Transformers 4 Review: Ignore the Critics!

By Camden Joiner on July 6, 2014

Image via wallwidehd.com

Everyone from famed film critic Richard Roeper to the box office attendant at Beechwood 11 Cinemas publicly shared their dislike for the new Transformers film. Transformers: Age of Extinction currently holds a 17% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and has a score of 32 on Metacritic. I’ve never been a big defender of the Transformers films, much less of director Michael Bay, but the consistent harsh criticism of the new Transformers film is quite unfair. In fact, the fourth installment in the Transformers film franchise might be the best of the bunch.

The fourquel takes place four years after the events of Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Mark Wahlberg plays the film’s lead character Cade Yeager, an ambitious inventor living in rural Texas. Yeager purchases an old truck to strip for parts but through happenstance Yeager stumbles upon much more than what he bargained for. The truck eventually transforms into the Autobot leader Optimus Prime. Prime tells a shocked Yeager the Autobots are currently being hunted by the US government and were forced into hiding. Yeager’s friend secretly makes a call to the government hoping for a reward on Prime, but the CIA comes with empty wallets and weapons blazing. Prime escapes with the help of Yeager and his family and rallies the remaining Autobots for an attack.

Joshua Joyce, played masterfully by Stanley Tucci, is head of the corporation KSI, which specializes in Transformer inventions. Joyce has developed the unstable metal Transformers are made of and with government funding and support was able to create a Frankenstein-like Transformer for the US government. This new Transformer is named Galvatron but KSI severely underestimated their new monster’s abilities. KSI used parts and pieces from other Transformers to create Galvatron, including Optimus Prime’s arch nemisis Megatron. Unbeknownst to KSI however, Megatron was mentally taking control of Galvatron and had his sights set on Optimus Prime.

Age of Extinction is about what you’d expect from a Michael Bay blockbuster: cool effects and a non-cohesive storyline. But while the plot was twisted in tangles the movie still flowed from scene to scene smoothly. Mark Wahlberg gives a consistent performance in line from his work in recent years and while it certainly won’t win him any awards, he’s still a pleasure to watch on the big screen. Wahlberg is aided by strong performances from Stanley Tucci and Kelsey Grammar, but even more so from the visual spectacle which remains to be the core of the Transformers film franchise. The movie, clocking in at just over 2 hours and 45 minutes, is a bit long, but it keeps a quick and light pace. Sure, Transformers 4 isn’t going to get a Best Picture nomination, but that’s not why you go to the theater in blockbuster July. You go to be entertained and that’s just what Transformers does.

Ranking the Transformers films:

1. Transformers

2. Transformers: Age of Extinction

3. Transformers: Dark of the Moon

4. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

Follow Uloop

Apply to Write for Uloop News

Join the Uloop News Team

Discuss This Article

Back to Top

Log In

Contact Us

Upload An Image

Please select an image to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format
OR
Provide URL where image can be downloaded
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format

By clicking this button,
you agree to the terms of use

By clicking "Create Alert" I agree to the Uloop Terms of Use.

Image not available.

Add a Photo

Please select a photo to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format