The Transformers movies are a blessing in disguise. On one hand, you have these loud, obnoxious, brainless, yet none-the-less, loved action movies from Michael Bay. They just rake in countless amounts of cash every time they come out for seemingly no good reason. On the other hand, every Transformers movie that comes out keeps Michael Bay away from a potentially good script. Honestly, I think this works out for everyone. The teenage boys and frat guys get the kind of movie they love, while everyone else gets to see a different director's name attached to another film that Bay may have gotten otherwise.
That being said, I do like the first Transformers movie. It was simple, silly, over-the-top, but it had heart and was a lot of fun. The second movie is one of the few movies that kind of made me angry while watching it. The frat boy in Bay completely took over -- along with a writer's strike leaving Bay with a partial script going into and throughout shooting. I can't completely blame Bay for it's faults. From what I read, they did a lot of improving on set and didn't really know what they were doing. The third movie had a boring first half, but the climax was worth waiting for.
Transformers: Age of Extinction isn't the worst one of the series (Revenge of the Fallen is) but it's the most boring. Yes, T:AoE is just incredibly boring. For being around 2 hours and 45 minutes, there's almost nothing going on.
It's kind of funny that T:AoE is almost trying to make a political statement. The plot is trying to have something to do with crony capitalism and government military contracts. But it's ineptly handles and becomes buried by even worse father/daughter road trip aspect of the film. But basically a government worker is trying to kill transformers so he can allow a major corporation to farm the transformers' bodies to harvest the metal they're made out of the make a profit. It sounds good on paper. It's an idea that I think is damn good. But instead we have to focus on Mark Wahlberg being a shitty dad.
Damn it, Marky Mark, learn how to change your accent. You played a New Orleans native and you still have your Boston accent. Here you play a Texas native, and you still sound like you're from Boston. You even make fun of another character for because he "sounds like a leprechaun" and lives in Texas. You have no right... I'm sorry Marky Mark. I still like you as an actor. But just not here. And it's not just your accent. We're supposed to be rooting for Mark's character, who's named Yaeger -- Honestly, I'm not sure if this isn't trying to take from Pacific Rim or not -- who's a failed inventor/man-child. Insert typical lowest-point-in-life clichés, and boom, you got Yaeger.
His daughter, played by... honestly, I don't even care... made me miss Megan Fox. She's supposed to be the rebellious teenager who also takes care of her father. But she is just so annoying. There are times where it's just stupid. Example, the human characters have to walk what is basically a tight rope hundreds of feet in the air. They have to go from one side to the other to get to safety. It's also going from the high point to the low point. She gets more than half way, but because she's scared, is yelling, "I'm going to go back." Why? Because we need to add tension to this scene. She's becomes a plot device. Oh, she's captured, now we have to go to this set piece to save her. Let's put a gun to her head to make the main character talk, let's have robots fight near her so we have to run and go get her. And the whole time we're dealing with this, we're also dealing with the "oh yeah, he's my boyfriend I never told you about because you don't want me dating anyone" cliché as well. No, the boyfriend isn't worth talking about. He's just there because occasionally they need a good driver and he drives cars. And some awkward "stay away from my daughter" bits. That's about it.
All of this made it incredibly hard to enjoy the action sequences. Sadly, there are a few sequences of action that look like they were well put together. However it feels there's nothing at stake. Very quickly even the death of the human characters becomes a non-factor. Scratch that, one character does die early on. But after that, it becomes comical how much punishment the humans take. One that sticks out the most was when Optimus Prime was driving probably around 45-55 mph, the two guys jump out onto the grass, they're ok. But the daughter gets launched out and tumbles along side Prime for a good hundred or two hundred feet. When she stops, she gets up, not even winded, no scratches, nothing, and runs for cover. And this happens so often I couldn't help but laugh at it.
There is no urgency when your characters can't be hurt. There's not drama in the action if you know the characters are going to be OK. This, along with simply not caring whether or not the characters make it, turn all the action sequences into light shows. Then the whole movie becomes that. To make matters worse is the action is few and far between. I think the first major set piece is an hour into the movie. T:AoE has less action of the 4 movies. It's also the longest of the 4 movies. And it had the biggest budget of the 4 movies. While it's not the worst, it's the most boring of the 4 movies.
One thing I want to add is Bay was bragging about this movie being 60% filmed in the IMAX format. Typically movies are either filmed in "Flat" format (1.85:1 aspect ratio), or "Scope" (2.39:1 aspect ratio). IMAX is 1.43:1. However, when you aren't watching the movie in IMAX, theatres are playing it in the Scope format. This becomes problematic because a lot of the action sequences are shot and designed for the taller aspect ratio, so a lot of what's supposed to be in frame gets cut out. Then you have to use extra digital panning which causes more motion on screen. That makes things messy. And I didn't feel like spending the extra money on IMAX or 3D. I don't think it needs me to, it made $100,000,000 in America alone this weekend...
NOT RECOMMENDED AT ALL.
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