MOVIE REVIEW: TRANSFORMERS - AGE OF EXTINCTION



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Cade Yager is a mechanic and an inventor who lives on a Texas’ farm with his teenage daughter. When he buys an old truck he discovers that he, in fact, got himself a transformer - Optimus Prime. His decision to keep it a secret triggers series of events that put him and his family in harms way and right in the middle of an ancient battle between Autobots and a new mysterious threat.

It is not a surprise that AGE OF EXTINCTION is a slick, exciting and beautifully executed production. What comes as a surprise is, that apart from some lousy dialogue (“I love you dad”  “Thank you for saving me” etc, blah blah), it has an decent script that brought some fresh ideas to the story. The visuals and battle scenes in the film took as much thinking and inventing as the plot itself  and successfully so - a forty something minutes finale in Hong Kong is inspired.

The other difference of this instalment from its predecessors is that its very brutal. Transformers die in the most horrible circumstances, loosing limbs and bleeding oil and experiments on them is a nod to a modern genocide.

The villains also get what they deserve and for the first time Autobots openly fight (and kill!) humans.

Mark Walberg puts on his Indiana Jones boots - chasing artefacts, running on the roofs, shooting, fighting, falling  and is exceptionally inventive at survival.
Nicole Peltz does a decent job as damsel in distress, but also kicks ass when it is required.
Stenley Tucci is superb as eccentric billionaire who keeps his bad attitude and manages to remain likable against odds. But Kelsey Grammer is a rather flat villain, easy to hate but redundant in the film with a handful of monster figures.

The story slightly touches on the issues of imperfection of the world and how some mistakes can bring good as well as damage, but AGE OF EXTINCTION is not a thinking person’s movie. It’s an inventive fantastic feast for the eye and if I am allowed to draw this comparison - leaving the theatre I felt the same way as when I saw JAMES CAMERON’s TRUE LIE for the first time.


AGE OF EXTINCTION designed to be viewed multiple times - there’s only so much a human eye can catch, and is a definite instant action classic.

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