Transformers: Age Of Extinction is essentially a remake of Gremlins but instead of a creature, a struggling inventor Cade Yeager (yes Cade Yeager, a character played by Mark Wahlberg who sounds like he should be in The Expendables) gives his child the gift of a transforming alien robot.
Three, personally unwanted and unnecessary, sequels later, it really feels now like we are just watching the exact same film over and over again ad nauseum.
Someone finds Optimus Prime, they are chased by shadowy governments types and Decepticons while searching for a Macguffin of some type (an Allspark, a Seed, etc) before an all-out war between Autobots and Decepticons ends up levelling an entire city.
The Transformers movies really do specialise in urban destruction and a level of non-specified human collateral damage not seen since Superman and Zod flattened Metropolis in Man Of Steel.
Not even a complete change of cast and the addition of the Dinobots can distract from the overwhelming sense of overfamiliarity.
Yes the Dinobots are introduced just to prove that the franchise has finally jumped the transforming robot shark.
Thank goodness for the saving grace that is Stanley Tucci who is the only reason the film gets 2 stars instead of 1.
Transformers are robots in disguise but there is no disguising the fact that this is nothing more than a loud, ugly, lazy blockbuster.
2 stars
