Michael Bay injures Transformers sequel

While director Michael Bay may have acquired new intellectual property this summer with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it was by no means his only film to be released this year or even just this summer. Greeted with the oddest assortment of cheers, groans, complaints and praise, Transformers: Age of Extinction delivers a fourth installment in Bay’s most successful film franchise to date.

Despite this success, common belief dictates that sequels are never as good as the original, and this particular franchise has never initially received much critical praise. So the question arises: Is Transformers: Age of Extinction the sequel we never wanted or simply one we never knew we wanted?

The answer is the former. But, just like everyone else who knew the potential film dilemma beforehand, I went and saw it anyway. The film picks up immediately where the third one left off, albeit with some rather significant changes, particularly in regards to the casting.

For those unfamiliar with the series, a rough breakdown of the plot and general themes are as follows: Transformers, giant robots with the ability to transform between common technology and highly combat-efficient super-machines, reside on Earth after the destruction of their home world. Two warring factions, the Autobots and Deceptions, battle with each other in a never-ending war to decide whether they become the protectors or conquerors of Earth. There are lots of explosions, cheesy speeches and terrible performances from Shia LeBouff and Megan Fox. Then the cycle repeats in the next film.

This fourth installment begins in the wake of the battles of the third Transformers, leaving humanity terrified of the 300-foot death machines that have a penchant for ravaging their cities in every film. Consequently, the U.S. military institutes a plan to exterminate the remaining transformers, Autobot and Decepticon alike.

To this end, the military hires a mercenary transformer named Lockdown to bring down the remaining robots, especially their leader Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen). The Autobots’s fight for survival soon brings them into contact with inventor Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) and his family, who must decide whether or not they will help the Autobots survive the attempted destruction of their right to exist.

Despite being a fourth installment in the series, the film is remarkably user-friendly and accessible. The approachability is owed in no small part to the inclusion of and performance by Mark Wahlberg. Due to Shia Lebouff’s departure as the main character of the film, the new cast allows the film to begin entirely new plots for its human characters (from whose point of view much of the movie is shown). Consequently, even if audiences are unfamiliar with the series, this fourth installment is, oddly enough, an excellent place to begin.

However, this accessibility deters the film as much as it aids the franchise. While the plot is admittedly very easy to pick up, many key elements will inevitably be lost on the uninitiated audience. Particularly early in the film, several key dramatic scenes rely almost entirely on viewers having prior knowledge of the films. These scenes lose all weight and purpose otherwise as a result.

Furthermore, despite the cast turnover, the newcomers still suffer from the same plague which crippled the prior three films: the writing. It’s no secret that the Transformers films are action films at their core. They are filled to the brim with explosions and mayhem, and every scene acts merely as a bridge to the next big fight. In that sense, story really should be merely window dressing for the film’s entertainment value.

However, the poor writing manages to actively detract from every aspect of the film, including its main actions. This stands as a testament to the story’s poor quality. Every human character in the film is so poorly written that it becomes impossible to like a single member of the cast; the ones you don’t immediately forget are overshadowed by characters whose “endearing quirks” easily become extreme annoyances.

Despite an admittedly good performance by Wahlberg, even his seasoned touch is not strong enough to salvage much of the dialogue he is forced to engage in through the film. Culllen doesn’t help Wahlberg’s cause. While Cullen certainly sounds the part of the Autobot leader, almost every line of dialogue the mechanical monolith has is some clichéd expression. While obviously done for dramatic effect, his every spoken word sounds as if it were tailor-made for a trailer. Optimus Prime delivers the lines and quickly shifts tone from dramatic to comical.

Prime makes this shift early on and never returns, leaving audiences more likely to laugh at how ridiculously over-the –top he is than anything else. The writing wouldn’t be so much of an issue if it were only slight, but Bay insists on shoehorning poorly conceived human drama at every opportunity. It may just be my opinion, but perhaps an impending and potentially cataclysmic attack by a band of killer mercenary robots is not the best time to chastise one’s daughter about her secret boyfriend, no?

The action scenes themselves are well done more so than the previous films’. The camera, while still entirely too enamored with shaking effects, does take a step away from the action in order to make the scene slightly more visible in key moments. The robots themselves, as always, are rendered in beautifully mechanical CGI. While it does occasionally become difficult to differentiate one faction’s robots from another’s, the film does manage to make each transformer distinct enough to alleviate some confusion.

Transformers: Age of Extinction is exactly what audiences have come to expect from the films: a dumb action flick, good for its fights and little else. While its new content and characters attempt to make the film more immediately accessible to newcomers than previous iterations in the series, its writing flaws show that Bay has not completely reinvented his franchise. Bogged down by incredibly poor writing, pacing and dramatic choices, the film fails to evoke any sense of urgency, relatability or passion in its audiences. It is an example of eye candy at its finest. Just like eating real candy, at the end all I was left with was a lingering thought that I know I shouldn’t have eaten it.

Overall Rating: 2/5