Transformers: Age of Extinction Review

Transformers Age of Extinction is honestly one of the most polarizing films I’ve seen this year. On the one hand it’s a massive improvement over the last two films in the series but on the other it still falls into many of the tropes that have made the last films so bad.  The basic plot is that after the events of the last film all Transformers, Autobots and Decepticons alike, are being hunted down by the US Government.  In addition their remains are being sent to a scientist so they can create their own army of manmade Transformers.  I admit it is interesting to see the humans fully turn against the Transformers after it was toyed with in the last two films.  We also have a new human protagonist in the form of Cade Yeager, played by Mark Wahlberg.  There’s also has daughter Tessa and her secret boyfriend Shane.  I feel a lot of unnecessary subplots and attempted “comedy” stems from these characters.  I really don’t want to see topics such as unplanned pregnancy or whether or not Tessa’s relationship with Shane is legal in a Transformers film.  I also find both Cade and Shane to be very sympathetic at times.  With bills that keep piling up and the risk of being evicted from their home the Yeager’s really need money.  Cade doesn’t have a real job per se.  He’s an inventor who goes around town buying pieces of technology and also repairs some of the town’s broken appliances.  When Cade first discovers that he may have found a Transformer, Tessa urges him to turn it into the government for a reward.  Rather than do that he decides to tinker around with it instead and inadvertently awakens Optimus Prime.  I know this needed to happen to advance the plot but there really is no reason for Cade not to turn Optimus in.  In addition Cade is extremely over protective of Tessa.  This is where the two uncomfortable topics that I mentioned earlier stem from. Cade doesn’t want Tessa interacting with any men at her age.  Part of this stems from the fact that Tessa was born from the result of an unplanned pregnancy and while Cade doesn’t regret it he’s still forcing his own will over Tessa.  And when Cade does find out that Tessa is secretly dating Shane behind his back, Cade is furious and explains how their relationship may be against the law.  I had no idea what a Romeo and Juliet law was before this film and I kind of wish I didn’t.  Moving on from that bit of unpleasantness I really didn’t like how Cade and Shane butted heads throughout the film.  It seemed incredibly superficial considering the events that are happening around them.  It says a lot when I find the evil humans to be more interesting characters.  Harold Attinger, played by Kelsey Grammer, is the main antagonist.  He’s a CIA agent who leads the entire operation to exterminate the Autobots and Decepticons.  He doesn’t have any real motivations aside from a strong sense of nationalism perhaps.  Under his command is Savoy who had a sister that was killed during the events of the past film and has an extreme prejudice against the Transformers.  And then we have Joshua Joyce, played by Stanley Tucci, and he might be one of the best parts of the film.  Joyce is the main scientist who is in charge of constructing the manmade Transformers and Tucci’s performance really helps to carry this character forward.  He’s also the only character who comes the closest to having a natural character arc as he comes to term with his own failings.  But we all know why we come to see a Transformers film right?  Well apparently Michael Bay has finally figured that out as the Transformers are much more fleshed out in this film.  Optimus Prime and Bumblebee are the two main returning Transformers with three new Autobots being introduced; Hound, Crosshairs, and Drift.  There’s no Decepticons in this movie per se as we have Galvatron and Stinger who are two manmade Transformers and Lockdown who is an unaligned Bounty Hunter. The Dinobots are in there too but they don’t appear until the ending. So the Dinobots are just here for marquee value and not much else.  There are some lines here and there about them being knights of some sort but that’s all we get character wise from them as the Dinobots are mute aside from beastly roars and whatnot.   Optimus Prime undergoes a lot of development in this film as we see him bitter against the entire human race in the film.  A scene that really stood out to me was when Optimus found out what was being done with the remains of various Transformers.  The normally stoic Optimus is enraged by what he has found out and vows to kill whoever was behind the death of his allies.  Bumblebee doesn’t have much dialogue in this film so it’s difficult to talk about his progression as a character.  He does have a funny scene where he finds Stinger, who was specifically modeled after him, and becomes jealous over him.  Some of the newer Transformers express disdain over Bumblebee’s leadership in Optimus’s absence but it’s not really touched upon.  The new Autobots have very distinct personalities.  Drift is a noble warrior who is loyal to the Autobot cause, which I find kind of ironic considering that in supplemental materials he was said to be an ex-Decepticon.  There’s Crosshairs who can be best described as very stand offish and a bit of a lone wolf.  Hound, my favorite addition to the cast, is essentially Walter Sobchak if he was a robot, helped by the fact that he’s voiced by John Goodman.  I don’t want to divulge any details when it comes to Galvatron as I’d be spoiling a plot point but Transformers fans probably have a good idea of what’s coming.  Lockdown is a new antagonist and while he assists the humans with hunting down Autobots and Decepticons, Lockdown is really only loyal to himself.  His employers are shrouded in mystery and are likely going to be elaborated upon in further sequels.  The bottom line when it comes to Age of Extinction is that if you honestly want to see the film, you probably already have.  If my review has inspired you to see it then by all means see it.  But if you really have no interest in seeing the film then you might as well skip it.  I really don’t know how to rate this movie.  It has a lot going for it but at the same time there’s still a lot of the typical tropes associated with Michael Bay films.  In all honesty the best way I can describe it is: eh.