Just came back from Transformers 4, and I have to say, not as bad as some may make it out to be. Sure, huge problems like a bloated run time and crummy heroic humans (but, frankly, that's a Transformers tradition... and I'm not talking movies...and NO WHERE NEAR as bad as Daniel "temper tantrum king" Witwicky in Headmasters), but I was actually impressed by a few things. So a brief rundown:
- The human family character arc takes up too much of the movie. Mahk Wahlbuhg does a better job than necisarry, but there's this one d-baggy character (who, to be fair had a few funny lines) that I actually cheered for when he was killed off. The human villains and antagonists on the other hand were giving performances waaaay better than needed. Kelsey Grammer was quite good in it, and Stanley Tucci hammed it the heck up as a greedy, conniving Take That parody of Steve Jobs.
- I came for Grimlock, but John Goodman's Hound stole the show. I liked Drift's inclusion, but he comes off as an underdeveloped generic Samurai. I dunno if that's a backhanded comment at the character's first commic appearances, but I can't help overall feel that the robot characters needed a lot more screen time and developement than the Yaeger family (which I hear is a recurring flaw with these films, but there have been worse human protagonists in these things). It's obvious to say Drift was in the film mostly to sell Drift toys, but complaining about that in a Transformers project of any kind is redundant.
- Obviously, I feel the problem with these films isn't the story, but the story telling. In better directorial hands, these films would at least be a lot more fun, if not good popcorn movies.
- Kinda wish they paid Greg Bergger to play Grimlock, if only for a short stinger at the end of the film.
- Loved Rainbow Dash's cameo
Wish there was a G.I. Joe one as well.
Now we get to the spoilers section, and since the board no longer can change font colors, you're going to have to stop reading, instead of a highlight to read...
What really impressed me, and quite made me really enjoy the film were the surprise parallels to two other Transformer series hidden in the movie's plot. A scientist being used by a disembodied head of a defeated Megatron is a parallel to Transformers Animated (but plays out much differently, since TFA Megatron is conscious at the time) and even more impressive, Megatron/Galvatron's plan to use technology to wipe out all organic life on a planet is pretty much what happened in Beast Machines, but in reverse here. Intentional or not, that's pretty impressive. Lockdown's there, so
someone had to watch TFA.
Adding to that, the sequel hook has potential for an actually
good 5th movie. Optimus leaves Earth to find "the creator" so something tells me we just may see Primus and (fingers crossed) the Quintessons. Galvatron does the "I'll get you next time, Gadget" thing and runs away (which is
very Transformers), so he may just be the big bad of the next film instead of the mastermind that really didn't do much here. If they can take the battle to space
away from the humans of Earth, like the 80's cartoon movie, and its 3rd cartoon season for the most part, there's some real potential there. I mean, they're obviously NOT going to do that, but we can dream, right?
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But they were kidding themselves with that one. It's DTV quality, and not even big name DTV. Like I said, those filler films from Redbox that no one wants to watch and kids could never get excited for. I'll agree. That's hilariously low to not even make 8 figures, even a low 8 figures in its entire run. And the saddest thing is, it wasn't even the worst performing film of the year. That horrible Vampire Academy movie made even less. Okay... like a million or so less, but still... 
