The “Transformers” are back with a new human cast. Mark Wahlberg leads the charge, and diehard “Transformers” fan J.P. gives his take.
TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION
Paramount Pictures
Directed by: Michael Bay
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, Jack Reynor, Stanley Tucci, and Kelsey Grammer
Studio Synopsis:
TRANSFORMERS 4 begins after an epic battle left a great city torn, but with the world saved. As humanity picks up the pieces, a shadowy group reveals itself in an attempt to control the direction of history…while an ancient, powerful new menace sets Earth in its crosshairs. With help from a new cast of humans (led by Mark Wahlberg), Optimus Prime and the Autobots rise to meet their most fearsome challenge yet. In an incredible adventure, they are swept up in a war of good and evil, ultimately leading to a climactic battle across the world.
J.P.’s Take:
“Transformers: Age of Extinction” is the fourth installment in DreamWorks SKG/Paramount/Hasbro film franchise and is certainly the most advanced looking film by far. Plus it’s no surprise that the incomparable Michael Bay set out to up the anti with more explosions, new morphing machines and an extensive runtime.
I’ll start with the good points first. This is pure sci-fi/action escapism in all its glory. Part 4 practically serves as a playground for Bay to deploy his expanding arsenal of high tech cinematic toys. Here he utilizes several newly created digital 65mm 4K large format, 3D integrated IMAX cameras. They are paired with rigging that fluidly sweeps through each scene capturing the most outlandish action sequences with great clarity. He gives even the low key backdrops movement – keeping them from becoming stagnant. With a (2.40:1) viewing scope ultra clear resolution and enhanced sound, you’re totally immersed in the world of these robots in disguise. This is especially awe inspiring when witnessing the film’s numerous extravagant heavy metal wars. A key fan favorite moment arrives late in the film as the Dinobots make a thunderous appearance. Watching Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) go to battle atop a fire breathing Grimlock proves impactful. The audience roared during those moments.
The advancements don’t stop there. Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), who is responsible for much of the effects work, breaks new ground implementing 4K digital resolution when rendering CGIed graphics. This means as you’re watching the bots transform in their vehicle configuration, the imagery feels extremely life like and natural. You’d think they really existed. What’s just as absorbing is watching these mechanized goliaths perform choreographed fights and stunts as if they were parkour stunt runners. This is especially made clear in scenes with some of bots hopping from mountain tops or flipping over bridges and each other like gymnasts. Who knew robots had moves like that. Also, I must admit I was drooling over the exotic super cars used as the new Transformers alternate vehicle formation. To satisfy the most hardcore pyrotechnic enthusiast out there, Bay’s signature blow’em up style never disappoints. Everything that can be set ablaze or decimated doesn’t stand a chance of surviving through out this movie.
Aside from the awesome visuals there is a story to be told fortunately. Despite its pseudo humanism undertone, don’t try to psycho analyze “Age of Extinction” to any degree. Baring resemblance to movies like “Prometheus,” “Terminator: Salvation” or even the recent “X-Men: Days of Future Past,” this frame-up carries a nihilistic premise. There seems to be speculation as to the origins of the “Transformers” as well. Part 4 opens with scenes of alien ships entering Earth’s atmosphere as they exterminate the dinosaurs. It would be conducive to think that these aliens were either terraforming Earth to live here or leave something behind. Also the discovery of a molecularly metamorphic metal called transformium, coined by eccentric CEO Joshua Joyce (Stanley Tucci) of Kinetic Solutions Incorporated comes into play. If any of you care to remember “Revenge of the Fallen,” the origins story was an outline touched upon there, alas explored a bit further here.
Luckily my list of negative points is short, yet these are pretty much the same complaints I’ve had with the series since “Revenge of the Fallen.” Awkward dialogue, even moments of awkwardness, always seem to be found in the DNA of this series. I was a little thrown off by the weird incident where Wahlberg’s character, struggling inventor Cade Yeager, finally meets up with his daughter’s undercover boyfriend Shane Dyson (Jack Reynor). They are hold up in an abandoned gas station where Yeager finds out that Dyson is around 20 years old while his daughter is only 17. Dyson then slide out the Romeo & Juliet law card from his wallet – yes folks in Texas, there is such a law – that states once the couple has reached the age of consent their relationship is legit. I didn’t quite understand the reason why writer Ehren Kruger (“The Ring,” “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”) felt the need to make that a point. The film’s comical timing also runs its course through out. There’s only so much you can laugh at in a movie that boasts tons of relentlessly sensory grinding sci-fi violence. I just couldn’t laugh anymore. Forgive me Mr. Kruger, but patches of the dialogue seem slightly imbecilic. Some of the characters’ speeches sound as though pre teens should be reciting their lines. All this wrapped up in a 2 hour, 45 min run time. WHY?
Out of the entire cast, Kelsey Grammer was the stand out and most impressive playing a villainous type. Portraying the role of shady C.I.A. chief Harold Attinger, Grammer conjures up a malevolent hell bent henchman. Wahlberg doesn’t have the same spark as previous leading man Shia Laboeuf, but that’s OK as Wahlberg is a bit more intelligible with a touch of naiveté. Newcomer Nicola Peltz (“Bates Motel”) plays Tessa Yeager, daughter of Cade. Peltz is the cute faced slightly sheltered typical high school girl. T.J. Miller provided the comedy relief as Lucas Flannery. Stanley Tucci plays a spastic Joshua Joyce and seems right for his part, yet nothing totally stands out in his role.
The personalities of the bots felt much more fleshed out this time around. From the original cartoon series to the films, Peter Cullen has always voiced the valorous Optimus Prime and is the epitome of his character. Rounding out the remnants of the bots displayed in this film would be the Zen like and enlightened Drift, voiced by Ken Watanabe. John Goodman shows his tough bot side as the wise cracking Hound; John DiMaggio as the loose cannon Crosshairs; and the valiant Ratchet is voiced by Robert Foxworth. A new villain machine Galvatron is voice by returning actor Frank Welker, who is also a carry over from the “Transformers” cartoon and movie series. The snappy wit of Brains is still voiced by Reno Wilson. Rounding out the voices is Mark Ryan as the brooding Lockdown, who reminds me of Benedict Cumberbatch in his role of the dragon Smaug in “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.”
I will always be a die hard “Transformers” fan, despite what the movies portray. And it’s not that I hated this film, I just became numb to all it had to offer. In fact, I could barely pump out an adequate review for it. But no matter what I or other critics say about the “Transformers” film series, you can rest assure that a sequel is already in the works. Let’s hope it will help clear up speculation as to the sentient machine’s origins.