Transformers: Age of Extinction

Contrary to many users here and the rating of the film in general, I liked the fourth episode of Transformers more than its predecessor, which is also due to the recasting of Shia LaBeouf, who was very annoying in the third. While Mark Wahlberg is not to blame for the somewhat crappy script, he was nevertheless much more tolerable, which cannot be said for his daughter and her boyfriend, who were similarly annoying as Shia. The partner-family story line went completely over my head and the film could have done without it just fine. Stanley Tucci could have been given more space and Kelsey Grammer was fine, but his villain didn't have enough charisma. To accuse the film of an over-long running time, lack of emotion and a silly script would be like carrying firewood into the woods, as the franchise builds on this combination – and in this case it bothered me less than with the third part. As for the technical execution, it is again an audiovisual orgy, of which I liked the alien ship, the escape from it and the final battle in Hong Kong the most. Besides that, as a die-hard dinosaur fan, I liked the film incorporated these giant creatures into the plot, even though it might have looked excessive. In the end, it's a weaker three stars, but since I found Extinction better than its predecessor, I'll give it a boost to differentiate the two works qualitatively. If I’d seen the film in the cinema, however, it would be a clean three stars. (09/02/2019)

Michael Bay didn't make me too happy this time. The new Transformers has the least interesting story of all the franchise, it's basically 2 1/2 hours of explosions and CGI with good but uninteresting characters – I really missed Shia LaBeouf here. The 3D is again unnecessary, the film is unnecessarily drawn out and even I, a lover of these popcorn blockbusters, wished it was over, but to be honest, if it wasn't for Bay, I would never see something like this in my life and for that I am grateful and indebted to him. The dinosaurs and a few moments here were truly breathtaking. Eye-candy, but no soul. 75%. (06/29/2014)

Relative brain loss / the fun is worse than part two and three. Something keeps getting moved from place to place under a flimsy pretext, takes a position, destroys everything within reach and travels further for another flimsy reason. The 165 minutes and the lobotomized story sometimes made it difficult for me to understand why, because it all seems so sparse, a bit like an advertisement for (mostly American) cars accompanied by pyrotechnic effects. At the end, the film plays to the Chinese audience, everyone hugs and the story returns roughly to where it was at the beginning of part one, and only the appearance of the actors and their casting changes a little. If you're able to spend two and three-quarters of an hour to see the capabilities of 3D IMAX detail, you're ok, but while Edwards recalled the magic of the perspective in Godzilla, this sounds like a fucking waste of time and money to me. For fans of the series, the good news is that Transformers can continue to run in an endless loop, because "we all have a boss" and even the highest boss has a higher boss. [40%] (06/25/2014)

I wasn't expecting a quality intelligent film, but that was to be expected. The Transformers' transformations are still super cool, and I was most excited about the robot dinosaurs, which were just fantastic. However, it's still that same old Bay mess, consisting of lots of technology, slow-motion shots, and untalented actresses. Some of the dialogue is really poor... (10/14/2014)

It’s nice to watch how the behind this film know very well what the trendiest thing of day is, because almost everything is here. The ideal measurements of 90-60-90 for the main character, always dressed and made up exactly as it should look, the best sunny landscapes we could wish for, with of course great weather, the most modern cars of the last five years zooming by, and when we happen to encounter scene indoors, we have timeless square design and noble materials. The only thing missing are the men's sexy hairstyles that have been in fashion for the past two years – the guys here still stick to classics. It's as shallow as it can be, and it's meant to make a billion dollars. All of this is okay, but it shouldn't be a 165-minute borefest about crap. Basically, it doesn't matter if it's the second, third, or fourth installment, the concept is always the same. The introduction to the characters, filler (some sort of plot), and choose one big metropolis where the final opulent showdown will take place, where half of the skyscrapers, cars, and ships will be blown up. Visually, it's robust, but not inventive or even captivating (Zack Snyder with Man of Steel is a class above). All that remains then is amazement at how it's possible to shoot so many big explosions for just 210 million dollars, and you can look forward to more installments, because it will certainly have all the trendiest stuff in in all key segments at that time. (06/29/2014)