The Transformers
franchise is FINALLY free of Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox. Depending on your personal taste this may be
a good or bad thing but for me it’s liberating.
I always felt the one thing holding those films back was the awkward
character acting brought to the table by the two stars. That being said, having Marky Mark come on
board as a replacement isn’t too much better but at the end of the day the
reason anyone is watching these movies is to see Optimus Prime and the other
Transformers duke it out in all their epic, mechanized glory so who really
cares. On this front,
Transformers: Age of Extinction did not disappoint.
This installation
in the popular series takes place five years after the Battle of Chicago which
saw the death of Megatron. Humans have
become distrustful of the Transformers and break all ties with them forcing
each one to go into hiding. A secret CIA
operation is deployed to eliminate the remaining Decepticons but its vengeful
leader is also focused on destroying the Autobots. He feels the world will never be safe while
any of the Transformers, good or bad, are on the planet. Cade Yeager (played by Mark Wahlberg) is an
inventor who comes across a broken down truck he hopes to salvage for
parts. The truck turns out to be a rusty
and wounded Optimus Prime and Cade, along with his daughter Tessa gets sucked
in to all the drama surrounding the alien, metal titans as Optimus is forced to
flee the encroaching CIA operatives and their vile Transformer bounty hunter
Lockdown who is on a personal mission to find Prime.
This installation,
much like the previous Dark Side of the
Moon, gives us background into the history of the Transformers and the
effects they’ve been having on Earth for millennia. Secrets are revealed which put the future of
both Earth and the Transformers in a questionable light as Optimus and his
Autobots must decide whether the humans are worth saving. As is the case with any Michael Bay big
budget blockbuster there isn’t a whole lot of substance to the movie. The point is the special effects, fight
scenes, and explosions of which there is an ample amount. Wahlberg’s relationship with his daughter
feels forced and cliché as he spends the entire movie more focused on her
hidden relationship with boyfriend/amateur racecar driver Shane than the
imminent destruction of the planet and the unrelenting battle of good and
evil. In addition, the Dinobots have a
very small role to play which was immensely disappointing as the trailers
focused almost exclusively on the addition of the gigantic prehistoric
behemoths. Still, what we did get to see
was spectacularly awesome and made the entire movie for me. On top of this is the introduction of
Galvatron, a new villain with a hidden secret you’ll have to watch to find out. If you were a fan of the other three films
then you will enjoy this installation as well.
It feels just like the others and is a somewhat logical continuation of
the story line with some fun new additions to keep you interested in what’s
going to happen next.
Lone Survivor was
superbly well-acted and stunningly emotional.
Based on the amazing true story of Operation Red Wings, the film tells the story
of a four man NAVY SEAL Recon team sent into the mountains of Afghanistan to
track a known high level Taliban commander.
Though the mission starts out smoothly, poor communications equipment
and a chance encounter quickly force the SEAL’s to adapt to a more hostile
situation. As the name implies, only a
single SEAL manages to escape alive and his story is one of chance, determination,
and a lot of luck. The film defies most
military movie conventions by offering up well thought out and realistic battle
sequences seeing actors Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, and Ben
Foster brilliantly executing their roles in a manner that would make any
veteran proud. With a focus on brotherhood
and loyalty, the film focuses masterfully on the ability of such elite Special
Forces to keep on going no matter what.
You don’t stop…ever. They are
trained to keep pushing the limits and keep moving forward and that is
displayed expertly, particularly by Wahlberg and Foster. In addition, the film manages to show the US’s
dual reasons for the War in Afghanistan particularly well. The team is there to track a known Taliban
leader and enemy of the US but that is only half of the mission. The Taliban is an extremely violent and
oppressive organization abroad but even more so at home. The film manages to simultaneously make you
root for the SEAL’s while also showing the viewer that not all Afghanis are bad
people. Most are honorable, regular
people trying to live their lives and resist a violent sect which has given the
country a bad reputation. In this way
the movie manages to use this horrific mission which was ultimately a failure
to represent a larger picture; to show the viewer not only why we are in this
war but why it is worth fighting for.
One of Mark Wahlberg’s best roles in years Lone Survivor is more than just a fantastic military movie, it’s a fantastic film. 