Transformers : L'âge de l'extinction

Les amateurs de gros robots et de petites créatures robotiques non critique seront satisfaits, c'est un fait. Mais qu'en est-il des autres pauvres ? Le quatrième redémarrage confirme que le casting de la première trilogie n'était pas secondaire. L'élément adolescent humain Shia LaBeouf est absent ici. Sans parler de la touche comique apportée par des acteurs comme Frances McDormand ou John Turturro. Les quatrièmes Transformers ne contiennent qu'une seule réplique de dialogue drôle ("Les films contemporains ne valent rien - que des suites et de la publicité"), et ce dès le début. Dans les deux heures d'exposition qui suivent avant le final à Hong Kong, on ne trouve que deux scènes principales relativement courtes (le kidnapping de Tessy et les câbles d'acier à Chicago), dont la première est le seul moment émotionnellement captivant du film et la seconde la seule idée originale jusque-là non vue. L'environnement ultérieur de la métropole chinoise est rafraîchissant, mais je me demande combien de spectateurs pourront percevoir des liens narratifs dans ses rues après les deux heures précédentes d'interrogation totale sur l'écran. Nous ne pouvons plus du tout parler des personnages et de quelque chose entre eux (le premier volet), et en termes d'épique, le sommet militariste du troisième reste inégalé. Les marines manquent également ici dans le monde des Transformers. Le regarder a demandé beaucoup de patience de ma part. (25/06/2014)

In a world of thrifty ninety-minute movies, this could have been a blockbuster trying for the title of “best part of the saga", there’s certainly enough material for it. For some mysterious reason this spuriously swelled to the length of two regular feature films and so each great minute/scene/wisecrack is alternated by two to three minutes/scenes/wisecracks that are boring, irrelevant filler (at best) or brought ad absurdum to kitsch infantility in Bay’s inimitable style (at worst and unfortunately most frequently). (21/09/2014)

In the "American Blockbuster" column, this is probably the most vivid collection of the worst that can be found in contemporary Hollywood. Watching the new Transformers is like opening up all the US Army ammunition depots and handing them to those who want to kick the filmmaking Mecca. It is almost ethereally paradoxical that this was done by a man I have admired immensely in this discipline, and who until now has paid the ultimate price in the art of turning a film field into a dollar. I don't think Bay has lost his good judgment. The previous fitness pumping clearly screamed how much better he can do behind the camera. He just lost all humility and mindlessly milked a cow for three hours that was long overdue to be embalmed. For the first hour, when they seem to introduce the characters in a style that could be done in ten minutes, I thought that my patience level still had a bit left in the tank. I still accept the fact that it's impotent in terms of its plot, completely off in the acting (OK, Stanley Tucci has a lot of fun copying John Turturro), and absolutely deaf musically. But then there was the event that redefines the term "digital brothel" for the new edition of the Interpretive Dictionary, and my personal fuse was finally blown. After all the destructive feasts I've enjoyed so much at the movies over the years, I've started to wish this era would go mercilessly to... (24/09/2014)

Relative brain loss / the fun is worse than part two and three. Something keeps getting moved from place to place under a flimsy pretext, takes a position, destroys everything within reach and travels further for another flimsy reason. The 165 minutes and the lobotomized story sometimes made it difficult for me to understand why, because it all seems so sparse, a bit like an advertisement for (mostly American) cars accompanied by pyrotechnic effects. At the end, the film plays to the Chinese audience, everyone hugs and the story returns roughly to where it was at the beginning of part one, and only the appearance of the actors and their casting changes a little. If you're able to spend two and three-quarters of an hour to see the capabilities of 3D IMAX detail, you're ok, but while Edwards recalled the magic of the perspective in Godzilla, this sounds like a fucking waste of time and money to me. For fans of the series, the good news is that Transformers can continue to run in an endless loop, because "we all have a boss" and even the highest boss has a higher boss. [40%] (25/06/2014)

A dumb story is again plays a front for shifting the frontiers of special effects technology. Bay finds the most wonderful corners of our planet and uses them as the backdrop for impressive battle scenes. I still don’t understand how somebody can expect more from this than a visual feast and three hours of brain death. It’s just a shame that the female supporting role (she reminds me of the girl on YouTube with socks in her bra) is the weakest of the entire series. (20/09/2014)