Film Review: Transformers: Age of Extinction

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Film Review, Film Review: Transformers, Film Review: Transformers: Age of Extinction, Film Transformers: Age of Extinction, Films, Jack Reynor, Kelsey Grammer, Mark Wahlberg, Michael Bay, Nicola Peltz, Optimus Prime, Stanley Tucci, Transformers

Chicago has been destroyed in the war between Autobots and Decepticons and now both are seen as a threat to humanity. To hunt down all alien robots CIA agent Harold Atinger (a nasty Kelsey Grammer) creates a special unit with the sole purpose of killing them. Ironically, Atinger is in cohorts with a new kind of evil robot, who is on the hunt for Optimus Prime.

While all of this is going on a “out-of-luck” robotics expert and inventor Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) is trying to make ends meet and raise his teenage daughter Tessa (Nicola Peltz). As chance would have it Yeager buys an old beat up truck, which turns out to be a badly damaged Optimus Prime.

Before you know it the CIA storms onto the property and a man/robot hunt ensues. Yeager, a big believer in the good of Autobots, teams up with Optimus Prime, forcing his daughter and her boyfriend Shane Dyson (Irish lad Jack Reynor) to tag along.

Soon they discover that it’s not just the CIA who is on their tails but billionaire tech magnate and defense contractor Joshua Joyce (Stanley Tucci) wants them too.

Transformers: Age of Extinction is a loud film, filled to the brim with CGI and explosions, too much to take in but still not enough to distract from the lack of plot. But then, Michael Bay is the director and his last films have been more miss then hit, at this time around he can’t even blame a writers strike.

If anyone hopped that the change of cast would liven up the franchise it was a slight miscalculation. The new cast is a bit like a tic-tac, fresh for a minute but doesn’t last for the whole, absurdly long, film (165min).

Wahlberg does try a few Bruce Willis impressions a la Armagedon, but seems to lack inspiration. Peltz fills the gap that Megan Fox left open and even though she definitely has a smaller cup size she doesn’t do much either to move the story along. When she isn’t mooning over her boyfriend she is too scared to do anything of much use. But then Reynor himself is a complete wuss in the film, his only talents are driving under pressure and doing a leprechaun impression every now and then, which is even more odd since he grew up in Ireland.

Grammer is a one-dimensional bad guy, his only true motivation wanting a big payout, not quite enough to understand his willingness to kill anyone in his way. Only Tucci seems to be having a little bit of fun, but you can’t help but see him with a big purple wig as he delivers his quips very much in his “Hunger Games” manner.

Overall Transformers: Age of Extinction is just another failed attempt of the Transformer franchise, but with an unlimited budget and number five in pre-production it seems that they are willing to keep going. And it is clear that there are enough sci-fi fans out there willing to pay for three hours off film with an attention deficit disorder.

 

 

Film Review: The Fifth Estate

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Bill Condon, Cumberbatch, Daniel Brühl, Daniel Domscheit-Berg, entertainment, Film Review, Film Review: The Fifth Estate, Inside WikiLeaks, Julian Assange, Laura Linney’s, movies, Stanley Tucci, The Fifth Estate, WikiLeaks

In the summer Alex Gibney released his documentary We Steal Secrets: The Story of the WikiLeaks showing the world what went on behind closed doors of the infamous whistle-blowing website. Now Director Bill Condon shows us his fictional version of the story in his film The Fifth Estate.

Both films try to unravel the story behind WikiLeaks and Julian Assange’s rise and fall and both struggle with all the possible angles. While Gibney just documents what happened, Condon takes some creative leeway and turns the story into something close to a thriller.

When Daniel Domscheit-Berg (Daniel Brühl) meets Julian Assange (Benedict Cumberbatch) he is fascinated by his single mindedness and desire for total transparency. Soon the two start working together, finding secrets and generating a buzz around the WikiLeaks.

As the website grows and gains followers Julian finds himself trust into the limelight, and enjoying it. But while his fame increases so does his paranoia and secret keeping. Daniel on the other hand struggles to maintain his normal life and while he believes in the importance of their venture he starts to realise that Julian is not all he may seem to be. As the cracks appear in their friendship the secrets they unfold become bigger and more dangerous, they are forced to decide between total transparency or protecting sources and innocents.

The Fifth Estate is based on the book Inside WikiLeaks by Daniel Domscheit-Berg yet it still seems to be in two minds about whether or not Assange is the villain in the story or not. This ambivalent attitude towards the lead character in the film creates a lot of messiness in the plot and leaves quite a few questions unanswered.

That being said Cumberbatch is the perfect choice for the role of Assange. He somehow manages to replicate Assanges unique halting speech patterns, jerky movements and twitchy nervousness without ever just being an imitation. Brühl also finds his stride as his loyal spokesperson and fallen believer towards the end.

The main problem that The Fifth Estate faces is Laura Linney’s role as the fictitious State Department official Sarah Shaw and Stanley Tucci as her right-hand man James Boswell. Somehow their part in the story feels like an ‘ad-on’, just there to show that they US State Department has hypothetical blood on their hands.

Overall The Fifth Estate makes a good attempt at telling modern day story but at times does seem to get carried a way a little with visual concepts, bombarding the viewer with an array of virtual maps, electronic front pages and a virtual office.

The Fifth Estate is filled with ideas but even the extensive 128 minutes just aren’t enough to cover any of them in too much detail. Leaving the viewer with many unanswered questions, one of which is: does Assange really dye his hair?