In Transformers: Age of Extinction the Autobots have fallen on hard times. After the battle of Chicago at the end of Dark of The Moon, Humanity has turned against them. Sick and tired of all the wanton destruction, we now see all giant robots as threats. N.E.S.T has been disbanded and replaced by a military Autobot hunting group (named Cemetery Wind) that is assisted by bad-ass galactic bounty hunter Lockdown (voiced by Mark Ryan), who is on his own hunt for Optimus Prime. Good ole' boy Cade Yaeger (Mark Whalberg) stumbles upon Optimus and is dragged along with his daughter Tessa (Nicola Peltz), and her boyfriend Shane (Jack Reynor) into the war. Meanwhile, a new tech company named KSI, has figured out how to control the element that Transformers are made up of (called Transformium, I shit you not) and has started making their own giant robot army led by one of their creations named Galactus (voiced by Frank Welker).
The humans this time are nowhere near as grating as Sam Witwicky and crew. Mark Whalberg is given more to do than any other human in the Transformers franchise, Nicola Peltz is just there to be the damsel in distress but is still very likable, Jack Reynor gets the blunt end of the stick with zero character development. T.J. Miller appears for most of the first act as Lucas Flannery and is entertaining as a worker for Cade Yaeger. Stanley Tucci is ok as Joshua Joyce, head of KSI who is in cahoots with Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammar, who is also just ok) who is in charge of the Autobot hunters. The human story centers around the theme of family, and I did dig the family dynamic between Whalberg and Peltz.
As for the new Autobots there is the cigar chomping Hound (voiced by John Goodman), the samurai Drift (voiced by Ken Watanabe), and Crosshairs (voiced by John DiMaggio). They aren't memorable or even all that likable. The standout is John Goodman as Hound, and even then he can't hold a candle to the original crew (though it is entertainingly surreal to hear John Goodman's voice coming out of a robot). The Dinobots also make an appearance near the end (they are in essentially the entire last act of the film, and they are indeed pretty bad-ass. It's always fun to watch them snatch up baddies off the ground or in mid-air and either toss them or snap them in half and eat them). Galactus (voiced by Frank Welker) is introduced as our Megatron surrogate, but he is neither all that threatening nor is he given much to do. The real standout as far as baddies go is Lockdown (voiced by Mark Ryan), who is a hardcore galactic bounty hunter. He was so cool, I was almost tempted to root for him during his battles with Optimus (Lockdown's ship is pretty impressive as well).
I'm surprised to say that director Michael Bay seems to have started to turn over a new leaf. There are no terrible jokes here (the script still isn't great though), and there are barely any gratuitous shots of females (zero of Nicola Peltz, she still looks good though). However, one thing has remained constant with Mr. Bay, he still loves him some good explosions, and he still doesn't know when to say CUT! The only real problem with Transformers: Age of Extinction is it's 2 hour 45 minute running time, which consists mainly of things going BA-BOOM (The film throws as many explosions as it can at you until you are forced to wave your white flag in surrender)!!!! If you love explosions, this is most definitely your film. I've got to hand it to Bay, while the film is WAY TOO LONG, it takes a special kind of crazy to decide your going to make an almost 3 hour epic consisting of pretty explosions and crazy action. The inner ten year old in me was quite happy, but my 23 year old adult self was super exhausted by the time the end credits rolled.
I should mention I saw the film in 3D, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The scenes that utilize 3D do so quite well, and to entertaining effect, just don't be surprised if you find yourself fighting off eye strain during the third act of the film.
I can confidently say that Transformers: Age of Extinction is easily the event film of the summer. A nearly 3 hour film that is nothing but explosions and robots fighting deserves that title. The film definitely delivers, but maybe to too great a degree (TRAITOR!!! Yells my ten year old self). There's only so many explosions the human mind can handle before it starts to feel action fatigue. That said, this latest installment is still a major step up from Revenge of The Fallen and Dark of The Moon. The human characters are likable, it's not as jokey or goofy, the plot is cool (though there is too much of it) and there is a certain amount of surreal entertainment to be had listening to John Goodman's voice come from a robot. While there are some benefits to seeing this in the theater (like a larger screen and better 3D), I almost hesitate to say that maybe you should wait for Blu-Ray where you can fast forward to the good parts. Ultimately, the choice is yours.
All in all, Transformers: Age of Extinction is a fairly harmless film that ranks in as the second best Transformers film to date. It will probably kill some of your brain cells, but this is Michael Bay people, so that is to be expected. Buckle up, and hang on because you are in for an insane, hella long film.
3 STARS
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