Transformers: Age of Extinction
2/4
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, Jack Reynor, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer, Binbing Li, Titus Welliver, and the voices of Peter Cullen, John Goodman, Ken Watanabe and Frank Welker
Rated PG-13 for Intense Sequences of Sci-Fi Violence and Action, Language and Some Innuendo
Last night, I watched "The Rock" again. For those of you who haven't seen it and are among the now many who constantly spew bile at Michael Bay's name, give this one a watch. It is a masterpiece lovingly crafted by a man who knows exactly what he's doing. Which is why I sat in "Transformers: Age of Extinction" wondering what happened. Where is that passion to make the most exciting film that he could? Where is the heart and soul? None of the skill and technique that made the Nicolas Cage (another popular whipping boy these days)/Sean Connery film so exhilarating has made it into the newest "Transformers" movie.
The film takes place an unspecified time after "Transformers: Dark of the Moon." The head of the CIA, Harold Attinger (Grammer), wants all Transformers, good and bad, off Earth. He claims to be hunting down the Decepticons (the evil ones), but he's really taking down ALL of them. That's because he's in cahoots with the CEO of an engineering corporation that seeks to create its own Transformers for big bucks. But Attinger is looking for Optimus Prime (Cullen) for reasons that will later be revealed.
Meanwhile, wannabe inventor Cade Yeager (Wahlberg) has found an old truck that he and his friend Lucas (T.J. Miller) have found and bought for $150 bucks (it is here that Bay takes a stab at Hollywood's obsession with remakes and sequels, which is odd because Bay is too smart to be unaware of the irony surrounding this). That turns out to be Optimus Prime himself, and soon he, his daughter Tessa (Peltz) and her boyfriend Shane Dyson (Reynor) are on the run with Prime.
The film's biggest problem (other than the usual stuff with the franchise) is its running time. This is the longest film in the franchise (2:45), and all of them were long in the tooth. Roger Ebert once said that "No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough." That's true here. I don't mind long movies on principle (I own the Blu Ray Extended Edition of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and love every minute of it), but for a movie as dumb and thin as "Transformers: Age of Extinction," it's a killer. There's barely enough material here for a two hour movie, but in an attempt to market the movie as bigger and badder and more epic than the previous ones, Bay has padded the film to an extent that by the time the big climax occurs, the soda will be gone and the popcorn will have gone stale.
The performances are effective, but really, this is not an actor's show (Bay is notorious for filming acting scenes as quickly as possible). Nevertheless, everyone does their jobs. Mark Wahlberg is great, although this is not his first time acting against non-human co-stars who weren't visible during filming (I am of course referring to "Ted," a much better film). Newcomers Nicola Peltz and Jack Reynor are solid as well. Kelsey Grammer makes for a truly nasty villain, and Stanley Tucci is very good as a businessman who finds himself way in over his head. The voice acting is effective too, I guess, although it's heavily mechanized.
Bay is gaming for a world audience here, specifically in China (a billion potential viewers...nuff said). To do so, he has the climax set in Hong Kong (which, unfortunately, looks generic and rundown), and has cast Chinese actress Bingbing Li as Tucci's right hand lady. She's quite good, and could have a nice career in Hollywood if she plays her cards right. Still, I kept wishing for a cameo by Gong Li or Zhang Ziyi. Both are talented and popular in their native countries, and it could have gone over well with the critics (not that Bay has ever cared what they think about his movies).
The bottom line is that if you go see a "Transformers" movie, you know what to expect, and Bay delivers. Unfortunately, in an attempt to give you more, you end up getting less.
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, Jack Reynor, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer, Binbing Li, Titus Welliver, and the voices of Peter Cullen, John Goodman, Ken Watanabe and Frank Welker
Rated PG-13 for Intense Sequences of Sci-Fi Violence and Action, Language and Some Innuendo
Last night, I watched "The Rock" again. For those of you who haven't seen it and are among the now many who constantly spew bile at Michael Bay's name, give this one a watch. It is a masterpiece lovingly crafted by a man who knows exactly what he's doing. Which is why I sat in "Transformers: Age of Extinction" wondering what happened. Where is that passion to make the most exciting film that he could? Where is the heart and soul? None of the skill and technique that made the Nicolas Cage (another popular whipping boy these days)/Sean Connery film so exhilarating has made it into the newest "Transformers" movie.
The film takes place an unspecified time after "Transformers: Dark of the Moon." The head of the CIA, Harold Attinger (Grammer), wants all Transformers, good and bad, off Earth. He claims to be hunting down the Decepticons (the evil ones), but he's really taking down ALL of them. That's because he's in cahoots with the CEO of an engineering corporation that seeks to create its own Transformers for big bucks. But Attinger is looking for Optimus Prime (Cullen) for reasons that will later be revealed.
Meanwhile, wannabe inventor Cade Yeager (Wahlberg) has found an old truck that he and his friend Lucas (T.J. Miller) have found and bought for $150 bucks (it is here that Bay takes a stab at Hollywood's obsession with remakes and sequels, which is odd because Bay is too smart to be unaware of the irony surrounding this). That turns out to be Optimus Prime himself, and soon he, his daughter Tessa (Peltz) and her boyfriend Shane Dyson (Reynor) are on the run with Prime.
The film's biggest problem (other than the usual stuff with the franchise) is its running time. This is the longest film in the franchise (2:45), and all of them were long in the tooth. Roger Ebert once said that "No good movie is too long and no bad movie is short enough." That's true here. I don't mind long movies on principle (I own the Blu Ray Extended Edition of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and love every minute of it), but for a movie as dumb and thin as "Transformers: Age of Extinction," it's a killer. There's barely enough material here for a two hour movie, but in an attempt to market the movie as bigger and badder and more epic than the previous ones, Bay has padded the film to an extent that by the time the big climax occurs, the soda will be gone and the popcorn will have gone stale.
The performances are effective, but really, this is not an actor's show (Bay is notorious for filming acting scenes as quickly as possible). Nevertheless, everyone does their jobs. Mark Wahlberg is great, although this is not his first time acting against non-human co-stars who weren't visible during filming (I am of course referring to "Ted," a much better film). Newcomers Nicola Peltz and Jack Reynor are solid as well. Kelsey Grammer makes for a truly nasty villain, and Stanley Tucci is very good as a businessman who finds himself way in over his head. The voice acting is effective too, I guess, although it's heavily mechanized.
Bay is gaming for a world audience here, specifically in China (a billion potential viewers...nuff said). To do so, he has the climax set in Hong Kong (which, unfortunately, looks generic and rundown), and has cast Chinese actress Bingbing Li as Tucci's right hand lady. She's quite good, and could have a nice career in Hollywood if she plays her cards right. Still, I kept wishing for a cameo by Gong Li or Zhang Ziyi. Both are talented and popular in their native countries, and it could have gone over well with the critics (not that Bay has ever cared what they think about his movies).
The bottom line is that if you go see a "Transformers" movie, you know what to expect, and Bay delivers. Unfortunately, in an attempt to give you more, you end up getting less.
You got this title wrong, it's Transformers: Age of Extinction, Age of Ultron is the subtitle for the upcoming Avengers film.
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