Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) User Reviews

DinoBots!

[kz917-1 · 6/10 · 21 September 2017]

Good, enjoyable action flick!

Mark Wahlberg looking tough, saving his daughter and the world.

Totally not necessary to be almost three hours long though!?

A sequel movie that is not afraid to make fun of itself though. One of the best lines, "Man, I hate sequels they always suck and never do as good as the first." Bonus points for self deprecation!

Worth a rental - but forewarning it's a three hour tour.

Not a masterpiece, but not horrible

[capricornius · 7/10 · 8 July 2018]

Alright, alright, this is not the best movie ever made, but it's way better than some people give it credit for. But genre-wise it's a weird movie. There's action, drama, sci-fi, an occasional bit of comedy and a truckload of product placement, notice all the supercars. Of course it's supercars and not regular everyday cars, which in my opinion would make much more sense. Also keep an eye out for the 2001 Cadillac Cien concept car, it makes a very brief appearance. It still looks brand new, though it were 13 years old at the time.

I don't know if you'll like this movie or not, I guess it depends on what you compare it with.

But if you have two and 2 hours and 45 minutes then you could watch this movie. Just be prepared for a lot of GCI.

People have to stop driving on the Bay Hate Train

[elendil-32558 · 7/10 · 1 March 2018]

Admittably, the Transformers Franchise got worse with every movie since its really interesting first one. But Age of Extinction has to be seen as a reset of the universe. It got rid of most of the really cringy and annoying assets like Sam and some of the annoying perverted Transformers. It doesn't try to be very deep and interesting, the plot is simple and easy, a bit too long, yes, but at no point I got annoyed by the story. Most of the characters, especially the autobots have destinct roles, they don't have to be introduced, they're part of the team and do their job. Gelvatron has a really nice plottwist and some scenes are decently funny. The whole movie has some Logan vibes to it, of course without very deep conflict and not near as much emotion.

I guess people still go into the movies and watch Transformers with some kind of expectation about a surprisingly good plot or expect that Bay suddenly changes his style from brainless explosion slaughter to something deep. But if you watch this film with no expectations, or at least want some action and good fighting for an evening with friends, you will be pleasently surprised. The film delivers exactly this, Good Action.

Should've stopped at the 3rd movie

[0U · 23 February 2020]

The fourth entry into the franchise is a misstep that squanders the will of the preceding entries.

Wasn't as bad as I thought it would be! 7/10

[leonblackwood · 7/10 · 22 November 2014]

Review: Epic! Epic! Epic! This was one extremely epic movie with brilliant graphics and a decent storyline. I much preferred Wahlberg in the lead than LaBeouf but his child looked more like his girlfriend than his daughter. Anyway, you can definitely see were the whole budget went because the movie is full of impressive action which had excellent attention to detail. It does take some time to get going because the director wanted to give the new characters some depth, so I can't blame him for that. The problem that I had with some or the earlier movies in this franchise was that the fighting scenes were quite confusing because there was so just going on, but in this movie the director cleared up the action scenes which made it easier to watch. I was a bit sceptical when I saw the length of the film but it really doesn't seem that long when your watching it. Anyway, it's definitely one to watch and I'm kicking myself for not watching it on the big screen. Enjoyable!

Round-Up: After reading some of the reviews for this movie, I really wasn't expecting that much but I can't see why people are complaining about the wit and the length. Personally I liked the added wit throughout the movie but it could have done without his daughter and the pointless boyfriend who was only good behind the wheel. On the downside, it does get a bit manic when they go to Hong Kong and the storyline does start to get a bit crazy, but the action scenes save the day. I wasn't a big fan of the previous movies, except for the first one, but this has to be the second best in the franchise. With such a massive profit made, I'm sure we're going to see more from the Transformers, even though some people really didn't like this one.

Budget: $210million Worldwide Gross: $1Billion (WOW!)

I recommend this movie to people who are into the Transformers franchise and want to see a movie full of action with the usual robots and "save the world" concept. 7/10

a tad too long.otherwise,fairly decent

[disdressed12 · 7/10 · 19 September 2016]

as far as mindless entertainment goes,this a pretty good film.it fill you up while are watching but leaves empty after it's over.there is some new blood injected into the series this time around.No Shia LaBeouf or Megan this time around.the characters and the actors are different.this time around we have Cade Yeager(Marl Wahlberg)and and his daughter(Nicola Pelt(whose biggest claim to fame so far has been appearing in the flop The Last Airbender,which was awful but not her fault),as the main human characters.Stanley Tucci has some very funny scenes,and Kelsey Grammar injects some gravitas into the proceedings.one problem I had with the film-it was a tad too long.they could have excised twenty to thirty minutes of the running time.that is my biggest complaint.otherwise,pretty decent.for me,Transformers: Age of Extinction is a 7/10

Long, boring, incoherent and a complete mess of a movie

[krazyfrog87 · 3/10 · 26 June 2014]

Let me preface this by saying I'm a big Transformers fan. I love the series. I love the concept. I loved the animated series that used to air on TV. I even loved the previous Transformers movies. (Well, maybe not the third one, but I thought it was okay.) It is one of my favorite franchises and I just watched it being butchered for over two and a half hours.

Transformers: Age of Extinction is a disaster. I was thrilled to get the chance to see it before most of the world but ended up being thoroughly disappointed. The movie is 165 minutes of incoherent nonsense and if you thought that's what the previous movies were, well, you might start appreciating them after seeing this.

First of all, it has that god awful Michael Bay humor that we saw in the previous movies. It's not funny at all and there is so much of it so often it makes you cringe. It's like watching a senile old man running naked on the street. It's sad and it makes you feel uncomfortable.

But that stuff was there before as well. What I loved about the Transformers movies, or what anyone loves about them, was watching the robots transform and fight. The previous movies had memorable moments. I still remember the scene from the first movie where Ironhide jumps up and shoots missiles mid-air in slow motion as the woman is screaming below, and Starscream jumping and transforming mid-air and flying off, Sideways getting sliced in half by Sideswipe, Scorponok rising from the ground, and the brief scenes with Demolisher and Devastator in the second movie and finally the Shockwave sequences and that time Bumblebee transforms with Shia LaBeouf still in the car from the third movie.

But nothing of that sort happens in this movie. Other than Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, there are three other Autobots in the movie, all of whom are new. They try to come across as interesting but you don't really give a damn about them. Bumblebee is so seldomly seen on screen you forget he's even there in the movie. And Optimus Prime goes through his usual routine of getting his ass thoroughly kicked in the first half of the movie, only to rise again later, something which has been a common theme of previous movies. This is why I don't feel particularly strongly about the movie version of Prime because he fails so often and so hard in combat it's difficult to take him seriously as a leader.

There are plenty of action sequences in the movie but the first half has about 10% of them. And considering the first half is about 90 minutes long it means you are treated to a lot of talking and other stuff that is either plain stupid or just boring. When sh*t does start hitting the fan later, it's just a bloody mess, with so much happening at once that you don't care about anything and none of it is particularly cool or memorable. There is also the nausea-inducing shaky camera technique being thoroughly abused here, which actually makes it hard to see what's going on because everything is shaking so god damned much all the time. Except when there is a product placement going on, then the camera is absolutely still so you can see the brand name clearly.

The only redeeming aspects of this movie are the exceptional CGI with some stunning 3D and the incredible sound. The movie looks and sounds fantastic and if you do make the mistake of watching it, do it in IMAX like I did because otherwise there will be nothing there to enjoy. (This film does have the highest amount of IMAX footage I've seen in any movie, with practically half the movie being in IMAX. However, I did not like the way it constantly keeps jumping between IMAX and non-IMAX footage between every other scene. This probably won't bother you as much as it bothered me and if you watch it in a regular theater then you won't see it at all.)

Overall, Transformers: Age of Extinction is a horrible mess of a movie and a complete waste of time and money. The previous Transformers movies were a guilty pleasure and scratched a very specific itch for a very specific audience but this one doesn't even do that while inheriting all the flaws of its predecessors. It takes a special kind of idiot to mess up something so simple but Michael Bay does it with aplomb.

If you liked the previous Transformers movies, you'll like this.

[Loving_Silence · 7/10 · 25 June 2014]

Transformers: Age of Extinction is the fourth film of the Transformers franchise, a franchise that's known for being explosive and action- packed and kind of dumb. This film is no exception, it follows the other films like in the exact same regard. But I do think this is an improvement from Dark of the Moon and a BIG improvement from the horrid, Revenge of the Fallen. The film takes a bit more serious approach, but don't get me wrong it still has some stupid humor, just not as much as the previous films, which is pretty refreshing.

The action scenes in here are pretty outstanding and it actually has much more wide shots than the previous movies. You can actually see the large scale of these giant robots in breathtaking detail. The visual- effects are fantastic as they usually are with these films, it definitely delivers in that department. However as usual there are numerous problems with the script and story, it's senseless as usual, but not as annoying as "Revenge of the Fallen", the dialogue is weak, but at least it's not mindbogglingly stupid. Also the Autobots and even the Decepticons have more of a personality than they used to. Grimlock is a fantastic addition in this film, but I would have liked to have seen a bit more of him.

For those who didn't care for Michael Bay's past Transformers films, you probably won't like this because it has even more mindless extravaganza action packed scenes, just like the other films did. However audiences who are game to board the extravagance train will find that Age of Extinction hits all the notes that a Transformers movie ought to. So if you didn't like any of the other past Transformers movies, don't bother watching this cause you'll probably won't become fan after this. If you liked the other ones then you'll most likely be in for a fun ride like I was.

Barely Tolerable

[jnmnc373 · 1/10 · 28 June 2014]

This is one of the worst movies I've ever seen. I only went to the release because some parts were filmed in Detroit. The first hour was plot driven and tolerable to watch. Wahlberg is always fun to watch and the main chick is cute but the last 1.5 hours is straight action and no plot and I wanted to walk out before I had a seizure.

Special effects were visually pleasing, but would have been better if I cared what was going on. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a hater. I tried so hard to be interested in this flick but I found myself looking at my watch obsessively for the last hour.

On the lighter side, the idea behind the plot was interesting and though provoking but poorly executed on screen.

I have never written a review before, but this movie was so utterly disappointing that I felt obligated to warn humanity. We are truly living in the age of extinction when we allow a piece of garbage like this to pass as a major motion picture release in the 21st century.

Look at it from a different point of view

[aj_67846 · 6/10 · 28 June 2014]

First off, I want to say that by now people should know that a Michael Bay movie is not going to be a mind-blowing story. You're here for amazing action sequences. If you've seen or at the very least even heard about the past movies you should know this by now, so stop comparing him to James Cameron and quit complaining about the story because you already know whats in store.

That being said, this movie is on par with the first one back in 2007, and way better than Revenge of the Fallen and may even surpass Dark of The Moon. The CGI is incredible. It has come a long way even from the 3rd movie. The action is great, just what you would expect from a MB film. What everybody is complaining about is that the story lacks. Yes it does. But people need to stop being pessimists and start seeing the glass half full. The story is a lot more intricate than any of the other movies.I can't go into detail, but the plot really flows and fits together, albeit after a little thought is put into it. Forget the fact that it's Michael Bay or what's his name Ehren Kruger. The story is good. They really went all out. The funny moments don't feel as forced as they previously did, and let me just stress how much better the father-daughter idea fits than the boyfriend-girlfriend. Everyone plays an important role and has something to contribute to the plot. There were plenty moments where I thought, wow that makes sense. Especially with the dinobots. I love how they are delving more into the world of the Transformers, finally addressing ideas that a person would have. I must say as well Age of Extinction was definitely more emotional than the past three films, but in a good way. And, this time they really set it up for future installments quite beautifully.My absolute favorite part is how this time, every robot gets the proper amount of screen time,with the exception of a few, and they all actually have meaningful dialogue. The transformers are finally getting some character development.The few bots that don't have much screen time I'm completely OK with.As I said before, they did a great job setting up for the next film and those few characters who needed a bit more of the spotlight will definitely be back. The one thing I do see wrong with this film is that despite being nearly three hours, the plot is so much more involved that everything happens really fast and it does get a bit hard to follow. If you're a true fan however, putting in some thought won't kill you.

I said it before, and I'll say it again. You're not here for the plot, you're here for some amazing eye candy and a plot that is barely there. Boy does it deliver, not just in what you see, but the plot is an improvement. You would be making a mistake by not seeing this movie. You don't have to agree with me, but despite its flaws, Transformers Age of Extinction just may be the best in the series.

Save your money .. Don't feed the Bay

[reddogninja · 3/10 · 27 June 2014]

Worst of the transformers movies. Was okay until about a 3rd of the way through. Mark Wahlberg was better than Shia, but the movie was bloated with too many similar scenes.

Enough chase scenes and slow motion explosions for the whole of 2014. It would be nice to see some sort of characters developed for the transformers. Because they are created as one dimensional punchlines there is no possibility to have any interesting story that involves the transformers interacting with each other.

Wait for the DVD if you must see it, but you wont be missing much if you avoid it all together.

Makes the Transformers movie series deeper and more complex

[nightowlkylehyde · 8/10 · 1 June 2017]

This film truly repaired (almost everything) what we hated about the first three actions.

Bad: We are introduced to three new Auto-bots (Hound, Drift, and Crosshairs) who really show up with the only backstories being on the back of their toy boxes. The 4 dinosaur robots, without any true names (we fans know their names, but the those are not the fans do not) appear in the film serving as Dues Ex Machina. Some racist stereotypes still exist and Tessa was really not that far off, have you seen some the girls in real life, I'm not sexist, but I know a lot a girls dress with mini shorts (and some men walk around shirtless, or with a half naked girl on their shirts) The blood (energon) of the transformers is on a continuity error, since in 2 and 3 the color had an orange color now to a green color such as when part Prime's head fell off and green stuff splattered out vs. Megatron's blood when he was killed.

Good: The movie does not suddenly involve Unicron (I hope they never bring him into the series he was not really a good idea in the original series being that he was killed his first appearance and showed up as a head and in a reference in the Beast Wars and was compared to Predacon Megatron's Ship) or does anything else that would appeal to fans only.Establishes a deeper past into the Transformers relations to humans. Continues to develop the movie Optimus Prime making him aggressive to humans, and the Rachet's and Leadfoot's deaths were actually taken hard by the Autobot crew. All the Cybertronion transformers are given personalities, I say that because excepting Galvatron the prototypes were just goons being controlled by the other baddie. There are three antagonists in this film, all with different goals.

Improvements: The racist comments from the first 3 were put on a minimum where the only that movie could offend people is if they took extreme pride in being Irish.

Best: Perfectly makes human-transformers relationships more realistic where now there are actually teams of ex. military hunting down the transformers. All main characters are given a goal and a personality,Antagonists: Attinger: not wanting any more innocent deaths that are caused by the battles of the transformers. Lockdown: just an alien bounty hunter with a grudge against the Autobots and Decepticons, since they are always starting wars against each other. Protagonists: Optimus Prime: his aggressiveness is now at a peak, which the comic lovers know where it started(hatch lings)who is really angry at the humans who suddenly turned their backs on the Autobots (I will do a deeper analysis on Prime on my twitter page, KadDaws) Cade: a single poor father trying to do the best for his daughter, and unintentionally gets involved into an alien civil war.

Could have been better

[lakings97 · 7/10 · 9 January 2023]

Transformers: Age of Extinction is the fourth movie of the series with a whole new cast. This Michael Bay movie has the Autobots on the run from the government. The CIA headed by Kelsey Grammer used a bounty hunter played by Titus Welliver and scientist Stanley Tucci to use a rogue transformer who collects species from across the galaxy to collect or destroy the remaining Autobots. Mark Wahlberg along with Jack Reymor joins the cast to help the Bots. Knowing all of Bay's movies, this one was filled with lots of explosives, car crashes and destruction. This was not one of the better movies, the CGI could have been better. The story had holes, not as funny, just tried to hard. The series should have stopped with the third one.

One of the worst movies i've seen in a long time

[alvinmrobles · 1/10 · 28 June 2014]

Ahhh where to start. I usually don't write reviews. But yesterday's disappointment in watching this had to be expressed either through punching an anvil, or writing this review. But i need my hands this week so I'm going to write a review.

I am a fan of transformers, i loved the cartoon series and the first and second blockbuster hit. I saw quite a substantial amount of plot holes in the third installation and I knew it was going to go downhill from there. I had hopes that the age of extinction would clear some of the plot holes i saw from the dark of the moon, and after seeing the movie trailers I became somewhat excited and felt all warm inside.

I brought my two boys with me, bought some overpriced pop-corns and sugar drinks to stimulate my mind so that my brain could focus and absorb the new concept of the story, hoping to satisfy my hunger for unanswered questions that left my joy decimated at the last series.

I like Walhberg during action scenes, but not when he starts making lame dialogues. And those lame dialogues deviate from being a bit funny, to just stab me in my thighs, depending on who wrote the script. Lame dialogues pervaded the whole friggen movie!

There are countless, pointless, perpetually boring ass things that prevented the story, or just the movie as a whole from being appreciated. The characters were annoying, namely Lucas, Tessa and that friggen Shane who is nothing but a disrespectful little sh*t to Walhberg and exhibited this attitude throughout until third quarter of the movie. I'm a dad alright, and I just wanted to punch him the f**k out! And Walhberg should've done the same, what the hell? Few good actors, but the characters were weak.

Every time i thought that the movie was trying to make people laugh, I look around the entire cinema and see people staring at the screen, not laughing. I look at my boys and they're not laughing, and they're the type that laugh at anything that moves. I'm not laughing because my mind is struggling trying to keep that hope alive while at the same time enduring the thought of another ominous outcome, "when is this going to end?", "stop doing stupid things", "stop trying to make me laugh", "just stop talking", "OMG what am I doing here?"

I finish the giant popcorn and my big tub of sugar drink after an hour. I thought that if i just go out for a smoke, maybe i'll be able to appreciate the rest of the movie because my mind will be refreshed. I'll take my time, maybe say hi to that nice ticket collector and make small talk. That's 10 minutes to recuperate. It couldn't be that bad.

I get back to my seat. Nothing changes...

Every new main event that was introduced in the movie was not properly explained in the end. In other words, it just came out of nowhere and went nowhere. This just piled up leaving me with more and more questions. It seems as if plots were inserted in holes and the viewer was left to create his own resolution of it. The story is incongruently incoherent.

Why after all this time, can't Bumblebee talk? With all the autonomous robotic, high alien-technologically advanced race systems that are available that they can't rectify his voice box?? I wanted to see more of the dinobots. And why were they in the... never mind, no spoilers.

Yes most of the action scenes were great, but come on, don't make it lame by adding something that doesn't belong there, like another horrific comment, phrase or something that isn't funny. It destroys the entertainment. In fact, just don't even talk during the action scenes please!

Graphics are awesome. That's the only thing I appreciate.

So unfortunately i left disappointed once again. More than disappointed, irritated and frustrated. I asked my boys what they thought, they said "ummm... awesome?" as if that definition has lost it's meaning and they weren't entirely sure how to make me feel better. I wanted to research on the writers and directors who created this movie to try and figure out how they defiled a great science fiction theme, but I couldn't give a cross-bun anymore. I'll let it roll this time. I feeling a bit better now.

In the end i figure this movie suits those who don't care too much about story lines and great characters and dialogues. Mainly those who like to see giant robots fight. but the movie is rated for matured audiences and robot fights only took place during half the movie. So then I question what are the creators of this film trying to achieve? Use the name for profit and create something primarily for entertainment purposes. But today's audience are rational thinkers who want more than just action scenes and loud explosions. So...

My Favorite of the Films so far

[jeremyk-41-989756 · 7/10 · 30 June 2014]

I am 36 years old and I grew up watching Transformers the cartoon and playing with the toys in the 80's. The franchise had achieved mind share. The plan worked.

The first and second live action movie didn't do much for me. The one I enjoyed the most and actually felt something for was Dark of the Moon.

Until Age of Extinction. I really enjoyed it.

Yes it completely objectifies women and is racist and sticks adverts and bright shiny things in your face but hey, thats life (What are YOU doing to stop this? writing a negative review of Transformers? good for you, that will fix the Human Race) , and this is an allegory to life created by a conglomerative passionate effort of differing perspectives, some corporate, some childish.

The racist and sexist elements especially of Age of Extinction could be an opportunity to communicate to children about right and wrong and the way women (and men to a much lesser extreme) are portrayed as objects in our world. Communication is what we seem to give up on these days.

Transformers is a franchise but it is also human history. It is some peoples (mainly boys) memories of childhood. And the movie is a live action perspective of this.

Transformers aided in the development of self.

When i think back now the cartoon instilled in me ideals of morality, honour, friendship, teamwork, valuing different forms of life, and the endless, timeless, continuous , ever repeating battle of good versus evil, positive and negative in the form of Autobots and Decepticons.

Messages abound in the film about spite and contempt for life and human brutality and dishonour, racism against man and machine or a perceived lesser form of life, sexism , objectification of women. Standardised beauty in the form of the beautiful men and women and cars, the "objects" created by minds that have been programmed by our societies models of beauty.

A lot of reviewers seem to have irrational hatred for Michael Bay and Transformers and their reviews are purposely negative and unbalanced, and to create balance they create irrational defence of the creative work by others. Can you not see this people ?!

The negative reviews are all filled with the same old criticisms that all the prior movies have gotten, they never really review the film, they run out of things to say fast and start to go through and pick apart the plot and just talk about the stupid or dumb elements. This movie was no "dumber" than Avatar. (Unobtainium anyone?)

But what I dislike the most is the looking down on people with contempt for enjoying the film. The passion in these negatives seems to be for mocking other peoples passion.

Or Transformers of all things represents everything they hate in the world. It would be funny if it wasn't true though, It is a waste of energy you negative multiplying reviewers, find some purpose!

We are additive and subtractive beings, positive and negative, but it is the absolutes that are pointless and insignificant but entirely significant and to the point. It is the nature of absolutes. Don't you get it.

Anyway back to the movie.

Good movie. Easier to follow action and plot. Beautifully awesome special effects. But the key is Optimus Prime, the best of the best, willing to protect lesser forms of life (the humans) and more to the point the human sensory representation of Optimus Prime - the voice of Peter Cullen - You are a Legend.

Transformers: Age of Extinction 7 out of 10

By Striker Eureka

Transformers fans will not be disappointed

[roydebraj211 · 7/10 · 28 October 2014]

The special-effects of "Transformers: Age of Extinction," are mind blowing. This is the fourth chapter in the Transformers series, and Michael Bay has done a super duper job. Editing, camera work, special effects, music, everything is top notch, and gives you a complete movie experience. Leading actor Mark Wahlberg is too good as the human element of this work of digitized huge robots, Autobots, Decepticons, etc fighting with each other. But if I had a criticism it would be that after a while, the energy of the movie drops a bit, but die-hard Transformer fans will surely over look that. As a watcher of action movies, large scale destruction is something I look forward to seeing in films like this, and there is lots of this here. This is a huge budget Hollywood movie and every penny they spent is worth it with the action sequences and the grand acting by greats like Stanley Tucci. For action movie fans, this is a must see.

Way too long and hollow

[jakimiku · 3/10 · 26 June 2014]

Set five years after Dark of the Moon, Transformers: Age of Extinction sets out to continue the franchise, taking a new path in more than one way. Lots of explosions, action scenes and robots wrecking cities up and we've got ourselves the fourth one.

To begin with, there were a lot of weak points, the biggest challenge being the fact that the entire human cast was replaced. I felt that Wahlberg and Tucci did a good job, but the rest of them were terrible. A lot of it has to do with writing: the characters were shallow and didn't have any depth at all. At a running time of 2h45min you think it would be enough to flesh them out but no. Wahlberg's daughter just yells "Dad!" and screams her entire screen time. Her boyfriend is shoehorned in just to complete the clumsy romance but in the end is just a tool to move the plot. Sophia Myles, amongst others, is completely wasted. The fact that Bay chose to concentrate on the humans again, and failed with it again, speaks volumes.

It was, however, good to see how Cade (Wahlberg) first comes across Optimus Prime and being a mechanic/inventor, revitalizes the beaten leader. The focus also shifted from Bumblebee to Prime as the main link to the protagonist, but oddly it was never explained why Bee left Sam in the first place, being his most loyal protector.

Now, speaking of techs in the film, there was a lot of slow-mo. A lot. And it really took away from the action. It is okay to employ slow-mo sometimes, for example when the robots are transforming, but not at every single shot. Moreover, the transformings themselves were weaker than in the previous installments. I mean, in the first one when Starscream transformed into a plane in the middle of the flight or they were fighting/transforming in the narrow street, or in DotM during the fights, this depth was lacking in AoE. Also the fights weren't as good compared to the gigantic robot battles or human black ops tactics in previous films. Lastly, as cheesy as it may sound Optimus Prime riding Grimlock was pretty awesome. Even if Grimlock was in the movie for about ten whole minutes. And Lockdown the bounty hunter as the main villain was also done nicely.

The film is way too long, the beginning stretches a lot, the middle even more, the finale as well. We are treated to a lot of badly written human characters who just slow the movie down and stretch. Even the endless explosions got tiring (boom, boom, boom and slow-mo all the time, why oh why?). But honestly, going in I thought this would be loads worse. In the end though, not as good as the first or the third, but still better than the second (not that this should count for anything as that was plain awful). Altogether, too long, too stretchy, way too much slow-mo, too shallow characters, some decent fights and action, Prime riding Grimlock and Wahlberg being his usual self. Could have been worse but not by much.

Continues to boil a putrid franchise that is long overdue for extinction.

[RyanCShowers · 4 July 2014]

As published by the Morrisons Cove Herald on July 3rd, 2014.

BY RYAN C. SHOWERS

Knowing the reputation of the "Transformers" movie series prior to watching the fourth installment, "Transformers: Age of Extinction," could drown anyone into a disconcerting state, but the film is worse than trailers suggest. Director Michael Bay fails on his fourth attempt to give this alternate universe any justice with the new science fiction epic. "Age of Extinction" continues to boil a putrid franchise that is long overdue for extinction.

Since "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," Transformers have been outlawed from Earth, for they are seen as a threat to humanity. A poor mechanic, Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg), harbors Transformer Optimus Prime in his barn after commiserating with the robot's sympathetic side. Once the government is informed of the active Transformer hidden in Yeager's home, Cade, his daughter, and her boyfriend go on the run, trying to rectify the reputations of the Transformers. Meanwhile, Joshua Joyce, a physicist played by Stanley Tucci, has his agenda for the robots to make "Transformium," a new tool invented for national defense.

Explosions! Talking robots! Kinky, blonde women! All are plot devices surrounding a screenplay that does not know when to shut up. A problem of "Transformers: Age of Extinction" is the oversized screenplay by Ehren Kruger. In his career, Kruger has thrived in the suspense genre with successful films like "Scream 3" and "The Ring," but Kruger festers this screenplay with spurts of misplaced humor and trite dialogue that feels as if it were derived from made-for- television family movies.

Specific details of the script aside, the screenplay's basic structure is dismally assembled and the superfluous length plunges it into disarray. The plot is under the misapprehension that it is "changing history" (a direct quote during the film's exposition), and this ambition is why it feels so endless. "Transformers: Age of Extinction" is 2 hours and 45 minutes long and each of those minutes are felt with agony. Most of the substandard character arcs are completed halfway through the picture, yet the film does not acknowledge its lack of story to tell and keeps running with gaudy action sequences until our patience dwindles into purgatory. Between the three story lines (Mark Wahlberg's family, the CIA, and the transformium scientists), the film is so bloated that it would pop like a balloon if plucked with a pin.

Riveting films excuse themselves from the criticism of having longer running-times, but "Transformers: Age of Extinction" loses its audience in the second half with nebulous and confusing storyline shifts. If "Transformers: Age of Extinction" would have been released exclusively on DVD instead of theatrically, it is reasonable to believe the most patient person would withdraw themselves from the film after the two hour mark.

Some big-budgeted action films are indemnified from their vapid screenplays if their technical elements shine with craftsmanship, but "Transformers: Age of Extinction" does not enchant with its cinematography or film editing. Bay ineffectively and needlessly uses low angle shots in most of his narrative exposition scenes before the obstreperous action sequences take the stage. Even the look of the film is unbecoming, for it resembles a tawdry photograph smothered with neon lip gloss. The shots are nauseating by themselves, but then to punish the viewer even further, the film editing is a nightmare and the moment-to-moment timeline is terse and incoherent.

At the year's end, "Transformers: Age of Extinction" should win the superlative for "Movie Most Likely to Cause a Headache and Discomfort." Atrocious from a directing, cinematography, and editing viewpoint and humiliating from a writing standpoint, "Transformers: Age of Extinction" validates the generic prejudgments against science fiction sequels.

ZERO STARS / * * * *

Old wine in new bottle

[achyutaghosh · 7/10 · 26 June 2014]

Giant fighting robots that can transform into hot wheels at the drop of a hat- hey, that is my kind of thing, even though Michael Bay has a lot to do with it. The first Transformers movie introduced us to the Autobots and the Decepticons- two eternally warring sides that, over three films, made earth their own devastating battlefield. Transformers also heralded a whole new breed of cinema- destruction porn- a PG13 rated CGI infused spectacle that believed that the level of on screen destruction was directly proportional to audience enjoyment and box office collections. Critically reviled, but universally loved- the first three movies made over USD 2.7 billion!

To be fair, the human angle in these boyhood fantasy films was always the weak link, especially the last two movies that did more damage than good to the Transformers brand, and hence it warranted a reboot. In came new stars in Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Pelz, Jack Reynor, Stanley Tucci and Kelsey Grammar, and new writers who penciled in fan favorites- dinobots in addition to creating new villains, in a all new storyline. So is the fourth film necessarily better than its predecessors, even though it is just an uninvolving, blown up 3D summer blockbuster? Not as good as the first I say, but certainly better than the last two.

The movie is set 5 years after the demolition of Chicago in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Much like what we saw in X-Men: Days of Future Past, the US government have deemed all Cybertronians as threats, and elite CIA units are secretly hunting down and annihilating the remaining bots. In this pursuit, they are helped by Lockdown, a Cybertronian bounty hunter. At the start, we are treated to a genuinely shocking moment, where Ratchet gets torn to bits. Slowly.

Naturally so, the Autobots are in hiding, and resentful of humans. Meanwhile, business tycoon Joshua Joyce (Tucci) and government agent Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammar) have unholy intentions- to build an army of Transformers which they can control. Galvatron here is not Unicron infused Megatron as it is in the books, but a human made transformer, created from Megatron's remains. But is the Decepticon leader really dead? Is Joshua really in control of his army?

Walhberg is Cade Yaeger, a failed robot inventor, who comes across a beat up truck, which turns out to be a bitter and injured Optimus Prime. Cade helps him recover, and also helps restore Prime's faith in humanity. Optimus rallies his remaining Autobots- Bumblebee, Hound, Drift and Crosshairs and unleashes a group of legendary warriors- the monstrous, fire-breathing, Dinobots to defend mankind yet again from the mayhem unleashed Joshua's creations, and Lockdown's minions, including his super cool space-ship mounted magnetic weapon that lifts up massive metal objects from the ground and sea and drops them on targets.

The good- stunning action set pieces throughout. The entire last hour is one long action shot. I have always liked the way Michael Bay focused on the mechanics of the Transformers- a whirring clockwork of gears and moving metal, but earlier the depictions have been too busy. In this movie, he has slowed these transformations further down, as a result the visual style is clean and uncluttered, every movement easily understandable. The script has some amount of humor, the music is good, and this star cast is definitely better than the previous one. These two factors should ensure a billion dollars at the box office.

Dig deeper though, and the movie is as hollow as any of Bay's other movies.Fast cars and chases, lots of explosions, big guns, racial stereotyping, character stereotypes, and loads of American patriotism, in addition to doffing its hat and devoting almost a third of the movie to the 2nd largest movie market in the world- China. At 2.5 hrs run time, it is overlong by at least 20 minutes, and towards the end, the incessant action does get kind of exhausting.

But hey, this is my kind of movie, I did not expect too much and as a result did enjoy it. Towards the end the 19 billion year old Optimus Prime again drapes on his overprotective clothes and flies off on an yet again solo, foolhardy mission to take on his "creators".

I can't but wait for the next installment- 7/10

Worst movie this year!

[spiderflash · 1/10 · 14 July 2014]

Don't watch it. Extremely long, extremely boring. How many more parts are they gonna make? The story is very confusing and not well thought-through. Everything has already been chewed over and over and they keep squeezing the last bit out of the transformer-idea. The actors apparently didn't like it either because even my little sister could have done a better job. Especially the voice acting for the transformers is very weak and one just feels stupid listening to their voices. I had enough of this movie after a little more than 1 hour. That's more than 1 and 1/2 hours left which I still watched, thinking maybe something would still happen. Guess what? It didn't. Long story short, this movie is really, really bad.

Pretty good

[lmcressia · 6/10 · 18 September 2017]

This movie was pretty good. Especially compared to the previous "Dark of the Moon" installment. There was a lot of action and a lot of transforming robots, as always. The story was good enough, I enjoyed watching this film. I will say that hearing Optimus Prime threatening to kill someone every 5 minutes was a little jarring. Not because they didn't deserve it or because I'm a pacifist, but because it is totally out of character. Also, the animation for the "new" transformers transforming process is not good... First, the animation is glitchy sometimes. Second, it is more like "magic happens" then getting to watch a vehicle morph into a robot. It just is not appealing. Aside from these minor details, the movie was entertaining and I would recommend watching it if you are a fan of transformers.

Boring and forgettable

[gogop47-39-17172 · 1/10 · 28 June 2014]

First off I am a fan of the previous movies. they were not masterpieces of story telling or acting but at least they were entertaining and somewhat funny. Secondly this is one very very boring movie. there is no plot to speak off, no characters to get any attachment to, no sense of a story what so ever. the only thing that is there is Michael Bays trademark explosions. 150 minutes of them... You could take away every human in the movie and still have the same result. You could take away 100 of the 166 minutes and still have the same result. The fights are a constant mess where you cant really root for someone cause you cant really understand who is doing what. All in all I spent more than half the movie trying to understand where it was going and praying for it to end.

Great movie

[johntomccarty · 10/10 · 17 October 2014]

his was the best Transformers movie that I have seen yet!I am sorry now that I missed seeing it on the big screen this past Summer. It is loaded with great action scenes galore, interesting characters,and what we all come mostly to watch these kinds of movies for,the Transformers robots themselves.

It is also one of the best 3D movies that I have ever seen. This set is worth it just for 3D fans alone,believe me. John Goodman voicing Hound was a real treat also.

I highly recommend this movie for all Transformers and 3D movie fans alike.

Expected the worst, turned out to be a surprise

[tusharlalmohan · 7/10 · 6 November 2014]

So after checking out the trailer and observing the general trend of the general movie series following a downward route, I had very less expectations out of this movie. The previous Transformers was the worst for me, and without Shea LeBeouf and Megan Fox, I just watched this one to complete the series. But boy, it did surprise me! Of course, at times, the humor is outdated and out placed, but the general storyline was decent. The end was somewhat unexpected and turned out to be good! I loved the Dino transformers, and hope they are included in the future movies too. If you are a transformers fan, you shouldn't really miss this one! I have no idea why so many people have reviewed this to be that bad. Okay, it isn't the best, but it is definitely an entertainer.

PS: I still hope to see some of the characters from cartoon to feature. Especially Red Alert, and Jet Fire (the cool one, not the old geezer). No complaints about Hot Shot as Bee is covering that pretty well for now!

Pointless, overlong and not funny

[johan1138 · 1/10 · 14 July 2014]

I seldomly write reviews, but sometimes (every 4 or 5 years or so) I just have to warn people before spending hard earned money on something so incredibly awful as this film. I see most films at home but I saw this one in the theatre with my stepson who really wanted to see this. For me it ended up even way below my expectations, which were already very low. Note: I really liked the first one. I don't dislike Bay (even liked Pearl Harbor and Armageddon and Bad Boys II), but this is just simply not very good. It's plain awful actually. Even my 11 yr old stepson thought it was boring.... need I say more...? It doesn't go anywhere, you don't care at all what happens to the characters, human or alien and there is literally never any sense of urgency or peril for anyone involved. Please let another director have a shot at this franchise and let Bay direct another The Rock. And why Spielberg is executive-producing this turd of a movie is beyond me. Waste of time for everyone involved, only good thing is it's making a ton of money for Paramount. Lets just hope they invest in something with more substance.