Movie Review - Transformers 4 : Age Of Extinction (spoilers)

[Lord_Zed]

I bit the bullet and saw AOE despite all the terrible reviews, all the way through I was trying to figure out how it could be worse than ROTF and yet I never got there. So after just watching it I can't decide if it's the 2nd best film or the 3rd best film. I'm not sure like would be the correct word, but I didn't hate it either, and I was expecting too. Maybe it's because I lowered my expectations majorly.

Pro's:

Autobots I could actually tell apart who actually do things and had a few lines, and aside from Brains (who is small anyway) none of them vanished half way through the film. Aside from Prime they were all cartoon characters, but that's arguably more than Movie Sideswipe ever was.

3 actors who actually had charisma.

No Shia

Lockdown, first ever interesting live action movie TF villain.

I could actually make out the combatants in several battles

Autobots (aside from Prime) were less blood(energon) thirsty than previous films when fighting.

Prime had a story arc (small as it was).

Less crass humour, no one pulled their pants down

Some interesting threads left open for future films.

US military didn't steal the show.

Less human characters, slightly more robot action

Cons (not the good kind)

Too Long

The last 10-15 minutes made no sense whatsoever.

The walking along the anchor scene.

The Vehicons silly transformations, and yet somehow they can still be pulled apart when in robot mode.

Once again a tow truck saves the day.

The usual Bayisims

Bumblebee (kill him and replace him with Hotshot or Hotrod already)

Neutral:

The Dinobots, they only appeared in a small portion of the film and never spoke and as so were not really characters. On the other hand they never spoke and showed themselves to be total asses. And I kinda liked their design more than I thought I would. The jury on them for me is out till I see if they return in the next film.

[millhouse]

3 actors who actually had charisma.

"I think we found a Transfor-mah!"

And yet still the second best of the Bay movies. I think the first one really nailed the narrative with the whole Americana "boy and his car" idea.

[Omega Metro]

I found AOE to be just a 'mishmash' of the previous 3 movies. Nothing original.

[GoktimusPrime]

"I think we found a Transfor-mah!"

Heh, yeah, I did notice that Wahlberg was using his native Boston accent even though Cade Yeager is meant to be Texan. But hey, perhaps Cade was born or raised in Boston/Massachusetts and later moved to Texas... although he would have at very least been a teenager when he moved to Texas since he and Lucas recall bringing their dates to the local run down theatre. Speaking of which, I'm guessing that Lucas must've grown up California before moving to Texas... maybe he and Cade were the two "outsiders" with non-Texan accents at school and became friends (goodness knows that neither seem to have any other redeeming qualities that would make them stand out as buddy material ). Neither Cade, Tess or Lucas ever spoke with a Southern American accent though. Even Anna Paquin put on a Southern drawl when she played Rogue in X-Men, despite growing up in New Zealand, brah!

[Paulbot]

As the film started I assumed part of Cade's background was that he worked in robotics (possibly quite successfully given some the company materials around his garage), but after a bunch of robots destroyed Chicago the business failed - the public's newfound hatred and distrust of robots wouldn't be good for business. That would explain why he moved out to Texas despite coming from Boston, but it seems that he was just always a wannabe inventor.

[GoktimusPrime]

Yeah but both Cade and Lucas would've at least spent part of the high school years in Texas, since we see that scene where they enter the abandoned cinema; Lucas asks Cade something like, "Do you remember all the girls that we used to bring here?" and Cade answers with something like, "I only remember one." But yeah, the film sure doesn't give us a whole lot of background detail about Cade... but then again, I guess we don't want any more of the humans' story to be derailing the film away from the Transformers' story (at least, any more than it already does ).

Oh well, I guess whenever something doesn't make sense in a Transformers film...

[Joshy]

I bit the bullet and saw AOE despite all the terrible reviews, ..... I'm not sure like would be the correct word, but I didn't hate it either, and I was expecting too. Maybe it's because I lowered my expectations majorly.
.

This.
Before my girlfriend and I went and saw it, both our brothers warned us how bad it was and why were we even bothering to go. So naturally we had very low expectations, were pretty much seeing it just cos you cant not see it and wouldn't you know it we both enjoyed it.

Did what it was originally designed to do... made me want to buy the toys

[Omega Metro]

Did what it was originally designed to do... made me want to buy the toys

And I'm sure Michael Bay and Hasbro are pleased. Unfortunately, that is all that matters.

[Joshy]

And I'm sure Michael Bay and Hasbro are pleased. Unfortunately, that is all that matters.

Yes and no, don't go much on most of the new ones, much prefer G1/G2.

[Omega Metro]

Yes and no, don't go much on most of the new ones, much prefer G1/G2.

Well, be prepared to be continuously disappointed mate.