Transformers: Age of Extinction – Movie Review
Michael Bay’s fourth installment of the hugely successful Transformers franchise is pretty much more of the same. “Age of Extinction” has Transformers, humans, and a bunch of stuff blowing up. Yet, there is a major element from the previous films nearly absent here, the humor. “Age of Extinction” takes itself much more seriously than the already flawed films that came before it. That lack of comic relief makes this sequel an 165 minute action packed bore. There are some attempts at levity but when you have a series like this, you kind of need that humor that allows you to have fun with it.
When it was first announced that Mark Wahlberg would be taking over the lead from Shia LaBeouf, I was all for it. Wahlberg can handle action and he can also be funny. Unfortunately Bay’s “Pain and Gain” star doesn’t really ad much here as Texas inventor Cade Yeager. The super funny T.J. Miller is not given enough screen time as Cade’s partner/employee which is a bummer. As for Nicola Peltz who has shown some range in TV’s “Bates Motel” is reduced to just another young pretty face that keeps getting in the middle of things. On the plus side Kelsey Grammer and Stanley Tucci have much bigger roles than I expected but that is like putting a little ketchup on steak that has been burnt to hell.
As for the plot? Does it really matter? It has been a number of years since the destruction of Chicago that took place in the previous movie. The Autobots are now being hunted down by Harold Attinger (Grammer) and a team of black ops soldiers. Attinger has partnered up with tech company giant Joshua Joyce (Tucci) and they are using the Transformers technology to build their own line of robots. Attinger has also made a deal with what I think is an intergalactic transformer bounty hunter that want’s to deliver Optimus Prime’s to his creator. At least I think that’s what was happening. I pretty much lost interest between all the giant robot fights that began to blend into each other.
Another issue is that as far as a climax goes, it would be nearly impossible to top the final act of “Dark of the Moon”. The battle in Chicago was mind blowing and easily the best 40 minutes in the entire franchise. Nothing in “Age of Extinction” even comes close. The Dinobots are pretty damn cool, but by the time they actually make their way on screen, I already had enough.
“Age of Extinction” is a bad movie, although it is slightly better than “Revenge of the Fallen”. The sad thing is that no matter what I or any other critic says about the film, it will still make a boat load of money Internationally and that will lead to another sequel. Who knows, maybe the next one will be better, but I won’t hold my breath.
By: Marc Ferman
