Huh, interesting ideas I suppose. However, I think the reason I preferred AOE's cast was because it was rather small which, in my opinion, was better than a huge cast with no screen time,

Also, I'm not that big of a Circuit Breaker fan. I feel like it would've been another human doing more damage than cybertronian.

 

I agree fully about the smaller cast. RotF and DotM, while heavily enjoyable to me, do have casts that are a little too big, although DotM does a better job balancing its robot cast than RotF

I also don't care for Circuit Breaker. Funny enough, there are interesting parallels between that Unicron script on one hand and Age of Extinction and The Last Knight on the other. In the Unicron script a female named Josie is at a base in Colorado where there are dead Decepticons and human-made tech inspired by Cybertronian technology, and the tech is described as being a sexier version of what's in Iron Man's closet. Josie is at the base when Unicron's Herald, Galvatron, attacks and attempts to download Decepticon memories, including Megatron. Galvatron then becomes possessed by the surviving mind of Megatron (much like in AoE). To survive Josie upgrades herself using some remaining tech and becomes Circuit Breaker. Looking for revenge, Circuit Breaker then goes on a Transformer murdering spree, killing Autobot and Decepticon alike (just like Lockown and Cemetery Wind), including Galvatron's second-in-command Cyclonus, until she eventually joins the Autobots.

Also like AoE, the script also had the Dinobots appearing in the film's climax...which like TLK at least partially takes place at Stonehenge, which like in TLK has a portal (which in this case is a time portal), and which also features Unicron.

It really makes me wonder if the Unicron script was actually connected to production in some way, even though Bay denied it was the actual script (and it wasn't the final script, that's for sure). Maybe it was a rejected idea, and the finished film still retained some core ideas from it (A Galvatron robot getting controlled by Megatron's mind, humans experimenting with Cybertronian tech, a human trying to kill Autobots and Decepticons alike, Dinobots appearing in the final battle).

There are definitely parallels.

 

Another thing about AoE I have never seen anyone else note is that it fills an interesting position in Bay's filmography and in the context of Bay's career.

One of Bay's first big films was the 1990s action thriller The Rock: a film I saw and enjoyed very much as a young teenager. It's one his highest rated films.

The Rock's main antagonists is Frank Hummel, a disenfranchised veteran who is not happy about how the bodies of his troops were not given decent burials. He is willing to take over Alcatraz, take innocent hostages, and threaten San Francisco using rockets armed with air born chemical agents. His men get in a deadly shootout with fellow military officers, resulting in the death of his own former allies. As he dies, he seems to feel remorse for his actions, but he still did some awful and potentially awful things.

Age of Extinction Optimus is the anti-Frank Hummel. Optimus Prime has it even worse than Hummel and his men ever did. KSI didn't just melt down the Autobots' bodies and act as the puppets to his arch-nemesis; Lockdown and Cemetery Wind actively hunted and killed Autobots that remained on Earth. Optimus even wants to kill the person responsible for the evil deeds done to Ratchet and company. However, when he encounters Joyce, who knew full well what he had done, he doesn't harm him or anyone else. He even doesn't want Hound, the most violent of the Autobots, to do anything. Then when he finds out about Galvatron and the Seed he even volunteers to retrieve the Seed even though he wants to leave Earth forever. In the end, the only reason he kills Attinger is to protect Cade.

Optimus never once intentionally kills any human but Attinger. He never shoots other Cemetery Wind members directly. He never threatens to blow up a city with innocents even though he understandably orders KSI to be broken into. He never once wishes that humans were extinct even if he's tempted to leave humanity to its fate. He had things much worse than Hummel, but he was more resilient than Hummel and kept more of his core values. He was tested further than Hummel, but he was stronger than Hummel. Far from ruining Optimus Prime and the Autobot, the movie shows how heroic they truly are by testing them.

 

You have to wonder how Optimus knew that he was justified in killing Attinger. He never actually met Attinger, who largely stuck to the humans and Lockdown in interactions.

Moreso Optimus just got lucky, killing the guy who was aiming to kill Caede.

 

That is the justification, to save a friend.

 

Well, it felt like the overall message of that last battle, how we have someone saying to someone else, 'they are the enemy, and you made a mistake thinking we could be friends!'

- You have Attinger tells this to Caede, and Optimus saves him.

- You have Lockdown ridiculing Optimus for saving a human, and then the humans end up helping Optimus.

So yeah, there's this strangely subtle message about working together for mutual benefit, while people claim it to be some form of propaganda.

 

I actually never thought about that. That's very interesting.

 

I actually thought about it many times. Recently I understood, that when Cade entered KSI, Autobots learned, that Ratchet was killed, but they were outside. So it's likely Cade had some hidden microphone.

 

I don't think they ever did find out really about Attinger, but they did know about Joshua Joyce.

Plus, while Caede had the hacked mini-drone, I'm pretty sure they would have confiscated it off him before taking him to meet with Attinger. Sure, Bee crashed into the room, but it looked like Harold had exited before Bee could have ID'ed him.

I just chalked it up to Bay just going, 'well...that happened...YAY problem solved!'

 

He had the mini drone camera.

 

And he faced with Attinger in KSI, so Autobots knew him.

 

Well they didn't know about Attinger.

 

But he talked with Cade, offering him to leave Autobots in exchange for life, after Cade was captured at KSI.

 

Yes, the Autobots didn't know about Attinger though.

 

OmG, but Cade had the microphone! He recorded his words!And Bumblebee resqued him and saw Attinger.

 

He didn't have it in that scene though, and Bumblebee wouldn't have known who Attinger was just by looking at him. Even if he did, the most they would know is that Attinger was a government employee.

 

Yeah, Bee was mainly there just to get Caede out, and Attinger was already rushing for the door when he smashed through!

Plus as I said before, I'm pretty sure when they caught Caede, they would have patted him down for any kind of weapons or so. I often assumed that when Joyce mentioned Caede was conducting 'corporate espionage,' it was upon finding the drone in his coat pocket. Plus, would have made sense for Joyce to have that drone taken away asap since it could incriminate KSI and what his company was doing.

 

Exactly.

 

I can say by the same way, that Cade told the Autobots about Attinger, while they were flying to China.

 

Age of Extinction has been one of my favorite entries in the film series. I loved the outlawed nature of the Autobots, how humans basically distrusted them all as a result of the "Battle of Chicago", and a new lead in the form of Mark Wahlberg, who turned-out to be a little more relatable to me than Shia LeBeouf's Sam. There are so many more elements that clicked with me, probably more than I want to get into here, but...none of these films were meant to be high-art to begin with. I mean, of course I'd expect a beloved property like Transformers to be treated with respect story-wise when being developed for film, and we've now at least seen four installments with somewhat mixed results...personally I've not always appreciated the potty humor or sexual undertones, and sometimes the dialogue has been ridiculous, but I'm able to overlook the negatives and just enjoy the epic visuals. These movies remind me of playing with my Transformers as a kid...acrobatic fights, epic shootouts, high-flying chases, and heavy-metal hand-to-hand combat, everything I'd want in a Transformers film. Age of Extinction was no exception. The elements I just mention are what keeps me watching, not necessarily the story. Maybe that makes me somewhat shallow, and I usually consider myself a pretty discerning and intelligent movie-goer, but...I just watch the Transformers movies to just have some mindless fun.

Now I do like to put all the puzzle pieces together...I like continuity with my multi-film franchises, and I've driven myself mad at times trying to make all of the pieces fit, as it were, to make sense of the ever-increasingly convoluted film mythos...some elements have been dropped entirely, other things explained-away with offhand comments, and some things were just inexplicably changed from one sequel to the other. That has bothered me at times, but...sometimes it's fun to fill in the blanks on my own, to explain-away some of the changes and try not to dwell on it too long. It's like my father-in-law always says...it's just a movie. Sometimes we all forget that fact and try to hold these films up as some stunning, life changing, and all-important experience, when at the end of the day, it's a form of entertainment, nothing more. I've been guilty of this...as a Star Wars fan, I've been known to get caught-up in assigning near saint-hood to the original actors, directors, craftsmen and women involved in making the films, and seeing the films themselves as some kind of epic event for the ages. They're just movies, that's all. They're not perfect. None of them ever are. There are very few films I regard in such a way, and the Transformers films just aren't in my mind. Does that mean I have to dismiss them and not enjoy them? Absolutely not. They're the film equivalent of amusement-park rides...I just have fun watching them.

If I truly had my way, and I could know what happened between AOE and TLK, I'd want to know how Galvatron converted back into Megatron, although it hardly seems important at this point...he only had to be Galvatron in order to survive...it was simply a means to an end. And, like others have pointed-out, I'd really like to know how Quintessa, the supposed Prime of Life, is connected to the Allspark...are they part of the same creation process, or did she allow the Transformers to believe the Allspark was responsible for their very existence, when in reality, Quintessa was all along? And who was doing all of the cyberforming across the universe for her? They obviously seemed to have at least some organics, by the looks of their hands at the controls of their ominous ships. Oh, and I came up with another question after reading everyone's responses and reflecting back on AOE myself...why were the aliens/Quintessa cyberforming Earth when (SPOILER ALERT!!!) it was actually the dormant and ancient Unicron? I actually liked that twist, personally, but it seems the story-writers didn't seem to take that into account in AOE...unless there's truly a reason they didn't know they were cyberforming Unicron, which seems unlikely, and/or Quintessa is just a scheming liar and she had nothing to do with their creation after all, with no connection to the cyberformers in the least...

Ahh...speculating as to why this happened, why that happened, what might happened in the future has become part of the fun of anticipating these kinds of movies...I just wish all of the speculations would pay-off more than they do...sometimes I want some resolution or explanation on some things. I guess as long as it's not too glaring an omission, or something has been re-written drastically, I'm okay with it all, I suppose...

Anyway, to get back specifically to Age of Extinction and what I love about it...I like the cinematic retreat to small-town mid-west America, at least in the beginning of the film. And I loved Lockdown as a new foil...he was like the Transformers' answer to Boba Fett, but he actually did some stuff. (lol) Seriously, he was cool and aloof, not aligned to either faction, and bent on bagging-and-tagging Optimus Prime, perhaps as the ultimate trophy. He was employed by the "Creators" (Creator?) to retrieve him, but after seeing his ship and "trophy room", you just knew Prime had to be his "holy grail", as it were. I liked that subplot, and the climactic battle that ensued...

I loved how they brought back Megatron in the guise of Galvatron, however briefly he maintained that persona.

I liked how Cade Yeager wasn't afraid to engage in battle right along with the Autobots. Yeah, there were times he seemed unsure or even skittish, but he joined-in anyway, going so far as to secure his own unworldly weapon, that he used quite effectively. It was fun. He truly came across as someone caught up in all the excitement, and he almost seemed to enjoy it on some level...I guess that's part of the reason (Spoiler Alert!!!) he bonded with the Cybertronian talisman and became "The Last Knight"...he had a warrior's heart, complete with honor and a sense of selflessness.

The Dinobots were epic...like others have said, they served a great purpose, even if they didn't have much personality or any dialogue...I'm not sure I could've stomached Michael Bay's crude brand of humor paired with prehistoric jargon spewing out of their respective mouths... (lol)

I loved Joshua Joyce...an arrogant Steve Jobs wannabe with a dark side and propensity to get in over his head because of it...but, it was nice when he had a change of heart and developed a conscience. Sometimes it's fun and unexpected to see that kind of arc with a supposed villain. I would have liked to seen him join forces with Cade Yeager in TLK, like he had recognized his true brilliance as a self-taught techie and they would go on to develop great new technologies, perhaps even going so far as to become a private corporation that now works in-tandem with the Autobots in secret, with no affiliation with the government or anything like N.E.S.T. or Cemetery Wind...a powerful "good-guy" entity that's always at odds with the corrupt government secretive types would have been a neat twist or angle, but I also liked Cade Yeager's disposition as a technically-minded outlaw-in-hiding on the side of the Autobots, someone that was surviving the new unstable and dangerous landscape as almost like a "Mad Max" type that actually posed a physical threat to Transformers because of his technical know-how. Mark Wahlberg just comes across as a good, solid, and decent buddy-buddy with a heroic big-brother feel, and that's why I've enjoyed him in these films. But I digress...

At the end of the day, Age of Extinction was just a fun romp for me personally. I could probably go on and on about why I feel that way...I guess I've said too much already. I just don't understand the negative reputation AOE has been building over the past few years, a reputation I don't think it completely deserves, actually. But, that's the nature of film...we all like what we like, and sometimes it's not the same thing anybody else likes, and everybody's got their own good reasons why they do or don't.