Transformers: Age of Extinction

01:00 Abdul Malik Fajri

Transformers: Age of Extinction is a 2014 science fiction action film based on the Transformers franchise. It is the fourth installment of the live-action Transformers film series and stars Mark Wahlberg in the lead role. A sequel to Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the film takes place four years after the invasion of Chicago. Like its predecessors, the film is directed by Michael Bay and executive produced by Steven Spielberg. The screenplay is written by Ehren Kruger, who has served as screenwriter since Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The film features an entirely new cast of human characters and is the first in the series to feature the Dinobots. Returning Transformers include Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Leadfoot, and Brains. The film was released on June 27, 2014, in IMAX and 3D.

The film received negative reviews, with criticisms focusing on the plot, script, direction and acting, though some critics praised the action scenes, visual effects, and performances of Wahlberg and Stanley Tucci.

Plot

65 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period, beings known as the "Creators" detonate many "Seeds", wiping out all life on Earth. In the present, a geologist named Darcy discovers a dinosaur corpse covered in a strange metal.

Five years have passed since the Battle of Chicago. Cade Yeager, a struggling inventor, and his friend Lucas buy an old truck to strip it for parts. They sell it to Cade's daughter, Tessa, but soon discover it is a Transformer named Optimus Prime. Cade sees that he is injured and repairs him. Meanwhile, Cemetery Wind, an elite CIA unit headed by paranoid agent Harold Attinger, has been tasked with hunting down the remaining Decepticons. However, he secretly hunts down both Autobots and Decepticons. With the help of a Transformer bounty hunter named Lockdown, they brutally kill Ratchet. After finding out Optimus is in Texas, the unit and Lockdown travel there and threaten Cade, Tessa, and Lucas. Optimus comes out of hiding and attacks the operatives, allowing them to escape. They are saved by Shane Dyson, Tessa's secret boyfriend, and after a lengthy chase they get away from the unit. However, Lucas is killed by Lockdown's grenade. Optimus rallies the remaining Autobots: Bumblebee, Hound, Drift, and Crosshairs. Cade hacks into a drone he took from the raid, and learns that Cemetery Wind is working with a corporation called KSI. They decide to infiltrate KSI headquarters for information.

Meanwhile, Joshua Joyce, the head of KSI, shows Darcy that he has perfected transformium, a codeable, molecularly unstable metal that the Transformers are made of. He has imprisoned Brains to decode dead Transformers' brains and put them into the human-created ones. He shows Darcy his prized creation, Galvatron, who was created using data from Megatron's head.

Once he infiltrates the facility, Cade finds them melting down Ratchet's head. Infuriated, Optimus and the Autobots storm the facility, break Brains out, and start to destroy it. Joyce stops them and explains that humans don't need Autobots anymore because humans can create their own Transformer soldiers. Disgusted, the Autobots leave the facility. Attinger forces Joyce to launch Galvatron and Stinger and go after the Autobots. Galvatron and Optimus battle before Lockdown shoots Optimus. Tessa gets trapped and she, along with Optimus, are brought aboard Lockdown's ship. He locks Optimus in the middle of his trophy room, which also carries the Dinobots, legendary knights that Lockdown imprisoned. He explains that the Creators want Optimus back. Before he leaves, Lockdown gives a Seed, a bomb that can cyberform any wide area of land, to Attinger, giving Cade, Shane, and the Autobots time to board the ship. Cade and Shane save Tessa, and with the help of Crosshairs and Bumblebee, they are able to escape. Shortly after, Hound and Drift save Optimus and leave before Lockdown enters deep space. Optimus and Brains reveal that Galvatron is Megatron reincarnated, and that he has been manipulating KSI to make an army and steal the Seed to wipe out humans and create more Decepticons. Cade warns Joyce, who retreats to Hong Kong with his business associate Su Yueming and Darcy to get a military extract, betraying Attinger.

In Beijing, Galvatron activates by himself and corrupts all prototype Transformer drones to do his bidding. One of his minions shoots down the Autobots' ship. Hound and Bumblebee jump out and struggle to protect the humans. Knowing this, Optimus releases and tames the Dinobots. With their help, they destroy Galvatron's army. Lockdown then appears and uses a magnetic weapon in an effort to reclaim Optimus and the Dinobots. However, Optimus destroys it and proceeds to fight Lockdown. Cade tries to help but is held at gunpoint by Attinger. Seeing Cade in danger, Optimus kills Attinger, which allows Lockdown to gain the upper hand and impale Optimus with his own sword. Cade and Bumblebee distract Lockdown while Tessa and Shane take the sword out of Optimus, who proceeds to kill Lockdown. Galvatron retreats, vowing to battle Optimus another day. Optimus sets the Dinobots free before flying into space with the Seed, sending a message to the Creators to leave Earth alone and that he is coming for them.

Cast

Main article: List of Transformers film series characters

Humans

• Mark Wahlberg as Cade Yeager, a single father and struggling inventor.
• Stanley Tucci as Joshua Joyce, the arrogant head of KSI who wants to build his own Transformers.
• Kelsey Grammer as Harold Attinger, a paranoid CIA agent who created the Cemetery Wind to eliminate all Transformers from Earth.
• Nicola Peltz as Tessa Yeager, Cade's daughter.
• Jack Reynor as Shane Dyson, Tessa's boyfriend and an Irish race car driver.
• Sophia Myles as Darcy Tyril, Joshua's geologist assistant.
• Li Bingbing as Su Yueming, owner of the Chinese factory used by KSI to build their artificial Transformers.
• Titus Welliver as James Savoy, field leader of the Cemetery Wind.
• T. J. Miller as Lucas Flannery, Cade's best friend and a mechanic.
• Melanie Specht as the "Grande Dame", Joshua's senior executive assistant.
• Victoria Summer as Joshua's executive assistant.
• Ray Lui and Michael Wong were cast as Hong Kong police officers. Han Geng has a cameo, singing and playing the guitar in a parked car that is magnetized by Lockdown's ship. General Motors Vice President of Design Edward T. Welburn has a cameo appearance.

Transformers

Autobots

• Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen), the leader of the Autobots who transforms into a rusty Marmon 97 semi truck and later, a blue and red Western Star 4900 Phantom Custom semi-trailer truck.
• Bumblebee, an Autobot scout who transforms into a modified 1967 Camaro and later, a 2014 Chevrolet Camaro concept.
• Hound (voiced by John Goodman), an Autobot commando who transforms into an Oshkosh Defense Medium Tactical Vehicle.
• Crosshairs (voiced by John DiMaggio), an Autobot paratrooper who transforms into a green 2014 Chevrolet Corvette C7 Stingray.
• Drift (voiced by Ken Watanabe), an Autobot tactician and a former Decepticon who transforms into a black and blue 2013 Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse.
• Ratchet (voiced by Robert Foxworth), the Autobots' medical officer who transforms into a light green Rescue Hummer H2.
• Brains (voiced by Reno Wilson), a Decepticon drone turned Autobot, who transforms into a Lenovo ThinkPad Edge.
• Leadfoot (also voiced by John DiMaggio), an Autobot who is also member of the Wreckers. He transforms into an armored version of the #42 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Target car.

Dinobots

• Grimlock, the leader of the Dinobots who transforms into a horned, mechanical Tyrannosaurus Rex.
• Strafe, a Dinobot who specializes in assault infantry and transforms into a mechanical two-headed and two-tailed Pteranodon.
• Slug, the savage destroyer amongst the Dinobots who transforms into a mechanical spiked and bestial Triceratops.
• Scorn, the Dinobots' demolition specialist who transforms into a mechanical three-sailed Spinosaurus.

Decepticons

• Galvatron (voiced by Frank Welker), a human-made Transformer who becomes possessed by Megatron's mind, thus making him the new Decepticon leader. He transforms into a black and grey 2014 Freightliner Argosy cab over trailer. He has been secretly manipulating the human governments to create their own Transformers for him to use so he can steal the Seed for himself and rebuild the Decepticon army.
• Stinger, a human-made Transformer who becomes a Decepticon spy and sabotage specialist. He transforms into a red and black 2013 Pagani Huayra.
• Junkheap, a human-made Transformer who becomes a Decepticon under Galvatron's control. He transforms into a Chinese garbage truck of Waste Management, Inc.
• Traxes, mass-produced human-made drones who become Decepticons under Galvatron's control. They transform into different colored Chevrolet Traxes.

Others

• Lockdown (voiced by Mark Ryan), the main antagonist. An intergalactic bounty hunter, aligned with neither side, who transforms into a grey 2013 Lamborghini Aventador LP 700–4 Coupe, is working with Attinger to capture Optimus Prime for the humans in exchange for the Seed from the him, being provided unlimited access to all of Attinger's CIA resources. Lockdown is working for unknown alien life forms whom he claims are the creators of the Transformers. He has a group of unknown humanoid robots and a pack of techno-organic wolves called Steeljaws under his command.
• The Creators, an unknown race of aliens whom Lockdown claims are the Transformers' creators. They are seen very briefly in the film's opening when they use multiple Seeds to cyberform Earth, exterminating the dinosaurs. Years later they hired Lockdown to apprehend Optimus Prime for unknown reasons.