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

[Magnus]

Just saw it now - I thought it was great!

I was surprised how dark the first half was - I don't like using the d-word, as it seems to be overused these days, but it's appropriate here. I cringed during the Ratchet scene, and given what happened since DotM, with his people being hunted and killed by humans, it's not hard to understand why Optimus was bitter/jaded throughout the movie.

I also liked the fact that it 'hid' its length very well - I find that after two hours, movies can tend to 'drag'.

I found the plot easy enough to follow, and there seemed to be no massively glaring plot holes or inconsistencies. Some bits may need a bit of mental twisting and turning or a second viewing for them to make sense. The fact that it seems like a 'fresh start' without being a reboot is good.

It's kind of interesting how Galvatron is 'soulless' - perhaps it's because he's a copy-paste of Megatron's memories from his severed head, without that extra 'something' from his Spark.

My only real 'disappointment' was there was no climactic battle between Optimus and Galvatron - ostensibly they're saving him for TF5, so I guess it's 'ok' for him to be sidelined in this movie.

When Optimus Prime scanned the Western Star truck, he not only acquired a new alt mode but became instantly fixed. Even my Kindergarten-aged daughter noticed this! So why didn't he do this sooner instead of having Cade try and semi-repair him in his barn? He could've just asked Cade to drive his truck to the barn door then scan that. If all the Transformers can do this, why didn't Ratchet scan one of Cemetery Wind's vehicles which could've restored his leg and allowed him to escape.

For Optimus, perhaps he couldn't regenerate until a certain amount of time passed since coming back online, since he'd been idle/in stasis for a while. He was certainly capable of regenerating by the time he was captured by Lockdown.

As for Ratchet, he was trying to evade pursuers at first, and was then pinned down by fire from multiple directions. Not an ideal time to scan something.

I still don't understand why the Knights of Cybertron transform into robotic approximations of dinosaurs.

Just because Giant robot dinosaurs are awesome - isn't that the whole point of the Dinobots, anyway?

That said, the Knights of Cybertron part should've been expanded upon - I felt like something substantial was missed there. Maybe it'll be clearer the second time around.

Yes, also true, but we shouldn't have to. The Transformers franchise and Transformers fans deserve better than this IMO.

Fair point; perhaps it could've been better written, but it seems kind of weird to me that people seem to be expecting Oscar-winning screenplays (ok, being hyperbolic here) for a movie about giant robots based on a toy franchise.

It's a Hollywood summer movie, and it's enjoyable/entertaining to watch (the most important point, in my opinion). I intend to go watch it in cinemas again.