Something Awesome #30 - Movie Reviews - Transformers: Age of Extinction

There are some things that are inescapable. People will always die, Justin Bieber will remain famous for doing nothing that contributes positively to the world, and Michael Bay will keep making dumb action movies, like the Transformers movies. These are facts of life, and they cannot be avoided. It's also a fact that the Transformers movies only peripherally capture what made The Transformers great as a TV series back in the '80's. It's true that you have to have some knowledge of the Transformers universe to follow the plots in these movies completely, and that there are going to be holes. However, I will continue to defend these movies (except for the second one, it was just trash), and despite myself, I feel that this review is going to devolve into me explaining why, unless I get the explanation out of the way quick.

 

Allow me to put it this way: no one has ever gone to see a Michael Bay movie for a deep story or characters. People go to see Michael Bay movies for action and explosions. If I want to relive the wonder of my childhood, I'll pop in my DVD of the G1 Transformers series. If I want deep, interesting characters and stories, I'll watch Beast Wars or Transformers: Animated. If I want a decent balance of all of these factors, I'll watch Transformers: Prime. If I want to see transforming robots beat the shit out of each other in visually compelling sequences, I'll watch one of these movies. One of the reasons that Transformers, something which is effectively a really long, detailed toy commercial, has endured for so long is that it has so many iterations, and therefor appeals to so broad a spectrum of tastes. That's why I'm okay with (the majority of) these movies, and why I typically enjoy them.

 

That being said, this movie actually surprised me. I was surprised by the almost total lack of the typical Bay "humor". I was surprised that I actually liked all of the characters, even the human characters. Marky Mark was, of course, brilliant and awesome, and he kicked a lot of ass figuratively and literally. Nicola Peltz wasn't brilliant, but she and Jack Raynor, who played her character's boyfriend, were both acceptable. Stanley Tucci played a great character with an arch, and Kelsey Grammer and Titus Welliver both played good villains. The Autobots were cool. The movie version of Optimus Prime was, as usual, much more aggressive than the cartoon equivalent, but you can understand why. Bumblebee was entertaining. Even the new supporting Autobots weren't bad, with one standout in particular in the form of Hound, a walking, talking throwback to '80's action movie characters, who just stole the show during the climax.

 

I was surprised by the fact that so much of the story in this movie was kept from the trailers, and that it was pretty good. There were actually twists in the plot of this movie, twists that actually didn't create plotholes big enough for Unicron to fly through. The main Cybertronian villain, lockdown, had a very believable storyline and motivations which harkened back to the first version of his character, which debuted in Animated. The motivations of the bad humans were simple enough and didn't really astonish, but the evolution of Stanley Tucci's character from a selfish, seemingly-heartless businessman to an ally to our valiant heroes was handled well. There was also a secret villain in this movie who was kept from the trailers almost entirely. The story of this movie was also intelligent enough to set up what will, no doubt, be the arch of this new trilogy which references the creators of the transformers, though not by name.

 

Yes, you read that right, a Michael Bay movie has legitimate setup in it.

 

This movie did so many things right, or at least more so than it's predecessors. I won't talk much about the story (I'm still surprised that there is actually enough story in this movie that I have to avoid talking about it at all), but there are a few things about this movie that I feel could have been done better still, and I would like to touch on those briefly, pointing out right away that they really all stem from the fact that this movie is, quite simply, too long.

 

Firstly, I feel that there was too much in this movie. Properly fleshed out and developed, I think that the themes in this movie could have made for a couple good movies all their own. The characters were interesting, but generally underdeveloped, and there was clearly way too much going on all throughout. Plot points and exposition were touched on very briefly and then the movie just pushed forward without giving the audience a chance to absorb them. If the movie had been shorter, and the story broken down into maybe two movies, I think it would have worked out better, with better pacing.

 

It also would have prevented the Dinobots from only playing a part in the very end of the climax, and given the movie time to develop their individual characters, or to just refer to them by name, which the movie didn't do at all. I know their names, but that's just because I know the past incarnations of the characters and buy the action figures from this movie's toyline. Someone who doesn't know Transformers as well wouldn't know a thing about them (save the fact that they are freakin' awesome!), and their origin is so quickly glossed over in the dialogue of this movie that I'm sure many moviegoers will be legitimately confused as to where it is that they come from in the film.

 

Overall, though, this movie, while far from perfect, was much better than I thought it would be. With some great dialogues and character moments, some awesome action sequences, effects on par with the rest of the franchise, and a story that was actually interesting, it is certainly a step in the right direction, a surprising summer blockbuster, and easily the best movie of this franchise. I give Transformers: Age of Extinction an above average 6.5 out of 10. Roll out to your local theater and check it out, and check back here later for another Something Awesome.