Movie Review – Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)

Released to theaters today is the latest Transformers film, Transformers: Age of Extinction.

As we remember from the last movie, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the Autobots were victorious in the Battle of Chicago.  Sentinel Prime, Megatron, Starscream, Shockwave, Soundwave and the rest of the Decepticons (that we were aware of) were all killed in the final battle scenes.  Even though the Decepticons were defeated, it was discussed that the U.S. government no longer wanted the Autobots around as they seemed to attract violence.

Transformers: Age of Extinction begins a new set of films in the Transformers universe.  Optimus Prime and Bumblebee are back, and supporting them are a new group of Autobots, new human companions, and now the Dinobots.  Opposing them are Transformer robots created by a private industry.  Naturally, things go wrong and the new Transformers are a major threat to everybody.  In addition to the evil robots, you also have a CIA officer who has declared war on all Transformer robots, and Lockdown, an intergalactic mercenary Transformer who hunts the Autobots and works for an unknown alien lifeform.

Directed by Michael Bay, Transformers: Age of Extinction stars Mark Wahlberg in the role of Cade Yeager, a single father and inventor struggling to pay the bills.  Supporting him are Nicola Peltz as Tessa Yeager, Stanley Tucci as Joshua Joyce and Kelsey Grammer as Harold Attinger.  Voices for the Autobots include Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime, John Goodman as Hound, John DiMaggio as Crosshairs and Ken Watanabe as Drift.

Transformers: Age of Extinction begins about 65 million years ago as a fleet of alien spaceships invades prehistoric Earth.  The aliens land on Earth and use some sort of technology to wipe out the dinosaurs and convert the landscape into a metal that the aliens require.  Allegedly this is how the dinosaurs went extinct.

Fast forward to today.  The movie takes place four years after the Battle of Chicago.

The federal government has severed its ties with the Autobots and branded them as fugitives, forcing them to go into hiding or face extermination.  The Battle of Chicago ended up killing over 1,500 innocent people, and the government is not about to let that happen again.  Should people encounter any of the alien robots, they are required by law to make a phone call and report the Transformer.  Allegedly the people can collect a substantial cash reward for reporting the robots.

To hunt the renegade Transformers, CIA officer Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer) has created an elite group of soldiers known as “Cemetery Wind.”  With the help of Lockdown (voiced by Mark Ryan), a mercenary Transformer, the group travels around the world and hunts down the robots.  There’s a scene where the team locates and attacks the Autobot Ratchet (voiced by Robert Foxworth).  Ratchet is surrounded and then brutally executed by the CIA team and Lockdown.

Meanwhile, in a rural part of Texas, Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) is an inventor of robots and struggling to pay the bills and send his daughter, Tessa (Nicola Peltz), to college.  To make matters worse, Cade’s wife died a while ago and it’s up to him to support and raise his daughter during her teenage years.

One day Cade and his friend / business partner Lucas Flannery (T.J. Miller) visit an old movie theater and purchase some of the equipment so they can repair and sell it later.  While inside of the theater Cade finds an old, beat up semi truck.  He purchases the truck and hauls it to his barn / repair shop were he discovers that it’s really a Transformer.  Lucas and Tessa want to call the government and collect the reward, as it would pay for the house and Tessa’s upcoming college bills, but Cade refuses to do so yet.  He first wants to find out how the advanced machine works so he can apply it to his own inventions and make a fortune.

When a missile is accidentally fired at the semi truck, the truck Transforms and comes alive.  It’s Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen).  Heavily damaged and barely able to move and target the people, Cade is able to talk to Optimus and calm him.  He then learns that Optimus was involved in an ambush that involved humans, and he was barely able to escape.  Cade then starts working on repairing Optimus Prime.

Things take a turn when the CIA hit team led by James Savoy (Titus Welliver) arrives at the Yeager house.  It’s later learned that Lucas made the phone call to the government.  James’s team uses brutal force as they seize the Yeagers and Lucas, and James threatens to shoot Tessa unless Cade reveals the location of the Transformer.  He refuses and James orders the execution of Tessa.  Optimus had been hiding in the barn and listening to the conversation.  He jumps out of the barn and attacks the CIA hit squad, allowing for the Yeagers and Lucas to escape.

Out pops Shane Dyson (Jack Reynor), a Rally driver and Tessa’s secret boyfriend.  The group climbs into his car and what follows is a chase sequence through the streets (and some structures) in Paris, Texas.  While the group is trying to flee in the Rally car, Optimus fights against Lockdown.  Shane uses some tricks and they’re able to escape from the CIA team.  However, at the end of the sequence, Lockdown throws a grenade at the humans and Lucas Flannery is killed.  Cade, Tessa and Shane climb into the semi truck of Optimus Prime and flee into the countryside.

During the entire sequence, Harold Attinger had been monitoring the situation through some aerial drones and the microphones with the hit team.  He was directing the team and calling the shots from Washington, D.C.  Harold becomes furious when Optimus Prime and the humans manage to escape.

Cade managed to grab one of the tiny surveillance drones during the situation, and he reconfigures it so that he can control the drone.  He later uses the drone to try to use his bank card at an ATM machine, but his bank account has been seized.  Everybody watches from a distance as a team of police officers soon swarm the area around the ATM machine.

Meanwhile, the technology firm Kinetic Solutions Incorporated (KSI), headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, has been reverse-engineering the Transformer technology.  They have been one of several organizations recovering the robot parts from the aftermath of the Battle of Chicago.  KSI owner and business tycoon Joshua Joyce (Stanley Tucci) has discovered “Transformium,” an unstable and seemingly useless metal that is actually the lifeblood of the Transformer robots.  Transformium can actually be controlled and used to create any shape that the user requests, from car parts to stereo speakers to weapons.  Using Transformium, Joshua has been creating his own race of advanced robots at KSI, his own line of Transformers that are better than the original alien robots.  The prized Transformer in KSI is a warrior robot named Galvatron.

After learning that they are fugitives, Optimus Prime takes the Yeagers and Shane further away from society.  They’re joined by the Autobots Bumblebee, Hound (voiced by John Goodman), Drift (voiced by Ken Watanabe) and Crosshairs (voiced by John DiMaggio).  Cade shows them footage from the surveillance drone from when Ratchet was attacked and killed by the CIA team.  They know that KSI is working with the CIA, and they decide to infiltrate KSI’s headquarters to learn what’s really taking place in the background.

The group makes their way to Chicago and the headquarters for KSI.  Using a copied ID card, Cade is able to infiltrate the facility and learn that KSI is reverse-engineering the Transformer technology.  It turns out that Brains (voiced by Reno Wilson) is damaged but still alive after that crash landing in the alien spaceship during the Battle of Chicago.  The company is using the little robot as a slave worker to translate the material from the leftover parts of the Transformers.  One such part being used in the science lab is the head of Megatron.

As he’s infiltrating the laboratory, Cade discovers that the last remaining parts of Ratchet are being melted down so that the Transformium metal can be reused for the new generation of robots.  At this point it’s noticed that there’s an intruder inside of the facility, and it doesn’t take long before the security guards corner and catch Cade.

Cade is taken prisoner and placed inside of a room in one of the building’s upper floors.  There he meets with Harold Attinger and learns that he doesn’t have to be on the run as a fugitive.  As Harold is explaining the situation, the Autobots crash into the KSI building and destroy parts of the laboratory.  Cade is also rescued from inside of the building.  The rampage of the Autobots stops when Joshua Joyce convinces them that their efforts are useless.  The technology has already been researched.  The Autobots are about to become obsolete thanks to the newer generation of robotic warriors.

The Autobots leave KSI and begin heading away from the city.  Joshua activates Galvatron (voiced by Frank Welker) as well as Stinger, and sends them after the Autobots.  What follows is a lengthy fight scene involving all of the Transformers.  During the battle Optimus realizes that the spirit of Megatron is alive inside of Galvatron.  The researches at KSI also notice how Galvatron does not respond to the commands as he should, indicating an artificial intelligence within the Transformer.

The fight on the street ends when Lockdown appears and shoots Optimus Prime, disabling him.  During this time Tessa had found temporary shelter inside of a car, but Optimus and the car are taken on board of Lockdown’s massive spaceship.  Cade tries to free his daughter, but she is hauled into the spaceship.  Tessa is able to escape from the car once it’s inside of the ship, and she runs and hides in Lockdown’s spaceship.

After Optimus Prime is secured, Lockdown expresses his displeasure with the leader of the Autobots.  He explains that the Transformers, all of them, were actually created by an alien race known as the “Creators.”  The Creators were the ones who hired Lockdown to capture Optimus and return him to them.  Attinger’s men later land a helicopter on a landing pad on the spaceship, and they’re given a “Seed” as they’re reward in helping Lockdown capture Optimus Prime.  It’s later learned that the Seed is capable of turning an area the size of a city into a field of Transformium, killing millions of innocent people and creating a nearly endless supply of the valuable metal.

Cade convinces the remaining Autobots to help him storm the spaceship and look for both Optimus and Tessa.  They do so and he and Shane look for the girl while the Autobots stall Lockdown and look for Optimus.  Drift is able to access a remote control panel and activate the ship’s anchor, securing it to the Willis Tower and preventing the ship from flying into space.

Cade and Shane eventually find weapons and locate Tessa running around the interior of the ship.  They find their way to the rear of the ship and try to cross on the anchor cables to the Willis Tower and perceived safety.  Their plan works until Lockdown sends some Steeljaws (techno-organic wolves) after them.  The Steeljaws cut through the cables and the three people fall through the air until they’re rescued by Bumblebee and Crosshairs.  The two Autobots then fly a small ship around the city while trying to dodge and outmaneuver several small ships piloted by Lockdown’s robots.  The Autobots eventually win though they make a crash landing in downtown Chicago.

On Lockdown’s ship, Hound and Drift locate Optimus Prime and free him from his prison cell.  Optimus informs them that the rear of the spaceship is really a second ship, and Hound prepares to detach it from the main ship.  They succeed in detaching themselves just before Lockdown flies into space.

The movie then jumps overseas to China.

In Beijing, China, Joshua Joyce meets with his business partners Su Yueming (Li Bingbing) and Darcy Tyril (Sophia Myles).  It’s there in Beijing where Attinger basically sells the Seed to Joshua in exchange for a stake in the control of KSI.  Attinger sees it as his retirement plan.

Knowing about the Seed and the danger of Galvatron, the Autobots and humans use the small spaceship to travel to China on the opposite side of the world.

At the KSI laboratory in Beijing, Galvatron activates himself along with all fifty of the company’s prototype Transformers.  They are all under Galvatron’s control, and Galvatron wants the Seed so he can use it against humanity.  This causes chaos at the laboratory, and everybody tries to flee from the attacking robots.  Joshua realizes the error of his ways and he betrays Attinger.  Joshua and his business companions take the Seed and flee to Hong Kong.

At Hong Kong, the Autobots along with the Yeagers and Shane connect with Joshua and try to protect the Seed from Galvatron and his prototype warriors.  Part of the action involves James Savoy pursuing and attacking Cade Yeager, with Cade killing James by pushing him out of an apartment’s window.  The other main part of the action includes Cade, Tessa, Shane and Joshua hiding in a small restaurant while Hound stands outside and takes on most of Galvatron’s prototypes.  It’s a gruelling battle for Hound and he only slows down when he finally begins to run out of ammunition.

While that is taking place, Optimus Prime knows that they are outnumbered and that they need additional help.  Back on the spaceship he saw some of Lockdown’s other captives.  Optimus frees the captives, the Dinobots, and he convinces them to fight with the Autobots for their freedom.  They agree to do so and Grimlock, Strafe, Slug and Scorn help fight Galvatron’s prototypes and turn the tide of battle.

Just as everything seems to be going well for the Autobots, Lockdown arrives over the city in his spaceship.  Lockdown uses a weapon that acts like a gigantic magnet, lifting the vehicles and metal objects into the air and then dropping them on top of the Autobots.  This attack continues until the magnet lifts the Autobots, and Optimus fires his cannon at the weapon, destroying it.

Optimus Prime then takes his sword and goes to attack Lockdown by himself, vowing to kill the bounty hunter robot.  Cade Yeager knows that Optimus is going to need extra help, so he goes along and takes the sword / rifle that he found on Lockdown’s spaceship.  As Optimus and Lockdown have their fight, Attinger surprises Cade and holds him at gunpoint.  It seems bleak for Cade until Optimus shoots and kills Harold Attinger.  Lockdown then takes Optimus’s sword and impales it into Optimus’s chest, pinning him against a building.

Before Lockdown can execute Optimus Prime, Shane and Tessa show up and try to help.  They along with Cade and Bumblebee manage to distract Lockdown until the sword is removed from Optimus’s chest.  Optimus then attacks and kills Lockdown, slicing him in half with his sword.

After witnessing the final battle, Galvatron retreats and vows to defeat Optimus Prime another day.  The Dinobots along with Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Hound, Drift and Crossfire all survive at the end of the film.  The other survivors include Cade Yeager, his daughter Tessa, her boyfriend Shane, and Joshua Joyce, the head of KSI.

Transformers: Age of Extinction ends with Optimus Prime taking the Seed into his possession and then using his rockets to fly into outer space and seek out the Creators.

FINAL THOUGHTS

So is this latest installment of the Transformers film series any good?

Yes, as a whole, Transformers: Age of Extinction was a great film and one worthy of the series.

This Transformers movie felt like a breath of fresh air with the new cast of human characters as well as new Autobots and villains as well.  Instead of a Transformer being the main villain, this time around it was a CIA officer and his strike team.  The acting was great, the action scenes were fantastic, the story was good, and the Transformers themselves were outstanding.  Most of the secondary Transformers had more lines of dialogue instead of just being a waste of space like in the other films.

The biggest fault with Transformers: Age of Extinction is its running time.  At a length of 165 minutes (2.75 hours), be ready to be sitting in the theater for a long time.  Some of the quiet scenes do tend to drag for a bit, and some of the action scenes could have also been better trimmed.

I also didn’t care for the way that the human-built Transformers morphed and changed shape.  To me that seemed a little too much fantasy and not enough sci-fi.

But that’s really about it.  There really aren’t any major faults or complaints with this movie.  You also don’t need to be an expert in the Transformers film to enjoy this one.  As long as you have a basic concept of the events in the previous three films, then you’ll be ready to watch Transformers: Age of Extinction without too much confusion.

Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) – movie trailer

Transformers: Age of Extinction is a perfect example of a big-budget summertime film.  This is a great science-fiction movie that delivers plenty of action, treachery, and some pretty comedic moments as well.  If you’re a fan of the toys and/or the previous Transformer films, do yourself a favor and go see this latest Transformer movie on the big screen.  It’s definitely worth your time.