Movielogr
Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)
Directed by Michael Bay
Twitter Facebook Google+Science Fiction | Action | Thriller
Most recently watched by sensoria, CaptainBigTime, schofizzy, ashe5k, jeneot33, themarc, Javitron
Overview
As humanity picks up the pieces, following the conclusion of “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” Autobots and Decepticons have all but vanished from the face of the planet. However, a group of powerful, ingenious businessman and scientists attempt to learn from past Transformer incursions and push the boundaries of technology beyond what they can control - all while an ancient, powerful Transformer menace sets Earth in his cross-hairs.
Rated PG-13 | Length 165 minutes
Actors
Mark Wahlberg | Stanley Tucci | Kelsey Grammer | Nicola Peltz | Jack Reynor | Sophia Myles | Li Bingbing | Titus Welliver | T.J. Miller | James Bachman | Thomas Lennon | Charles Parnell | Erika Fong | Michael Collins | Han Geng | Zou Shiming | Richard Riehle | Patrick Bristow | Cleo King | Calvin Wimmer | Glenn Keogh | David Midthunder | Richard Gallion | Nick Horst | Kassem Gharaibeh | Yanis Kalnins | Edward T. Welburn | Peter A Kelly | Jessica Gomes | Andreas Beckett | Alexander Leeb | Jamison Haase | Drew Wicks | Gene Shieh | Woei Bee | Wang Ying | William Wang | Abigail Klein | Melanie Specht | Greg Matthew Anderson | Austin Lin | Victoria Summer | Kevin Covais | B. Adam Baillio | Mikal Vega | Andrew Arrabito | Tyrone Smith | Kenny Sheard | Kevin Kent | Michael Wong | Winston Yeh | Ray Lui | Candice Zhao | Li Jun Ting | Howard Y. Woo | Jingsheng Yu | Ben Wang | Eddie San Chan | Zhang Tianyu | Wu Gang | Teresa Daley | Peter Cullen | Frank Welker | John Goodman | Ken Watanabe | Robert Foxworth | John DiMaggio | Mark Ryan | Reno Wilson | Michael Bay | Yee Tin-Hung
Viewing History (seen 1 time)
| Date Viewed | Device | Format | Source | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 07/17/2014 | Movie Screen | Digital | Theater | 7.5 stars |
| (Average) 7.5 stars |
Viewing Notes
Well, that was surprisingly enjoyable. Like really enjoyable. Honestly went in not expecting that I would like this movie. Maybe my expectations were so low that somehow the things that worked really worked for me. I wasn’t even bothered by the length (and it didn’t even feel that long to me). Could be because I came off two days of epic long films with deliberate pacing (LoA & 2001) that the pacing here was hustling to get through each of the story beats.
I kept wondering why this film is so much better than the last two, which I really despise and have no desire to revisit. Could be the framing (making the humans at odds with the Autobots), the cast (stronger and more sympathetic), the VFX (only a a few of the composite shots bugged me), the setting (Texas, Chicago, China) or probably the combination of all of these.
The story also makes more sense once past the setup that somehow the Autobots are now bad and being hunted. I like bringing in Lockdown to up the badass factor and how Megatron was reintroduced. Really dig the Legends / Dinobots! There isn’t anything complicated about the story.
My only nitpicks are dumb plot devices wedged in to further the story. Like Optimus Prime leaving the Seed with the humans to transport, which makes no logical sense when the Autobots can move faster and aren’t fragile. Then later to find out that Optimus can fly?!?! Maybe he always had this power but to not use that ability until the final scene is just insulting. Esp. when they need to get from place to place quickly. “Oh we’ll just drive to the desert, to Chicago, etc.” Granted he’s transporting passengers in vehicle mode but for other times it’s dumb that he’s not just flying, i.e. he could have quickly flown into Hong Kong after getting the Legends on his side. But, yeah, it’s cooler for Optimus to ride a dinosaur. Whatever.
Those are my main issues and there’s probably a few more but I was too busy having fun to notice. I would definitely watch this again and maybe I’ll notice more things that bug me. Now I’m curious why this movie was dumped on by nearly every outlet. Definitely want to read some reviews and hear some podcasts.
Or maybe I wasn’t myself and I’m entirely wrong.
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