Transformers Age of Extinction

Every time I watch a transformers film I have to remind myself that at one point Michael Bay made The Rock, a film I really like, and I actually quite like the first Transformers film which was mildly fun, the same cannot be said of this film. Transformers loyalists use the same line every time they see bad reviews for their smashy smashy robot men, “stop taking it so seriously its obviously not going to be Citizen Kane”, my reply is always “I’m not asking for Citizen Kane, I’m asking for something entertaining”. The problems are so endless that I’m going to have to list them in as short a way as possible. The action sequences are dull and go on forever/the film is 3 fucking hours long and needs to be at least half that/excluding Stanley Tucci the performances are uniformly awful/there’s a joke about statutory rape that I’m not overly sure was meant to be funny or not/still can’t tell who any of the transformers are/it’s hard to think of a sweet father-daughter relationship when Bay keeps leering at the girl with the camera. However there are two saving graces that spare it from being a one star disaster, the first of which is Stanley Tucci who has so much charisma that he cruises through blockbuster tripe like this, and his presence does make the closing act watchable. The second is the sound design and sound mixing which I do think is an under-appreciated quality of these films and I hope that those responsible apply their skills to a more respectable fare, other than that, dull as dishwater. (Low 2 Stars)