Age of Extinction image

I know I’m way behind, and I’m ashamed of how long it took me, but I finally made it to the theater to see Transformers: Age of Extinction, and I have a lot to say. This movie left me with a bag of mixed feelings that I’m going to try to fathom into coherent thoughts in case any of you are still on the fence about whether or not you should see the newest installment in the Transformers film series. So without further ado, here’s my review of Transformers: Age of Extinction.

The first word that comes to mind when I think of Age of Extinction is long. When I heard the movie was going to be two and a half hours, I thought, “That’s no big deal. I’ve seen movies longer than that before.” But for this movie, two and a half hours seems like way too long. I remember getting about three-fourths of the way through Age of Extinction and wondering, “When is this movie going to end?” It’s not necessarily that I didn’t enjoy the movie. I just think it would have benefited greatly from being 15 or even 30 minutes shorter.

On the subject of the movie’s length, you should also know that there is a lot going on in this film. With Shia LeBeouf’s Sam Witwicky out of the picture, the filmmakers had to introduce a whole new set of human protagonists to go along with the already-established Autobots. On top of the new crew of good guys, there are a ton of villains in this movie. I personally struggled to completely grasp what was going on at certain points, and I was giving the movie my complete attention. You might do well to read up on a few of the main characters before you go into the film so that you’ll have an idea of what’s going on.

One thing that became very clear to me while I was watching this movie was the fact that I remember almost nothing about the first three films, and that’s OK. As Optimus Prime says during the movie, “The rules are different now.” This is a new Transformers. It may exist in the same timeline as the original movies, but it has a darker tone, a different direction, and new heroes.

As far as casting goes, I thought the movie did a good job. Mark Wahlberg was great as the new protagonist, Cade Yeager. Having the main good guy be a single dad going on an adventure with his daughter, Tessa (played by Nicola Peltz), was a nice change from the guy-tries-to-get-the-girl formula of the first three Transformers films. Rounding out the main trio was Jack Reynor playing Shane, Tessa’s boyfriend. These three, along with Optimus Prime and his Autobots, fight against Lockdown, an evil Transformer sent to earth to find Optimus, and his human allies bent on eradicating Transformers from the planet.

I think my favorite thing about this movie was the fact that they’re finally starting to dive into the question of where the Transformers come from. Lockdown is apparently in cahoots with “the Creators,” and he refers to them constantly. I really like this kind of mythology, and I look forward to seeing where they’re going to take that subject in the future of the film franchise.

Another cool addition to this film was the Dinobots. They actually added to the plot and action of the film, and they looked pretty sweet while doing it.

Overall, I did enjoy this movie. I wish it was a little shorter, so it may be worth it to wait until you can rent it on DVD and pause it for a break if you get exhausted. But it was still an exciting action movie with good actors and the Transformers we all can’t help but love. If you’ve seen the previous movies and enjoyed them, you’ll enjoy this one as well. If you’ve never seen a Transformers movie before, now would be a good time to get on board, as they’re giving the series a shot in the arm with new characters and story arcs. Either way, I would recommend this movie, but probably as a DVD rental.

Have you seen Transformers: Age of Extinction? If so, did you like it? If not, what’s holding you back from seeing it? Let me know what you think via my Contact form or on social media. Thank you guys for reading, and have a great weekend!