Movies: Transformer 4 Age of Extinction

Movies: Transformer 4 Age of Extinction

Was able to catch this blockbuster movie on the 2nd day of release and boy it was packed all the way to the first row!

It's those kind of movie like x men or spiderman that has had many previous movies before and is probably a must see just because you have seen the previous movies. For some people it's a must see because we played with the toys when we were young. Also a safe type of movie being in the action genre that allows it to appeal to the large population.

Ah dinosaurs, the caveman form of transport

Did it live up to the hype though? Read on to find out more.

Storyline 3/5

The movie, if you checked is a whopping 160 minutes long give or take a few minutes. That's more then 2 hours that you are going to spend in the theater. So is the storyline able to remain enthralling?

In all honesty, the story does stay fresh as in many new things are added to the story as time goes by. However there is very little obvious linkages to why this thing that happened previously led to the things that is happening in the current section of the movie. To put it shortly, you can try paying alot of attention to the movie and what the characters are saying but you will still find yourself confused ever so often at why things ended up this way.

The storyline is also strange in that there are many instances where something has happened such as more bots joining the fight, but then you realize that Hey they could really have done this earlier instead. Alot of things that happen are quite unbelievable or unrealistic and you feel that the writers made things this way just so that you could have a longer story. There was also a lot of unnecessary actions that were taken by the humans that in every angle of analysis is totally silly and dumb.

One clear cut example if you see the movie is, if your bots can fly, why do you still bother driving around from one place to another? And what happened to the bomb? Confused!

Character 3.5/5

Additional 0.5 points purely because there was the other bunch of transformers that was added to the movie that at least significantly heightened the entertainment value.

They introduced new main human characters to this movie as well as new bots and did try to give them some distinct personalities which was good. But overall they did not have enough screen time despite the 2 hour plus movie time to truly make an impact. It's really just a matter of creating a unique sequence for them but it was a wasted opportunity there.

Some familiar bad guys did come back with friends but bad guy friends especially didn't have any extra emphasis on scenes to make them special enough. You will realize during the movie that some characters just disappear and you don't notice till they reappear after awhile.

All in all, a lot of potential wasted type of movie.

Cinematography 3.5/5

As in typical action movies it had above average Cinematography with plenty of slow mo shots and plenty of explosions. But similar to the character section there is really alot more unused opportunity to really make the movie stand out and I would say that the action scenes were not long enough and can really be made more epic.

Music 3.5/5

Music was good in keeping the atmosphere up and the feeling of all the explosions. Nothing particularly unique in the way the music was used though.

Spectacle 3/5

Sadly, when looking from a summative view, this movie tried to tell too much story at the risk of action sequences, and yet storyline was too broad to be able to keep it coherent and flowing well enough. Hence its like a action movie with not enough action and with a rather confusing or unconvincing story.

They should have tried to tell less and shift the focus to better action scenes and focus more on what the other newly introduced bots could do. Too many new characters but too little time to make them endearing to the audience.

Overall

Storyline: 3 (At times it was hard to follow. At times it did not make sense either. Still, at least it can be considered interesting)
Character: 3.5 (So many new bots.. too little time to emphasize on them... and at times you forget about many of the bots)
Cinematography: 3.5 (Good action sequences, not particularly exceptional though)
Music: 3.5 (Music was there lending to impact and atmosphere)
Spectacle: 3 (Did not manage to intrigue or excel in both storyline nor action sequence when it clearly has a lot of potential to do so.)

Overall:  3.3 (If you are an action flick lover with not too over analyzing personality on storyline and details, this will be a fine movie for you given its exceptional playtime. If you like good and coherent storylines and your friends ask you to see this movie, keep reminding yourself... "I like bots and explosions and boomboom pewpew!". If you plan on missing this movie, don't worry about it cause it is probably a good home movie type. Just manage your expectations and remind yourself its a fair movie given its length of time.

Disagree with this review? Thought the story was fine? Comment here and I can tell you more stuff that is just strange and unnessary!