I'll be honest here folks... I've never really understood why the Transformers series has become one of Hollywood's preeminent summer blockbuster franchises. Wait! Wait! I'm not coming at this like I'm some kind of film snob with thinks he's above mindless, effects-driven, blockbusters... take a look at my previous reviews, you'll see that there's plenty that I've enjoyed, and in some cases loved. It's just that, even at their best, the Transformers movies have never risen above anything other than dumb fun (and even that's kind of generous) with little else to offer. What made this series so huge? Is it that people love the effects (most summer blockbusters have equal or better effects), the 80s nostalgic value (G.I. Joe was just as huge back in the day, why did its recent films not take off), the explosions (again, most summer blockbusters), or the franchise mythology (doesn't seem to go particularly in depth, maybe the recent shows or games have more to offer)? Believe me, I get the appeal of giant robots fighting each other, I just never thought these movies were very well made versions of that concept. Whatever I'm not seeing, director Michael Bay brought us another Transformers movie this year, so is the one where's there's more than meets the eye?
Following the events of Dark of the Moon, who's finale left most of Chicago in rubble, humanity has finally decided that they've had enough of the Transformers. As a result, the CIA instigates a special team lead by the ruthless Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammar) to track down and destroy the remaining Transformers, whether they be Autobots or Decepticons (for the uninitiated, Autobots are the good robots and the Decepticons are evil). Attinger achieves this with the help of Lockdown, a rogue Transformers bounty hunter who agrees to aid in the hunt on the condition that the humans with hand over Autobot leader, Optimus Prime (whose gone into hiding), when finally found. Optimus is found by Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg), a struggling inventory who purchases Optimus initially for parts. When Optimus reveals himself, suddenly Cade, along with his daughter Tessa (Nicola Peltz) and her boyfriend Shane (Jack Reynor), find themselves thrust into a worldwide conspiracy. Not only have Transformers become enemies of the state, but the metal that makes up their anatomy is being harvested by a company called KSI, led by the arrogant Joshua Joyce (Stanley Tucci), in an effort to develop man-made and presumably more controllable Transformers. Things, however, spiral out of control, and suddenly Optimus finds himself, once again, leading an all-out robot battle for the fate of the world.
As you probably inferred by this review's intro... I'm not a huge fan of this series. By that I mean I don't particularly care for this line of live action movies. I was born in 1987, so I missed the era where the original cartoon series' popularity was in it's prime (no pun intended). I get the appeal of the toys, robots that transform in vehicles is an awesome idea, I was just born too late (the first big kids property I remember loving was Ninja Turtles soon followed by the Power Rangers).
So yeah, I don't have any real nostalgic value for this series. The first live action movie, released in 2007, I generally liked at the time, though mainly as a guilty pleasure. It was big, dumb, loud, and stupid, but I was mostly won over by it's cool action and effects. Over time though, my opinion on the film has gone down... the actors are uniformly terrible, the boring human character upstage the robots, Michael Bay's direction is sloppy, the action is erratic and nonsensical, the humor is awful, and the effects, while still decent have nonetheless aged a bit. The 2009 sequel, Revenge of the Fallen, is easily one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Everything that was wrong with the first film was present in the sequel... only increased to 11. Hands down, one of the most irritating and annoying movie experiences I've ever had to endure. The third film, Dark of the Moon, was... actually I don't remember much about that one. I remember not hating it as much as the second, but aside from that, I just remember being unimpressed and it leaving little impression. So with all that said, here's Age of Extinction.
So right up front... the movie isn't good (I know, shocker right?), but unlike its predecessors, there are a few things about it I actually kind of liked. For starters, in addition to a sequel, Age of Extinction is something of a semi-reboot. None of the previous films' human characters return, and only two returning Transformers (Optimus Prime and Bumblebee), play a major role this time around. Just not casting Shia Laboeuf and Megan Fox already gives Age of Extinction a point in it's favor.
The new human characters don't fare very well in the script department, but they're slightly less annoying than the previous three movies (eesh... talk about damning a film with faint praise). For example, Mark Wahlberg's over-earnest and wide-eyed performance as Cade almost comes off as slightly endearing until you realize that his character is kind of a idiotic douchebag. The usually great Stanley Tucci's character starts off as a villain until suddenly the movie inexplicably turns him into a source of comic relief. Tucci almost pulls it off, but his character is so scattered that he's brought down the nonsensical script in a way I don't think even the best of actors could have recovered. Kelsey Grammar looked like he was only in this movie to fetch a nice paycheck, because he looks bored as hell playing an extremely one-note politically aligned villain. That said, Grammar's good enough of an actor to at least come out somewhat decently. Plus, as one dimensional as his character is, he's at least one of the few consistent characters throughout the movie, so that probably helped. As for Nicola Peltz and Jack Reynor as Tessa and Shane, they're too bland for me to even discuss. Cast-wise, this film is a slight improvement, but not by much.
Action-wise, the movie does better than I thought. The effects have improved over the last few years and it really shows here. The effects artists at ILM did some slight re-designs on the robots, and the result is a definite improvement. Once again the movie was filmed in 3D, and as a result, Michael Bay was forced to pull back on many of his typical bay-isms that hurt many of his previous movies.
For instance, with the bigger and bulkier cameras, there's far less of his usual erratic shaky-cam and instead replaced with admittedly nicely framed action shots. Combine that with bay's affinity for giant explosions and a few moments of decent mayhem, and what you're left with is generally pretty fun to watch. Plus, as the commercials hyped up, the dinobots play a brief role in the film. They're basically brought in at the last minute for some final stakes raising action in the finale. I'll admit that them being relegated to what's essentially a short cameo was a letdown, but any movie that wants to feature robot dinosaurs is okay movie (what can I say, I'm like a kid when it comes to that kind of thing). Unfortunately, the occasionally impressive effects and action are mostly ruined due to a ridiculous run-time and gratuitous product placements. Let me make one thing clear, I don't mind some occasional advertising in movies if it's subtle or doesn't take you out of the movie, but there were SO many scenes in this film that felt basically like commercial breaks. Whether it was Beats speakers, Bud Light, Victoria's Secret, other Hasbro products, and the list goes. As for the run-time... the damn movie clocks in just under three hours. There's absolutely no reason for a movie this shallow to ramble on so long. Honestly, if they had cut an hour out of this movie, I probably would have been A LOT more forgiving to many of it's flaws.
So after all that... I didn't like Transformers Age of Extinction, but I didn't quite hate it either, at least not as much as its predecessors. I don't know if that's because I thought the movie was really any better or if I've just stopped caring (probably a bit of both). Either way, I lost hope a long time ago that we'll get a decent live action Transformers movie, so despite it's poor quality, the movie feels fairly inoffensive. Basically, the movie is just a bit pile of... "meh." Take that as you will.
My Score: 2 out of 5!
As you probably inferred by this review's intro... I'm not a huge fan of this series. By that I mean I don't particularly care for this line of live action movies. I was born in 1987, so I missed the era where the original cartoon series' popularity was in it's prime (no pun intended). I get the appeal of the toys, robots that transform in vehicles is an awesome idea, I was just born too late (the first big kids property I remember loving was Ninja Turtles soon followed by the Power Rangers).
So yeah, I don't have any real nostalgic value for this series. The first live action movie, released in 2007, I generally liked at the time, though mainly as a guilty pleasure. It was big, dumb, loud, and stupid, but I was mostly won over by it's cool action and effects. Over time though, my opinion on the film has gone down... the actors are uniformly terrible, the boring human character upstage the robots, Michael Bay's direction is sloppy, the action is erratic and nonsensical, the humor is awful, and the effects, while still decent have nonetheless aged a bit. The 2009 sequel, Revenge of the Fallen, is easily one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Everything that was wrong with the first film was present in the sequel... only increased to 11. Hands down, one of the most irritating and annoying movie experiences I've ever had to endure. The third film, Dark of the Moon, was... actually I don't remember much about that one. I remember not hating it as much as the second, but aside from that, I just remember being unimpressed and it leaving little impression. So with all that said, here's Age of Extinction.So right up front... the movie isn't good (I know, shocker right?), but unlike its predecessors, there are a few things about it I actually kind of liked. For starters, in addition to a sequel, Age of Extinction is something of a semi-reboot. None of the previous films' human characters return, and only two returning Transformers (Optimus Prime and Bumblebee), play a major role this time around. Just not casting Shia Laboeuf and Megan Fox already gives Age of Extinction a point in it's favor.
The new human characters don't fare very well in the script department, but they're slightly less annoying than the previous three movies (eesh... talk about damning a film with faint praise). For example, Mark Wahlberg's over-earnest and wide-eyed performance as Cade almost comes off as slightly endearing until you realize that his character is kind of a idiotic douchebag. The usually great Stanley Tucci's character starts off as a villain until suddenly the movie inexplicably turns him into a source of comic relief. Tucci almost pulls it off, but his character is so scattered that he's brought down the nonsensical script in a way I don't think even the best of actors could have recovered. Kelsey Grammar looked like he was only in this movie to fetch a nice paycheck, because he looks bored as hell playing an extremely one-note politically aligned villain. That said, Grammar's good enough of an actor to at least come out somewhat decently. Plus, as one dimensional as his character is, he's at least one of the few consistent characters throughout the movie, so that probably helped. As for Nicola Peltz and Jack Reynor as Tessa and Shane, they're too bland for me to even discuss. Cast-wise, this film is a slight improvement, but not by much.Action-wise, the movie does better than I thought. The effects have improved over the last few years and it really shows here. The effects artists at ILM did some slight re-designs on the robots, and the result is a definite improvement. Once again the movie was filmed in 3D, and as a result, Michael Bay was forced to pull back on many of his typical bay-isms that hurt many of his previous movies.
For instance, with the bigger and bulkier cameras, there's far less of his usual erratic shaky-cam and instead replaced with admittedly nicely framed action shots. Combine that with bay's affinity for giant explosions and a few moments of decent mayhem, and what you're left with is generally pretty fun to watch. Plus, as the commercials hyped up, the dinobots play a brief role in the film. They're basically brought in at the last minute for some final stakes raising action in the finale. I'll admit that them being relegated to what's essentially a short cameo was a letdown, but any movie that wants to feature robot dinosaurs is okay movie (what can I say, I'm like a kid when it comes to that kind of thing). Unfortunately, the occasionally impressive effects and action are mostly ruined due to a ridiculous run-time and gratuitous product placements. Let me make one thing clear, I don't mind some occasional advertising in movies if it's subtle or doesn't take you out of the movie, but there were SO many scenes in this film that felt basically like commercial breaks. Whether it was Beats speakers, Bud Light, Victoria's Secret, other Hasbro products, and the list goes. As for the run-time... the damn movie clocks in just under three hours. There's absolutely no reason for a movie this shallow to ramble on so long. Honestly, if they had cut an hour out of this movie, I probably would have been A LOT more forgiving to many of it's flaws.So after all that... I didn't like Transformers Age of Extinction, but I didn't quite hate it either, at least not as much as its predecessors. I don't know if that's because I thought the movie was really any better or if I've just stopped caring (probably a bit of both). Either way, I lost hope a long time ago that we'll get a decent live action Transformers movie, so despite it's poor quality, the movie feels fairly inoffensive. Basically, the movie is just a bit pile of... "meh." Take that as you will.
My Score: 2 out of 5!
