Transformers: Age of Extinction (film)

Movie continuity family « Age of Extinction » Toyline Film Video game Mobile game Mobile app Studio Series Home video Albums Commercials Reality show Toy exhibit

"Brace yourselves. Winter is coming."

Transformers: Age of Extinction is the fourth film in the live-action film series. It was released on June 27, 2014.

The film is set four years after the climactic battle of Dark of the Moon. The humans have turned against the Autobots, and the CIA has set up a taskforce operated by Harold Attinger with the intent of tracking down the remaining Transformers on Earth. Optimus Prime sends his forces into hiding around the country.

Synopsis

"Brace yourselves. Robotic hell is coming."

65 million years ago, on the planet Earth, during the Cretaceous Period, a Psittacosaurus is out hunting for food. Finding a fish, the small dinosaur starts to feed, but stops as hundreds of alien ships enter Earth's atmosphere, with mysterious aliens laying down bombs all over the surface. These alien ships are commanded by "The Creators". The alien ships begin launching bombs called "Seeds". Detonating them, they turn most of the Earth's surface and much of its organic life into a metallic element. Barely escaping, the Psittacosaurus walks through the fields of metallic dinosaur corpses. The Age of the Dinosaurs is over.

"Knew I shouldn't have signed that Sacrificial Lamb clause in the contract!"

Five years after the invasion of Chicago, a military unit known as Cemetery Wind moves out to an abandoned steamboat. Deploying small aerial drones, they pinpoint their target, who turns out to be Ratchet. Initially he tries to run, but when he is forced to transform, he tries to reason with the CIA operatives. James Savoy, who leads the field operations and reports to the paranoid Harold Attinger, dismisses Ratchet's pleas. Then, a cannon emerges from the swamp, firing off a few rounds, knocking Ratchet down, and destroying his leg. It's revealed to be Lockdown, who demands to know where Optimus Prime is. Ratchet's defiance earns him a hook through the chest.

In Texas, struggling inventor Cade Yeager and his friend/employee Lucas Flannery meet at an old theater, looking for parts/salvage. He finds an old truck, and upon inspection, it seems to have artillery shells inside it. He buys the truck along with the other theater equipment and puts it in his garage. Tessa, Cade's daughter, observes this while video-chatting with her boyfriend and flips out on her dad for buying the heap of junk.

Later on, Cade discovers a giant hole on the radiator while taking the truck apart. After calling Lucas and Tessa, he connects jumper cables to its engine...only for it to promptly declare "Calling all Autobots...". They realize it's a Transformer right before Optimus Prime transforms and roars in a fit of rage while waving his shotgun. Lucas gets injured in the head by the swinging shotgun. Outside, Lucas advocates calling the cops, claiming that there is a huge reward for Transformers. Cade talks to Optimus. Seeing the unrepaired and damaged condition the Autobot leader is in, Cade decides to repair him. Cade sends Lucas to buy the parts that will enable him to fix Optimus.

Shortly after, however, a strike team led by Savoy and commanded by Attinger approaches the farm, having been tipped off to Prime's location by Lucas. Agents swarm the barn...but there is no trace of Prime inside. As Savoy presses a gun to Tessa's head and Cade swears that he doesn't know where Prime is, said Cybertronian explodes out of the floor of the barn-he was hiding in the basement under the barn. Optimus escapes, still being chased by Cemetery Wind. As Cade catches a mini-drone used by Cemetery Wind and the Yeager residence explodes, a white rally car zooms over the adjacent fields and picks up the Yeagers and Lucas. The driver is revealed to be Shane, Tessa's boyfriend and rally car racer.

Lockdown arrives to chase Optimus. Prime, as well as the Yeagers, Shane, and Lucas, is chased into an abandoned factory. While Optimus fights Lockdown, Shane uses his driving skills to good use and dispatches most of Cemetery Wind. However, the stunt driving has broken the car's axle. They pile into Optimus and flee, but Lucas is caught in the radius of Lockdown's grenade and is turned into metal, frozen in midstride.

Arriving at a very dilapidated gas station, Optimus orders the humans out and drives off to ensure that they have not been followed. Cade and Shane converse. Tessa gets angry at Cade again for putting them all in danger.

The next day Optimus and the humans set off towards Monument Valley but stop at a small ATM on the way. Cade tries to use the mini-drone to make a transaction out of his account. This fails, of course, and has the unfortunate side effect of alerting the feds to their location. A group of police cars descend on the scene but the entourage has already left. Prime scans a passing truck, sheds his layer of rust and takes on a new form with his old paint scheme. They arrive in Monument Valley where they meet other Autobot refugees in the form of Crosshairs, Hound, Drift, and Bumblebee. Crosshairs and Hound start threatening the humans for having their species betray them. Later, Optimus convinces them that they have risked their lives to save his. During nightime, Optimus asks if the are any other Autobots that are still hiding. Later, Cade reveals footage of Ratchet and Leadfoot's demise using the stolen aerial drone. Hound then takes of his hat for respect for his fallen friend.

Quotes

"There is one way you survive; tell me where he's hiding. Where is Optimus Prime?"
"Never."
Lockdown impales Ratchet through his chest and extracts his spark.
"Never has come."

—Lockdown doesn't appreciate Ratchet's defiance.

"Autobots, I have sworn never to kill humans."
"Big mistake."
"...But when I find out who's behind this, he's going to die."

—Optimus Prime and Hound after seeing Leadfoot's death.

"What about this one? This could be digital, possibly Imax?" "I don't think so."

-Cade dismisses the theater owner's theory on the quality of their vintage projectors.

"They slaughtered Ratchet! I'M GONNA TEAR THEM APART!!!"

—Optimus Prime after seeing Ratchet's death.

"Wha-We're not going to kick even a little ass??"

—Brains finds his jailbreak to be a little anti-climactic.

"I'll cover you! If I stop covering you, that means I'm dead. But that ain't going to happen."

—Hound taking at least five levels in badass. And then being interrupted by incoming fire.

"I was expecting a giant car!"

—Drift witnessing Grimlock transform into a dinosaur.

"Ugh, you just want to die for the guy. That's leadership. Or brainwashing, or something."
"No, that's Optimus Prime."

—Crosshairs and Drift

"I'm a fat ballerina who takes names and slits throats!"

—Only Hound can take yet another level in badass and ballerina classes at the same time.

"My fat ass is stuck!"

—Hound realizing the unfortunate circumstance of being overweight.

"All you species are the same. You all think you're the center of the universe. You have no idea...

—Lockdown

"You saved the human instead of saving yourself. You bring shame upon us all."

—Lockdown to Optimus Prime

"You see my face, your life is done."

—Lockdown's final words before Optimus slices his face in half.

"You have no soul!"
"That is why I have no fear."

—Galvatron's isn't as lifeless as Optimus Prime thought.

"Oh this is the perfect place to hide, a BIG GLASS BOX! No one will ever find us here!"

- Joshua complaining about their hiding spot

"Bee, you got to calm down right now"
"I'm perfectly calm"
" You got to breathe, do whatever it is that you do..."
"I'm calm! I'm calm. I'm calm. I'm touching it. Okay? I'm barely touching, barely touching it"

- Shane trying to calm Bumblebee down after they view the video which repeatedly calls him inferior to Stinger

"We shall meet again Prime, for I am reborn."

—Galvatron swears retribution to Optimus Prime

"There are mysteries to the universe we were never meant to solve, but who we are and why we are here, are not among them. Those answers we carry inside. I am Optimus Prime, and this message is to my Creators. Leave planet Earth alone. Cause I'm coming for you."

—Optimus Prime's closing narration.

Main cast

Autobots	Decepticons	Bounty Hunters	Humans	Others
Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) Bumblebee Hound (John Goodman) Drift (Ken Watanabe) Crosshairs (John DiMaggio) Ratchet (Robert Foxworth) Brains (Reno Wilson) Leadfoot (John DiMaggio) Sentinel Prime's head Dinobots Grimlock Strafe Slug Scorn	Galvatron (Frank Welker) Megatron's head Stinger Junkheap Traxes McLaren Decepticon Aston Martin Decepticon "Two-headed Shockwaves"	Lockdown (Mark Ryan) Steeljaws	Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) Tessa Yeager (Nicola Peltz) Shane Dyson (Jack Reynor) Joshua Joyce (Stanley Tucci) Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer) James Savoy (Titus Welliver) Lucas Flannery (T. J. Miller) Darcy Tyril (Sophia Myles) Su Yueming (Li Bingbing) Gill Wembley (James Bachman) Chief of Staff Greg (Thomas Lennon)	Psittacosaurus Oreo Transformer

Errors

• While the human characters are climbing across the anchor cables to the high-rise building some of the Steeljaws begins to climb out after them. Cade tells his daughter not to look back and see them, but when we cut back to her, with a clear view of the cables behind her, the Steeljaws are not visible for this moment.
• When Drift first appears in the movie, he is initially seen driving down a desert road in his Bugatti altmode with Crosshairs, and then after the film cuts to showing Hound scaling one of the desert's giant rock formations, it cuts back to Drift... who is suddenly by himself in robot mode and on top of another rock formation; one that is far enough away from the road that he has to fly back to it in his helicopter altmode to reach it. Did he teleport between cuts or something?
  • And since there appears to be just one road in this whole scene, could he not have just stayed on the same road with Crosshairs to rendezvous with Optimus more quickly?
• Ironhide is seen on the cards Attinger pulls out early in the film, listed as deceased and having been last seen in Chicago. However, Ironhide was killed by Sentinel Prime in Washington, D.C., midway through Dark of the Moon.
• Scenes from the Decepticons' invasion of Chicago in Dark of the Moon are shown as archival footage presented by Attinger. While it is conceivable some lucky people with cameras recorded the initial attack and managed to survive and publish their footage, it's highly unlikely people would've been able to get close-up video footage of the NEST team taking down Barricade and the other Decepticons. In an outside-world context, these scenes are simply used as stock footage to help serve as exposition for the audience.

Paleontology weeps

• The cyberformed remains of a Tyrannosaurus and a Spinosaurus appear frozen together in the arctic at the beginning of the film. This is rather odd considering the two are found in different continents (North America and Africa respectively) and separated by around 35 million years of evolution.
• All the dinosaurs seen in the beginning scene existed in the same exact time and place (Central Asia, around 75 million years ago) which is rare for films to be this accurate. However, the juxtaposition of the scene seems to suggest this was at the end of the age of the dinosaurs, which was 65 million years ago.
• The Psittaccosaurus, a well known herbivorous animal, is seen actively hunting and killing live prey.
• The Dinobots show various exaggerations and ornamentations which go beyond the usual suspension of disbelief involved in...giant metal dinosaurs. Grimlock sports curved, backwards pointing horns and enormous fangs. Slug has huge tail spikes and a set of nasty chin horns. Scorn probably gets off the easiest, being mostly correct, bar his extra fins. Strafe would be the biggest offender, with a double pair of elongate tails and twin heads.

Transformers references

• As usual, many of the new characters have roots in older portions of the mythos:
  • Drift is based on a Generation 1 character introduced IDW's 2008 All Hail Megatron series.
  • Lockdown is derived from a character in the 2008 Animated cartoon who had already jumped over to the G1 comics and, in toy form, to the Movie universe.
  • Hound and Crosshairs both share names with previous characters; their personalities are new and unique, though Hound seems based on Prime Bulkhead in physique, coloration and personality.
  • Galvatron being a new form for Megatron has been a thing for basically forever.
  • The Dinobots are the latest iteration of the powerhouse subfaction that first appeared in the early days of Generation 1. Their leader Grimlock is a direct analog of his Generation 1 counterpart; Strafe and Slug are based on Generation 1 Swoop and Slag, respectively.
• This is not the first time that Ratchet and Lockdown have faced off. Animated Ratchet and Lockdown had a long-running feud. Within the movie universe, the two characters have been described as rivals on toy packaging bios, and faced off in Cyber Missions 3.
• The concept of the Transformers being built by another race first appeared in the third season of the original Transformers cartoon.
• Meanwhile, the concept of humans hunting down all Transformers on Earth following a massive and disastrous battle hearkens back to plotlines from IDW's 2009-2011 ongoing series.
• The (rather obvious) theme of humans using captured Transformers as a source of technology has appeared numerous times in the mythos, going all the way back to the RAAT agency in the original Marvel Comics. The Animated cartoon in particular featured the severed head of Megatron being studied and reverse-engineered, while in IDW's ongoing G1 stories, a Transformer's severed head was used to help design man-made Transformers (in a Dinobot-focused series at that.) More broad uses of the concept include the Dreamwave War and Peace mini-series, Devils Due's Art of War mini-series (again featuring the severed head of Megatron), the IDW ongoing series, and Cobra's actions in the G2 comics.
• The ringtone on Joshua's assistant's cell phone is a remixed version of the original G1 Transformers theme song.

Theatrical posters

• 
  First teaser poster
• 

Reception

The movie has been received with varied ratings. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a rating of 18%, though 64% of the fans liked it. However, IMDb gave it 6.6. Entirely, as the only professional reviews, the movie received up and down ratings, leaving more reviews to come.

Development details

• February 13, 2012 — Paramount announces Michael Bay has signed a deal to make a fourth Transformers film.
• June 6, 2012 — During Transformers: The Ride – 3D coverage, LA Times reports Michael Bay as saying the film will have a whole new human cast and redesigned robots.
• June 21, 2012 — In another LA Times interview, Bay reveals that the film will not be a reboot as previously stated.
• September 21, 2012 — Bay confirms that voice actor Peter Cullen will be kept on as Optimus Prime once again.
• October 18, 2012 — The logo is revealed at a Paramount presentation.
• November 8, 2012 — After a number of rumors suggest it, Bay casts actor Mark Wahlberg in the film.
• December 15, 2012 — Wahlberg confirms that filming of Transformers 4 will commence in May 2013.
• January 8, 2013 — Bay casts Irish American actor Jack Reynor in Transformers 4.
• March 20, 2013 — The Michigan Film Office announces the film series will return to Detroit, and reveals plot details which are later debunked by Paramount Pictures.
• March 26, 2013 — Nicola Peltz is confirmed as a cast member via Bay's website.
• April 15, 2013 — Actor Stanley Tucci joins the cast.
• May 1, 2013 — Kelsey Grammer joins the cast as the lead villain named "Harold Attinger".
• May 6, 2013 — The Wrap confirms that Sophia Myles will play a scientist.
• May 18, 2013 — The name of Mark Wahlberg's character is revealed to be Flynn Vincent (This was later either changed or misinformation).
• May 20, 2013 — Chinese actress Li Bingbing joins the cast.
• May 28, 2013 — Actor-Comedian T. J. Miller joins the cast as a mechanic who is the best friend of Wahlberg's character. Filming begins at Monument Valley and the alternate modes of two new Autobots are revealed on Michael Bay's website: a C7 Corvette Stingray and a Bugatti Grand Sport Vitesse.

When having one's midlife crisis, it's not unusual to get a souped-up alternate mode.

• May 29, 2013 — Optimus Prime's new alternate mode is officially revealed by Michael Bay as a custom-built semi-truck.
• May 30, 2013 — Bumblebee's new alternate mode is revealed on Michael Bay's website as a highly modified 1967 Camaro SS.
• May 31, 2013 — Hound is revealed as a new character for Transformers 4, transforming into a Medium Tactical Vehicle.
• June 7, 2013 — Another new vehicle for the film is revealed as a Lamborghini Aventador.
• June 12, 2013 — The Sonic RS Rally Car is revealed for the film.
• June 25, 2013 — The Pagani Huayra is revealed to appear in the film.
• June 28, 2013 — A Freightliner Argosy cab-over truck is revealed for the film.
• July 2, 2013 — A second alternate mode is revealed for Bumblebee in the form of a 2014 Concept Camaro.
• July 14, 2013 — Chinese actor-musician Han Geng is announced as being part of the cast.
• July 25, 2013 — After being spotted in Texas in June, actor Titus Welliver officially joins the cast.
• July 27, 2013 — The S.S. Columbia and the S.S. Ste. Clair have been spotted to be featured in the film.
• July 30, 2013 — Wahlberg's children have been cast.
• August 12, 2013 — Victoria Summer joins the cast.

If Age of Extinction teaches us anything, it's that more movies should be cast using reality shows.

• August 25, 2013 — The Transformers 4 Chinese Actors Talent Search Reality Show ends, with winners Byron Li, Candice Zhao, Austin Lin and Teresa Daley joining the cast.
• September 3, 2013 — Lorenzo di Bonaventura confirms the presence of Dinobots in the film.
• September 3, 2013 — The film's title, Transformers: Age of Extinction, is officially announced and the first teaser poster is revealed.
• October 17, 2013 — Director Michael Bay is assaulted on the set during filming in Hong Kong by two locals demanding money. Bay receives minor injuries, but plays the incident off on his blog.
• October 22, 2013 — Four additional locals approach a member of the crew and demand money; one of the four is later arrested by police.
• October 28, 2013 — Director Michael Bay plays down the extortion attempts in an interview with the South China Morning Post. He notes that the locals were apologetic over what took place, and that he wanted to film more projects in Hong Kong.

Michael Bay uses his legendary charm to get the very best performance out of his actors.

• November 25, 2013 — Age of Extinction features in Empire magazine, showing Optimus Prime's new look on the cover. Inside are on-set photos of Michael Bay and the film's human cast in action.
• December 10, 2013 — M1905 publishes a series of interview with cast and crew in which a plethora of information, mainly regarding the film's human characters, is revealed.
• December 17, 2013 — Producer Allegra Clegg visits Durfee Elementary-Middle School as the result of a competition, and answers questions and shows three minutes of footage from the film.
• January 7, 2014 — Following an on-stage snafu at a Samsung presentation, Michael Bay announces on his site that a special presentation including Transformers 4 footage would be touring to promote Samsung's new line of curved TV screens.
• January 16, 2014 — The new Lucasfilm facility in Singapore opens, with some ILM work on Age of Extinction to be done there.
• January 17, 2014 — Steve Jablonsky confirms in an interview with JoBlo that he'll be providing the score for Age of Extinction.
• January 20, 2014 — Late script changes result in Bay and his crew returning to Chongqing for a week reshooting a scene.

"Get me closer! I want to hit them with my sword!"

• February 2, 2014 — The Age of Extinction "big game spot" is screened during Super Bowl XLVIII.
• February 18, 2014 — In an interview with Nerdist, Titus Welliver said the film would be darker and "not a kid's movie".
• February 28, 2014 — Following a storm of online discussion regarding his previous statement, Titus Welliver issues a new statement to the effect that Age of Extinction is in fact a kid's movie and he meant to say it would expand the audience. Relax, it's totally fine to take your kids to see it.
• March 3, 2014 — The first of a series of character posters is revealed.
• March 4, 2014 — The first teaser trailer is released.
• March 12, 2014 — An IMAX poster for the movie is released. MTV UK reports it features "Nightship".
• March 13, 2014 — CinemaCon announce that Nicola Peltz and Jack Reynor will receive the Rising Stars of 2014 Award for Transformers 4.
• March 24, 2014 — On the first day of CinemaCon, Paramount shows off 15 minutes of footage from the film. Mark Wahlberg promises the movie will be the biggest of the year.
• May 8, 2014 — The robot voice cast is revealed on michaelbay.com.
• May 15, 2014 — The second trailer is released on YouTube and iTunes.

Notes

• Not only do the Dinobots go unnamed in the film (other than Scorn getting the nickname, "Spike"), the word Dinobot is never even said by anyone.
• As with the 2007 film, the My Little Pony franchise is referenced by way of a large Rainbow Dash figure.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Transformers: Lost Age (トランスフォーマー ロストエイジ Toransufōmā Rosuto Eiji)
• Russian: Transformery: Epokha istrebleniya (Трансформеры: Эпоха истребления Transformers: Age of Extermination)
• Argentina: Transformers 4
• Cantonese: Binying Gamgong: Chimmit Saigei (變形金剛：殲滅世紀 "Transformers: Annihilation Century")
• Mandarin: Biànxíng Jīngāng 4: Juéjì Chóngshēng (Taiwan: 變型金剛4：絕跡重生, China: 变形金刚4：绝迹重生 "Transformers 4: Extinct Rebirth")