Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) Review

 

A mechanic and his daughter end up joining the Autobots in a fight against a company and bounty hunter from another world, after he finds Optimus Prime.

Now you probably have already heard about the rather epic running time for this film, all 165 minutes of it. It feels even longer than that just a another warning about how long it is! Probably not the best way to start the review off but you need to be warned about that. As the 165 minutes aren’t exactly all brilliant or anywhere near brilliant. The film starts off slowly, picks up a little but then drops to a nice slow pace again. It probably has enough going on for it to be two or maybe three separate films. It tries to cover a lot of story with background that in the end it doesn’t really have much of a point . . . or you actually lose the whole point of it.

It has the potential to be a fantastic summer blockbuster with brilliant action sequences but it really does not deliver in the end. I just went to see the 2D version instead of the 3D version. Still you can see particular scenes especially with the transformers and the many pieces when they are transforming that was made for the 3D version with the pieces jumping out at you.

Mark Wahlberg is in the title role and base of the story is about his relationship with his daughter, who you don’t care about at all. The introduction of her boyfriend Shane which causes friction between them all. But that isn’t the worst thing about Shane, I was surprised to read after that Jack Reynor actually lived in Ireland for a while. His accent was so messed up and he sounded more Australian than Irish so when it was revealed he was actually Irish this is a bit shocking.

Stanley Tucci is one of those actors you cannot help but love and he thrives in supporting roles, but some of the lines he was given in this film was truly laughable. Not in a good way, as I don’t think it was all meant to be funny at all. It wasn’t just his lines though in general the script was pretty awful from start to finish. It didn’t give you any hope at all.

I really did give the film a massive chance (you have plenty of time to) and thought it was going to get much better. That the start was just trying to build up the back story and make you care about the characters. I guess (hope) that was the idea, it just didn’t happen though which was totally a shame. All of the special effects were clear and this is something that really could have given the film an extra edge if the story flowed a lot better.

I thought the film was going to end about four or five times, honestly it had a chance to end that many times and leave you for the next one. Even with the ending it is clear that another transformers film won’t be too far in the future. It really did end up in a big mess and by everyone’s reaction of quickly leaving the cinema as soon as the credits hit this was not a sign of people enjoying the film.

It did go for the big effects and tried way too hard with the storyline that essential it didn’t give the audience everything in one package. It doesn’t seem to have mattered to the audiences though as it appears to be a box office hit, with the running time not putting audiences off. Will still be a big summer hit!