The most expensive Transformer back then cost Wang's mother the equivalent of a week's salary at the state-run auto parts factory where she worked. I held on to my parents, refusing to leave the counter no matter what, pleading with them to buy me one." "Before in China, we didn't have toys like this," says Wang, his eyes widening in wonder as he returns to the memories of his childhood. Department Store on Nanjing Road, the city's famed shopping street. He was 8-years-old and the toys were on sale at the No. Wang remembers the moment he saw his first Transformers action figure. People like Wang Yitao, a 32-year-old Shanghai government worker, are a big reason why.
#Age of extinction autobot movie#
This summer, Age of Extinction, the fourth installment in the Transformers series, demolished box office records in China, the world's second-largest film market behind the U.S.Īlthough the movie got poor reviews on both sides of the Pacific, it managed to unseat China's former top-grossing film, Avatar, and haul in more than $300 million. And bring Megan Fox back.People gather in front of a giant figure of Optimus Prime displayed along the Hong Kong harbor for the world premiere of Transformers: Age of Extinction on June 19. Those two need to play brothers in the next Transformers movie. That’s good stuff.Ĭasting-director alert: Jack Reynor looks hilariously like a male-model version of Seth Rogen. Where your ride, hiding out on planet earth camouflaged as a jacked-up Camaro, can (flippity-bang!) transform into an intergalactic warrior-bodyguard. This is an escaping-out-the-window to drive your ultra-cool ride movie. We need to be seeing this entire story through teenage, not dad sensibilities. Over-protective dad territory is not Mark Wahlberg’s thing, particularly. Don’t high-tech everything just because you have more RAM. Keep the transformer muscle-car modes of the ’70s variety keep it gritty. Which is, basically, that they got this story right the first time.
It needs to get back to the Harley-Davidson philosophy. This fourth Transformers installation is over-long, over-done, and over-titled.
#Age of extinction autobot upgrade#
The franchise will continue, but it now needs a gritty upgrade to retro. But by the time you get to the dinobots, your mind will have been completely fried by endless CGI fake stuff transforming into other fake stuff, explosions, pummelings, death-by-dino, death by transformer-swords, ridiculous pounding soundtrack, and much unabashed product placement. The kids’ll love it, thought Michael Bay. Suffice it to say, the actual Transformers ride the dinobots. On second thought, let’s not talk about them. Now it’s time to talk about the dino-transformers. So he transforms out of truck-mode and luckily still has plenty of un-spent shells in his Gatling guns to blast the CIA with, putting surfer-dude, Cade, Tessa, and (oops) Tessa’s secret boyfriend Shane (Jack Reynor) in big danger. The truck? Yes, you guessed it, it’s Optimus Prime. Where’s that Autobot?! That’s entirely unacceptable to the truck. They slam darling daughter on the lawn and jam a gun in her face. Soon, Yeager’s truck has been tracked by black-ops to his farm. Miller) tell him to call the government Autobot emergency-number ASAP. His exceedingly pink-lipped teen daughter Tessa (Nicola Peltz), and his un-funny cliché surfer-dude business partner Lucas (T.J. Upon tinkering, Yeager realizes what this $150 worth of beat-up truck is. When he opens the door to its dusty interior, shell-casings clatter out. Texas inventor and over-protective dad Cade Yeager ( Mark Wahlberg) buys a beat-up old 18-wheeler rig for parts. Especially not autobot sensei Optimus Prime.Ĭue cornfields, pink sunsets, and a rustic barn. Basically the same problem Iron Man’s always dealing with.īut they can’t find earth’s remaining five Transformers. So-CIA black-ops have been tracking Transformers and giving them to Joshua Joyce’s (Stanley Tucci) gizmo company, KSI, with intention of upgrading, militarizing, and controlling the entire transformer phenomenon. And an almost three-hour movie about toys (and dinosaurs, for crying out loud) is way too long. The machinery’s gotten way too complicated. The element of surprise as to what Transformers do is long gone. Let’s have a moment of silence for the absent Fox.
We’ll come back to that.Īnyway, four movies later, it’s been established that no visage can match the blue-eyed, raven-haired looks of Megan Fox (not to mention the rare bombshell-with-comedic-timing aspect). Witty teen dialog such as, “Dude, she’s an evil jock-concubine.” Wait, five things: the Harley-Davidson philosophy. There must be a long-legged jail-bait female of stunning visage (tanned). What is that formula?įour things: the machinery must look cool. The first “Transformers” was an instant American pop-movie classic.
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