DTLA LIFE MAG #7 | JULY 2014 | Page 12

It is a well known fact that Trans-
formers has undergone changes
and expandable growth over the
last decade. With the launch of
the Cinematic release in 2007,
Transformers has evolved into the
big screen and captured the at-
tention and love of long-standing
fans, movie goers, and new fans
alike. Soon after that in 2009, the
sequel was released onto the big
screen, causing uproars of ex-
citement as they watched their
favorite Autobots back and de-
feating Decepticons. A third in-
stallation of the Cinematic Series
released in 2011, once again,
giving fans another opportunity to
experience Transformers on the
big screen. Each film focused on
the importance of human lives, as
the Autobots struggled and
fought to keep the protagonists
alive. With each movie, the audi-
ence saw similar antagonists in all
three movies, Decepticons and
other Alien Robot groups.
On June 27th, 2014- We were
treated to a whole new Trans-
formers experience. With a new
cast, and new theme, there was
something very different entirely
that captured the audience’s at-
tention almost immediately. What
was seen was not the usual Au-
tobot versus Decepticon conflict;
instead, humans were responsi-
ble in playing the lead role of an-
tagonists. The greater threat of
the human protectors was hu-
mans themselves. With the hunt-
ing of the Autobots in the back-
ground, we were introduced to
the protagonists. Mark Wahlberg
stepped up and took the shoes
of the leading role, and delivered
a mix of superior acting, strong
vocalizations, and of course, out-
standing feats of physically de-
manding action sequences.
The suspense was perfectly built
up, as it led up to the large
scaled battle. Fans of the series
will not be disappointed with this
brilliant homage to both the
comics and the several animated
series not only with the Dinobots,
but also some of the enemy
robots such as Galvatron and
Lockdown. The sequences were
superb; high volumes of explo-
sions, robot on robot battle, even
human on robot battles were
fought, as Mark Wahlberg’s char-
acter, Cade Yeager, finds himself
a way to actually fight back and
help out during some of the bat-
tles. Nevertheless, the experience
was adrenaline pumping, and
one couldn’t help but groan as
matters became worse for both
our heroes; the human protago-
nist group, and our amazing Au-
tobots. Overall, it was the theme
that was consistently being re-
minded to the audience; the im-
portance of human choices, and
human life.
The conflict began with the
choices that the antagonist group
made to hunt down all Trans-
formers alike. There were conse-
quences of those choices, and
even those who decided upon
them for their reasons even had
chances to redeem themselves
by correcting their mistakes. It
seemed that the movie in itself
was an attempt to make the au-
dience more involved in this ex-
perience than some care to real-
ize, as choices we make in life
can easily relate to the realization
of the mistake that was made. It
cannot be emphasized enough
that sometimes, people want a
second chance to make the right
decision. Redemption can only
be won through struggle, and
Stanley Tucci’s character had to
go through a plethora of gunfire,
explosives, and physical exhaus-
tion to finally be redeemed.
In the end, Transformers: The
Age of Extinction, offered more
than a movie about giant robots;
it offered a slice of life, a second
chance for some fans to look at
this Cinematic series a new way
after previous installments. This
reviewer thoroughly enjoyed the
film from the well played jokes,
classic one-liners, and yes…
even Optimus Prime’s speech,
though it may have seemed he
was talking to the audience more
than to the Autobots. That’s only
one interpretation. If the film does
get a sequel, I will hope that it
followed the formulas that this
title had, but until then, I await
this title to be released to own on
DVD and Bluray formats.
- Peter Badillo
© 2014 Paramount Pictures. All Rights Re-
served. HASBRO, TRANSFORMERS, and all
related characters are trademarks of Hasbro. ©
2014 Hasbro. All Rights Reserved.