Transformers: Age of Extinction

Last weekend the whole family went to see Transformers: Age of Extinction. This is a big deal since I can't pay the wife or kid to go to an actual theatre and I really don't blame them. We went to the luxury theatre nearby and paid $21.50 a person then a boatload more for popcorn and Icees. Then there is the uncomfortable seats (compared to home) and the inability to pause the film when you have to go, etc., etc., etc. We thought it would be worth it to see some Transformers action as we have enjoyed (most) of the previous films and I am of an age where I remember watching Optimus Prime and crew growing up.

Transformers: Age of Extinction (T:AoE) is the latest installment in Michael Bay's big screen franchise based on the classic cartoon, Transformers. I won't bother explaining the backstory since most people who are reading this have likely already seen or heard of the previous movies. T:AoE picks up 5 years after Transformers: Dark of the Moon and finds all Transformers on the run and in hiding. They are being hunted down by a covert operations team run by the CIA with the goal of ending alien activity (and protecting the country/world). Needless to say they aren't discriminate between Autobots and Decepticons and many of the robot characters from the previous films are dead. The CIA team is also working with others for specific goals that are directly related to the plot (so I won't spoil them).

Okay, so this isn't a great film. It is long, repetitive and tries to pack too much into one story. T:AoE runs about 2 hours and 45 minutes (more if you count the 20 minutes of commercials and trailers we had to sit through). There are several points in the movie where they could have stopped and it would have been a tight, compact story. Instead you get a bloated action fest that leaves you tired, physically tired, when it is done. At times it seems that fight scenes were just going on to provide an opportunity to throw more visual effects at you.

On the plus side, there are Transformers and we get to meet some new ones who are interesting - like Hound (voiced by John Goodman). There are also some nice comedic moments in the film that are laugh out loud and meant to be. Stanley Tucci is pretty good in his role and Mark Wahlberg was better than Shia LeBeouf is the last film or two in the franchise. Though I do miss MoJo.

Oh yeah, Dinobots.

I think my major problem with the Transformers films is that they all end up being about saving the world or stopping some major bad event from occurring. If I could do one thing with the franchise - assuming we want more Transformers - I would reboot the whole thing. I would keep most of the first film but rather than having the aliens come for the Allspark, the Decepticons would come to take over Earth because their planet was used up or have them come because the Autobots are here hiding. Then have the whole movie just be about the fight between the Autobots and Decepticons with humans trying to help the Autobots. Would be a much more interesting than wasting time with all the chasing around for an Allspark or a Matrix of Leadership or Seed or whatever.

Anyway, Transformers: Age of Extinction gets 2 MickHappies. Too long, repetitive plot, too much trying to shove new shiny things in and not enough clever. Watch at your risk. Or watch if you just really like watching robots fighting robots.