Transformers: Age Of Extinction Review
Posted under: Transformers: Age of Extinction
3 years since Dark of the Moon and the
Autobots are back in what was, arguably, one of 2014's most anticipated films, Transformers: Age of Extinction, but,
honestly, it's not a big deal and was rather over-hyped.
Starting
4 years after 2011's costly Battle of Chicago, Age of Extinction drops Shia LaBeouf for amateur
robotics aficionado Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg), his drop dead gorgeous
17 year-old daughter Tessa, played by the beautiful Nicola Peltz, and the
strapping Jack Reynor as her boyfriend Shane.
The
cash-strapped Cade has some oddball operation going on, building what he
can with what he can find to sell and get money so that he can raise Tessa;
their relationship so tender and defined by his over-protective demeanor.
While trawling an abandoned cinema for parts, he comes across the wrecked
remains of an old truck, which turns out to be a bashed up Optimus Prime
(voiced superbly, as always, by Peter Cullen).
Basically,
Prime has been in hiding because all post-Chicago Transformers are now classed
as illegal aliens and are no longer trusted to fight for the humans. Whilst the
US are slightly protecting Autobots, Kelsey Grammer's
Harold Attlinger, with Titus
Welliver's Savoy and bounty hunting Transformer Lockdown (voiced by Mark Ryan), are on a bid to
eradicate ALL remaining Transformers. Then we have Stanley Tucci's Joshua Joyce, a
billionaire genius, who wants to build his own, controllable Transformer army
by melting down old Transformers and using their programmable metal, which is
dubbed with the stupidest name ever, 'Transformium'. We also find out, early
on, that they have Megatron's head. Well, that's not going to end well.
So, we
have this heavy plot (and even a subplot about the creators of the
Transformers), all these characters and we're only 40 minutes in. Yes, I said
only because Age of EXHAUSTION clocks in at a tiring, bum-hurting
165 minutes!!! What's worse is by the time the credits roll-out, much of the
plot still remains unanswered and a lot of it feels abridged, even 2 hours
after everything has been setup because, as expected from Bay, there is just piles and
piles of action and not much else. It's basically here merely to set up
2016's Transformers 5 and beyond.
I
mentioned action. TF4 is brimming with the stuff, packed with
Bayhem. We have car chases, high-wire action sequences and lots of explosions!
It is entertaining to watch for the first act or so but then it gets repetitive
and dull and has no effect on the plot whatsoever. Then there is the 45 minute
finale, shot in a vibrant Hong Kong. At the start of the film, a billboard
blares "Remember Chicago" but there's no need as this film's
conclusion is bigger, much more expensive and a lot better than that of Dark of the Moon.
It also
features the mighty Dinobots which actually only just have a cameo, appearing
just for the ending before disappearing again. But they do look spectacular
and the set pieces and mass havoc look incredible too and the action, the
intensity all feel so real. Oh, there are also some SEXY cars! I'll have to
admit though that, whilst it's all OTT, at times, it can make for some fun and
thrilling viewing.
Like
every Transformers film, there is, of course, lots of
laughs; the lion-share coming from Tucci in
the film's final hour. We also have our love story featuring Tessa, her up
until now secret racer boyfriend and an angry, overprotective daddy
and accompanying, and wrapping, everything we have some cracking music
from Imagine Dragons.
There's
a lot of treading old territory with Age
of Extinction but there is still lots of new ideas coming in! Not only
do we have new humans but we have new Autobots too as Hound, Drift and
Crosshairs, voiced by John
Goodman, Ken Watanabe and John
DiMaggio, make their debut and get to showcase their bots and there is
veritable chemistry between these new Transformers. Lockdown is another
positive, a chilling entrance establishing him as a worthy threat. As for the
humans Wahlberg and Tucci are excellent and ace in their roles
despite the poor dialogue they’re slammed with, whilst Grammer makes a villainous
and diabolical foe as the formidable Attlinger.
Age of
Extinction is a
visually stunning and action-packed blockbuster that can be enjoyable and
entertaining but is let down by the familiarity and unoriginal prospects from Bay because, at the end of the day,
it's not all about the colossal scale.
★★☆☆☆
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