Transformers: Age Of Extinction Review Round-Up

Following the world premiere of Transformers: Age of Extinction in Hong Kong, early reviews of Michael Bay’s fourth Transformers film have begun coming in. We’ll generously call the reviews mixed so far, with the most positive reviews sounding more resigned to the film’s success than enthusiastic about it, and the less positive reviews calling out the same flaws that many called out in the previous Transformers films.

At Variety, critic Maggie Lee believes that Industrial Light and Magic’s visually stunning robot vs. robot fight sequences and Optimus Prime’s character arc are enough to carry the film, saying “It’s not just that the Autobots look more distinctive and easier to tell apart than ever in Transformers: Age of Extinction — as Optimus Prime never tires of reminding us, these robots have actual souls. So who cares if the human characters are even more dispensable and the plot even more scattershot than usual?”

At HitFix, Drew McWeeney thinks the film is a good start to a new trilogy, saying, “Overall, I think this is a big step in the right direction. It’s visually just as wild as the last few Bay films have been, with the director pushing ILM to their breaking point. It is amazing to me that Bay keeps finding a way to somehow make this these things even bigger than they already naturally are, but he is a man whose career can be seen as a series of escalating aesthetic decisions. He knows that these films exist largely to give fans a chance to watch giant robots beat holy hell out of each ether, and on that front, boy, does he deliver.”

ScreenDaily‘s James Marsh was bored with the film, but expects it to be a success, saying, “The fourth installment of Michael Bay’s big screen robot romp offers few surprises but an abundance of the series’ familiar tropes in another marathon-length, narratively vapid action spectacular. Bay’s trademark visual fireworks are as impressive as ever, while an all-new cast promises a new direction for what may become a second trilogy. Otherwise, its business as usual for the Autobots and Decepticons, which based on past performance means a huge box office performance everywhere.”

At The Hollywood Reporter, Clarence Tsui was unimpressed by the film, saying “Occasional glimpses of hope for a fresh reboot are extinguished by a generally bloated and dull spectacle.”

Fan can judge the film for themselves when it opens in theaters on June 27.