483: Transformers: Age of Extinction

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: 190 Let's get to the fourth Transformers film, which is Transformers Age of Extinction,

[00:00:08] [SPEAKER_00]: came out in 2014, done by Bay.

[00:00:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Stars Mark Wahlberg, so no more Shilabuff, basically a whole new cast, as well as Nicola Helts-Beckham,

[00:00:20] [SPEAKER_00]: Jack Rainer, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer, Tyus Welliver, and the synopsis is, when humanity

[00:00:30] [SPEAKER_00]: allies with a bounty hunter in pursuit of Optimus Prime, the Autobots turn to a mechanic and

[00:00:36] [SPEAKER_00]: his family for help.

[00:00:39] [SPEAKER_00]: So this one is really a reboot instead of being the fourth film in the narrative story,

[00:00:46] [SPEAKER_00]: and I did not see this one in theaters, I saw it maybe a couple years after.

[00:00:54] [SPEAKER_00]: I've seen, like I've talked about with the last few films, I seem to be in the minority

[00:01:00] [SPEAKER_00]: here, but this flat out, not say it's an amazing movie or even a good movie, but

[00:01:07] [SPEAKER_00]: of the Michael Bay films, this is by far my favorite.

[00:01:11] [SPEAKER_00]: Big things, to me it's the most memorable, the action is the most coherent, and

[00:01:16] [SPEAKER_00]: it looks the best, even just talking about cinematography lighting, it looks great, but

[00:01:21] [SPEAKER_00]: I think action wise, special effects are even better than the first three and even better

[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_00]: than five, I think.

[00:01:29] [SPEAKER_00]: The cast of characters like Mark Wahlberg, as much as I enjoy Shilabuff as an actor,

[00:01:35] [SPEAKER_00]: I think Mark Wahlberg's character of Cade Yeager, terrible name yet again for a

[00:01:40] [SPEAKER_00]: lead, but he is a much more interesting, not complex, but bearable hero as opposed to

[00:01:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Shilabuff who's always just having panic attacks and yelling all over the place,

[00:01:52] [SPEAKER_00]: Mark Wahlberg is much more of a calm, composed lead character to follow.

[00:01:58] [SPEAKER_00]: Also to a certain degree the plot is a lot simpler and more than anything really due

[00:02:06] [SPEAKER_00]: to a number of factors I guess.

[00:02:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm always despite the shameful runtime of this movie which is 165 minutes, brutally long,

[00:02:17] [SPEAKER_00]: despite that, I'm almost always engaged and entertained by this movie whereas I feel like

[00:02:23] [SPEAKER_00]: in the first three there are large, large stretches where I'm getting really tired

[00:02:28] [SPEAKER_00]: of it, I'm getting frustrated, I'm getting completely lost and in this one I've seen

[00:02:33] [SPEAKER_00]: it maybe three or four times now over the years, I'm always pretty focused even though

[00:02:39] [SPEAKER_00]: there are points that are not good and there are some things that are for sure flawed.

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_00]: But talking about some specifics, so it has all the same for the most part,

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_00]: the same issues as the other, so I'm not going to get into all that again.

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_00]: But some small issues that still bug me that are specific to this movie in terms

[00:02:57] [SPEAKER_00]: of how he presents things, the way he whether it's intentional or not, how he can talk down

[00:03:05] [SPEAKER_00]: to his audience and really make his movies feel dumber than they already are.

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_00]: When you first meet Cade Yeager as he's driving in the Texas sunset back to his ranch,

[00:03:20] [SPEAKER_00]: you see superimposed on the screen, Texas comma USA.

[00:03:27] [SPEAKER_00]: And I'm just like, I really don't think at this point of all the states in America,

[00:03:34] [SPEAKER_00]: do you really need to specify that Texas is in the United States?

[00:03:38] [SPEAKER_00]: It just seems so even how a lot of filmmakers now still feel and need to put London comma

[00:03:44] [SPEAKER_00]: England or like Paris comma France.

[00:03:47] [SPEAKER_00]: Like how how stupid can we be?

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_00]: I think at this point with big capitals, with big states,

[00:03:55] [SPEAKER_00]: you can cut out the second identifier.

[00:04:01] [SPEAKER_00]: Then, of course, Mark Wahlberg's daughter who's 17 specified in the movie.

[00:04:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Of course, she is like a sex object and how she dresses.

[00:04:11] [SPEAKER_00]: All she wants to do is go to college and get drunk.

[00:04:14] [SPEAKER_00]: And then all the men around her father,

[00:04:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Google her and like basically cat call her, even though again,

[00:04:21] [SPEAKER_00]: they specify she's 17 years old.

[00:04:23] [SPEAKER_00]: So that's just totally unnecessary and excessive.

[00:04:30] [SPEAKER_00]: And I promise I'll get to some things I like.

[00:04:32] [SPEAKER_00]: I just want to get all the minute things that don't always have an effect

[00:04:37] [SPEAKER_00]: on the movie at this point with just how Michael Bay is.

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_00]: But they're just so ridiculous that I might as well mention them while I have a chance.

[00:04:44] [SPEAKER_00]: But there's a scene where because Kate Yeager is behind on his bills

[00:04:51] [SPEAKER_00]: because he is a quote unquote inventor, even though he's never doing anything right

[00:04:56] [SPEAKER_00]: and can never actually create something.

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_00]: And he's expecting to pay off his ranch by this and pay for college

[00:05:03] [SPEAKER_00]: and this ludicrous things.

[00:05:05] [SPEAKER_00]: There's a scene where the realtor shows up with this possible buyer

[00:05:11] [SPEAKER_00]: couple who are interested in getting this ranch or farm.

[00:05:16] [SPEAKER_00]: And Mark Wahlberg basically scares him off with a baseball bat

[00:05:20] [SPEAKER_00]: and he throws the baseball bat at the car and hits it.

[00:05:23] [SPEAKER_00]: And then for some reason, the realtor drives through the barbed wire fence

[00:05:29] [SPEAKER_00]: and drives through a wheat field.

[00:05:32] [SPEAKER_00]: And it just seems so stupid.

[00:05:35] [SPEAKER_00]: If you're trying to get out of a place, you don't want your car harmed.

[00:05:40] [SPEAKER_00]: All you're doing is harming your own car.

[00:05:41] [SPEAKER_00]: You're not hurting Mark Wahlberg's character for no reason at all.

[00:05:45] [SPEAKER_00]: Even though there is a road right next to her, she feels the need to drive

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_00]: and damage her car by driving through a thick barbed wire metal fence.

[00:05:55] [SPEAKER_00]: And that scene always just gets me like, what are you doing?

[00:05:59] [SPEAKER_00]: And like, why did you feel the need, Michael Bay, that is, to put that in there?

[00:06:04] [SPEAKER_00]: But then some things I do like overall, the cast is good.

[00:06:08] [SPEAKER_00]: I like Stanley Tucci a lot.

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_00]: Kelsey Grammer is good, even though his character is pretty goofy.

[00:06:13] [SPEAKER_00]: TJ Miller, typically I find funny.

[00:06:15] [SPEAKER_00]: He's all right in this, but he's a very typical Michael Bay male character

[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_00]: and spoilers here.

[00:06:22] [SPEAKER_00]: It is really excessive what happens to him in terms of being scorched by this transformer.

[00:06:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Like they're in this garage parking deck action sequence.

[00:06:34] [SPEAKER_00]: And then there's this really epic, cool explosion runaway chase that they do.

[00:06:39] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's classic Michael Bay in the best way.

[00:06:42] [SPEAKER_00]: But then TJ Miller's character gets burned.

[00:06:46] [SPEAKER_00]: His whole body burnt to a crisp in running motion.

[00:06:51] [SPEAKER_00]: And they cut back to that shot multiple times before moving to the next scene.

[00:06:56] [SPEAKER_00]: And it seems for the character that he is a little much for the horrible death

[00:07:03] [SPEAKER_00]: that he has, but whatever.

[00:07:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Although one actually speaking of another issue, and I think it seems to be widely

[00:07:13] [SPEAKER_00]: discussed is Jack Rainer, who plays the boyfriend of Mark Wahlberg's daughter.

[00:07:20] [SPEAKER_00]: His accent is the most fake, confused over the top, just downright terrible

[00:07:29] [SPEAKER_00]: accent that it sounds like he's doing Irish than English than Australian

[00:07:33] [SPEAKER_00]: than like New Zealand.

[00:07:34] [SPEAKER_00]: It's I don't know what on earth caused Michael Bay to think that was a good

[00:07:39] [SPEAKER_00]: idea when he could just be English.

[00:07:41] [SPEAKER_00]: Like there's pretty much one Irish joke in the whole movie.

[00:07:45] [SPEAKER_00]: And that's really all it has to do with him being quote unquote Irish.

[00:07:50] [SPEAKER_00]: And that character is so distracting because every time he talks,

[00:07:53] [SPEAKER_00]: it feels like what are you doing?

[00:07:56] [SPEAKER_00]: Whose horrible idea was this to ruin because he's not a terribly written

[00:08:01] [SPEAKER_00]: character aside from him just being a jerk to Mark Wahlberg.

[00:08:04] [SPEAKER_00]: But the accent is so ridiculous and phony that it just takes me out.

[00:08:10] [SPEAKER_00]: And whenever he starts talking, I'm like, please just stop.

[00:08:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Let's just get through whatever lines you have.

[00:08:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Some funny lines though, which is pretty rare for Michael Bay movie for me.

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_00]: It's rare.

[00:08:22] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm genuinely laughing at a line.

[00:08:24] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm usually laughing at how bad it is.

[00:08:28] [SPEAKER_00]: But there's a line with lockdown, the villain transformer where he's

[00:08:33] [SPEAKER_00]: talking to Kelsey Grammer's character and Kelsey Grammer is saying,

[00:08:38] [SPEAKER_00]: well, we have a saying on this planet.

[00:08:41] [SPEAKER_00]: The enemy of my enemy is my friend and then lockdown.

[00:08:47] [SPEAKER_00]: And this is really one of the only moments in all of the films that I felt

[00:08:52] [SPEAKER_00]: like the Transformers had a true personality and someone behind them.

[00:08:56] [SPEAKER_00]: But he goes, I also have a saying, I don't care.

[00:09:02] [SPEAKER_00]: That line gets me every time it just feels so authentic,

[00:09:05] [SPEAKER_00]: like a screw you snarky personality where clearly Kelsey Grammer has no

[00:09:12] [SPEAKER_00]: sway on the Transformers and is just a politician.

[00:09:16] [SPEAKER_00]: That's a great line.

[00:09:18] [SPEAKER_00]: The it's more so ridiculous, but where Optimus Prime jumps out of the barn

[00:09:24] [SPEAKER_00]: when the government agents show up and he's like, here I am.

[00:09:30] [SPEAKER_00]: There's a lot of really bad goofy stuff in there that for the most part

[00:09:34] [SPEAKER_00]: in this, I don't know why it works better than in others where it's more cringe

[00:09:38] [SPEAKER_00]: in those and not as much in this one.

[00:09:41] [SPEAKER_00]: But I still get a lot of kicks out of it.

[00:09:46] [SPEAKER_00]: I guess there was a criticism with the first three where a lot of people

[00:09:50] [SPEAKER_00]: couldn't tell the Transformers apart, aside from Optimus Prime,

[00:09:54] [SPEAKER_00]: which I would generally agree with.

[00:09:57] [SPEAKER_00]: And in this, I actually like the group and the design

[00:10:00] [SPEAKER_00]: of the core Transformers.

[00:10:03] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's Hound, the John Goodman character who has the beard and the cigar,

[00:10:08] [SPEAKER_00]: which is awesome.

[00:10:09] [SPEAKER_00]: There's the Katana transformer played by Ken Watanabe and then crosshairs.

[00:10:18] [SPEAKER_00]: But going back to lockdown, I actually think even though there's nothing

[00:10:22] [SPEAKER_00]: dynamic, you know, really well written about that character,

[00:10:25] [SPEAKER_00]: I think how he shot and the design, the voice sound design really works

[00:10:31] [SPEAKER_00]: and is a good intimidating villain, despite it being shallow.

[00:10:34] [SPEAKER_00]: It still is much better, I think, than any of the other villains in the Michael Bay film.

[00:10:40] [SPEAKER_00]: So that's a strong point.

[00:10:41] [SPEAKER_00]: I love a good villain before I forget or get too far into this franchise.

[00:10:48] [SPEAKER_00]: One thing I haven't really mentioned at all yet with Michael Bay is product placement.

[00:10:52] [SPEAKER_00]: There are actually videos online where they will show all of the product

[00:10:56] [SPEAKER_00]: placement in Michael Bay films and really in this one, especially and onwards,

[00:11:02] [SPEAKER_00]: it's shameful how blatant and obvious and in your face it is because

[00:11:09] [SPEAKER_00]: the worst one I think of his whole career

[00:11:13] [SPEAKER_00]: is the scene where they crash the spaceship in the city streets

[00:11:17] [SPEAKER_00]: and Mark Wahlberg gets out because this guy's car was ruined by the crash.

[00:11:22] [SPEAKER_00]: And there is a close up shot of a Buds Light truck crashing

[00:11:28] [SPEAKER_00]: and then Buds Light rolling all over the ground.

[00:11:33] [SPEAKER_00]: The logo in your face, that's the only thing that's being presented.

[00:11:37] [SPEAKER_00]: There's no story element. There's no nothing.

[00:11:40] [SPEAKER_00]: It's just Bud Light here, drink Bud Light basically.

[00:11:43] [SPEAKER_00]: It's almost like a commercial.

[00:11:44] [SPEAKER_00]: And so that I cannot stand.

[00:11:46] [SPEAKER_00]: I hate that and that shows you the shallowness of Michael Bay

[00:11:50] [SPEAKER_00]: or how shallow he can be when given the opportunity or given the right money or whatever.

[00:11:57] [SPEAKER_00]: So I really don't like that in all of his films.

[00:12:00] [SPEAKER_00]: And then even in that sequence where it shows the really,

[00:12:04] [SPEAKER_00]: I'd say like toxic masculinity that he portrays, but not at all in a commentary sort of way is when

[00:12:12] [SPEAKER_00]: Mark Wahlberg is talking to this disgruntled guy and he just picks up a Buds Light bottle,

[00:12:18] [SPEAKER_00]: drinks a lot of it, then throws it into the guy's already damaged car

[00:12:22] [SPEAKER_00]: and just walks away like he's the coolest guy on earth, like a badass.

[00:12:25] [SPEAKER_00]: I'm like, dude, this is the worst.

[00:12:27] [SPEAKER_00]: You do not need to put this stuff in here and it adds nothing.

[00:12:31] [SPEAKER_00]: It makes you dislike, at least for me, it makes me dislike those characters more.

[00:12:36] [SPEAKER_00]: But besides that, I'd say and I know everyone has their own favorite Michael Bay shots,

[00:12:42] [SPEAKER_00]: especially if you're a fan or a fishing auto.

[00:12:45] [SPEAKER_00]: To me, the best coolest shot that he has ever done in his whole career

[00:12:52] [SPEAKER_00]: and it also not only is just a cool shot, but it encapsulates everything

[00:12:56] [SPEAKER_00]: you need to know about Michael Bay in a seven, ten second sequence.

[00:13:01] [SPEAKER_00]: It's on the highway chase in the middle of the movie where it starts.

[00:13:06] [SPEAKER_00]: It's all in slow mo and Optimus Prime and Bumblebee are launched

[00:13:11] [SPEAKER_00]: or like they jump over a bridge on the highway.

[00:13:14] [SPEAKER_00]: And as they're I think they're both turning separate directions.

[00:13:18] [SPEAKER_00]: And then Mark Wahlberg, his daughter and the boyfriend are all flung up into the air.

[00:13:24] [SPEAKER_00]: They're all spinning in different directions and flying over this bridge.

[00:13:27] [SPEAKER_00]: And then Bumblebee pops the human characters upwards

[00:13:33] [SPEAKER_00]: so they can carry the momentum forward.

[00:13:36] [SPEAKER_00]: And then they burst through a I think a tractor trailer trailer

[00:13:41] [SPEAKER_00]: and debris goes flying everywhere.

[00:13:44] [SPEAKER_00]: Then Bumblebee grabs the human characters twisting around as they're falling

[00:13:49] [SPEAKER_00]: over the other side of the bridge and then they land on that side.

[00:13:54] [SPEAKER_00]: And that I can go back and watch that ten second shot over and over and over again.

[00:14:00] [SPEAKER_00]: That is truly where I'm like Michael Bay, that was amazing.

[00:14:03] [SPEAKER_00]: That is a perfect use of slow mo, of Bayhem, of special effects,

[00:14:10] [SPEAKER_00]: of maintaining all of that, but also being completely coherent.

[00:14:17] [SPEAKER_00]: Then also another really epic moment and it goes back to the villain

[00:14:21] [SPEAKER_00]: is when they're on that I think it's right after the highway sequence

[00:14:25] [SPEAKER_00]: actually where the alien ship comes down.

[00:14:29] [SPEAKER_00]: Mark Wahlberg and the human characters are there with Prime.

[00:14:33] [SPEAKER_00]: And then you see from the smoke from the alien ship

[00:14:36] [SPEAKER_00]: lockdown coming through, walking down the road in this really epic slow mo

[00:14:41] [SPEAKER_00]: intimidating way and it's such an epic shot.

[00:14:45] [SPEAKER_00]: It makes me love seeing that villain on screen.

[00:14:48] [SPEAKER_00]: But then after that, unfortunately, he kind of ruins it when

[00:14:53] [SPEAKER_00]: Kate Yeager's daughter is taken away

[00:14:56] [SPEAKER_00]: and there's this way overdone use of slow mo

[00:15:00] [SPEAKER_00]: where Mark Wahlberg is screaming, no.

[00:15:03] [SPEAKER_00]: And he's slamming his fist on the ground in frustration.

[00:15:06] [SPEAKER_00]: And it's so goofy and overdone for the kind of movie that this is.

[00:15:11] [SPEAKER_00]: And it to me shows that Michael Bay, he loves slow mo like I was just talking about.

[00:15:16] [SPEAKER_00]: But he doesn't know when to use it and when not to use it.

[00:15:20] [SPEAKER_00]: He just says, all right, let's just use slow mo at this point in time.

[00:15:23] [SPEAKER_00]: It's got to be good.

[00:15:26] [SPEAKER_00]: And so you have in a five minute sequence,

[00:15:29] [SPEAKER_00]: you have the coolest shot that he's ever done with the highway chase.

[00:15:33] [SPEAKER_00]: And then you have probably one of the goofiest parts of the movie

[00:15:36] [SPEAKER_00]: with that fist slamming down.

[00:15:40] [SPEAKER_00]: Then there's the alien ship sequence inside the ship,

[00:15:43] [SPEAKER_00]: which I think that goes on too long.

[00:15:46] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't mind the look of the ship, but it just feel like it drags and the pacing

[00:15:50] [SPEAKER_00]: kind of as bad as the pacing already is.

[00:15:53] [SPEAKER_00]: It feels like it really comes to a halt for a little too long.

[00:15:58] [SPEAKER_00]: But thankfully, you then have the chase through the city where there are

[00:16:03] [SPEAKER_00]: the hyena transformers or the dog transformers.

[00:16:07] [SPEAKER_00]: And there's that great moment where they're flying down the river or over the river.

[00:16:12] [SPEAKER_00]: And one of the transformers picks up a boat in the river and throws it upwards

[00:16:17] [SPEAKER_00]: and it crashes into one of the other ships.

[00:16:19] [SPEAKER_00]: That's awesome.

[00:16:22] [SPEAKER_00]: There's the moment where crosshairs uses the parachute

[00:16:28] [SPEAKER_00]: like jumps off the ship and uses the parachute and another great use of slow mo.

[00:16:33] [SPEAKER_00]: And I think that one reason why I like this one, not say that the others don't

[00:16:38] [SPEAKER_00]: offer a variety of locations, but I feel like this one uses

[00:16:42] [SPEAKER_00]: the global setting very well where they're really country hopping

[00:16:47] [SPEAKER_00]: and all these different places and cool visuals.

[00:16:50] [SPEAKER_00]: And so I think this one by far offers the most variety in terms of that,

[00:16:54] [SPEAKER_00]: which I appreciate and keeps the for the most part keeps the momentum going along.

[00:17:00] [SPEAKER_00]: Then you also have the dino bots, which pretty fake phony marketing there

[00:17:07] [SPEAKER_00]: where that was a big, big thing in the trailers.

[00:17:09] [SPEAKER_00]: And they're only in the last maybe 10 minutes of the movie, maybe 15.

[00:17:15] [SPEAKER_00]: So I don't really care how much they are or are not.

[00:17:19] [SPEAKER_00]: And then movie, I didn't even realize that was a thing until I watched it.

[00:17:22] [SPEAKER_00]: So I don't care about that.

[00:17:23] [SPEAKER_00]: But I know that was a frustration with some die hard fans.

[00:17:29] [SPEAKER_00]: There's also some really lazy writing with the human government agencies

[00:17:38] [SPEAKER_00]: trying to take the Transformers DNA, basically make their own version

[00:17:44] [SPEAKER_00]: of Transformers where they call it Transformium.

[00:17:50] [SPEAKER_00]: I wonder how long it took them to come up with that.

[00:17:53] [SPEAKER_00]: So there is just a lot of lazy like G's.

[00:17:56] [SPEAKER_00]: You couldn't have spent five more minutes on this, but whatever.

[00:18:02] [SPEAKER_00]: But then you also have a really, really another great epic shot where towards the end

[00:18:09] [SPEAKER_00]: and I think it's in the trailers where Stanley Tucci is going, Oh my God.

[00:18:14] [SPEAKER_00]: And you see this ship being basically carried over them by

[00:18:20] [SPEAKER_00]: I think it's by the alien ship or something like that, or by the gravitational pull, whatever that is.

[00:18:27] [SPEAKER_00]: Oh, and actually one more logic issue that not a big deal, but it sort of bugs me

[00:18:33] [SPEAKER_00]: is when they're on the alien ship, the alien weapons somehow

[00:18:39] [SPEAKER_00]: are human sized or become human sized.

[00:18:43] [SPEAKER_00]: And Mark Wahlberg, Jack Rainer, everybody are just able to use them with no problems.

[00:18:49] [SPEAKER_00]: And while everything is already ridiculous, analogical, I'm just thinking, OK,

[00:18:55] [SPEAKER_00]: so why would the aliens, the Transformers have weapons for the exact size of humans?

[00:19:03] [SPEAKER_00]: And or why would you allow humans to be able to operate them so easily?

[00:19:08] [SPEAKER_00]: Just here, pull the trigger.

[00:19:09] [SPEAKER_00]: You know, it just seems very silly based on how seemingly sophisticated

[00:19:13] [SPEAKER_00]: the Transformers are.

[00:19:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Overall, for whatever reason, this movie just clicks with me at this point.

[00:19:23] [SPEAKER_00]: It's a guilty pleasure.

[00:19:27] [SPEAKER_00]: So that one is a light four out of five.