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| Prepare yourselves. Michael Bay is coming. |
-Ivan Illich
Expectation can be one of those really funny (if not irritating) things at times. Whatever the expectation, if it is met it can grant us the utmost of satisfaction. On the other side of the coin it can completely convince us of the futility of matters. Whatever route our expectations take we must try to remember that we are ultimately the ones who control it in the end.
Ever since July of 2007 director Michael Bay has been providing audiences with his version of the iconic Transformers franchise. At now four films deep into the series, almost everyone's expectations for these movies is pretty much set, and essentially the same. We expect anything with Bay's name on it (especially the Transformers films) to be terrible. To say the least, if you consider yourself any form of a Transformers fan it has probably been a fairly rough seven years for you up to this point, and you have my sympathies.
Sadly this is the part where I must dash the hopes for any of the hopeful that may remain out there in the ether. The latest installment to the motion picture saga is yet again another Michael Bay stinker. As I stated earlier, for a lot of us this doesn't even come as a surprise in the slightest. By this point in the game, I'll admit that I'm numb to it, and it's because of that feeling that I don't entirely hate this flick. Perhaps it is due to years of exposure to Michael Bay's lackluster abilities, but I'm just used to his works being throw-away low- brow pieces of indulgent fiction. With the bar of my own expectations set so low, it's only reasonable to say that this movie gives me exactly what I thought it would; garbage.
Four years after the devastating battle in Chicago, any Transformers that remain on Earth are now on the run. The Transformer bounty hunter Lockdown (in conjunction with secret CIA unit Cemetery Wind) is pursuing/killing both Autobot and Decepticon alike to harvest them for the unique metal they're made of. Having few allies on Earth left to turn to, Optimus Prime finds himself loosing faith in humanity. With the aid of inventor Cade Yeager and his daughter Tessa, Optimus sets out to find the reason why mankind has turned on the Autobots.
Let me set the record straight, Michael Bay has never been on my top list of favorite directors (nor do I think he'll ever be) and with this new installment he only continues to show me why. I'm thoroughly convinced that Mr. Bay must think the year is still 1998, and that his film making techniques don't require him to try harder to improve. Think about it, he has practically been making the exact same movie now with just the Transformers alone for at least the last seven years; adhering to age old tropes that were tired when he first starting utilizing them. In a lot of ways Michael Bay is like a caricature of the Americana from the late 1990's and early 2000's. His sense of narrative pacing, character development, and thematic statement are constantly all over the place much like it was during that period in cinema. While I do consider his work here to be better than say his work on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, that's sort of like saying that the number one is a greater number than zero. Sure the statement is true, but the result ultimately impresses nobody. He comes off almost as if he just discovered that you can use storytelling as a means to convey a message, to which I've gotta say, I'm not certain what his message here is. The only real improvements that Bay makes with Age of Extinction is that the usually sophomoric humor he tends to emphasize in his pictures is notably diminished, and his camera work is easier to follow in regards to the more bombastic action scenes he's known for.
I'll confess that the premise for this one did have me slightly intrigued. The idea of a Transformer bounty hunter working with humans to kill any and all robots in disguise sounds pretty cool. Lockdown and his admittedly badass looking ship bring a threat level that this film series hasn't really seen yet. Touching on the idea of how mankind would respond to having things like Transformers living among them is nothing new to the series, but the notion that humanity would want to outright demolish all of them kinda sorta is. Seeing Americans harvesting them for the metal they're made of to begin creation of their own Transformers is another pretty spiffy concept. I also like the arc of pushing Optimus Prime to his limits. Numerous times he's said that he would never kill humans, but this situation dares to push him over the threshold. Introducing characters such as Galvatron, the Dino-bots, and even the aliens responsible for the creation of the Transformers themselves hold a ton of promise for a compelling (if not possibly epic in scope) movie. Sadly, a lot of the potentially good ideas that Age of Extinction brings to the table goes unexplored, if not feeling outright wasted by the time the credits roll. As an example, for those crossing their fingers on seeing the Dino-bots come in and kick some ass, they're but a cliff note in the final action beat of the climax.
Discussing the quality of the acting in a Michael Bay movie almost feels pointless to an extent, but I will say that some of the actors at least do their jobs competently. Mark Walberg sits as this film's main human lead, and I've gotta say that he isn't too bad. Although I don't buy it for a single solitary second that this guy is an inventor, let alone one who can possibly hope to repair a Transformer. Mark Walberg just can't convincingly portray a technologically inclined character. Granted he is a bit of a terrible inventor, but they show that he's more like a genius in waiting than he is as simply being bad at what he does. Nicola Peltz plays Cade's daughter Tessa, and she is nothing more than eye candy for the teenage boy crowd. Don't get me wrong, she most certainly looks good, but her character contributes next to nothing to the story, other than to get kidnapped and rescued so that the film can go on for another hour. The only real stand out roles in regards to the human characters is Kelsey Grammer's Harold Attinger, and Stanley Tucci's Joshua Joyce. Grammer brings a lot of the presence he is known for to Attinger and stands as a fairly imposing human antagonist towards the heroes. Every scene he's in feels appropriately ominous, and thankfully we do get a good deal of him throughout the almost three hour run time. Stanley Tucci is pretty much the best part of any movie he's in, and here he is given leeway to play a Steve Jobs esque parody character that actually manages to be somewhat compelling come the film's third act. While the character is a bit of an outlet for some of Bay's usual lowest hanging fruit humor, Tucci at least possesses the chops necessary to make it work. Generally speaking though, it's business as usual for the standard Bay movie.
In regards to the Transformers themselves, they're still here I guess. They're unfortunately once again playing second fiddle in their own film series, but at least they're given more time to come off as legitimate characters. Voice work from the likes of Ken Watanabe, John DiMaggio, and John Goodman really bring the new bots to life with a sense of charisma and personality that only such actors as they could provide. Peter Cullen reprises his role as Optimus Prime, and actually brings some new flavor to the iconic Autobot leader. We see Prime experience a level of anger and resentment that we haven't seem from him before, and Cullen sells every word of it with his incredibly gruff and powerful voice. Another nice return is the ever amazing Frank Welker as Galvatron. Hearing Cullen and Welker exchange verbal blows on the big screen again is pretty awesome to say the least, but sadly Welker doesn't get much to do as Galvatron has little to no lines.
Visually Age of Extinction is a mixed bag. While the decision to give a more streamlined design to the Transformers (so that they're more easily registered by the eye) is appreciated, their CGI rendering leaves a bit to be desired. Every time a Transformer enters the scene you can easily tell that they're fake. At no point does it ever really come off that a giant robot is actually standing there among the human actors. The man made Transformers also have a weird way of changing forms that essentially is them literally turning into tiny cubes (that sort of look like pixels) and reassembling themselves. Add to that the egregious green screen effects at numerous points and you've got yourself a fairly unimpressive visual experience. It's funny in a way how the first (almost decade old) film I think actually somehow looks better than this current one. Thankfully some of the sets and locations look good, with Lockdown's ship being the most noteworthy piece.
Of special note I feel I should mention that this movie has some pretty bad pacing. It isn't quite as bad as Revenge of the Fallen mind you, but it's still pretty awful. Action scenes just go on and on with seemingly no end to them, with the car chase sequences being the worst offenders. One of the earlier chases goes on well past the fifteen minute mark. By that point I could see people rolling their eyes wondering when it was finally going to be over. The poor editing doesn't help matters either as there are copious beats where you wonder exactly how much time is passing, or how anyone got anywhere. Scenes where Optimus takes heavy amounts of damage (to the point that he's incapacitated) resolve with no answer as to how or why he appears to be fine in the next couple of scenes. While continuity has never been a strong suit of the Transformers series (nor will it probably ever be) the work here is just downright pathetic.
Steven Joblonsky returns as composer and frankly still stands as one of the only actual good features to this series. His score is a little more evolved now from his work on the previous films, and thankfully he manages to still make the Transformers assembling sound like the most epic thing the movie can offer. Imagine Dragons helps to make some of Joblonsky's new compostions a bit more contemporary in terms of sound, with some of the tracks being some fairly good ear worms. The single "Battlecry" from Imagine Dragons crops up during sequences in the movie itself, and it is a fitting song given the narrative's content.
Overall this is just another jaunt from Michael Bay that we've all come to expect. It's hard to be angry, frustrated, or disappointed when you get exactly what you pay for. Bay's name on the tin is all the warning one needs in order to prepare themselves for what is ahead. All of the little Bay-isms that you know and love (or hate depending upon tastes) is here for whoever is seeking. Tons of pointless explosions, hot girls who are just there to be hot, insipid dialogue, low-brow humor, and a ridiculously long run-time all are here and accounted for. It isn't the most absolutely terrible thing that Hollywood can muster, but it's still pretty worthless upon inspection. The movie can be remotely compelling/entertaining for a time, but it's also very efficient at making you realize just how long three hours can truly be. No joke, this movie will make you seriously check your watch. With the picture already being a global hit though, we can rest assure that Mr. Bay will only continue to crank out the same old drivel we expect him to do. The biggest tragedy of all though is perhaps that we are the ones to blame for this. For some reason, in spite of our expectations we keep on supporting Michael Bay and securing his future en devours. I personally feel that if we want more out of our movies then we really do need to start raising our expectations and demand more.
Sadly this is the part where I must dash the hopes for any of the hopeful that may remain out there in the ether. The latest installment to the motion picture saga is yet again another Michael Bay stinker. As I stated earlier, for a lot of us this doesn't even come as a surprise in the slightest. By this point in the game, I'll admit that I'm numb to it, and it's because of that feeling that I don't entirely hate this flick. Perhaps it is due to years of exposure to Michael Bay's lackluster abilities, but I'm just used to his works being throw-away low- brow pieces of indulgent fiction. With the bar of my own expectations set so low, it's only reasonable to say that this movie gives me exactly what I thought it would; garbage.
Four years after the devastating battle in Chicago, any Transformers that remain on Earth are now on the run. The Transformer bounty hunter Lockdown (in conjunction with secret CIA unit Cemetery Wind) is pursuing/killing both Autobot and Decepticon alike to harvest them for the unique metal they're made of. Having few allies on Earth left to turn to, Optimus Prime finds himself loosing faith in humanity. With the aid of inventor Cade Yeager and his daughter Tessa, Optimus sets out to find the reason why mankind has turned on the Autobots.
Let me set the record straight, Michael Bay has never been on my top list of favorite directors (nor do I think he'll ever be) and with this new installment he only continues to show me why. I'm thoroughly convinced that Mr. Bay must think the year is still 1998, and that his film making techniques don't require him to try harder to improve. Think about it, he has practically been making the exact same movie now with just the Transformers alone for at least the last seven years; adhering to age old tropes that were tired when he first starting utilizing them. In a lot of ways Michael Bay is like a caricature of the Americana from the late 1990's and early 2000's. His sense of narrative pacing, character development, and thematic statement are constantly all over the place much like it was during that period in cinema. While I do consider his work here to be better than say his work on Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, that's sort of like saying that the number one is a greater number than zero. Sure the statement is true, but the result ultimately impresses nobody. He comes off almost as if he just discovered that you can use storytelling as a means to convey a message, to which I've gotta say, I'm not certain what his message here is. The only real improvements that Bay makes with Age of Extinction is that the usually sophomoric humor he tends to emphasize in his pictures is notably diminished, and his camera work is easier to follow in regards to the more bombastic action scenes he's known for.
I'll confess that the premise for this one did have me slightly intrigued. The idea of a Transformer bounty hunter working with humans to kill any and all robots in disguise sounds pretty cool. Lockdown and his admittedly badass looking ship bring a threat level that this film series hasn't really seen yet. Touching on the idea of how mankind would respond to having things like Transformers living among them is nothing new to the series, but the notion that humanity would want to outright demolish all of them kinda sorta is. Seeing Americans harvesting them for the metal they're made of to begin creation of their own Transformers is another pretty spiffy concept. I also like the arc of pushing Optimus Prime to his limits. Numerous times he's said that he would never kill humans, but this situation dares to push him over the threshold. Introducing characters such as Galvatron, the Dino-bots, and even the aliens responsible for the creation of the Transformers themselves hold a ton of promise for a compelling (if not possibly epic in scope) movie. Sadly, a lot of the potentially good ideas that Age of Extinction brings to the table goes unexplored, if not feeling outright wasted by the time the credits roll. As an example, for those crossing their fingers on seeing the Dino-bots come in and kick some ass, they're but a cliff note in the final action beat of the climax.
Discussing the quality of the acting in a Michael Bay movie almost feels pointless to an extent, but I will say that some of the actors at least do their jobs competently. Mark Walberg sits as this film's main human lead, and I've gotta say that he isn't too bad. Although I don't buy it for a single solitary second that this guy is an inventor, let alone one who can possibly hope to repair a Transformer. Mark Walberg just can't convincingly portray a technologically inclined character. Granted he is a bit of a terrible inventor, but they show that he's more like a genius in waiting than he is as simply being bad at what he does. Nicola Peltz plays Cade's daughter Tessa, and she is nothing more than eye candy for the teenage boy crowd. Don't get me wrong, she most certainly looks good, but her character contributes next to nothing to the story, other than to get kidnapped and rescued so that the film can go on for another hour. The only real stand out roles in regards to the human characters is Kelsey Grammer's Harold Attinger, and Stanley Tucci's Joshua Joyce. Grammer brings a lot of the presence he is known for to Attinger and stands as a fairly imposing human antagonist towards the heroes. Every scene he's in feels appropriately ominous, and thankfully we do get a good deal of him throughout the almost three hour run time. Stanley Tucci is pretty much the best part of any movie he's in, and here he is given leeway to play a Steve Jobs esque parody character that actually manages to be somewhat compelling come the film's third act. While the character is a bit of an outlet for some of Bay's usual lowest hanging fruit humor, Tucci at least possesses the chops necessary to make it work. Generally speaking though, it's business as usual for the standard Bay movie.
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| Come at me bro! |
Visually Age of Extinction is a mixed bag. While the decision to give a more streamlined design to the Transformers (so that they're more easily registered by the eye) is appreciated, their CGI rendering leaves a bit to be desired. Every time a Transformer enters the scene you can easily tell that they're fake. At no point does it ever really come off that a giant robot is actually standing there among the human actors. The man made Transformers also have a weird way of changing forms that essentially is them literally turning into tiny cubes (that sort of look like pixels) and reassembling themselves. Add to that the egregious green screen effects at numerous points and you've got yourself a fairly unimpressive visual experience. It's funny in a way how the first (almost decade old) film I think actually somehow looks better than this current one. Thankfully some of the sets and locations look good, with Lockdown's ship being the most noteworthy piece.
Of special note I feel I should mention that this movie has some pretty bad pacing. It isn't quite as bad as Revenge of the Fallen mind you, but it's still pretty awful. Action scenes just go on and on with seemingly no end to them, with the car chase sequences being the worst offenders. One of the earlier chases goes on well past the fifteen minute mark. By that point I could see people rolling their eyes wondering when it was finally going to be over. The poor editing doesn't help matters either as there are copious beats where you wonder exactly how much time is passing, or how anyone got anywhere. Scenes where Optimus takes heavy amounts of damage (to the point that he's incapacitated) resolve with no answer as to how or why he appears to be fine in the next couple of scenes. While continuity has never been a strong suit of the Transformers series (nor will it probably ever be) the work here is just downright pathetic.
Steven Joblonsky returns as composer and frankly still stands as one of the only actual good features to this series. His score is a little more evolved now from his work on the previous films, and thankfully he manages to still make the Transformers assembling sound like the most epic thing the movie can offer. Imagine Dragons helps to make some of Joblonsky's new compostions a bit more contemporary in terms of sound, with some of the tracks being some fairly good ear worms. The single "Battlecry" from Imagine Dragons crops up during sequences in the movie itself, and it is a fitting song given the narrative's content.
Overall this is just another jaunt from Michael Bay that we've all come to expect. It's hard to be angry, frustrated, or disappointed when you get exactly what you pay for. Bay's name on the tin is all the warning one needs in order to prepare themselves for what is ahead. All of the little Bay-isms that you know and love (or hate depending upon tastes) is here for whoever is seeking. Tons of pointless explosions, hot girls who are just there to be hot, insipid dialogue, low-brow humor, and a ridiculously long run-time all are here and accounted for. It isn't the most absolutely terrible thing that Hollywood can muster, but it's still pretty worthless upon inspection. The movie can be remotely compelling/entertaining for a time, but it's also very efficient at making you realize just how long three hours can truly be. No joke, this movie will make you seriously check your watch. With the picture already being a global hit though, we can rest assure that Mr. Bay will only continue to crank out the same old drivel we expect him to do. The biggest tragedy of all though is perhaps that we are the ones to blame for this. For some reason, in spite of our expectations we keep on supporting Michael Bay and securing his future en devours. I personally feel that if we want more out of our movies then we really do need to start raising our expectations and demand more.
Positive Factors
- Michael Bay has toned down a couple of his usual Bay-isms for this round.
- Voice Acting for the Transformers is decent. Peter Cullen and Frank Welker reprise their respective roles.
- Score is still too damn good than this movie series has any right to have.
Negative Factors
- The usual Michael Bay lowest common denominator schlock that we've all come to expect is here in action.
- Bland human characters distract from the far more interesting Transformer plot. Wastes a lot of its good ideas.
- Dino-bots are but a mere cliff note, and considering they're a huge part of the promotional material, this is bad.
- CGI leaves something to be desired. The first movie actually has better special effects.
- Incredibly poor pacing and editing.
- This movie feels long in the worse way possible.
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