 and b) go into a Decepticon-held city just to rescue his debatably hot girlfriend and thwart the villain's plot with only a few former soldiers for back up against a ravening horde of evil ax-crazy Decepticons.

 

[Admiral2]

i don't hate him. i actually find him rather amusing in a juvenile way.

i'd say he's more a hero than a douche. i mean, he does a) die to save Prime in 2 and b) go into a Decepticon-held city just to rescue his debatably hot girlfriend and thwart the villain's plot with only a few former soldiers for back up against a ravening horde of evil ax-crazy Decepticons.

Debatably hot??? What standard are you using that fosters debate on the subject?

 

[captcalhoun]

the standard that a) she's got huge pouty lips which i find off-putting, b) she's got practically NO bust and c) i don't find her that attractive compared to Megan Fox, Jessica Alba or Jessica Biel, ScarJo, Natalie Portman, Kat Jennings or about 120 other celebrity women i could name.

and, yes, i have a list.

 

[Garak]

He's a colossal douche because Shia Lebeef comes off as a colossal douche in everything he's in.

 

[davejames]

I did find Fox to be a lot hotter and sexier... but the new chick was still pretty smokin.

 

[RoJoHen]

I think Shia is great and has some serious talent, but in Dark of the Moon he was definitely a lot more obnoxious than he had been in the previous two movies. It came across as pretty annoying.

That said, I've liked him ever since he was in "Even Stevens" on the Disney Channel, so I can forgive one annoying performance.

 

[Trekker4747]

The guy had a fragment of God stuck in his brain for a significant chunk of the previous movie. He shouldn't have been job hunting. He should have been a messianic figure of a robo-cult.

Colossal Douche, no question.

Fuck, look at how he treats his parents in all three movies. There's being embarrassed by your slow-witted father and your lobotomized mother and there's the shit he does.

He's an ass to his girlfriends. There's having questions and doubts about your relationship and the meaning of love and then there's what he does.


And he's an asshole to his car. There's being mad because your robotic alien car doesn't stay hidden then there's yelling at him because he came out -at your command- and killed the robots attacking you.

But the thing that seals it more than anything else is pretty much his entire way of behaving through the third movie. I'd strain to think of a single scene where he's not being an asshole. Then there's him completely flipping the fuck out on his car when it won't start for him. Either he was made or he was having some kind of seizure.

There's pretty much nothing likable about Sam Witwicky in the Transformer movies. He's not funny, he talks and rambles like a stoned parrot and when he flips out he flips the fuck out! Then there's him yelling out BUMBLEBEE!!!!! or OPTIMUS!!!!!!!!

Ugh.

Between the Transformer movies and Indy 4 I've no idea why Shia is such a regarded actor in any manner.

[Rosie Huntington-Whiteley] has got practically NO bust and i don't find her that attractive compared to Natalie Portman...

Ummm?

Wha?!

 

[scnj]

I like him well enough. I even liked him in Crystal Skull.

As for the other debate, while Megan Fox and Rose Huntington-Whitely are both generically 'hot' neither are my type, so I'm attrracted to neither.

 

[Santeria]

In the movies, Sam is both with a stronger emphasis on 'douche.' He's only a hero because he's written that way; his sole motivation for doing anything is to not die. He's not trying to save the world, he's trying to save himself and the only piece of ass that's ever shown any interest in him. That makes him much more of a selfish douche than a true hero.

In real life, Shia is a complete and utter douche who's only famous because Steven Spielberg decided he wanted to see if he could make someone famous just by getting them thrown him into whatever big projects he feels like. He's a mediocre actor at best, and I've yet to see him play any kind of character with a depth greater than any other character he's ever played.

Fortunately for him, Hollywood executives have absolutely no ability to think critically, and assume that if people are going to see a movie because of the subject matter, it's not the actual subject matter that's drawing them but whatever random person they cast in the "lead." Do it enough times, and you wind up with a blockbuster megahit star even though more than a fair share of the people forced to endure his bland and borderline annoying presence in what could/would otherwise be a decent movie.

 

[Silvercrest]

And he's an asshole to his car. There's being mad because your robotic alien car doesn't stay hidden then there's yelling at him because he came out

I keep re-reading this and giggling. Just from how ridiculous it sounds in any other context than this one. Particularly that first line.

 

[saturn5]

I did find Fox to be a lot hotter and sexier... but the new chick was still pretty smokin.

Yeah, Megan Fox's character was a trailer trash princess whilst the new girl is just a princess, they're both gorgeous but in a different sort of way. I find Megan sexier (more buxom for a start) but Rosie is only a few steps behind