 Up to this point, I think it's safe to say that I have mixed emotions on the live-action 'Transformers' franchise. The positives include them being dumb fun action entertainment, and if one is able to suspend disbelief, and remind oneself that they're not here for Oscar bait, they're passable. The negatives mostly come from critics who are looking for some kind of realism in a pure fantasy, and personally, I find a lot of the human dialogue can get irksome, and it can get confusing seeing silver metal fight silver metal constantly.
'Age of Extinction' is yet another mixed bag of good and bad, and probably closer to bad, simply due to, again, the human element. However, this time, Shia LaBeouf isn't a part of things, and a new cast of main characters takes over, five years after the events of 'Dark of the Moon'. We're never actually told whatever happens to Sam or anyone else, though, and we're asked to simply move on. That said, however, the cast here is actually pretty solid... except of course for our lead heroes, and even that is mostly due to terrible dialogue. This one asks us to accept that an alien race known as The Creators wiped out the dinosaurs with this film's MacGuffin item (because we always need one), the "seeds," which spread an alloy eventually dubbed "Transformium." I can still let this slide a bit, but it does make me roll my eyes at what hey want us to accept. Anyway, a geologist named Darcy Tirrel (Sophia Myles) excavates this material in present day, using it to create Transformer drones for K.S.I. (Kinetic Solutions Incorporated) Industries. In these past five years, the general public has forced the Autobots into hiding, as they have become public enemies due to the destruction in the aftermath of the Battle of Chicago in the previous film. While the people believe they have been given sanctuary somewhere, a rogue CIA division called Cemetery Wind, led by Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer), is actually hunting them down, considering them a true danger to our planet. They are aided by a Cybertronian assassin named Lockdown (Mark Ryan), who basically suggests that killing Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) would be like cutting the head off the snake. Optimus has since been in a bit of a sleep-mode by the looks of it, over these five years, and is discovered by Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg); a struggling inventor who hopes to peacefully be able to use Transformers tech for his inventions. This is also where the god-awful dialogue comes into play, as he plays overprotective father to his 17-year-old daughter, Tessa (Nicola Peltz Beckham), who's dating a professional driver, Shane Dyson (Jack Reynor), and between the three of them, they are constantly bickering about whatever is best for Tessa. It's just about as annoying as Megan Fox chasing "love" in 'Revenge of the Fallen'. Anyway, eventually Optimus comes to life, indebted to Cade for bringing him back to life and not being one of the shitty humans. But thanks to Cade's business partner, Lucas (T.J. Miller) and his dumb ass, the family soon finds themselves on the run, protecting Optimus Prime while he protects them, not only against Lockdown, but a villain that got pushed to the side here so much it's painful - Galvatron (Frank Welker); A.K.A. the most badass Decepticon there ever was. He's made here by the humans, too; a team led by true neutral Joshua Joyce (Stanley Tucci), who may be the most interesting human character throughout the film. Eventually this all leads to the standard 'Transformers' movie in which the Autobots attempt to prevent the Decepticons from getting their hands on the film's MacGuffin while humans are caught in the crossfire. The Dinobots are here, as advertised, but only briefly, and not much happens with them. They were only meant to put butts in seats. If only the dialogue wasn't so bad, this could have been at least as fun, albeit nonsensical, as 'Dark of the Moon'. Effect-wise and action-wise, it does a great job. It even makes the Transformers clearer, and more recognizable (namely the Autobots), but in the end, there's way too much going on here, and Galvatron NEEDS his own damn movie - he is NOT a throwaway character! 2/5
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