![]() Despite being in a prime position to reinvent – new cast, Dinobots – it merely trumpets its self-regard through a fug of relapsed Bay-isms. Next to fresh genre spins from Captain America, X-Men and Apes, Michael Bay’s Transfourquel is this summer’s franchise dead weight. ![]() When someone in Age Of Extinction carps about “crap sequels and remakes” in movies, you almost choke on the audacity. A pity John Goodman (voicing cigar-chomping Autobot Hound) lazily recycles his Monuments Me n character.īut then originality has never been high on Bay’s list of requirements. But as this group of robotic outlaws and their human allies discover that Joyce’s conglomerate KSI has been building man-made Transformers (leading to one fantastic scrap between Prime and prototype droids Galvatron and Stinger), Bay reverts disappointingly to type, with the soft-rock slo-mo montages and excessive product placement notably grating.Īlso weighed down by an indulgent running time and tedious/meaningless scenes of endless carnage, thankfully the human element stays strong, with Wahlberg and the excellent Tucci, in particular, keeping you watching. But no sooner has Prime revealed himself, then the CIA are on the case and Cade and Tessa are on the run, aided by her until-now secret Irish boyfriend Shane (Jack Reynor), who conveniently happens to be a top-notch race car driver.Īs Prime hooks up with the other remaining Autobots, it’s an eminently watchable first act. It transpires that Optimus Prime (commandingly voiced again by Peter Cullen) has been cooling his heels as a rusty old truck – discovered by Cade, who intends to strip it for parts. Hell, there’s even a subplot set 65m years ago. Also present, Stanley Tucci’s high-flying Bill Gates-alike Joshua Joyce, out to replicate the Transformers’ metal-morphing skills, with the help of Myles’ boffin. Then there’s Kelsey Grammer’s government suit Harold Attinger, out to hunt down the Autobots – in hiding following the events in Chicago – with the help of a bounty-hunting Transformer Lockdown, out to capture their leader Optimus Prime. ![]() Replacing him is Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg), a cash-strapped inventor struggling to raise his 17 year-old daughter Tessa (Nicola Peltz) their tender relationship, defined by his over-protective demeanour, gives the film the heart lacking from the LaBeouf years. Still, Transformers: Age of Extinction does tread fresh ground, with Shia LaBeouf’s Sam Witwicky and his family airbrushed out the saga. Rest assured, there’s no need: the equally protracted conclusion to this latest episode feels like a carbon copy, albeit set in a vibrantly-shot Hong Kong, as the most expensive episode of Robot Wars ever made plays out in glorious IMAX 3D. “Remember Chicago” blares a billboard, reminding us of the Windy City’s destruction in the finale of Bay’s third outing Transformers: Dark of the Moon. History may be in for a shake-up, not to mention the cast and settings for Michael Bay’s fourth Transformers outing.īut by the final hour of this 165-minute clockbuster you’ll be feeling an overwhelming sense of familiarity – as its director’s brand of “textbook machismo”, to quote Ehren Kruger’s script, batters your brain into submission. You Are Reading : Transformers Age of Extinction review “I think history is about to change,” intones Sophia Myles’ geologist.
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