Director Michael Bay turned around the Transformers franchise with his fourth installment in the series, Transformers: Age of Extinction. His film served as not only the action-packed, fun romp you’d expect, it also showed off some of the best use of 3D special effects we’ve ever seen. Mark Wahlberg’s goofy but sincere awe at the giant machines proved he was a great choice to come back for the next big-screen Transformers film.
For this fifth movie in the series, Transformers: The Last Knight, the first full trailer released by Paramount this week shows a return to a darker world, pitting machine vs. machine and man vs. machine in the ultimate showdown. Bumble Bee vs. Optimus Prime? Who is The Last Knight? Will it have the fun of the last film? The lackluster second and third installments have us worried about a threepeat, but we’d love a repeat of the action from Bay’s last effort.
Sure to have some mega-sized swordplay, the new film reflects Bay needing to make each new film bigger and bigger. Let’s hope that also means bigger and better. Here is the trailer for next year’s Transformers: The Last Knight:
What a busy year! We took in more content this year than ever before, reading more books, watching more TV series, and reviewing more movies. Wading through all that Hollywood had to offer, we try to hone in on the genre films and TV series we think are worth our time. We went back and looked at it all and pulled together our picks for our annual “Best of the Best” list. Today we reveal the best content focusing on movies. Come back for more of our picks tomorrow. If you missed any of these films this year, check them out when they arrive on video or digital release.
Edge of Tomorrow — Best Film of the Year, Best Science Fiction Fix, Best Action Fix, Best Actress (Emily Blunt), Best Supporting Actor (Bill Paxton). The benefit of Blu-rays/DVDs is the ability to go back and verify whether a movie was as good as you remembered it in the theater. Of all the top genre films of the year, including Guardians of the Galaxy and X-Men: Days of Future Past, it was Edge of Tomorrow that became an addictive re-watch, to see all those great, funny scenes, like Tom Cruise’s demoted soldier rolling under the jeep, and Emily Blunt’s Rita Vrataski destroying all those aliens. Rita was the best character we saw this year–anywhere–and Blunt provided the best performance. Superb sci-fi components? Check. Superb action sequences? Check. With top-notch acting by Blunt and Bill Paxton. This will be the movie of 2014 that we one day will re-watch just like we re-watch Aliens and Predator today.
Guardians of the Galaxy — Best Superhero Fix,Best Actor Runner-up (Dave Bautista), Best Supporting Actress (Zoe Saldana), Best Villain (Lee Pace), Best Soundtrack, Best Rock Album. It was the perfect blend of B-level superheroes and a space fantasy like we hadn’t seen since the original Star Wars. A surprisingly fun ride. Guardians introduced the world to Dave Bautista, who will likely get more and more popular in 2015 and beyond. His serious but comedic Drax may have been the best part of a great cast of new characters. Zoe Saldana created her best genre role so far and Lee Pace’s Ronan was a perfect comic book villain. And those tunes on Starlord’s Walkman! What was more fun this year than Rocket and Groot?
It must be fun to be on the production set watching Mark Wahlberg make movies. The actor conveys a passionate sense of determination no matter what he stars in. You can track back through his films and see this–no matter whether the movie was a hit or not, you can see Wahlberg firmly planted in his role and delivering all he can muster. In The Perfect Storm (2000) you have him responding to a once-in-a-lifetime disaster, in Planet of the Apes (2001) he’s facing an impossible world, and in Rock Star (2001) he’s a devoted fan turned star, poking fun at his former life in Rock ‘n’ Roll. In The Italian Job (2003), a role that could have been made for a young Tom Cruise, we saw one of Wahlberg’s best roles as lead man of an all-star cast of master thieves. If the whole world hadn’t noticed him yet, Martin Scorcese’s The Departed (2006) made that happen in his supporting tough guy role. And whether or not you like M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening (2008), it’s easy to get sucked in because you believe Wahlberg believes he is running from the strange, murderous, phantom wind. Who else could pull off performances with such a wacky comedic edge like Ted (2012), Pain & Gain (2013), and 2 Guns (2013)?
So it’s no wonder that one of the two key components that make Transformers: Age of Extinction a complete blast of a roller coaster ride is star Wahlberg. For all the Transformers movies (Age of Extinction is the fourth in the series) you either buy in to the world of machines-turned-robots or you don’t. There’s no in-between. And if you get that far, then the movie is a success only if the actors believe the CGI-heavy world they are performing in. Wahlberg’s failed inventor and sharp mechanic Cade Yeager lets you know at the beginning of the movie where he stands with the goofy yet perfect line “I think we just found a Transformer!” From there on you follow this guy because he really wants everything he is after–the truth, protecting his daughter, and defying the law to protect those he sees as innocent.
Transformers: Age of Extinction is now available in an impressive Blu-ray edition that brings the 3D IMAX shots right to your home television, with visuals that demonstrate the leading edge of the medium right now. As we have mentioned here at borg.com with prior Blu-ray 3D, you can’t beat the landscapes in modern 3D films, and Age of Extinction would be a treat for the eyes for that alone. Crisp, bright colors and sound and depth filmed with some impressive camera wizardry actually elevate this movie beyond what it might be as seen in its 2D Blu-ray, DVD, or film version. Finely textured background detail will make you think someone took years to create each frame. There’s enough to dazzle here that, if you don’t get tired along the way, you may walk away judging this as I did as almost as good as the first Transformers movie.
Michael Bay may have done something right here. Mark Wahlberg is a great choice for a lead in a big-screen Transformers film. For this fourth (fourth? really?) movie in the series, this first full trailer is a convincing reason to get us to the theaters despite the lackluster second and third installments. It’s a great trailer, and the effects we see are exactly right for these machines-turned-mega-robots.
Plus Dinobots. Win.
Transformers: Age of Extinction has a June 27, 2014 release date.
In case you missed them, we’ve got some new movie trailers released Sunday during the Super Bowl: one from Transformers: Age of Extinction featuring Mark Wahlberg, two more from The Amazing Spider-man 2, two from Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and one from Muppets Most Wanted. All hit theaters over the next few months.
First up, looking better than the last Transformers movie, check out Mark Wahlberg and the Dinobots in Transformers: Age of Extinction:
And Marvel Studios has released new footage for The Amazing Spider-man 2 in two spots Sunday:
We’ve just wound down another year of big movies–from Star Trek Into Darkness to Skyfall to Thor: The Dark World to The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug. So what’s on the radar at borg.com for 2014? We think you’ll want to see several of these big sci-fi, fantasy, superhero, and action flicks coming to a screen near you in 2014.*
Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit – Jan. 17 – This Tom Clancy spin-off has been pushed out to 2014. Starring Chris Pine and directed by Kenneth Branagh.
“We’re not giving up, okay?”
