Transformers: Age of Extinction

Stand Together or Face Extinction.

Fast cars. Giant robots. A hot girl. All these things we've come to expect from Michael Bay's Transformers franchise. And this one includes giant robot dinosaurs! It was because of this that I was super excited to see the newest installment, Age of Extinction, as soon as I could.

I left the theatre with mixed emotions.

Let me first start off by saying that the replacement of Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) with Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) was a great idea. I love Shia, but it was time to bring in a new character. And Mark absolutely killed it! The rapper-turned-actor is very believable as the inventor/father Cade Yeager.

Most of the other characters (human and robot alike) are also quite good as well. My only real complaints about them would be a few aesthetic things about the Transformers (like Hound not being a Jeep) and how certain characters were portrayed.

Above all else, my largest complaint, however, is how the Dinobots were treated. Every single trailer that was released for AoE showcased at least one Dinobot, mainly Grimlock, their leader. By this logic, I figured they would feature prominently in the film. In all actuality though, they were relegated to a minor part at the very end of the movie. Out of almost 3 hours of movie, the oft-advertised Dinobots only were in about 10-15 minutes. I mean, really?

The story was mildly decent as well. It picks up 5 years after the events of Dark of the Moon, and although it starts out slow, the action picks up pretty quickly from there. The movie is nearly 3 hours long, but due to the amount of action, it doesn't drag on too terribly. It does leave the door wide open for another sequel, and hints somewhat subtly at a certain very large villain.

T:AoE was an average film, so it shall receive an average rating

For this one, I'm only giving it 5½ stars. I was excited to see Age of Extinction because hey, Transformers! But, I was largely disappointed in it. It was an alright film, with an OK story, but the characters themselves were great. It almost felt like Michael Bay lost some of his inspiration or something and only took on the project to prevent someone else from doing it. That being said, I will continue to watch the Transformers films, because who doesn't love giant robots that can turn into awesome cars? My recommendation would be to wait for this one on DVD though.

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