Mark Wahlberg
Nicola Peltz
Jack Reynor
Stanley Tucci
Kelsey Grammer
Sophia Myles
Li Bingbing

Ehren Kruger

165 mins.
Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
June 27, 2014

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi violence and action, language and brief innuendo. (MPAA)

“Transformers: Age of Extinction” is way too long. It’s almost 2 hours and 40 minutes long. Why? And the human story, i.e. the story about the good guys, is a waste of time.

This time, Mark Wahlberg plays a father who’s overprotective of his daughter because of a promise he made to her dead mother. He’s an inventor who can’t seem to invent anything that works. His daughter, of course, is a beautiful 17 year old who loves her father, but wants to break free. Bored yet? That story’s limp and clichéd.

The reason for any “Transformers” movie is the Transformers. Once again, they don’t disappoint, but we’ve seen this so many times that it doesn’t matter much anymore. It was nice to see the Dinobots, though. Plus, these films always make Optimus Prime look cool and tough (a true accomplishment).

The introduction of human villains in this film, to go along with the alien ones, is a good twist; but I wanted even more of that. Stanley Tucci’s character, in particular, provided an opportunity to explore what humans would do with the alien-transforming technology. (Galvatron anyone? Bad idea.) But Tucci’s billionaire contractor didn’t appear until about one hour in. He should’ve been more of a focus from the beginning of the film.

Kelsey Grammer and Titus Welliver are fine as a CIA agent and his chief mercenary, respectively. The intersection of those two characters with Tucci’s weapons engineering contractor for the U.S. government provide a few moments of mild interest, but not much more, unfortunately. They’re good actors who could’ve done a lot more with better material: This film should’ve lasted an hour and a half and gotten to the heart of the story, while showcasing great visuals. That would’ve been enough.

Whether they include human villains or not, the Transformers themselves provide enough material for a story line. They’re the heroes and the villains. Lockdown was an interesting choice, on paper, as an intergalactic bounty hunting Transformer that’s determined to bring Prime back to his makers (whoever they are). It’s always the humans, especially the do-gooders, that get in the way.

We don’t need another one of these films, reboot or not. This was the fourth one from Michael Bay with a fifth one on the way. Plus, in the age of “The Avengers” franchise, the action’s becoming old-hat: The ending sequence of this film reminded me of the ending sequence of “The Avengers.” (Substitute Transformers for superheroes.) But “Transformers” was first, so I guess “The Avengers” is the one in its debt.

Regardless, the swan song of the “Transformers” franchise has already stopped playing. I guess they didn’t hear it end.

Verdict: Good Effects, Bad Writing (with a story that could’ve been good)

About: (Source: facebook.com/transformers)

From director Michael Bay and executive producer Steven Spielberg comes the best ‘Transformers’ ever! With humanity facing extinction from a terrifying new threat, it’s up to Optimus Prime and the Autobots to save the world. But now that our government has turned against them, they’ll need a new team of allies, including inventor Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) and the fearsome Dinobots!