Alright, since CJ Persons asked, Im going to take the time to share thoughts on Transformers: Age of Extinction. Thisll be a bit long winded but here we go. And without Spoilers? I think Ill give it a try. The first thing Ill say is something people either tend to overlook or never really take into account with this property. For all the backstory and mythology thats been built since, you have to remember that the nucleus of the Transformers idea was, first and foremost, a toy line. So often I see people make the now age-old claim of Michael Bay ruined my childhood. But I cant help but wonder about that since really, when you look at Transformers, how much is there to ruin anyway? Because again, they were action figures before they were anything else. With all due respect, this isnt Batman or Star Wars were talking about. That said, do I think Age of Extinction is a great movie? Well no, but to be fair, calling a Michael Bay Transformers a bad movie, especially four installments in, is about as necessary as calling a rain storm wet. All the negativity over any of these movies is just a lot of white noise that goes nowhere. Now, people might be thinking Im shitting on the movie by saying its not great...but Im going to say what I think and back it up with observation. Age of Extinction is better then Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon...and, actually, I found it to be quite competent in a few choice spots...yes, even narratively. Now granted I havent seen either the second or third film since the theater so my memory might be rusty...but this is, I think, the very first time in the series where there are actual plot threads and ramifications born from the previous film. Events from Dark of the Moon actively inform events in this one...theres some actual resemblance of continuity so thats a plus for me. Similarly, without spoiling his reasons and such, they do something different with Optimus Prime at the end. The first three films, again more from memory, seem to end with a well the battles done and were still here sort of affair. This is the first time it closes out with Optimus going off to do something proactive...which sets up the next film but, more importantly, makes some headway as far as character development. Now one of the things I see a lot of people complain about is how they cant root for any of the Autobots because none of them are as distinguished as either Optimus or Bumblebee. Well...yeah. And? I mean when I think of Transformers, I absolutely pretty much just think of Optimus Prime...and so long as they get him right, Im good to go. And low and behold, throughout all four of these films, Id say Optimus is, in fact, handled pretty damn well right down to having Peter Cullen each time. As far as the human cast, Id make the argument that Age of Extinction has the strongest cast of human characters out of all of them. Thats not REALLY meant to be a knock on Shia Labouf or Megan Fox...but here youve got Mark Wahlberg whos decent, Stanley Tucci and Kelsey Grammer are great, Titus Welliver is great, Li Bingbing is awesome. The characters themselves are certainly not particularly memorable but again...unless your name is Optimus Prime, Im not too concerned anyway. Optimus is the one character I invest in and for good reason since hes the one Michael definitely does justice to. As for the voice cast, Id probably still give it to Dark of the Moon because of Leonard Nimoy, but its fun to hear John Goodman and Ken Watanabe. Personally, I didnt have a problem with the reworked origins for Galvatron. I mean in essence, its the same origin but without the involvement of Unicron. It was great to see the Dinobots of course. Now Ive seen people complain that certain Dinobots, specifically Grimlock, arent referred to by name but whatever. I mean Catwoman wasnt either in The Dark Knight Rises, but that didnt stop me from knowing who she was so...okay. And another thing I think people overlooked was that even though it was done so as a gag, Bay actually managed to get the Transformers theme in there finally...in some fashion anyway. Now as I said, this isnt Batman or Star Wars but thats actually to Michael Bays credit. When you get down to it, this is about giant alien robots who turn into cars, vehicles, guns and whatnot and are locked into an interstellar war across the cosmos to the death. Michael Bay was pretty much born to do this thing. If there were any franchise to hand over to him, this would clearly be the one. He isnt creating some poignant tale of the human condition here. To that end, all of the action and effects are handled with as much bombastic fever as Bay has ever done and I think its all shot and orchestrated very competently. The biggest drawback though, for me and for several people, is definitely its run time. I was having to go to the restroom by the time they first get to China...and if youve seen it, you know thats still quite a ways to go! Its a perfect example of the importance and value of a more economic length. Im not saying Bay shouldnt make more Transformers but he certainly doesnt have to make them that long anymore. All in all, given my expectations going in, it was everywhere from serviceable to, in some spots, quite strong actually. So yeah.
Posted on: Sun, 29 Jun 2014 01:07:50 +0000
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