Movie Review 105: Transformers, Age of Extinction

Hello everyone!

Here we are, the Day before the TCFF 2014 Movie list goes live!

And I decide to go see Transformers, the most intelligent movie series ever made. I kid you not, They made so much money in Product placement it probably made up for the gratuitous explosions!

I'm not bothering with a Spoiler Tag.

Movie Review: Transformers, Age of Extinction

Pros:
I have to hand it to Michael bay, the man knows how to shoot a movie. The film is gorgeous to look at, the Girls are hot (which the annoying girl behind me loved to point out) the robots were really cool, and the camera whipped around everything.

The Cinematography is my favorite thing about this movie. It had many beautiful images and many intricate sweeping camera moves. Some of the shots were mind blowing, like a camera going from outside of a car, coming in to show the people inside, being shot at, then back outside, all in slow motion. The shots were amazing. but it was all style and no substance.

The CGI was great as well, to be expected. especially considering the movie had more animators than explosions. (and that's saying something) the autobots all had unique feels, even if one of them was obviously a racial stereotype.

Mark Wahlberg was a very nice addition to the series, it got it away from the constant ADD ness of Shia Labeouf. And I personally loved TJ Miller, even though they killed him off so quick. damn.

I enjoyed Lockdown (the bounty Hunter) and Hound (john goodman's gun nut). They were the standouts among the robots

Finally, I really liked the action. It was mindless and loud, but it's some of the best slam band, kaboom action I've seen in a long time, while it never felt like they had any real tension I still found myself eating up the fights and honestly wouldn't have minded if the whole thing was action.

Con:
hmmm, where to start? Well, It's all style and no substance. there are so many times where the film breaks continuity just for a cool shot, or a character who should already be dead just appears again for no reason, or this cool thing happens and is never mentioned again. At times I honestly thought there were 6 autobots, yet they kept mentioning that there were 5. Overall it was a blur of frenzied action and no real substance.

So let's talk about the Dialogue. Never one of the strong points of the series,but it was usually at least fun. this one had some insanely cringe worthy dialogue. there's only so long a girl can call her father 'daddy' before it gets creepy. I mean seriously....  Also even though Shia's out they somehow found a way to add in an unneeded little love story. It it too much to ask for than to just have a damn action movie without a love story? and a Michael Bay love story at that?

The next thing up is the ungodly amount of Product placement. not only are all of the Robot's toting around Car ads (Lamborghini, Ferrari, Chevy, Bugatti, Pagani, and so many more) but it seems every other shot in the movie had an ad somewhere. Bud light got a big ad, complete with Mark Wahlberg looking at 100+ bud light bottles, taking one, opening it, downing it, and saying "mm that's good" Then The windows tablet gets a full long insert shot. A Chinese Victoria secret ad, in English on the back of a bus is obvious. There's a cringe worthy Beats drop, I mean, he even calls it 'the pill' and says it's awesome...later in the same room a My little Pony joke...yeah. The whole movie was just a giant commercial for things in the movie, and so many times it took me out of the movie just because of these moments.

Overall I just felt bombarded with either explosions, or metal crunching, or advertising. It just felt like I was getting things thrown at me from every angle and it makes me realize I payed 15$ for an advertisement for toys and beer. I feel ashamed now.

Final Verdict 42
Better than 2 and 3, but so full of product placement that I was revolted.


So now to Rapid refresh until the TCFF list come out!!!



Comments

  1. Nice review. Way too long for what it is. Which is just another Transformers movie.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment