It is four years after TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON and the surviving Autobots are on the run from a secret US government black-ops operation known as Cemetery Wind run by Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer- how I miss the mayor he played in BOSS).   Optimus Prime is discovered by struggling robotics inventor Cad Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) in Paris, Texas as Cade thinks it is truck he can strip for parts until he discovers it is a Transformer.   He intends on calling the government to report it, but he soon decides to fix Optimus and he is soon thrown into a new battle (with his 17 year old teenage daughter Tessa and her race driver boyfriend Shane (dubbed as Lucky Charms by an irritated Cade when he finds out about his daughter’s secret boyfriend) for the ride).  Optimus and the humans along with the surviving Autobots (which include Bumblebee, a Samurai Transformer, and a John Goodman sounding Transformer) discover that Attinger has formed an alliance with Lockdown, a Transformer tasked by the creators of the Transformers to bring Optimus Prime back.   Attinger is also allied with a big company, KSI, headed by Joshua Joyce (Stanley Tucci being a very manic and intelligent businessman) who has discovered the Transformers are made of a material dubbed as Transformium.  KSI has created new Transformers with Galvatron being the lead prototype which is mapped off Megatron’s brain.   Soon the Autobots, Cade, and Shane are on the run again which involves a big battle in Hong Kong and the introduction of the Dinobots.

 

TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION isn’t as good as TRANSFORMERS; DARK OF THE MOON even though it is better than TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN.  The climatic battle doesn’t have the same big energy as the previous TRANSFORMERS films which makes you wonder if Michael Bay really wanted to do a fourth TRANSFORMERS movie and maybe it is time another director took on THE TRANSFORMERS for the inevitable fifth film in the series whether you love or loath the films.   The human characters are better than Shia Labeouf’s character in the first three films (and yet I got tired of Cade referring to his daughter’s boyfriend as Lucky Charms), but I kinda miss the military soldiers from the first three as they brought a believable military force that could fight alongside the Autobots.   I do hope they manage to involve Unicron in a future sequel despite the producers saying that character wouldn’t fit in.  The 3D filmmaking isn’t as good as the last TRANSFORMERS films even though both were filmed using 3D HD cameras.  I do hope the TRANSFORMERS series isn’t running out of steam and I hope next time they make Optimus Prime sound less bloodthirsty when killing Deceptions like in these last two sequels.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

EVOLUTION WITH EXTINCTION documentary:

GENERATION 2- setting the stage for the next story with new human characters and developing a new TRANSFORMERS film

DRIVE LIKE HELL- a focus on the stunt driving in the fourth film

SMALL TOWN BIG MOVIE- behind-the-scenes of filming in a small Texas town including building a false front for a house and using an old gin mill as an interior of Cade’s barn

SHADOW PROTOCOL ACTIVATED- filming in Detroit, Michigan and the General Motors factory

THE LAST STAND- a look at how they built part of Hong Kong in Detroit for part of the film’s climax

THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC- a look at filming in China and the challenges they faced

RISE OF THE DINOBOTS- how they brought the Dinobots to life

THE FINISHING TOUCH- a look at the post-production of the movie and how involved Michael Bay was in the process from editing to visual effects to music (jam sessions with Imagine Dragons) and sound design (with sounds created by Skrillex) to the voice acting (with Peter Cullen who does the voice for Optimus Prime) with the end result launching a press tour for the latest sequel

 

BAY ON ACTION- Michael bay talks about the action in several different scenes

JUST ANOTHER RBIG EFFIN’ MOVIE- behind-the-scenes with Michael Bay’s mom

SPARK OF DESIGN- a behind-the-scenes look at the design of the Grimlock movie toy as you get a tour of various parts of the Hasbro factory

T.J. MILLER: FARM HIPPIE- actor T.J. Miller tries to be comedic as he visits Mark Wahlberg, Kelsey Grammer, Michael Bay, and Optimus Prime

 

Also on the extras disc are both US theatrical trailers, an ANGRY BIRDS TRANSFORMERS: ORIGIN STORY trailer, and a trailer for KRE-O TRANSFORMERS:  TAKE US THROUGH THE MOVIES.

 

The movie in standard definition on DVD

Digital HD Ultraviolet copy to stream and download a copy of the movie.

 

FINAL ANALYSIS:  The latest TRANSFORMERS isn’t as good as the first and third movie in the series as it is a little overlong which makes you think it may be time for someone else to direct other than Michael Bay, but the making-of documentary is a well produced and in-depth look at how the movie was made.

 

This review is ©10-8-2014 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com

 

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