In spite of an effort to introduce some different story elements and pull back on the awful comedy, Transformers 4 retains all the triumphs and flaws of the previous outings. It has to be remembered that this franchise is basically giant robots beating the nuts-and-bolts out of each other to entertain nine-year-old boys, and on that level it succeeds, as the robots are again superbly realised, with the brief addition of the Dinobots as a plot (and merchandising) opportunity, but even then this over-long and meandering film runs out of steam before the end. Mark Wahlberg is a reliable and reassuring screen presence as always (The Happening aside), and the father-daughter dynamic with Nicola Peltz provides a little more credibility and grounding than Shia LeBoeuf's unlikely relationships in the earlier movies, although as her 'secret' boyfriend Jack Reynor makes very little impression. The first half is flabby, the story wanders all over the place, characters are intermittently developed (with the disappearance of Sophia Myles for most of the mid-section being very perplexing) and plot-holes and a lack of logic abound, yet there is a real sense of trying to reference the earlier events in the trilogy - especially Dark Of the Moon - and also to move forward. Maybe there really is nowhere else for these stories to go, but if you want a big noisy visual feast, this franchise at least still delivers on that score.
No comments:
Post a Comment