Transformers: Age of Extinction

Masquerading as a movie, Michael Bay's sci-fi extravaganza more closely resembles a three-hour-long video game that you can't play—one that also relentlessly promotes Hasbro toys. The story begins with disjointed and disconnected scenes: alien spaceships attacking dinosaurs; an officious blonde scientist eons later inspecting the metallic remains of a Dinobot in the Arctic; a perfectly coiffed, exquisitely made-up schoolgirl—clad in short-shorts—opening mail on a farm in the Midwest; and a government agent declaring that all Transformers must be wiped out. Thinking he's buying scrap metal, Texas inventor Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) acquires a battered old truck that turns out to actually be the badly injured Autobot leader, intrepid Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen). Widower Yeager is raising a rebellious 17-year-old daughter, Tessa (Nicola Peltz), who has a racecar-driving boyfriend, Shane (Jack Reynor). Meanwhile, a scientist (Stanley Tucci) is working for a nasty Black Ops bully (Kelsey Grammer) in this confusing origin story about Dinobots being created as weapons by ancient Autobots. The newest mechanical villain here is Galvetron, created from the remains of Megatron, the evil Decepticon destroyed in 2011's Dark of the Moon. An illogically scripted film that is self-indulgently directed by Bay, this fourth installment in the Transformers series is essentially incoherent, filled with massive metallic explosions. On the plus side, Industrial Light & Magic's robotic shape-shifting is seamless, and Walhberg is a far more appealing protagonist than Shia LaBeouf. Optional. [Note: Blu-ray extras include the eight-part “making-of” documentary “Evolution Within Extinction” (123 min.), a “T.J. Miller: Farm Hippie” segment with the actor/comedian (20 min.), the production segments “Just Another Giant Effin' Movie” (16 min.), “A Spark of Design” (15 min.), and “Bay on Action” with director Michael Bay (11 min.), a “KRE-O Transformers” animated short (4 min.), a brief “Angry Birds Transformers: Origin Story,” and bonus DVD, digital, and UltraViolet copies of the film. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a muddled film full of sound and fury but signifying little.] (S. Granger)