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Transformers: Prime and Age of Extinction
11 years ago
As I said in my previous journal I've been on a bit of a Transformers kick for the past couple of weeks. During which I not only rewatched the orginal 1986 movie but decided to check out the Transformers: Prime TV series and the new Age of Extinction movie (against my better judgement). So, here's a quick review of both for anyone interested.
Age of Extinction was...a mess. But it was an enjoyable kind of mess and in the end pretty harmless. The action scenes were pretty decently shot, though still a little bit chaotic, at least compared to what I've seen of the other movies. The human characters were...there. Yeah, despite Mark Walberg being a little bit better than Shia LaBeouf, most scenes with the humans made things grind to a halt. The fact that the female lead was made into a minor to make Walberg's overprotective father character fit was honestly pointless and just added five minutes to the movie so her 20-year old boyfriend could teach us about underage dating laws. Thankfully the scenes with the Transformers made up for a lot of the flaws. They were given a lot more focus and a lot more character than before. Hound (John Goodman) and Drift (Ken Watanabe) were easily my favorite characters, being played by two of my favorite actors as well. The Dinobots were cool, for the short time they were in the movie. They were given no real characterization or even dialogue and, honestly, I wish they were given a chance to fight in robot mode instead of just rampaging in dino-mode. The movie Dinobots were all modeled after medieval knights but Grimlock is the only one who we get to see using his weapons, and even then it was just in a short skirmish against Optimus. The main villian Lockdown was honestly pretty cool and genuinely threatening. Seeing (and hearing) Galvatron (Frank Welker) was pretty cool too and honestly I think I'm one of the few who likes the particle transformations. The human villians though were honestly lame. The CIA agents were typical and uninspired and the Steve Jobs stand-in was obnoxious and stupid. But, for all it's faults, it does just enough right to be enjoyable. If you can spare the time for it's unnecessarily long length, give it a look. But just one.
Prime, on the other hand, was one of the best Transformers series I've seen. For a CG series the animation was pretty above par and very smooth, making the fight scenes really fun to watch. Both the Transformers themsevles and the human characters were really well done (I even liked Miko who most fans seem to hate). Peter Cullen and Frank Welker bring their very best to the table as Optimus and Megatron, the latter of which is probably the most terrifying incarnations of Big M I've seen. Other standouts for the Autobots are Arcee and Wheeljack, the former being incerdibly awesome and showing how a female Transformer can be done right and the latter a badass swordsman and demolition's expert. For the Decepticons we have one of the most conieving, evil, scheming, egotistical and delightfully pathetic Starscreams I have ever seen. In an instant the guy goes from threatening and boastful to simpering and pleading for his life. Soundwave is also a standout. Speaking only 4 words throughout the whole series, Soundwave is one of the creepiest versions of the character, backed up by him being one of the most powerful characters in the series. I might actually do a list of my favorite episodes but until then if you haven't seen it yet, give it a try.
Age of Extinction was...a mess. But it was an enjoyable kind of mess and in the end pretty harmless. The action scenes were pretty decently shot, though still a little bit chaotic, at least compared to what I've seen of the other movies. The human characters were...there. Yeah, despite Mark Walberg being a little bit better than Shia LaBeouf, most scenes with the humans made things grind to a halt. The fact that the female lead was made into a minor to make Walberg's overprotective father character fit was honestly pointless and just added five minutes to the movie so her 20-year old boyfriend could teach us about underage dating laws. Thankfully the scenes with the Transformers made up for a lot of the flaws. They were given a lot more focus and a lot more character than before. Hound (John Goodman) and Drift (Ken Watanabe) were easily my favorite characters, being played by two of my favorite actors as well. The Dinobots were cool, for the short time they were in the movie. They were given no real characterization or even dialogue and, honestly, I wish they were given a chance to fight in robot mode instead of just rampaging in dino-mode. The movie Dinobots were all modeled after medieval knights but Grimlock is the only one who we get to see using his weapons, and even then it was just in a short skirmish against Optimus. The main villian Lockdown was honestly pretty cool and genuinely threatening. Seeing (and hearing) Galvatron (Frank Welker) was pretty cool too and honestly I think I'm one of the few who likes the particle transformations. The human villians though were honestly lame. The CIA agents were typical and uninspired and the Steve Jobs stand-in was obnoxious and stupid. But, for all it's faults, it does just enough right to be enjoyable. If you can spare the time for it's unnecessarily long length, give it a look. But just one.
Prime, on the other hand, was one of the best Transformers series I've seen. For a CG series the animation was pretty above par and very smooth, making the fight scenes really fun to watch. Both the Transformers themsevles and the human characters were really well done (I even liked Miko who most fans seem to hate). Peter Cullen and Frank Welker bring their very best to the table as Optimus and Megatron, the latter of which is probably the most terrifying incarnations of Big M I've seen. Other standouts for the Autobots are Arcee and Wheeljack, the former being incerdibly awesome and showing how a female Transformer can be done right and the latter a badass swordsman and demolition's expert. For the Decepticons we have one of the most conieving, evil, scheming, egotistical and delightfully pathetic Starscreams I have ever seen. In an instant the guy goes from threatening and boastful to simpering and pleading for his life. Soundwave is also a standout. Speaking only 4 words throughout the whole series, Soundwave is one of the creepiest versions of the character, backed up by him being one of the most powerful characters in the series. I might actually do a list of my favorite episodes but until then if you haven't seen it yet, give it a try.
