Movie Review: Transformers: Age of Extinction

Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)


Autobots must escape sight from a bounty hunter who takes control of the human serendipity: Unexpectedly, Optimus Prime and his remaining gang turn to a mechanic and his daughter for help.  Short synopsis of Transformers: Age of Extinction taken from IMDb.com  

I will attempt to avoid berating this film simply because it is a stereotypical Michael Bay film. That said, this movie was long, sometimes incomprehensible, and full of action sequences that didn't do much for me. And I mean that in the sincerest possible way.


I tried watching Age of Extinction late in the evening of the day I rented it.  Though I did not fall asleep during my watching, I could not finish it in one sitting.  The plot seemed to drag quite a bit. I turned it off at around the two hour and five minute mark. The next day I almost grudgingly turned it back on and did manage to finish it. But I don't believe I gained anything from that.

To be honest, the teaser that I saw which showed Optimus Prime riding Grimlock, the Tyrannosaurus transformer, was the main reason I watched the end. And that was simply for the "cool" factor. I wish I hated to say it (I don't really), but I think that people who really enjoy this sort of film are a bit on the juvenile and/or hyperactive side.

The man himself, Michael Bay.  You know, when the best film you ever made (according to both this reviewer and Rotten Tomatoes.com, so that's basically the whole world) was 1996's The Rock, you've got to wonder how you still get Hollywood to give you money for anything. / Source: wikipedia.org

As for the film being incomprehensible, I will admit that part of this was my fault. I had the volume down so as to keep from disturbing my family's sleep, what with the loud action scenes. So I missed a lot of the more quiet dialogue. I could usually gather what was going on, but since it was sorta generalized, I felt disconnected. There were moments of humor, from what I caught of the dialogue, that slipped past me. But I don't think there were many fall-down-and-roll-on-the-floor moments, to be honest.

I suppose that even though I didn't hang on the plot, I didn't feel very connected to it anyway. You know that moment in a story when you think to yourself, "OK, I just don't buy it?" I hit that early on, probably around the time the head robot bad guy “Lock Down” turned his face into a gun - no, that wasn't a typo, literally his face transformers into a big cannon - and started shooting bullets that were somehow far more effective than anybody else's, at one of our hapless Autobot heroes.

Well said, Grimlock.  Fans of the TV series from the 1980s may recall that Grimlock and Prime often locked proverbial horns over leadership of the Transformers.  That whole "riding the T-Rex" moment in the film was cool looking, but totally out of character from what I recall. / Source: darrenrawlings.deviantart.com

This of course leads to the going-nowhere action sequences. This movie is peppered with action scenes that do not significantly move the plot along. Really, the majority of the thing could have told in twenty minutes by a Greek chorus. Yes, I know that lots of films could do the same. But Extinction could have skipped its overwrought action bits and not missed anything more than a significant share of its special effects budget. It was just eye candy.

Age of Extinction seemed better to me than the past two Transformers movies I've seen, to be honest. And that is sad, because for something as bloated, noisy and pointless as Transformers: Age of Extinction, I can only wonder how many brain cells I burned out on those other two excoriable messes. Not recommended, unless you really like Transformers, be that as a cartoon, as a comic, as a toy, or even as a movie series.


The parting comment:


Kudos to Honest Trailers for pointing out that the last third of Age of Extinction is a blatant toss at the Chinese market.