For the fourth go-round of Transformers, I’ll admit adrenaline driven uber-director Michael Bay manages to get an awful lot right, most importantly the tone of the film. It’s not to say there isn’t enough of his usual wrong that unfortunately haunts the series present here as well, but pound for pulsating pound, Transformers: Age of Extinction weighs in with only exactly what you expect from his exhausting latest showcase of CGI robot-on-robot violence.
Bay gave us the first big screen version of Hasbro’s toy line of battling shape shifting alien robots in 2007. Say what you will about Bay and his seizure inducing shooting and editing style, he pushed CGI technology beyond the max with Transformers, delivering an explosive summer movie experience like no other at the time that literally and sucessfully put the source material on the big screen.
Personally I typically enjoy what he does, also know as Bayhem. Additionally as a child of the ’80s, all things Transformers was my thing. Not all movies, especially summer fare, need be dissected beat for beat with a film school scalpel. Bay has never been one to please the critics, and through the Transformers series, he has consistently delivered loud popcorn pleasure (though the two subsequent sequels had their fair share of highs and lows).
With an all new cast of humans, Age of Extinction picks up five years after the battle of Chicago, as seen in the visceral 45-minute climax of 2011’s Dark of the Moon. Needless to say, mankind ain’t the biggest fans of the giant alien robots any longer, despite a former alliance with the good guy Autobots. Optimus Prime and his remaining bot buddies have been forced into hiding.
In a nod to the ’80s mythology, old school Transformers G1 fans will appreciate seeing Optimus Prime laying dying and dormant in the form of his Freightliner cab-over-engine semi-truck model. He is rescued and repaired by Cade Jaeger (Mark Wahlberg), a broke widowed Texas junk junkie and failed inventor who works out of his barn. Turns out the Autobot leader is in high demand and is tracked down for extermination by a CIA Black Ops Unit headed by Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammar), who is hell bent on ridding Earth of all Transformers, good and evil. Cade and his daughter Tessa get roped into the action and become fugitives once Prime eludes his hunters and assembles his team of robot comrades.
Prime is also the target of bad ass intergalactic bounty hunter called Lockdown, who wants to bring him back to his ancient creators. Add on another sinister plot point courtesy of Joshua Joyce (Stanley Tucci), CEO of the tech conglomerate Kinetic Solutions Incorporated (KSI) that has cracked the metallic genetic code of the alien robots, and can create their own army of Transformers once they obtain a vital internal part from Prime. The globe trotting story takes us from huge attack sequences in Texas, to another round of destruction for Chicago, then over to Hong Kong for the expected over the top finale.
Two of the three plot lines are rather good. What has to do directly with the robots is actually better than the plot of the last two films. Ironically enough it’s Extinction‘s human element featuring the characters we’re supposed to care about that the film constantly gnaws away at you. This concerns the nagging triangle of Cade, Tessa (Nicola Peltz) and her Irish race car driver boyfriend Shane Dyson (Jack Reynor). Taking a page from Bay’s own Armageddon playbook, the overprotective father disapproves of his daughter’s older beau, and the three clash constantly throughout the film, all the while adding nothing but bloat, dead space and headaches to the plot. Did I mention the running time is 165 minutes?
While the film has eliminated the taxing sophomoric humor that plagued the first three installments, Bay again proves to be his own worst enemy with the deadly one-two punch casting of his wooden Pain & Gain star Wahlberg along with Reynor. Nobody expects Shakespeare, but their pained delivery of at times pained dialogue is far from engaging. However, on the opposite side of the Actors Studio report card, Kelsey Grammar, Stanley Tucci and Titus Welliver bring far more of their A game than you’d expect in a Transformers film. It’s a shame there is such an imbalance among the human cast, where the villains are far more entertaining than the heroes.
But its the insane explosions and robots we’re here to see. Prime and Bumblebee get upgrades (and new toy designs!) as well as impressive evil dopplegangers. Ken Watanabe voices Drift, the blue Samurai Autobot (he’s literally a Samurai with Watanabe’s command of English), and John Goodman does a fine job with G1 fan favorite Hound. The collected squad Autobots, all in distinct colors, looks and feels closest to the source material. In their vehicle form, all gorgeous streamlined dream cars, the robots in disguise have never looked better on the road.
Galvatron is also effectively brought into to mix plot-wise. A healthy nod to the Decepticon’s origin from the ’80s lore (plus voiced by Frank Welker) was a rather welcome surprise given Bay’s penchant for making changes just because he can. Four films deep, are we yet over those flames painted on Optimus Prime?
The thick sci-fi element is the driving force of the film, while the forgettable heroic humans just slow things down. I also can’t not mention the over the top product placement. At this point we’re used to the Chevy symbol on Bumblebee and the other vehicles. But here the Lamborghini and Bughatti logos have been visibly worked into the robot forms of Lockdown and Drift. You really won’t believe the audacity of a Bud Lite plug, plus additional nods to Red Bull, a Chinese sippy box soft drink and Victoria’s Secret. Though Bay still shoots VS commercials, so that’s an inside job.
It goes without saying there is no shortage of the Bayhem we are paying to see here in IMAX 3D. Explosions, CGI bombast, impossible somersault camera movements and actors running through giant balls of fire that must have exponentially raised their insurance premiums. Bay would be hard pressed to top his Dark of the Moon finale, and while he is up to usual tricks, he does not out-Bay himself this time around. ILM’s CGI work and sound design are jaw dropping per his high tech standards, but surprisingly the 3D added less to the experience than I had anticipated. Unfortunately my screening venue didn’t pump the projector bulbs with the extra juice necessary for a proper vivid 3D picture, so it was often muddy and at least a stop too dark.
The big addition for the grand finale is by far the Dinobots. How do you top cars and planes that turn into robots? Add in dinosaurs that turn into robots. While pretty awesome when they are finally unleashed as legendary immense ancient warriors, it seems that beyond adding sheer third act brawn, the film doesn’t quite know what else to really do with them. They show up, do their stuff, and scene. The devious Lockdown thankfully blows open the whole mythology beyond just the Transformers and their home planet of Cybertron, and serves as the catalyst for Transformers 5 (minus Bay as director) set for 2016.
Age of Extinction will no doubt thrill the target audience. By movie number four, it doesn’t bring the wow factor despite its new cast and best reboot-esque intentions. Despite its over indulgent length, it still moves along better than the worst of the lot that was 2009’s Revenge of the Fallen. There are many missed opportunities that could have taken the series to the next level, but a new version of the same model will by no means keep the moviegoing masses away from theaters. Overall Michael Bay brings the expected excessive, intense and mind numbing explosive tricks that summer event movies are meant to have in earnest. So in the case of Transformers, this means mission accomplished.
Transformers: Age of Extinction opens in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D on June 27th.
REVIEW RATING: ★★★★★
Director: Michael Bay
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Kelsey Grammar, Stanley Tucci, T.J. Miller, Nicola Peltz, Titus Welliver, Peter Cullen, John Goodman
Screenwriter: Ehren Kruger
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Rated: PG-13
Running Time: 165 minutes
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