Director Michael Bay will be returning with the latest in the Autobots vs. Decepticons movie franchise with the upcoming release of Transformers: Age Of Extinction, and from the look of the trailer it could be their best yet. Following on from 2011’s Transformers: Dark Side Of The Moon, the new film is the fourth installment of movie series, but the first not to feature Shia LeBeouf as the main human character.
Instead, the lead role has gone to Mark Wahlberg and despite our initial trepidations on the casting for Transformers 4, we can’t help but think that if Marky Mark is as convincing throughout as he is in the trailer, it could turn out to be a good move. As for the rest of the human cast, except for the addition of Stanley Tucci and Kelsey Grammer, it’s a relatively fresh faced bunch of newcomers that includes Jack Reynor (The Delivery Man) and Nicola Peltz (The Last Airbender).
On the Autobot side of the equation, Peter Cullen, who voiced the original Optimus Prime from the cartoon TV series, and each of the last three films, will be back again with his trademark authoritative tones (side note… he also played Monterrey Jack in Chip ‘n Dale, by the way). The big name additions to the Airobot cast are John Goodman, (Red State) who voices Hound, and Ken Watanabe (Godzilla (2014)), who voices Drift.
On the darker Decepticon side, a voice acting legend is returning to the fold as Frank Welker, who previously played a number of characters, including Megatron, in the cartoon series, has been cast to be the voice of voices Galvatron, a human-made Transformer who becomes master of the Decepticons. If you missed the original series, you’ll probably still have heard Welker’s voice many times as he’s played everything from Abu in Aladdin and the Gremlin voices in Gremlins to Brain in Inspector Gadget and Bronx in Gargoyles.
Frank is added to by Mark Ryan, who will be voicing Lockdown, a Decepticon who transforms into a grey Lamborghini Aventador, which you can see in all its glory below, as well as in the trailer at the bottom of the page. Mark returns to the series having played both Bumblebee and Jetfire in previous films.
Commenting on Mark’s character, Michael Bay said, “Lockdown’s ship has a lot of meaning that can go into other movies. There’s a lot of backstory about that ship that’s not laid out here. You’re going to see a few things where you’re like ‘What is that? And what is that?’ And you’re going to see a couple shots like, ‘Wait a minute, who are they?’ But we don’t answer those questions.”
Transformers: Age Of Extinction is set for a cinematic release date of the 10th July 2014, making it one of the first must see blockbusters of the summer. It’s been filmed with digital IMAX 3D cameras, and if you combine that with the serious special effects that you can already see in the trailer below indicates that it’ll probably worth stumping up the extra for a 3D viewing.
The story picks up four years after the climactic battle-scene conclusion of Transformers: Dark Of The Moon as mechanic and single father Cade Yeager (Wahlberg) brings home a slightly beat up old truck only to discover that it’s Optimus Prime in disguise and in hiding from an increasingly untrusting US government. However, when they unleash their forces to hunt down the Autobots, using the alien Transformer technology to create Galvatron, their plan backfires on them and the Decepticons find a new leader to fight under.
The biggest and most exciting news for us about the film’s plot is the fact that it will be the first to include the legendary, prehistorically incarnate robots that are the Dinobots, as Prime looks to a new generation of Autobots to fight back against Galvatron and the extinction level event that he’s called to rain down on the earth. For anyone that saw the Dinobots in their original cartoon form back in the eighties you’ll probably be as overcome with giddy anticipation about this as we are, especially when you see how cool they look in the film.
From all accounts, the whole Dinobots crew will be making an appearance in Transformers: Age Of Extinction. As well as the T-Rex brilliance of Grimlock, featured in the trailer, Prime also gets some help from the mecha-triceratops Slug, the Siamese twin pteranodon Strafe, stegosaurus called Snarl, the spiny-backed apatosaurus Slog, raptor Slash and spinosaurus Scorn.
With so many potential positives and a new, more serious looking focus in terms of the script, characterisation, cinematography and performances this could be the hardest hitting Transformers movie yet. However, a lot could depend on the delivery of the end product and with mixed reviews for the second movie and the whisper of the odd cheesy line or two in the trailer there’s still the chance that it could miss the funky bunch sweet spot its clearly aiming for.
