Transformers: Age Of Extinction (2014) Review

Autobots

1. Enjoyed the soft reboot. I thought it was time to retire the Witwickys. The only two people who I was sad to see go were Josh Duhamel and John Turturro. They added some great actors too, John Goodman, Stanley Tucci, and Kelsey Grammer are terrific!
2. Even less jokes than any of the other movies so good job!
3. I liked the Dinobots. They have room for improvement if they continue to use them in Transformers 7 (Bumblebee (2018) is the next Transformers movie).
4. I enjoyed Lockdown. He’s probably the best antagonist in the franchise. Sentinel Prime was alright and The Fallen needed some work done to him. Megatron was at his best in Revenge of the Fallen.
5. I thought the human message was great, just because we can, should we?

Decepticons

1.  Did not like Bee’s new look. It was hideous, but he had a nice looking Camaro.
2. The fight scenes were subpar to other movies. I thought they were weaknesses to this movie.
3. Again, we have a bad female lead. I can’t figure out if it’s the script or if the actresses aren’t that good. This is one thing that I bet will happen in The Last Knight and it’s disappointing.

Ratings

8.0./10, B-, 4/5 GM

Favorite Quotes

1. “There are mysteries to the universe we were never meant to solve. But who we are and why we are here, are not among them. Those answers we carry inside…” – OP/Cullen.
2. “What do you think being human means? That’s what we do. We make mistakes. Sometimes, out of those mistakes come the most amazing things… When I fixed you, it was for a reward. That was it. That was why. The money. And it was me making a mistake. Without it, you wouldn’t be here. So even if you got no faith in us, I’m asking you to do what I do. I’m asking you to look at all the junk and see the treasure. You gotta have faith, Prime, in who we can be” – Cade Yeager/Mark Walhberg.
3. “You promised me human intelligence… or is there such a thing?” – Lockdown/Mark Ryan (No, there is not).
4. “Hound, find your inner compass. Loyalty is but a flower in the winds of fear and temptation” – Drift/Ken Watanabe.
5. “I’m a fat ballerina who takes scalps and slits throats!” – Hound/John Goodman.

Synopsis

This movie opens up to several spacecrafts coming down to the Earth’s surface during the time the dinosaurs ruled the planet. It is no surprise by now that Earth has been dealing with all kinds of alien life. Thousands of years passed and a few Dinobots have been dug up in the Arctic by Darcy Tirrel (Sophia Myles) and her crew that is less than pleased to see her walking in. These robots have just changed history as humans know it. She works for Joshua Joyce (Stanley Tucci) at Kinetic Solutions Incorporation (KSI). There they have unearthed a rare element and have infused the Seed (Transformer genome) into the element that is now known as Transformium. Joshua is frustrated with the scientists because he wants the head of Galvatron (Frank Welker) to look like Optimus even though they are using the head of Megatron.

The Battle of Chicago has initiated U.S. congressmen to end their ties with all Autobot allies. Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer), main human antagonist, throws out a deck of cards that have living and deceased Autobot and Decepticon heads on them; Ironhide, Bumblebee, and Arcee are easily made out. The government, James Savoy (Titus Welliver), his black ops men (Cemetery Wind), and Lockdown (Mark Ryan) are hunting down and killing all alien species. Ratchet has been hiding out in a broken down cruise ship; he tries to reason with them, but takes heavy fire and dies by Lockdown. Optimus, Bumblebee, Hound (John Goodman), Drift (Ken Watanabe), Crosshairs (John DiMaggio), Brains, and the Dinobots are the only Autobots out of the 28 known ones.

Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg), a father who works as a mechanic/repairman, is seen at an abandoned movie theater with high school friend and employee, Lucas Flannery (T.J. Miller). As they are looking through rubbish, Cade finds an old, worn out truck. His daughter, Tessa Yeager (Nicola Peltz), has been rejected from college and sees her father waste his money on a truck rather than what is important to her, college. As Cade fixes Prime, Lucas is on edge about hiding something that should be called in, as he does when he goes to get supplies. The Cemetery Winds now approach the Yeager property and Lockdown is not far from them. Optimus and Lockdown have their first fight while the Yeagers and Lucas are picked up by Tessa’s boyfriend, Shane Dyson (Jack Reynor). They eventually escape, but without Lucas.

Optimus finds himself a new look and calls for the remaining Autobots to come together so they talk about a plan because there were no good ways of approaching KSI without some human help. They head to Chicago where KSI is located. Cade uses one of Joshua’s mini-drones to take a picture of a security badge so he can access the areas for the scientists. Bee is angered when he hears that Stinger is better than him in every way, from looks to weaponry. Cade uses the drone so the Autobots can see what he sees. When Cade shows what they have done to Ratchet, Optimus and the team head to KSI and destroy the lab. Joshua is peer-pressured into using Galvatron and Stinger since Attinger said this was an alien terrorist attack.

Galvatron takes on his own mind and Megatron starts to come back as the final fight progresses. Joshua is also giving everyone an exclusive first look at how they are better than the actual Autobots. When Galvatron transforms and uses his weaponry on his own is the moment that Joshua starts to rethink what he wants. Su Yueming (Bingbing Li), a woman interested in his work, is also displeased at what she saw. Optimus senses that this thing has the presence of Megatron in it and, once he is rescued, no longer wants to protect the humans. Lockdown captures him and Tessa where Prime is now hanging with the other knights in the Knights Terminus and is leaving Earth since they helped get Optimus. A fight breaks out in the streets of Chicago after it had all been rebuilt. Lockdown realizes they escape, but only after they left hyperspace.

Joshua and Attinger talk over the production, but Joshua tells him to wait. Galvatron awakens, takes control of the other Transformium bots, and orders them to set off the seed in the biggest city which is Hong Kong. Prime and the team have arrived in Hong Kong only to be split up by a few missiles deployed by Stinger. Prime recruits the Dinobots and charge into the city. The Knight Terminus arrives and is the main cause for the damage of the coastlines of Hong Kong. It starts to pick up anything that is metal, cars, bikes, air conditioners, the bots, etc. Optimus gets Lockdown alone, but he is not doing so good. Lockdown has him pinned with his own sword through his chest until Bee comes to the rescue. Tessa and Shane help pull out the sword, awesomely if I must say. Lockdown is taken down as well as the rest of the Cons. Optimus says his goodbyes and flies off into space.

Dead:

1. Jazz (T1)
2. Arcee sisters (T2)
3. Jetfire
4. Ironhide (T3)
5. Que
6. Sentinel Prime
7. Ratchet (T4)
8. Leadfoot

Unknown:

1. Sideswipe
2. Jolt
3. Dino (Voice actor did pass away so Dino could as well be dead)
4. Mudflap & Skids were killed off in the novelization by Sentinel Prime but no confirmation
5. Topspin and Roadbuster are thought to have been killed by Cemetery Wind and Lockdown