WHAM! BAM! Thank you Michael Bay. Love or hate him, the Transformers director has continued to smash the box office with larger-than-life movies about Hasbro’s popular line of toys from the ’80s. His latest sequel, Transformers: Age of Extinction, is a case of too much “more of the same” with Mark Wahlberg replacing long-running front man, Shia LaBeouf.

The story takes place 4 years after the Chicago mayhem from Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon. The Autobots have gone underground, the Decepticons are wanted for scrap metal, times are tough and the authorities want the public to alert them to any alien activity. Cade Yeager (Wahlberg), a DIY mechanic turned inventor, picks up an old truck for next to nothing. After some testing, he and his daughter soon become wanted by the Autobots and a paranoid government official.

Besides the effects-driven action, the cast is probably the most impressive thing about the latest Transformers movie. While Shia LaBeouf was charming and likable in his own way, Mark Wahlberg just seems better equipped to lead the charge and serves as a refresh on the save the world heroics. He goes head-to-head with Stanley Tucci as Joshua Joyce, a Steve Jobs archetype, and Kelsey Grammer as a steely-eyed former intelligence bigwig.

This triumvirate helps establish the human element in Transformers: Age of Extinction, anchoring and punctuating the high-flying alien robot action. Mark Wahlberg is charismatic and convincing, Stanley Tucci is the imperfect perfectionist and Kelsey Grammer delivers a cold-hearted performance that allows him to straddle both the X-Men and Transformers franchises.

They’re supported by Transformers girl, Nicola Peltz, who is good at having long legs and playing teen eye candy for Michael Bay. Jack Reynor is like the Irish long lost brother to Chris and Liam Hemsworth, who gets a Colin McCrae style understudy gig to Wahlberg. T.J. Miller’s goofy surfer dude character helps inject some comedy into the first hour, while Thomas Lennon is up to his quirky business as usual. Then the Transformers have a couple of familiar voice actors in Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime, Frank Welker as Galvetron, John Goodman as Hound and Ken Watanabe as Drift.

“Impressed? Wait until you see the size of my car’s gun.”

Make no mistake, Transformers: Age of Extinction is not all that different from the previous Transformers films. It’s action porn and still revolves around the Autobots trying to save humanity from the bad guys… who just have more human ties and a literal mechanical bull in a China shop showdown. The emphasis is on the high octane, explosive symphony of robot metal with the humans doing their best to stay out of the way of the carnage.

If you’ve watched all the Transformers movies up to this point, you’ll probably watch Michael Bay’s latest regurgitation. The technical audio-visual aspects of the film make it epic, impressive and visceral to a fault. Thankfully the film-makers haven’t gone Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen on the action, giving us time to marvel at the CGI with slow-mos, instead of trying to induce a seizure.

It’s loud, flashy, slick and over-the-top action that drives the film… and at just under 3 hours, you will definitely get your money’s worth if you like that sort of thing. It’s no secret, Michael Bay’s taken Transformers to the extreme, making it difficult to imagine anyone attempting a Transformers movie marathon without a written note from their doctor. To his credit, the relentless splurge is so beautifully crafted, it’s difficult not to see it through to the air punch glory of the last climactic battle.

Mark Wahlberg helps reign in Bay’s ridiculously good-looking action set pieces with a near-invincible and grounded performance. The selection of sleek vehicles and ominous spaceships ramp up the eye candy. The Dinobots make a Dino-Riders adaptation seem more than just a possibility, while the heady plot involving corporate weapon manufacturers and corrupt CIA officials, give the Autobots a license to kill humans.

It’s a pity Bay tried to cram so much into this sequel. While exhilarating at first, the continual barrage of big action set pieces does become a case of diminishing returns. The re-entry story tries to relive the promise of the first Transformers movie and they probably could have spent a bit more time developing the characters instead of fast-forwarding to the humdrum of Transformers on-the-run, heist and urban chaos.

We get a taste of what a “Transformers in Space” movie would be like and perhaps they should have taken this idea a step further instead of resorting to the usual smash-and-grab. All in all, Transformers: Age of Extinction is largely entertaining and will appeal to fans of the series and action junkies who want to see eye-popping audio-visuals in the form of fast cars, big stunts and explosive heavy metal alien robot choreography. It’s really really good for something that isn’t all that good.

The bottom line: Flashy

Release date: 26 June, 2014
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