Transformers: Age of Extinction Concept Art
While there's some brouhaha surrounding exactly how much Transformers: Age of Extinction made this weekend (rumors are swirling that the $100m take during its opening week were inflated by Paramount), one of the film's artists, Wesley Burt, shared some concept art on his personal Facebook. Given the nature of concept art, some of the designs differ from the final designs in the film, but they're still cool to see from a progression standpoint.
Burt had this to say about the revealed concept art:
Had an amazing time working on this with Production Designer Jeffrey Beecroft & Art Director Ben Procter, and all the other awesome artists on the project- Josh Nizzi, Steve Jung, Steve Messing, Ed Natividad, Warren Manser, Vitaly Bulgarov, Fausto De Martini, Patrick Faulwetter, Steve Burg, Paul Ozzimo, John Park, & everyone else, so many people to name. And immense thanks to all of the amazing artists at ILM and Bay Films that brought all these early ideas to life. Was so cool seeing this stuff up on the IMAX screen in 3d!
Check out some of our favorite pieces below, then check out the full collection of released images on Burt's Facebook page.
[via /Film]
[Review] Transformers: Age of Extinction
The Transformers films and I have a sordid past. While I'm not a big fan of the property (my only knowledge of the series comes from a slim memory of the Beast Wars/Beast Machines cartoons on Fox Kids), the first Transformers was my initial break into nerd films and their hype machines. It was the first film I bought a poster for, the first film where I had watched every trailer, and the first film where I anticipated a sequel. While others walked away confused, I loved the heck out of it. But two dubious sequels later, the Transformers name doesn't garner as much good will as it used to.
But when the first trailer for Transformers: Age of Extinction released, I let myself get wrapped up in the hype machine again. Regardless of their overall quality, the Transformers series is always a visual feast. I knew going in that even if I didn't like what anyone was saying or doing, it was going to look super rad.
Thankfully, if all you're looking for is slick looking action and shiny things without caring whether or not Transformers has things like "plot," "pacing," or "characters" than you're going to have a great time. Just be willing to sit for three hours.
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Transformers: Age of Extinction
Director: Michael Bay
Rating: PG-13
Release Date: June 27, 2014
Transformers: Age of Extinction takes place several years after the events of the third film, Dark of the Moon. Gone are the plucky Sam Witwicky and his family, and in their place we have a small town inventor from "Texas, USA (Yes, that's really the location)" Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg), his daughter whose name I forget (Nicola Peltz), and her boyfriend whose Irish but lives in Texas who also races cars for some reason (Jack Reynor). Because of the destruction in Chicago during the Autobots and Decepticons' last battle, the US government, headed by Attinger (Kelsey Grammer) has begun hunting down all the robots for their materials. When Cade stumbles upon Optimus, a larger and more befuddling plot is revealed. To go into further detail than that, I'd have to use the entire length of this review.
If it seems like I'm being overtly harsh on Trans4mers from the get go, that's because it hardly even cares about itself. I'll be blunt here. While not as bad as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Age of Extinction is a shoddy mess of a final product. It's like Bay took criticisms of the first few films to heart and fixed some problems, but then decided to add a whole host of brand new issues. It's just haphazardly thrown together into a Frankenstein's monster of focus group decisions, corporate branding, cartoon fandom, and toy sales. To be fair, that's technically what the rest of the series is, but for some reason it's far more noticeable here. The tone is more cynical than before.
The "plot" is just several thousand locations thrown around aimlessly. It's chaotic and almost entirely random how we'll go from an Alien spaceship to Optimus Prime and Cade having a little chat about the struggles of parenting. The more interesting aspect of all of these locations, however, is how "Anti-American" the entire film feels. I'm not sure if it's intentional or not, but underneath the overt need to please its overseas Chinese audience, we have a wonderful film where America is the bad guy. Taking the same eschewed American Dream mentality from Bay's Pain & Gain, Kelsey Grammer's Attinger (and his "I will protect America" rants) makes America the bad guy. When you contrast the final shot of Dark of the Moon with the American flag billowing proudly in the background to Attinger's speech about creating American products to save American lives in the middle of a Chinese factory, it's almost as if Bay is giving a little wink to let you know he's in on the joke.
But that'd be giving Age of Extinction too much credit. One of the biggest issues audiences have had with the last few films are the humans. That's exactly the same issue here. In fact, Extinction seems to think throwing more humans in there will fix the problem. Mark Wahlberg does have the charisma of a leading man, but he's totally out of place as a genius, yet super ripped inventor. Nicola Peltz is there to be window dressing as her scantily clad self slow motion runs from one dangerous situation to another (which gets all the creepier when the film makes a point to emphasize she's a minor), Jack Reynor comes off as a total jerk when he's supposed to be the "cocky guy" type, Stanley Tucci tries to make it work but comes across as goofy, and Kelsey Grammer has played better villains. With Grammer, we got more Sideshow Mel than Sideshow Bob. Okay so the humans are bad, but what about the Transformers? They have to be cool, right? Robot dinosaurs are cool, huh?
The designs of the Transformers themselves are much slicker than in series past, and go very well with the film's darker tone. And although he's spitting mostly nonsense, Peter Cullen brings a heft to Optimus Prime that no one else can. In fact, Cullen's voice work is so great, I kind of want another Transformers film just to hear him scream "I'll kill you!" again. The weird standout, however, is John Goodman as the newest Autobot, Hound. Replacing the human comic relief character, Hound is a one-liner spewing machine. This would've been fine had any of those one liners actually worked. Every scene he's in he says about three thousand words, and by hour three of this whole debacle I was hoping he'd bite the bullet. Oh, that's right. Transformers: Age of Extinction is a bloated two hours and 45 minutes.
Remember how I mentioned Age of Extinction seemed like a cynical sequel? That also goes with the technical stuff. Bay is a maestro of explosions and I was expecting some good looking ones here, but there's an odd hiccup with a lot of them. It might've been the switch to IMAX cameras, but there are a few golden spots that undergo a dip in quality when action is blurred (as Bay didn't shoot full scenes with IMAX and instead focused on a few key shots). And as good as the action might look, it's very hard to stay invested when the last 45 minutes are a nonstop action sequence featuring characters you don't care about. When you think the film's over (and it even gives you a suitable ending), it just keeps on going. Dinobots and proper film editing be damned, Age of Extinction did not need to be this long.
At the end of the day, Transformers: Age of Extinction is yet another Transformers film we'll all see. And it should be the last. For fans, they'll enjoy the darker tone, will accept that an alien bounty hunter who hates Earth is also a Lamborghini, and will get a kick out of the dinosaur robots when the rest of us want to go home already.
Transformers: Age of Extinction will truly test your mettle. Ask yourself a few questions. How valuable is your time? How important is that ten or fifteen dollars you'd spend on a ticket? Are cool cars enough for you?
It truly is the "age of extinction" for the Transformers series. Let's bury it once and for all.
[Trailer 2] Transformers: Age of Extinction
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Earlier this week, new images from Transformers: Age of Extinction were released to build hype up for a new trailer. Alas, the time has come for new robot-on-robot action to enter our eyes. It's more of the same from Michael Bay, chock full of little Transformer chunks getting punched off, explosions in the background, cars flipping over in the air, and an attempt at humanizing the human characters more than they need. However, this time around, we have Mark Wahlberg to deal, a significant upgrade from Shia LaBeouf whom could actually hold his own against any type of threat.
This time around, the threat facing the Autobots aren't just the Decepticons, but the US Government hunting them down, presumedly in the names of "science" and "technology." Much like the first trailer for the film, this one ends with Optimus Prime riding Grimlock, a robot dinosaur. Come on... there are robot dinosaurs; how can Transfomers: Age of Extinction not be the greatest Transformers film? Hopefully, Bay heeded all of the criticism from the previous films and kept the focus airtight on the Transformers themselves. Then again, I wouldn't mind seeing Wahlberg punch a Decepticon in the face or something super machismo like that.
Transformers: Age of Extinction will be transforming theaters on June 27th.
John Goodman, Ken Watanabe Voicing Autobots in New Transformers
Two veterans have joined Michael Bay's Transformers: Age of Extinction, rounding out a surprisingly talented cast led by Mark Wahlberg. Both Goodman and Watanabe will be doing voiceover work for two new Autobots, Hound and Drift, respectively. Transformers alum Frank Welker will also be voicing Galvatron, the same character that he voiced in the 1986 animated film, Transformers: The Movie.
If the characters stay true to their original incarnations, Goodman's Hound will be a 4x4 military jeep outfitted with a missile launcher, machine gun, and "hologram gun." Drift, meanwhile, was originally a Decepticon under the name Deadlock that was known for his viciousness and ruthless attacks. However, after an epiphany opened his eyes to the truth behind the Transformers war, he opted to carry swords instead of guns and joined the Autobots' side under the Drift name. Galvatron, meanwhile, is a ruthless Decepticon created by Unicron with remnants of Megatron's old Spark. I'm pretty confident to say Galvatron will be Age of Extinction's big bad.
In a way, each actor embodies their characters well... for better or worse. When the casting news broke late last week, I remember seeing some hateful tweets directed at Bay over Watanabe's casting as the Japanese-influenced Drift. Racially-charged or character-fitting casting? You decide. All I care about is a Transformers film that I can actually point at and say, "This is what Transformers is really about."
Transformers: Age of Extinction will roll out to theaters on June 27th. You can check out some recently released images from the film below.
[via Variety]
[Teaser Trailer] Transformers: Age of Extinction
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Months after a behind the scenes video for Transformers: Age of Extinction was released, we finally have our first look at the new film. Condensed into a 30 second Super Bowl TV Spot, this new teaser trailer shares much of the same we've come to expect from director Michael Bay and his imagining of the popular '80s robots (in disguise). Gone is series mainstay Shia LaBeouf (who?), with Mark Wahlberg in his place as the main protagonist.
Of course, the Transformers themselves play a big role in the film (although perhaps not as big of one as they should), with the Autobots once again fighting the Decepticons. However, as if the film's subtitle wasn't obvious, there's an extra element added into the film: Dinobots. What's better than seeing Optimus Prime riding the Dinobot, Grimlock? Not much, really. Enjoy the teaser, because it's going to be a long wait until June 27th.
[Video] Behind the Scenes video on Transformers: Age of Extinction set
When you think of Michael Bay, the first thing that comes to mind are outrageous explosions. Sure enough, in ET's exclusive behind the scenes video on the set of Transformers: Age of Extinction, the opening is full of explosions, dust clouds, and dirt spreading everywhere. Following some shoots in Chicago over the past few months, Bay and company have taken the Transformers crew out to Detroit to turn the city into the film's version of Detroit.
The video also shows off some of the new cars used in the film, but no look at the actual Transformers themselves (obviously). In fact, not much new information is shared in the video, but it's cool to see what a Michael Bay film set looks like. As lead actor Mark Wahlberg describes it, working on a film with Bay means moving fast, and it appears that's an understatement.
Transformers: Age of Extinction will be in theaters on June 27th.
[via Entertainment Tonight]
First cast photo for Transformers: Age of Extinction
The first official cast photo from the upcoming Transformers: Age of Extinction was released over the weekend. While they don't feature any of the previously announced cars or a glimpse at any robot (dinosaur)s, it does feature the new human cast taking over Michael Bay's maligned film franchise of the beloved toy/cartoon line. Keen eyes will notice that film staple Shia LaBeouf/Sam Witwicky is nowhere to be found. In his place is Marky Mark himself in the lead role.
Mark Wahlberg stars as Cade, a mechanic with a young daughter (The Last Airbender's Nicola Peltz) who discovers something that draws the Autobots and Decepticons out. As always, shenanigans of robotic proportions break out, the government attempts to do government things, and the humans will probably take up too much screen time away from the main attraction: robot dinosaurs. Jack Reynor (Dollhouse) is also featured in the image.
Quite frankly, even with Wahlberg in the lead role, unless the film focuses more on the Transformers themselves and less on the humans, I won't really care, Dinobots notwithstanding. Regardless, there are fans out there that will take what they can get, Transformers: Age of Extinction will make millions of dollars, and Michael Bay will forever feel justified for bastardizing a popular '80s franchise.
[via /Film]