I didn't see a thread yet to discuss the Transformers 4 Age of Extinction movie, so major spoilers ahead...
I was fortunate enough to see the movie last night and just want to thank SMegs for the opportunity, too bad you couldn't make it out. Don't worry I didn't steal your movie pass although I was tempted
Overall a better movie than DOTM, ROTF and '07, although I still love the first sequence in the '07 movie with the introduction of blackout and the transformation sound
That said it was nice to see Michael Bay showing some restraint. Below are random Pros and Cons as I remember them.
Pros:
- Due to this being a screening there were no commercials, time play or new movie previews
- No fart jokes or dog humping
- No Military porn
- Dinobots!
- Prime is still bat S#!t Cray Cray, in fact the first scene with him he's already looking to kill something... anything! Come to think of if it, if Prime had ammo in his barrel, I'm pretty sure he would have blown a hole right through Marky Mark's head, which would have been a good start to the film
- Prime's evasion alt mode and bot mode look fantastic
- Prime kills humans, in fact there is a lot of human casualties... yeah!
- They kill-off the annoying human sidekick early on... yeah!
- Bumblebee looks way better as the black mod camaro SS in both alt and bot modes
- Interesting way of introducing Galvatron, so the humans are reverse engineering TF technology using remnants of "dead" TFs including Megatrons head as a primary source of CPU tech. Little to what the humans know his brain still functions and is incorporating Megs special backdoor programing and instilling his consiounce into his new Galvatron body.
- Ending leaves it open for a sequel which looks will not occur on Earth!
- Double headed Shockwave
- Lockdown is a decently developed character, great looking alt mode, I like his bot mode minus the human looking face, he's a cold character with a purpose and does not stray from his design
- The cast is mostly bearable but forgetable, almost anyone could have filed those roles and got the same results, for the most part they didn't get in the way too much
- Marky Mark and Lucky Charms dynamic did get a few chuckles out of me
- Marky Mark's daughter is easy on the eyes
- Hound is big ole lug, reminded me of Fred Flinstone meets Yosemite Sam and maybe a little Walter Sobchak throw in for good measure. If they didn't kill off the annoying human surfer dude they could have maybe worked in some "Big Labowski" humor, who knows?
- Drift is just Zen (cool) and has two alt-modes, Bugatti Veyron and a Helicopter (let's hope for a future triple changer toy), I liked seeing his hand to hand combat and would have loved more
Cons:
- Due to this being a screening there were no commericals, time play or new movie previews
- Not enough Dinobot screen time, they appear in the last 20min of the movie and have nothing to say
- Only 4 Dinobots appear - Grimlock, Slug, Strafe and Scorn
- The Dinobots relegated to horses and large dogs?
- The Dinobots get a sequence with bot modes to guard a bridge but then no action occurs for them
- Primes updated front engine alt-mode really is awful, no need for it, they should have just cleaned up his cab-over model and left it at that
- Bumblebee still can't talk... WTF?
- Bumblebee new yellow Camaro pales in comparison to the black mod SS, really why another Camaro, why not a smart car or BMV i3... LOL?
- The paint job on Crosshairs Corvette Stingray alt mode is just awful, please leave sports cars with their stock paint apps, no need to try to improve upon something that is already beautiful... less is definitely more, i.e. Lockdowns Lamborghini Aventador alt mode is simple and gorgeous!
- The "human" created transformers change forms by digitizing into small cubes and reformatting into robots to vehicles, seems like a real cheap way to save money on actual transformation sequences, very lame IMHO
- There were some awkward moments with the humans, looked very tacked on to either pad the running time or specific screen time for Asian actors to be showcased
- There were at least two sequences where you hear a bot transforming into alt mode off-screen and the next scene you just see the completed alt mode, seems a bit cheap, again another effort to save on CGI budget?
- So Marky Mark's character is supposed to be from Texas? But he sure doesn't sound like from around them parts, not sure but I think I heard a bit of an accent at the beginning of the movie but after 10min he just sounded like standard Marky Mark
- There were a few gratuitous advert scenes, blatantly obvious, actually kinda funny in a strange way
- WTF, Prime has booster rockets on his feet all this time!? Why didn't he use those earlier? My nephew thought that last scene seemed to rip-off Iron Giant... I agree ha ha ha
- Bumblebee is a dick to "human" created robots, for some reason he's become more urban and talks a lot of jive?
- Crosshairs is a dick to everyone
- Yes there are lots of explosions but I can't help but noticing a lof of the explosions looking like simple fireworks just shooting off at 45 degree angles and boy do Texan homes blow up real good
