Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)
- Jun 26, 2014
- 2 min read
Directed by: Michael Bay
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, Jack Reynor, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammar
Premièred in 2014 in Hong Kong, released in the UK on June 27th 2014.
With each new Transformers movie we hope that it'll get better. That Michael Bay will learn that while loud explosions and giant robots are interesting, they need something more to actually make a good movie. Once again though, it's clear though that he doesn't care about silly things like a decent plot, good relatable characters, or choices that make sense, instead going for even more over the top explosions, characters with less dimensions than a pencil, and a film that doesn't know when to finish.
Normally by now I'd have touched on the plot of the movie but it's a Transformers film and the plots of them are typically the same. Bad robots threaten the world so the good robots join with some humans to fight and ultimately win. This fourth instalment makes no change to this formula and nothing it does bring makes for a memorable experience that sets it apart from anything that came before.
One of the few 'new' things is the human characters which are all stereotypical messes. We'll start with Cade Yeager (Wahlberg) who's the struggling-to-make-ends-meet, good-with-his-hands, overprotective-of-his-daughter alpha male with a good heart. Then there's his co-worker, Lucas (Miller), the lazy self-serving, stoner-coded throwaway sidekick. Then there's Cade's daughter, Tessa (Peltz) as the 17 year old daughter trying to get out from under her dad's thumb, with a secret boyfriend of 3 years, who's only contribution to the plot is constantly having to be rescued from some danger or other. And to round it off there's the 20 year old boyfriend (Reynor) who carries a card around in his pocket to explain why it's legal for him to be dating underage, constantly butting heads with Yeager, and doing other 'bad boy' things like driving cars ridiculously fast and making half-assed threats.
The film goes on for way longer than it needs to, seemingly wrapping up and coming to a natural feeling conclusion, until you look at the timer and realise, you have another 30 minutes and three plot points to get through.
Uninspired, uninventive, unoriginal. Exactly what we've been given three times before. There's nothing new and even less worth watching. Save yourself. Avoid this film.
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