Stars Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer, Nicola Peltz, Sophia Myles, Li Bing Bing, TJ Miller, Thomas Lennon and Titus Welliver Vocal performances by Peter Cullen, John Goodman, Ken Watanabe, Mark Ryan, Frank Welker, Reno Wilson and John DiMaggio Directed by Michael Bay Michael Bay returns for a fourth round of those rambunctious eye-candy, The Transformers. So, If I issue a “SPOILER WARNING” - would it matter? This is the fourth entry in a series, so by this point, either you’re gonna love it or hate it, and you know if you’re gonna see it or not bother at all. If you’re willing to press on to read further, well… thank you for your attention. I’ll try to be more entertaining. The movie opens in the Jurassic period - or thereabouts - and in seemingly history muddling tradition of the Transformers movies, they set it up that the extinction of the dinosaurs was brought about by a mysterious alien race that are somehow tied to our giant robots. It’s much later we learn that we have glimpsed the makers of the giant robots themselves - and promptly ignored by jumping to the present day; 5 years after the Chicago incident of Dark Of The Moon. The amicable relations between the US Government and the Autobots is out the window and the humans are now - supposedly - hunting all transformers. But LO! They are working with an outside faction that appears to be neither Autobot nor Decepticon; a powerful and mysterious - yet generic looking - transformer called Lockdown, who appears to be some kind of bounty hunter looking for Optimus Prime. Why? Who cares. It’s an excuse for blowing shit up and tearing some robots down. Of the original characters, only Optimus Prime and Bumblebee return with all new looks and designs. Optimus is first rediscovered in a run-down cinema by Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) after getting an earful about the sorry state of movies these days with their reboots and sequels (ha ha). Optimus is in an even sorrier state than the cinema (see trailer) and quite battle damaged. He later says he needs his companions to help effect some repairs, but that’s glossed over when he scans another truck and somehow gets an upgrade without repairs - and it turns out by the end of the movie… HE CAN FLY! Where the heck was THAT during the rest of the movie when he was being chased around by the human hunters of Cemetery Wind, led by Savoy (a very cool looking Titus Welliver, acting like he’s in The Matrix) or even Lockdown? It’s a little like the Lord of The Rings problem… like if you had those damn giant eagles or giant butterflies, when the heck did you need to walk to the damn volcano? Referencing Lord of The Rings further, the deal with the dinobots (see the posters and trailers) comes across like the one Aragon strikes with that ghost army! “I’ll give you your freedom, but first, serve me by being my lap dog and help trash those other robots.” These are NOT your papa’s dinobots, no matter how cool they may look on screen.
Oh yes, a big deal was made about the human element for this round, so while we finally bypass the annoying screeching of Shia’s Sam Witwicky and his equally annoying companions, we’re saddled with somewhat deadbeat inventor dad, Cade, who is heavily in debt and overly protective of stunningly hot (and typically model-like Bay Babes) daughter, Tessa (Nicola Peltz). He would spend more non-existent money on a hunk of junk, believing his next invention will rake in the cash to pay for daughter’s college education. What makes him a great dad? For the film, it’s his willingness to wade into an insane situation to rescue her from the insane situation he put her in. Beyond that, we have Stanley Tucci’s so called entrepreneur taking every crazy scientific short-cut (never a good idea) to ‘create’ products aimed at military use, thanks to his connection to Kelsey Grammer’s ex-CIA/military goon, who’s also running Cemetery Wind. End result? Say hello to a troop of new Decepticons with a visually fascinating and intriguing ‘transforming’ mode - that gets left behind once the carnage starts. Therein lies a majority of the problems. The plot is there to serve the action and the action tends to forget a lot of the cool visuals that are introduced. Lots of ideas and almost no retention. Lots of visual flash - as one would expect from Michael Bay - and lots of redundancy. The action set-pieces get boring as the movie progresses that when the Dinobots finally show up way into the third act, there’s no vitality. It’s crash-boom-bang and catch ya next time. Yes, there’s a set-up for the next instalment. Still, if you’re in it for the action - and given the nature of the film - it’s best to go big, take in an IMAX 3D screening, or a normal 3D screening. The design is definitely rolling that way and it’s the best eye-candy available for a live-action film - if you can take in all the debris detail. Just check your brain and heart at the door. Rating ***
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Stars (vocally) Jay Baruchel, Gerard Butler, Cate Blanchett, Craig Furguson, America Ferrera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, TJ Miller, Kristen Wiig with Djimon Honsou and Kit Harrington Directed by Dean DeBlois As the credits rolled at the end of the movie, this is what went through my head. First - What the hell is Pixar’s movie this year? Then - Kung Fu Panda 3 has a LOT to live up to now. I’ve always preferred DreamWorks Animation features over the Pixar films. Oh, the Pixar films were great in their time, most are just so good, but I just preferred the features from DreamWorks Animation. They take risks and treat animation more as a medium to tell stories and to entertain. It’s a concept I find that doesn’t sit very well with American viewers, so the DreamWorks animated features don’t make as much as the safer family friendly product of Pixar or Disney. But let’s focus here. Set five years on from the first movie, the village of Berk is now a very different place. Hiccup (Jay Baruchel) is now twenty and his father, Stoick (Gerard Butler), is ready to have Hiccup take over as chief of the village. Although he’s grown, Hiccup isn’t the man his father is, and he knows it. This is basically Hiccup’s journey within this story and there are several other events along the way. If you’ve seen the trailers, you know what they are. I’m not spoiling that here. While the first movie is very much a father and son story, this is very much Hiccup’s coming of age tale. Just know that as the characters have grown and matured, so has the story - and that’s a brilliant move. Many of the original cast is back, joined by three new talents; Cate Blanchett, Djimon Honsou and Kit Harrington (because of Game of Thrones and Pompeii that he’s added to another medieval adventure with dragons? yeh- that's an unfair assessment, sorry). They do well to fit in with the established cast, but it’s Baruchel who does the heavy lifting here. His scenes with Butler ring true based on their previous performance while Blanchett adds a new dimension to the trio. She conveys the complex emotions of her character very well indeed. The core characters each have their individual motivations and purpose in relation to each other, and that gives each of the vocal cast moments to shine. A delicate balancing act with the number of talent here. As each of these animated features emerge, the quality of the animation improves and the bar is raised; it’s no different here. The first thing that pops is the hair. Stoic’s beard is far more refined than the matted mess of the first movie. The surfacing and texture details are incredible, although that may be contributed by the IMAX screening. The cinematography and landscape shots that were so beautiful in the first movie are even more gorgeous here. Roger Deakins (cinematographer for Skyfall) returns to consult, which helps the depth of the 3D presentation. I also noted Guillermo DelToro and movie poster artist extraordinaire Drew Struzen listed in the credits as well. And there are so-many-dragons. The dragons swarming definitely benefits from the IMAX format as does the Alpha. And of course, John Powell’s amazing score that builds upon the themes that have come before. As like before, there are scenes where the music simply soars to tell the story. AND there’s a song within the story! Beautifully placed and used as a story device, not just some ditty thrown in. The directorial decisions by writer and director, Dean DuBlois, cater to serve the story. Fellow co-director of the first feature, Chris Sanders, is listed as an executive producer, so don’t know how much input he had here. Whatever his contribution, as with the rest of the cast and crew, the end product is one truly amazing feature to behold - and the one to beat for the summer. I’d dare say that this is The Empire Strikes Back of animated features! The best that DreamWorks animation has delivered in their storied history. They celebrate 20 years, and if this is the direction they’re heading… well, Kung-Fu Panda 3 has a lot to live up to when it finally comes out and this Dragon saga has one more chapter to go too. Uh… what does Disney/Pixar have out this year again? Rating: ****1/2 Stars Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Jonas Armstrong, Tony Way, Kick Gurry, Charlotte Riley and Brendan Gleeson Directed by Doug Liman Have you ever sat by watching a friend play some video game, trying to figure out the movement patterns to get through some level? While some may get the whole Groundhog Day mechanism at work, it feels more like that video game where your character keeps getting shunted back to some save point and has to try various paths to keep moving forward. On the bright side, they do keep things entertaining, especially with the numerous death of Tom Cruise… or at least, his character, William Cage. It might be fair to say that this is a departure from the usual characters that Cruise has played before. The charm is there, but more as a façade hiding the coward beneath who doesn’t want to be on the front lines of a losing war. As the movie progresses that charm also fades away, but not completely, to bring out the character underneath and evolve into the hero he needs to be. He’s also ably supported by a game cast that include some cool character actors the likes of Brendan Gleeson, Kick Gurry and the great Bill Paxton, but primarily Emily Blunt as the kick-ass metal-gear warrior, Rita Vrataski. The time-travel mechanism here - and it is a time-travel gimmick at play, because he Cage keeps travelling back in time to a particular ‘start point’ - is unique. Despite being a gimmick, it is a crucial plot point to the overall scheme of things as the story progresses. It turns out, Vrataski is the only other soldier who had experienced the phenomenon before and she becomes Cage’s guiding light for much of the film. The chemistry between Cruise and Blunt works well enough to carry through those oft-repeated moments, whether it’s the repeated training (never mind the strength building, it’s apparently all among rote memorisation) or her preferred method of ‘rebooting’ events when things go wrong. It’s like a video game, remember? Director Doug Liman handles the action scenes with aplomb, showing off the deft hand developed through the likes of The Bourne Identity or Mr and Mrs Smith. Let’s throw in Jumper while we’re at it. He manages not to repeat things too often, giving fresh spins on repeated set pieces and simply drives the pace with occasional flashes of well-placed and well-developed humour. That’s thanks to a very game Cruise. The nature of the featured aliens, however, tend to create some chaotic moments in the first half. A sense of location is often lost, particularly during the battle scenes, but it might be considered a benefit to those moments, not unlike the beach landing that opened Saving Private Ryan. The effects work is also notable, from the practical suits to the CGI movements in those suits (I doubt very much the actors would be so flexible in the reportedly 85 pound suits), aliens and environments. Yet, while obvious, they don’t distract from the proceedings In all, it is a very engaging and entertaining Summer movie, not overly concerned with the mechanics of the concept. It doesn’t try to preach anything nor is our lead character out to experience some moral lesson (see Groundhog Day) in as much as he just wants everything to quit repeating. To bring up that video game analogy one last time, imagine you’re playing the game and you have to reach the end before you can stop and step away. There’s no save point for you to take a break. For Bill Cage, stepping away from the routine simply unveils a greater horror. There’s no escape unless he completes the path he’s on. In that, the movie delivers as pure solid entertainment. If only they could have a better resolution tho. That ending raises so many questions. Rating: ***1/2 |
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