Yes, I know that again, I maybe shouldn't be covering this series since its origins are not really related to comics but this is still a franchise that has been present for years in the medium too since the 80's at Marvel to present day at IDW so there's a relation...
You know what? Screw it. Just pretend that from now on I will do whatever I want on this sections, don't be surprised if you find a romantic comedy around here one of these days.
Anyway, Transformers has always been a guilty pleasure for me. I have collected several of the toys over the course of the years since the beginning of the line, I have watched many of the cartoons which always bring me great memories from my childhood (especially if we're talking about the Beast Wars series) and I still enjoy checking the franchise from time to time to see what's new about it.
So what's my opinion about the movies?
Well, they bring me more guilt than pleasure I can assure you.
I know all the complaints about them and a lot of them are right on the money. The movies directed by Michael Bay are full of racist stereotypes, juvenile humour, big explosions and terrible representation of women who are barely anything more than sexy figures.
So, they're boy movies and I'm a boy so I should like them right?
Well no, because I'm actually a grown man and while there are some things that I still can appreciate about them, there are others that just make me cringe at this point.
Let's start talking about this particular film, Age of Extinction. The story is focused a few years after the last big battle from the previous entry and many of the Autobots have been hiding due that their species are being hunted because they're considered a danger for the planet. Now, a frustrated inventor called Cade Yeager has found a truck that has a familiar look and could actually change the course of his life.
There are some improvements already if we're talking about the cast considering that there's no more Shia Labeouf. The main character Cade Yeager played by Mark Wahlberg, is a failed inventor who is just waiting for the right discovery that could make him successful and rich enough to be able to sustain for his teenage daughter and her future. From the beginning this protagonist is an upgrade over the previous main character Sam Witwicky since this is actually an adult who has a true reason to keep fighting along the Transformers, first to try to become the person he always wanted to and later to try to save his own daughter, the man is a bad ass at points, able to fight several of the threats on his own and jumping into danger if necessary. Wahlberg does a pretty good job with this role and makes it even better than the script allows to.
The supporting cast consists of his daughter played by Nicola Peltz who is the typical bombshell girl from any Michael Bay film and doesn't have much personality besides that. Her boyfriend played by Jack Reynor who is also a quite good looking person but with even less personality than her, he's pretty lackluster on this film and the story could have gone perfectly fine without him, I don't even understand the point of including him aside from giving the protagonist some classic overprotective complex towards his daughter. Then there's Cade's best friend played by T.J. Miller who is also an stereotype in the form of the annoying sidekick who is quite annoying, although to be fair there's a little twist here.
Other characters include Joshua Joyce played by Stanley Tucci who is the person who wants to recreate the Transformers for the benefit of manking and his own company. I must admit that I kind enjoyed this character since he started as a pompous ass but later started to become something more and even had good moments too. There's also one of the villains Harold Attinger played by Kelsey Grammer who is a solid antagonist but one that it's nothing truly impressive nor unique.
But what would a Transformers movie be without the Transformers?
That's the question I was asking myself during this film since their scenes are not as abundant as the human ones. Optimus Prime appears almost since the beginning of course, but I don't really like how he's portrayed in these films, he's always way more violent than the classic reasonable and compassive leader of the Autobots. Then there's the other members from the group that again, are pretty much stereotypes that we have seen before, some of them look a bit racist even considering that there's a frikking samurai one.
If you're asking about the Dinobots you will be disappointed since they barely appear here, they're mostly at the end when the battle and film are basically over, I'm starting to think that they just were teased on the different posters to sell toys... Oh wait, we're talking about Transformers, right.
The Decepticons are also present here and barely too, they only have a few appearances and in fact Megatron, now known as Galvatron, basically says: "I will see you in the sequel!" and then they're out of the movie. Transformers, they're created to be toys.
The plot may seem different from the previous ones but it still touches several of the same points and flaws: Juvenile humour, hot ladies, big explosions, etc. They're all here and while some of them actually made me chuckle others still made me groan, the dialogue is pretty forced at times and it feels like overexposition.
I don't want to spoil this but I feels it's necessary to mention, one of the characters dies halfway in the movie but it actually becomes an unintentionally funny moment since such death is not really depicted as a strong nor sad moment and there's no build-up to it, it's basically a joke.
The effects are good and the action battles are cool enough but I don't really like the design for the Transformers, they're both too complex and simplistic at the same time which makes them less distinctive from one another, not to mention that they don't really translate well as toys (Yes, I'm also a collector).
Overall, the movie is not as bad as the previous two films but it's still pretty mediocre. In fact is quite stupid at times and it lasts way longer than it should for the kind of thing it is, I would only recommend it if you enjoyed the past entries and want to know more about where the franchise is going.
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