“It’s a bad idea, but I’m all about bad ideas.” —Hound
Today’s quick review: Transformers: Age of Extinction. Five years after the Decepticons’ attack on Chicago, a CIA black ops team commanded by Director Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer) is hunting down Autobots and Decepticons alike. Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg), a mechanic from Texas, and his daughter Tessa (Nicola Peltz) get caught in the fight when they find Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen), the injured leader of the Autobots, and help repair him.
Transformers: Age of Extinction is a sci-fi action adventure from director Michael Bay. The fourth movie in the series breaks with the previous three, scrapping most of the cast and status quo in favor of a darker storyline. Age of Extinction features a staggering amount of destructive action, as well as a sprawling story with plenty of twists along the way. However, its unruly plot and serious tone make it a harder watch than its predecessors.
Age of Extinction maintains the heavier tone seen in Dark of the Moon. The movie is a grim struggle that pushes the Autobots to their limits and casts humanity in a more villainous role. Heroism and bits of comedy help offset the bleakness, but the movie’s high body count and relative lack of humor take an emotional toll. The upshots of this decision include higher stakes and less of the goofy humor found in previous films.
The other notable change in Age of Extinction is its plot. Even with its lengthy run time, Age of Extinction has a hard time fitting in everything it wants to. Important plot threads include Cade and Tessa’s story, the CIA’s alliance with Lockdown (Mark Ryan) to hunt down the Autobots, visionary CEO Joshua Joyce’s (Stanley Tucci) attempts to create artificial Decepticons, and the apocalyptic device that killed the dinosaurs.
These threads are all interesting on their own, but they are too much for one movie to handle. Age of Extinction has to swap awkwardly between them to keep the plot moving forward, with the result that no single idea gets its due. More significantly for an action movie, this wreaks havoc with the pacing. Instead of being an action-packed thrill ride, Age of Extinction is a bloated movie that mismanages its story and overstays its welcome.
Transformers: Age of Extinction still holds some appeal as a popcorn action movie. Viewers in the mood for something flashy and destructive will find that it fits the bill, with large-scale fights and the budget to back them up. But the combination of less humor, a longer run time, and an unfocused story makes Age of Extinction a clear step down from its predecessors. Transformers fans should approach with caution.
For gritty sci-fi action in roughly the same vein, try Terminator: Dark Fate. For sci-fi action in a similar style, try Pacific Rim: Uprising. For an alien invasion with more heart, try Independence Day.
5.6 out of 10 on IMDB. I give it a 6.5 for solid action attached to an unfocused and overly bleak story.