Transformers: Age of Extinction
Image: Photo: Industrial Light and Magic. Courtesy of Paramount Pictures 2014.
The fourth instalment in director Michael Bay’s Transformers franchise is much of what audiences expect from the action-packed, explosion-filled films.
This time around Bay is trying something different by switching Shia Lebouf’s Sam Witwicky for Mark Wahlberg’s single father/inventor Cade Yeager, and thankfully, it’s a massive improvement.
Disappointingly, though, the character arcs are non-existent and the half-realised subplots are plentiful – which really shouldn’t be lamented in this style of film but for some reason it’s now more noticeable. Perhaps all those extra explosions blasted bigger holes in the story?
Stanly Tucci and Kelsey Grammer as the villains lend a chunk of credibility to Age of Extinction, but sadly, most of the female characters are either underutilised or irrelevant.
An attempt at creating motivation for Yeager falls flat. His daughter, Tessa (Nicola Peltz), is simply eye-candy filling a Megan Fox/Rosie Huntington-Whiteley shaped gap. It’s a source of comedy, rather than tension, as Yeager makes occasional quips about her skimpy clothing.
The Transformers films are not meant to be cerebral-challengers and audiences will largely ignore the flaws to appreciate it for the easy, entertainment that it is. (LL)
***1/2 /5
