Transformers: Age of Extinction

I give the fourth Transformers one more star than the previous ones, because it is the second best installment of the series. The special effects are perfect, of course, but the good thing is that besides the robot fights, I was also interested in the humans this time, and the character of Stanley Tucci was especially good. I liked the ending with the Dinobots very much, I was pleased that Michael Bay finally filmed the action clearly (he had practiced the long shots last time) and that there were not as many Autobots as before and they were more likeable - especially the bearded, cigar-wielding, John Goodman-voiced Hound. (27/06/2014)

In a world of thrifty ninety-minute movies, this could have been a blockbuster trying for the title of “best part of the saga", there’s certainly enough material for it. For some mysterious reason this spuriously swelled to the length of two regular feature films and so each great minute/scene/wisecrack is alternated by two to three minutes/scenes/wisecracks that are boring, irrelevant filler (at best) or brought ad absurdum to kitsch infantility in Bay’s inimitable style (at worst and unfortunately most frequently). (21/09/2014)

Relative brain loss / the fun is worse than part two and three. Something keeps getting moved from place to place under a flimsy pretext, takes a position, destroys everything within reach and travels further for another flimsy reason. The 165 minutes and the lobotomized story sometimes made it difficult for me to understand why, because it all seems so sparse, a bit like an advertisement for (mostly American) cars accompanied by pyrotechnic effects. At the end, the film plays to the Chinese audience, everyone hugs and the story returns roughly to where it was at the beginning of part one, and only the appearance of the actors and their casting changes a little. If you're able to spend two and three-quarters of an hour to see the capabilities of 3D IMAX detail, you're ok, but while Edwards recalled the magic of the perspective in Godzilla, this sounds like a fucking waste of time and money to me. For fans of the series, the good news is that Transformers can continue to run in an endless loop, because "we all have a boss" and even the highest boss has a higher boss. [40%] (25/06/2014)

In the "American Blockbuster" column, this is probably the most vivid collection of the worst that can be found in contemporary Hollywood. Watching the new Transformers is like opening up all the US Army ammunition depots and handing them to those who want to kick the filmmaking Mecca. It is almost ethereally paradoxical that this was done by a man I have admired immensely in this discipline, and who until now has paid the ultimate price in the art of turning a film field into a dollar. I don't think Bay has lost his good judgment. The previous fitness pumping clearly screamed how much better he can do behind the camera. He just lost all humility and mindlessly milked a cow for three hours that was long overdue to be embalmed. For the first hour, when they seem to introduce the characters in a style that could be done in ten minutes, I thought that my patience level still had a bit left in the tank. I still accept the fact that it's impotent in terms of its plot, completely off in the acting (OK, Stanley Tucci has a lot of fun copying John Turturro), and absolutely deaf musically. But then there was the event that redefines the term "digital brothel" for the new edition of the Interpretive Dictionary, and my personal fuse was finally blown. After all the destructive feasts I've enjoyed so much at the movies over the years, I've started to wish this era would go mercilessly to... (24/09/2014)

Of course, I didn't expect a high-quality intelligent film, but that was to be expected. The Transformers' transformations are still great, and I was most excited about the robodinosaurs, which were simply amazing. However, it's still the same disgusting Bay's concoction, consisting of a lot of technology, slow-motion shots, and untalented actresses. Some dialogues are truly pathetic... (14/10/2014)