Explosions, Roll Out
The crew (minus an actor not famous anymore) are back to bring another Transformers movie to the big screen but sadly, just like the last couple of iterations before it, the lack of a good plot and at times woeful acting truly bring it down a peg.
Let me begin by saying that I really enjoyed the first Michael Bay Transformers movie. It had a lot of fun moments and the action was top-notch, but as I’ve grown older and have experienced the consistent disappointment of sequels, Transformers: Age of Extinction didn’t really have a chance. After I heard that he who must not be named (Shia LeBeouf) would not be starring in the new Transformers movie I must admit, I was a little torn up – who else was going to shout ‘Optimus!’ like him? Fast forward a couple of years and Mark Wahlberg has taken that spot, but evidently he does a better job. Sadly, other than the occasionally humorous dialogue, the acting and writing in Age of Extinction is pretty poor. I couldn’t get behind any of the characters and was often befuddled as to why the writers decided to add in so many ‘comic relief’ characters. I mean, sure, the film does have its moments but more often than not I just sat there cringing at poor dialogue exchanges between Wahlberg and his co-star Nicola Peltz.
On top of the poor acting comes a pretty slack story. It’s totally fine to have something like that in a big blockbuster action film when all we want to do is watch Transformers fight each other, but I just felt so detached from the story and the characters and it’s disappointing that has to be the case. I really loved the Ladiesman217 sub-plot in the original Transformers but there was really nothing evident in Age of Extinction that even made me have to think twice.
While the two main components I really enjoy in a movie are not so apparent in Age of Extinction, what it gets right is the action and thank god for that. From various battles in the middle of the film to the epic climactic battle at the end, Age of Extinction places all of its cards on fighting Transformers – and I’m glad that’s the case. The redesigned Transformers are quite a nice touch as well, and I really enjoyed that Optimus felt like the primary focus this time around instead of Bumblebee (let’s not forget him though). The other Transformers that were hanging around Earth were also quite awesome, but of course it was the Dinobots that took centre stage. I began to really enjoy the film when they came in, and felt like they could have a little more time on screen (especially since the film runs for nearly three hours) but nonetheless, the action is the reason people go to watch a Transformers film and those of you who do will not be disappointed.
Perhaps one of the biggest gripes I have about Age of Extinction is that it goes for far too long. Clocking in at close to three hours, you really expect to be entertained throughout, but that doesn’t really happen. There’s way too much time spent on the human side of the story and not enough on the Transformers side, although that can be said about nearly all of the Bay Transformers movies – but in this one it was most prominent.
Transformers: Age of Extinction is not going to wow you with its story, or its acting – but just like you’d expect – it’ll wow you with its epic action coupled with prolonged sequences of robots fighting each other. There’s nothing really more to it, so if you’re a fan of the films before it I couldn’t help but say go and check it out. If you want something a little different than what Age of Extinction basically offers, I’d advise you to steer way clear, because it’s more of the same.
Overall
Michael Bay’s fourth Transformers movie doesn’t do anything to move the franchise forward and often falls into the various caveats left by the previous three films but the action sequences do just enough to redeem it from becoming a waste of three hours of your time.
Directed by: Michael Bay
Written by: Ehren Kruger
Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, Jack Reynor