I watched the newest installment in Michael Bay's fighting alien robots franchise during a midnight screening last night, and the first thing that comes to mind is: Since when did Optimus Prime have booster rockets on his legs? While Transformers: Age of Extinction had lots of great action sequences like in the previous films (the Dinobots definitely lived up to expectations), the story was inconsistent in regards to a major plot point featured in the first two movies. So if it was mysterious beings known as the Creators that built Transformers, then did the AllSpark build the Creators themselves? Or did the Creators construct the AllSpark—which in turn created Optimus Prime and company? I'd mentioned that this discrepancy will hopefully be explained in Transformers 5, but this is a Bay flick; the only thing constant throughout this franchise are giant ass-kicking extraterrestrial robots, plenty of explosions, hot girls in skimpy clothing and more explosions. But at least the cast is different.
Replacing Shia LaBeouf as the main human protagonist in Transformers is, of course, Mark Wahlberg. While he plays a down-on-his luck inventor named Cade Yeager, Wahlberg is better suited for the action sequences that Cade, his daughter Tessa (played by Nicola Peltz) and her boyfriend Shane Dyson (portrayed by Jack Reynor) go through once they encounter Optimus Prime at a barn in the Yeager's Texas homestead. Lucas, played by Cloverfield's T.J. Miller, was initially part of this group...but the main robot antagonist of Age of Extinction, Lockdown, would change all of that. Titus Welliver, who appeared in 2010's The Town and the hit ABC TV show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., did a nice job portraying a Transformer-hating CIA operative named James Savoy. Doing an even nicer job as the human bad guy of Age of Extinction is Kelsey Grammar—who, as Savoy's CIA boss Harold Attinger, is so sinister in his quest to wipe out Optimus and his kind from the face of the Earth that Grammar tended to sound like Sideshow Bob (his evil but bumbling persona on FOX TV's The Simpsons) when he spoke. But stealing the show, human-wise, in the second and third acts of Age of Extinction is KSI executive Joshua Joyce (played by Stanley Tucci)...who got to have the movie's most interesting character arc by going from being a CEO bent on earning a profit at the expense of the Transformers, to trying to make up for his folly by disposing of a device (known as the Seed) that would've allowed him to make billions of dollars and cause Optimus and his species to become obsolete once and for all.
In terms of the Transformers themselves, they looked absolutely fantastic in Age of Extinction. Bay should get props for having Optimus transform into the classic "G1" truck that fans know and love from the 1980's animated series...even if the truck was riddled with bullet holes and covered in worn-out paint. Bumblebee was his usual child-like but fierce-warrior self from the original trilogy, while John Goodman humorously stood out as the voice of the Autobot who kicked ass while moving around in battle like a "fat ballerina:" Hound. Ken Watanabe was cool as the voice of Drift...the Autobot who looked like a blue Samurai that can transform into a helicopter as well as a Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse. Crosshairs looked cool as well...though one wonders why Bay didn't just feature Sideswipe instead. Crosshairs transformed into a Corvette Stingray—Sideswipe's vehicle mode of choice in Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon.
In regards to the Decepticons, there was only one who appeared in this movie. Galvatron makes an appearance, but the evil bot that gets the spotlight in Age of Extinction is Lockdown...a cruelly efficient bounty hunter who was sent to Earth to nab Optimus Prime and bring him back to his Creators. When he's not traveling on a giant spacecraft known as the Knight Ship, Lockdown is hunting down prey by driving around as a Lamborghini Aventador. Like Megatron and Sentinel Prime before him, Lockdown was a respectable antagonist who was responsible for the death of a well-known Autobot (as well as hundreds, if not thousands, of people living in China). But not to be upstaged by Lockdown are the numerous man-made Transformers that were built by Joshua Joyce's company, KSI. Combined with Galvatron's influence and their unique way of transforming, these robots were not to be trifled with in the movie's final act.
For me, what makes the Transformers movies worth watching aren't just the great visual effects and mindless entertainment value (plus Megan Fox before Dark of the Moon came along), but the cool orchestral score by Steve Jablonsky. However, it seems that with each successive movie Jablonsky's music is becoming less and less memorable (which may have to do with him collaborating with popular music bands like Linkin Park for Dark of the Moon and Imagine Dragons with this one). I understand that he's trying to come up with something unique and different for each installment, but my favorite music moment in Age of Extinction was when the original Autobots theme from the 2007 flick was played while Optimus Prime summoned the help of the Dinobots in the movie's final act. Speaking of the Dinobots...
True to the TV commercials and theatrical trailers, the Dinobots' appearance were the highlight of Age of Extinction. It was fitting that they didn't talk at all in the movie (only growled)...seeing as how the Dinobots were portrayed as an ancient band of legendary warriors—knights, to be exact—who had to earn their rightful place in Transformer lore (according to Prime) by helping Optimus confront Galvatron and his army of man-made robots in China. The fact that the Dinobots are of extraterrestrial origin is an amusing twist; since the opening scene of Age of Extinction makes it look like the Dinobots were on Earth since well, the real dinosaurs 65 million years ago. I wonder if the Dinobots will appear in Transformers 5? They can't lurk around in China forever...
All-in-all, Transformers: Age of Extinction was an epic movie. For professional movie critics, it was epic for all the wrong reasons. For me though, it was epic in the way that these giant alien robots are wreaking havoc in an increasing number of places around the world with each film. First, in Qatar for the original Transformers movie. Then, Shanghai, Diego Garcia, Jordan and Egypt for Revenge of Fallen. And then, Russia, the Middle East, Hong Kong (again) and Cambodia for Dark of the Moon (though technically, these last two locales only served as launching points for Pillars that would activate Sentinel Prime's Space Bridge and bring Cybertron to Earth in that flick). One can be sure that other countries will feel the influence of the Autobots and the wrath of Galvatron in the next installment..though one also ponders if we'll get more scenes that take place in outer space. SPOILER AHEAD: Optimus Prime did, after all, use booster rockets that came out of nowhere to depart from Earth and look for the Creators that sent Lockdown after him. We'll see what Michael Bay (if he's directing) and Ehren Kruger (if he's writing) have in store for Transformers 5. Oh, and will Tessa Yeager join a sorority in college for the next movie? If so, her stint there will be short-lived. Long live the Transformers!
