Transformers: Age of Extinction (film)

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An adventure 65 million years in the making.

Transformers: Age of Extinction

Production info Production companies Hasbro Films di Bonaventura Pictures Distributor Paramount Pictures Release date June 19, 2014 Written by Ehren Kruger Directed by Michael Bay Edited by William Goldenberg Roger Barton Paul Rubell Cinematography by Amir Mokri Music by Steve Jablonsky Producer(s) Lorenzo di Bonaventura Tom DeSanto Don Murphy Ian Bryce Executive producer(s) Steven Spielberg Continuity Live-action film series Running time 165 minutes Budget $210 million Box office $1.104 billion

Transformers: Age of Extinction is the fourth film in the live-action film series. It was released on June 27, 2014.

Following the Battle of Chicago, humanity has come to fear both Autobots and Decepticons alike. With the aid of a Transformer mercenary named Lockdown, a CIA task-force operated by Harold Attinger begins hunting the remaining Transformers on Earth. Hunted by enemies that were once his allies, Optimus Prime loses faith in humanity and sends his forces into hiding. Now, five years later, struggling inventor and single-father Cade Yeager discovers a damaged Transformer, placing both himself and his daughter on a collision course with events that threaten the extinction of humankind itself.

“	The trouble with loyalty to a cause is that the cause will always betray you.	”
—Lockdown, Transformers: Age of Extinction

Contents 1 Synopsis 2 Main cast 3 Quotes 4 Errors 4.1 Continuity errors 4.2 Technical/animation errors 4.3 Geographic discontinuities 4.4 Paleontology weeps 5 Transformers references 6 Real-life references 7 Other editions 8 Prequel material 9 Adaptations 10 Sequels 11 Music 12 Score 13 Home video releases 14 Theatrical posters 15 Reception 16 Production staff 16.1 Visual effects 16.2 Locations department 17 Development details 17.1 Cast and crew signing on 17.2 Writing and production 17.3 Sponsors and partners 17.3.1 General Motors and other car manufacturers 17.4 Changes before, during and after production 17.5 Disinformation campaign 18 Notes 18.1 Foreign names 19 External links 20 References

Synopsis

65 million years ago, on Cretaceous Earth, a Psittacosaurus is out hunting for food. The small dinosaur finds a fish and starts to feed, but stops as hundreds of alien ships enter Earth's atmosphere, piloted by the mysterious Creators. The alien ships launch dozens of strange Seeds across the planet. As they detonate, they convert the landscape and the herds of panicking dinosaurs into a metallic substance, ending the Age of Dinosaurs. Millions of years later, while digging in the Arctic, a team of geologists uncover a mysterious pair of metallized dinosaur skeletons - a discovery that attracts the attention of Darcy Tirrel...

Five years after the invasion of Chicago, tensions between humans and Cybertronians have risen dramatically. Although the Autobots are officially granted asylum on Earth, public opinion has turned against all Transformers. The government of the United States has terminated all human-Autobot joint programs and instated Cemetery Wind, an elite CIA unit intended to flush out the handful of Decepticons left on Earth. What the President doesn't know is that Harold Attinger, the leader of the operation, is slaughtering all Transformers, regardless of faction. On one such mission, the team pinpoints Ratchet hiding within an abandoned boat. He immediately tries to flee, but is crippled and brought down by their weapons. The team leader, James Savoy, mockingly asks why Ratchet ran if he's not their enemy, and Ratchet replays a transmission he received from Optimus Prime, ordering all Autobots to hide from humans. However, Savoy dismisses his pleas as his sister was killed in Chicago. A Transformer bounty hunter, Lockdown, who has actually been helping Cemetery Wind hunt the Autobots, emerges from the nearby swamp and attacks Ratchet, further damaging him. Walking past his human allies, Lockdown demands to know Optimus Prime's whereabouts. When Ratchet refuses, Lockdown brutally kills him by ripping out his spark.

In Texas, struggling inventor Cade Yeager and his friend/employee Lucas Flannery meet at an old theater, looking for salvage. He finds an old truck, and upon inspection it seems to be full of artillery shells. He buys the truck along with the other theater equipment and puts it in his garage. Tessa, Cade's daughter, observes this while video-chatting with her boyfriend and criticizes her dad for buying the heap of junk. While attempting to salvage the truck's engine to sell, Cade realizes it's actually a badly-damaged Transformer. After calling Lucas and Tessa, he connects jumper cables to its engine, only for it to begin replaying the distress call Ratchet had received earlier. Lucas and Tessa advocate calling the government, claiming that there is a huge reward for Transformers. Cade convinces them not to call the authorities until he can spend more time working on the truck, as he may be able to stumble on a technological breakthrough if he can figure out how the Transformers work. When Cade removes a live missile from the truck's "power core," it transforms into a heavily injured Optimus Prime, who roars at them to stay back while he swings his weapon around the barn. Cade, Lucas, and Tessa ask why Optimus is so badly damaged, to which he replies that the Autobots are being hunted and he must help them. Cade offers to repair him, and sends Lucas to buy the parts that will enable him to fix Optimus. Cade and Optimus begin to bond as the repairs begin.

In the Arctic, Attinger arrives via helicopter at Lockdown's ship and demands to know why Optimus Prime escaped him in Mexico. Lockdown derisively tells Attinger that Optimus Prime would not have escaped were it not for Cemetery Wind's interference, stressing that he does not care about Attinger or his goals and wishes only to capture Optimus Prime.

Shortly after returning to Washington, D.C., Attinger receives a tip that Optimus Prime has been located in Texas and sends Savoy and Cemetery Wind to apprehend him. The agents swarm the barn, but there is no trace of Prime inside. When Savoy threatens Tessa to force Cade to tell him of Prime's whereabouts, the Autobot leader explodes out of the barn's basement in which he was hiding. He escapes after a brief skirmish that destroys the Yeager residence, with both Cemetery Wind and Lockdown in pursuit. As Cade catches one of Cemetery Wind's mini drones, a white rally car zooms over the adjacent fields and picks up the Yeagers and Lucas. The driver turns out to be Shane, a rally car racer who is also Tessa's boyfriend. A group of Cemetery Wind vehicles begins chasing them.

Both the rally car and Optimus Prime are chased into an abandoned factory, where Optimus Prime fights off Lockdown. Shane puts his driving skills to good use and pulls a series of tight maneuvers that result in the Cemetery Wind cars crashing, destroys his car in the process. Optimus Prime, who has caught Lockdown in a crane cable, transforms and tells the humans to pile into him and escape. Lockdown throws a grenade at the humans as they run towards Optimus Prime; though Shane and the Yeagers escape, Lucas is caught in the blast and killed.

Arriving at an abandoned gas station, Optimus orders the humans out and drives off to ensure that they have not been followed. Cade confronts Tessa and Shane about their relationship but Tessa gets angry at Cade for putting them all in danger. The next day, Optimus and the humans set off towards Monument Valley. Prime scans a passing truck, sheds his layer of rust and takes on a new form with his old paint scheme. They arrive in Monument Valley where they meet the other surviving Autobots in the form of Crosshairs, Hound, Drift, and their de facto leader Bumblebee. Crosshairs and Hound start threatening the humans for having their species betray them but Optimus convinces them that they have risked their lives to save his. The Humans notice that there are clear tensions between the Autobots. Cade reveals footage of the attack on Ratchet and Leadfoot's demise using the stolen aerial drone and Prime declares that he will kill the one responsible for hunting down the Autobots.

Inspection of the drone leads them to a company named KSI, located in a rebuilt Chicago. It is run by Joshua Joyce, who is working with Su Yueming and Attinger to create artificial Transformers to eventually be used in the military. Using the remains of Megatron, Sentinel Prime, the countless Decepticons from the Chicago battle and the hunted Autobots, they have synthesized the metal that the Transformers are made of, calling it Transformium. When given commands through a computer, Transformium can be changed into various shapes or objects. Although a drone called Stinger (designed after Bumblebee) is active, Joshua's major project is a bigger, stronger drone called Galvatron. However, his attempts have not been successful; the drone keeps resembling Megatron instead of the friendlier image of Optimus Prime. Bumblebee builds Cade and Shane faux-ID badges which the duo use to infiltrate KSI. Cade goes further in and projects imagery of Ratchet's severed head being melted down, which sends Prime into a rage.

However, Cade is caught when his ID badge is found to have been scanned twice (by him and its original owner). He is taken to the upper floors and confronted by Attinger, who claims that what he has witnessed is in the name of world peace. He also asks him about the whereabouts of Optimus Prime but Cade maintains his silence.

Furious over how the humans have mutilated their comrades, Optimus orders an attack on KSI. Bumblebee, carried by Drift in copter mode, rescues Cade. The others trash the lab, free the injured and enslaved Brains, and confront Joshua, only for him to openly declare that what is being done is being done to prevent more Transformer-caused damage and that the humans "don't need" the Autobots. Disheartened, Prime orders a retreat.

As the Autobots exit the factory and leave, Attinger catches up with Joshua and claims that the Autobots are terrorists for attacking the facility. He coerces Joyce to use the two functional drones to take down the Autobots. Galvatron and Stinger activate and pursue their quarry across a highway, with Galvatron doing more damage than his KSI handlers intend. Bumblebee fires upon Galvatron but is surprised to see him simply disintegrate and reintegrate again. Galvatron attacks Prime. As they battle, Optimus declares that the artificial creation has no soul, to which it retorts "That is why I have no FEAR!"

As Tessa scrambles for cover in a nearby vehicle, Prime is suddenly shot from the back and falls; Lockdown has arrived, along with his ship! Lockdown gloats to his prisoner, claiming that Optimus was built, not born, and now the Creators want him returned in one piece. The bounty hunter orders a net dropped over Optimus and hoists both the Autobot leader and Tessa's hiding place into his ship. Cade desperately clings to the net, but his strength gives out and he falls to the fields below. As the spaceship departs, Cade and Shane vow to get Tessa back.

Lockdown throws Prime in a cage and orders his lackeys to dispose of Tessa. Prime takes note of several other aliens in similar cages, including other Cybertronian warriors. He also discovers the original purpose of the mercenary ship: it was originally used by a group of legendary Knights (presumably including Prime himself) but now acts as Lockdown's flying prison. Lockdown's ship hovers over Chicago, triggering panic in the streets, but Attinger manages to talk down the authorities and send Savoy to rendezvous with Lockdown. As payment for Prime's capture, Lockdown gives him a Seed.

Cade, Shane, and the other Autobots get aboard the ship as it flies low over a bridge. While being pursued by Lockdown's henchmen, the two humans find a strange Knight armory, from which Cade takes a sword that opens up to form a gun. While Shane and Cade rescue Tessa, Crosshairs deploys the ship's mooring cables, which fire into the Willis Tower and preventing the ship from breaking atmosphere. The humans begin to clamber down the cables to safety, but they are pursued by a pack of Steeljaws. Bumblebee manages to save the trio. The other Autobots locate Optimus, who reveals that the section of the ship they are on can separate from the main body. Crosshairs uses a gunship to pick up Bumblebee and the humans, then leads them on a dogfight through Chicago's streets, destroying some of Lockdown's mercenaries.

Back at KSI, it is decided that all equipment is to be moved to the Beijing facility to continue operations. Joshua is also none too pleased about the previous field test of Galvatron; not only was it a loss on several fronts, but the drone also spoke, which was something it was not programmed to do!

The Autobots land their new ship at an abandoned train yard. Optimus claims that he sensed Megatron's presence during his fight with Galvatron. Brains explains Galvatron's true nature: while he decoded dead Transformer brains, he learned that Megatron's mind had survived and planned to transfer itself to Galvatron's body, explaining Galvatron's sinister appearance. The tiny bot further mentions how Galvatron used his knowledge to build Stinger and the other drones, with plans to make them into his personal army. As Tessa tells the group about the Seed she saw, Optimus and Hound explain that the Creators used Seeds to convert organic material into metal, then harvested the resulting Transformium for their own purposes. Cade makes a call to Joyce and relays the newfound data about Galvatron. Knowing that Joyce is also an inventor with a heart, he pleads with Joyce to shut down Galvatron before things escalate. Although Joyce puts up an unconvinced façade, he demands increased security around Galvatron after hanging up.

As police cars surround the train yard, the Autobots board their shuttle again and take to the air. Optimus says that though the Autobots will travel to Hong Kong and get the Seed back, they will leave Earth afterwards; they are done protecting humanity. Cade disagrees but Prime is non-responsive. They later debate the matter, with Cade attempting to reignite Prime's faith in humanity.

In deep space, Lockdown finally discovers the absence of the smaller ship. He grumbles about Optimus Prime taking his trophy case and how the Prime will feel his wrath while he reverses course. Joyce meets with Attinger and Savoy and receives the Seed. Joyce intends to detonate it in a region of the Gobi Desert, which will generate enough Transformium to last a century. Attinger is eager to expedite production but grows incensed when Joshua disagrees and says that they should go slower, quite obviously moved by Cade's call. Meanwhile, Galvatron activates himself and starts to infect the legion of over fifty other KSI Transformers. When the alarm rings regarding Galvatron's escape, Joyce has Attinger and Savoy evacuated from the building and gets in a car with Su, an associate named Darcy, and the Seed. They decide to try to hide the Seed in Hong Kong.

Being hunted by Attinger and Savoy, Joyce seeks refuge on a rooftop when the Autobot-piloted ship arrives and attempts to pick him and the Seed up. However, Galvatron and his drone army arrive and shoot down the airborne vessel, causing Bumblebee, Hound, and the Yeagers to spill out while the others (Prime, Crosshairs, Drift, and the captured Knights) to careen away into the Wulong Valley. Savoy finds the Yeagers and Joyce on the rooftop and open fires on them but Cade leads him away from the others. The two jump across rooftops, eventually crashing into a house and getting into a fist fight which ends with Savoy falling from a window to his death.

Hound and Bumblebee attempt to escort the humans and the Seed out of the city, but are cut short when Joshua points out that the KSI-built Transformers were specifically built to destroy any Autobots or Decepticons left on Earth. This prompts Prime to enter the crashed ship and activate the armory as well as release the other captives within the ship. As Hound and Bumblebee hold the line and protect the humans, Optimus tries to convince the Legendary Warriors to fight alongside them. Their apparent leader violently declines at first, fighting the Prime in both his massive robot mode and his Tyrannosaurus mode. Optimus quickly defeats him, saying that he and the other warriors will protect his family or die, then mounts the metal dinosaur. The Autobots mount their Dinobots and charge over the mountains into Hong Kong.

Meanwhile, as Hound and Bumblebee are starting to be overwhelmed by Galvatron's drone forces, Optimus and his fellow Autobots storm into the city, slamming, crushing, stomping, and chomping all nearby enemies. Galvatron retreats as the Autobots and Dinobots decimate his forces. With this battle over, Optimus confronts Joshua for his actions and gives the order to defend the humans and escort them, and the Seed, away from the city. On the way, a homing beacon within the Seed activates, allowing Lockdown to track the Autobots down. He activates a massive magnet, wreaking havoc on Hong Kong. Everything metal from kitchenware to massive ships are picked up by the magnet, including the Autobots and Dinobots. After narrowly avoiding the magnet, the Yeagers are momentarily separated from the Autobots. Optimus shoots at the magnet, destroying it and releasing the Transformers from its influence. The ship retreats to a nearby factory, with Optimus hot on its trail. Cade tells his daughter to stay with Shane and the Autobots, as he wishes to fight alongside Optimus against Lockdown. As Optimus Prime and Lockdown battle one-on-one, Attinger corners Yeager with a pistol, accusing him of choosing aliens over his own race, but he is quickly shot and killed by Optimus.

Because of Optimus's choice to save Cade before defending himself, Lockdown gains the upper hand, impaling Optimus through the chest with his own sword and pinning him to a concrete pillar. Meanwhile, Tessa convinces Bumblebee to turn around and the three join in fighting Lockdown, allowing Shane to use a tow truck to unpin Prime. Just as Lockdown is about to kill Cade, Optimus jumps up and slices the bounty hunter in half. Activating one of Lockdown's grenades, Prime tells the humans to hold on and uses rocket boosters to escape while the grenade destroys the last of the KSI drones. Galvatron has survived and retreated to the outskirts of the city; watching Prime blast off, he tells Optimus to beware, for he is reborn...

The Autobots, Dinobots, and their human allies all regroup on the waterfront. Cade and Tessa happily reconcile and Cade finally accepts Shane. Joshua nobly says he will help them with their destroyed home. Prime declares the Dinobots are now free as they depart for parts unknown. With the bounty on his head placing the entire Earth in danger, Prime blasts off into space with the Seed to confront the Creators and discover the mystery behind his own origins, but not before ordering the Autobots to protect the Yeager family. As he leaves Earth's atmosphere, Optimus Prime sends a message to his Creators to leave planet Earth alone, because he's coming for them.

Main cast

1. ↑ Eric Bauza recorded the scratch track for Drift, with some of his screams and efforts remaining in the final film.
2. ↑ One of Ratchet's lines from earlier in the film, voiced by Foxworth, is reused for Leadfoot.
3. ↑ The Oreo Transformer speaks, but has no known voice actor.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1} Barricade and the Decepticon Protoforms appear in the movie through archival footage from Dark of the Moon.

Quotes

"Lockdown...?"
"Autobots, Decepticons, like little children, always fighting; making a mess out of the universe, then I've got to clean it up! There is one way you survive. Tell me where he's hiding. Where is Optimus Prime?"
"Never."
(Lockdown rips out Ratchet's spark)
"Never is here."

—Ratchet's final moments before Lockdown kills him.

"In this planet we have a saying: The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
"I also have a saying: I don't care."

—Harold Attinger discusses with Lockdown.

"Every galaxy I've traveled, all you species are the same. You all think you're the center of the universe. You have no idea..."

—Lockdown never truly appreciated one of his clients.

"Human beings. Bunch of backstabbing weasels!"
"Hound, find your inner compass. Loyalty is but a flower in the winds of fear and temptation."
"What the hell are you saying?!?"
"It's a haiku."
"Cut the crap before I drop a grenade down your throat!"
"Try it, you'll be dead!"
"Oh, please pull it. Please do it."

—Hound doesn't appreciate Drift's haikus.

"With your fate unknown, Bumblebee has held command, despite his complete and total lack of anything resembling warrior discipline. He's like a child."
"This child is about to kick your ass!"

—Drift and Bumblebee

"Autobots, I have sworn never to kill humans..."
"Big mistake."
"...but when I find out who's behind this...he's going to die."
"Hoo-ah!"

—Prime's rage is fueled by Hound.

"Destroy the lab! Destroy it all!"
(The Autobots lay waste to the KSI research facility)
"Hey, you! Stop! That's company property!"
"They're not your property! They were my friends."

—Optimus Prime duly informs Joshua Joyce that Transformers aren't just machines.

"You have no soul!"
"That is why I have no fear!"

—Optimus Prime is shocked to find Galvatron isn't as lifeless as he thought.

"We're behind enemy lines now. Lockdown's ship has booby traps! Eyes open."
"Beware of his bone-grinders, brain-blinders, flesh-stealers, chromosomal-inverters, catatonic slugs, black hole trapdoors and of course, radiation."

—Hound and Crosshairs warn the humans of the perils held within Lockdown's ship.

"I was expecting a giant car!"

—Drift witnessing Grimlock transform into a dinosaur.

"Autobots, we're going to prove who we are, and why we're here!"

—Optimus Prime rallies his troops with his characteristic passion and charisma.

"Ugh, you just wanna die for the guy. That's leadership. Or brainwashing, or something."
"No, that's Optimus Prime."

—Crosshairs and Drift, remarking on their leader/Giant Robot Dinosaur tamer.

"I'm like a fat ballerina who takes scalps and slits throats!"

—Hound takes another five levels in badass and ballerina class.

"How do you say 'Get the f&%# out of the way' in Chinese?"

—Joshua has some issues with the language barrier.

"I hate cheap knockoffs."

—Bumblebee looking for Human Alliance Jazz on eBay.

"We shall meet again, Prime, for I am reborn."

—Galvatron retreats to fight another day.

"There are mysteries to the universe we were never meant to solve, but who we are and why we are here are not among them. Those answers we carry inside. I am Optimus Prime, and this message is to my Creators. Leave planet Earth alone. 'Cause I'm coming...for you."

—Optimus Prime's closing narration.

Errors

Continuity errors

• Ironhide is seen on the cards Attinger pulls out early in the film, listed as deceased and having been last seen in Chicago. However, Ironhide was killed by Sentinel Prime in Washington, D.C., midway through Dark of the Moon, and long before the final battle in Chicago.
  • Neither Skids nor Mudflap are listed as deceased on their cards. Considering early drafts of the previous film depicted both of them getting killed off by Sentinel Prime, this can be taken as a continuity error.
  • Leadfoot is also not listed as deceased when he is clearly confirmed to be dead on-screen through the footage Cade shows the Autobots.
• Scenes from the Decepticons' invasion of Chicago in Dark of the Moon are shown as archival footage presented by Attinger. While it is conceivable some lucky people with cameras recorded the initial attack and managed to survive and publish their footage, it's highly unlikely people would've been able to get close-up video footage of the NEST team taking down Barricade and the other Decepticons.
• When Ratchet's leg gets blown off, it the largest part of his leg lands behind him. In the next shot, it's nowhere to be seen.
• A Cemetery Wind vehicle smashes into the side of Shane's car during the chase through the cornfield, but the car doesn't show any damage to that side in subsequent shots.
• Tessa and Shane's reliance on Romeo and Juliet laws is unnecessary, since the age of consent in Texas is 17.
• During the 'Autobots reunite' sequence, Drift starts out in car mode on a road with Bumblebee and Crosshairs, before suddenly appearing atop a rock formation in robot mode and transforming to helicopter mode to meet up with Optimus Prime.
• When Crosshairs and Drift are talking on board Lockdown's ship shortly after boarding it, a very bizarre edit occurs in the middle of Drift's line "Better hurry, because dark matter drives are preparing to take off". The camera angle is now slightly different than before, but it's not a switch between a long shot and a close-up or a complete change of perspective. Oddly, Drift is still seen from the almost the exact same angle as before the edit, but even though his and Crosshairs's bodies were at an almost 90 degree angle before the edit, they're now suddenly almost standing in parallel to each other, with Crosshairs' head turned towards Drift. In addition, a flame that appeared in front of Drift just before the edit is suddenly gone.
• When Shane shouts "I surrender!" and drops his "gun-sword", the hilt is facing to the right, but after a close-up showed it landing on the ground and firing a shot, the hilt is suddenly facing to the left in the subsequent long shot when it fires more shots.
• When Joshua reunites with the rest of the group in Hong Kong, Darcy tells him she'll do a diversion, and to get the Seed somewhere safe. Yet, no diversion of any kind happens.
• As Cade and Savoy grapple in the apartment, Cade jams his thumb deep into Savoy's eye socket (see right), with accompanying "squlech" sound effect, and appropriate reaction from Savoy in the form of a long howl of pain through gritted teeth and a string of drool flowing uncontrolled from his mouth. But as soon as the two separate, Savoy's eye is absolutely fine, with no indication anything is supposed to have happened to it.
• During Hound's fight with Two Head, Cade is seen wearing his jacket but reverts back to his shirt following the Decepticon's defeat.
• While Lockdown is pulling up parts of the city, Shane backs the car into a building which is two stories high at most, but appears much larger on the inside.
• In vehicle mode, Stinger's engine sound is inaccurate to what his alt mode actually is (a Pagani Huayra) and sounds more like a McLaren F1.

Technical/animation errors

• The shot right before the close-up of the cyberformed dinosaurs has no cyberformed dinosaurs at all, despite having all the excavation vehicles in the same positions as the next scene.
• The card of Arcee seen in Attinger's deck is misspelled as "Acree" and uses an image of Elita-One. While is considered an Arcee sister in contemporary media, Elita-1 is not Arcee herself as shown in the comics.
  • This could potentially be explained by the movie ignoring the retcon from the comics that changed Arcee from one character with three bodies to three characters psychically linked by a single spark.
• When Savoy says "Use the mini-drones", you can clearly see the green screen in the monitors.
• As Cemetery Wind is attacking Ratchet, a helicopter fires several missiles at him. Two of the missiles miss him, but do not detonate or cause an explosion of any kind to the structures immediately behind Ratchet, and are not even seen to hit them- they simply disappear.
• When Attinger takes over the operation to scramble Cemetery Wind after Optimus and dismisses everyone in the room, he does so by saying "Ladies and gentlemen, this room is going dark. The exit is on your left." All the people then get up and begin to exit to their right.
• Scrambling Cemetery Wind seems to scramble the timeline. From the deployment of Cemetery Wind to Lucas's death, the time of day is in limbo. For example, Optimus escapes from the Yeager property at sunset, joining the pursuit that takes place in the early afternoon, not to mention that Cemetery Wind arrives at the Yeagers' hometown at what appears to be dawn. In some instances, repeated changes between shots correspond with changes between different times of day, as different positions of the sun result in very very obviously different lighting conditions.
• When Lockdown transforms to prepare for the attack on Optimus, one can clearly see a faux-part Lamborghini logo pop out from inside the car, while the actual logo disappears.
• In the shot of Shane's car pulling up outside of the Yeager farm after Cemetery Wind has stormed in, nobody is seen inside the vehicle.
• During the scene where Cade is pretending to be a truck driver with Optimus still in his flat-nose truck form, he has a cap and white plaid shirt on. After Optimus scans into his newer form, Cade's back to wearing his leather jacket.
• When Shane's car gets sideswiped in the cornfield, the back left window is shattered. A couple scenes later, the window is just rolled down.
• When Shane's car breaks into a building, the woman sitting right in the middle of the room is clearly waiting on the glass-breaking noise to start running.
• After Lucas' death, there is nothing really stopping Lockdown or Cemetery Wind from continuing to chase Optimus. Lockdown is much faster and could easily catch up to Optimus whilst Cemetery Wind could chase in their remaining vehicles.
• When Optimus transforms to and from his Marmon 97 alternate mode, the windows and grille that make up his chest visibly change size and shape.
• When Optimus transforms out of his flat-nosed truck mode and punches the ground, Tessa and Shane are standing next to each other, as viewed from behind Optimus. When the view immediately switches to be facing Optimus, Cade is suddenly standing between the two.
• Shane defends his relationship with Tessa by stating that the 'Romeo and Juliet laws' "statute 2705-3" protect their relationship, yet the card he shows Cade reads "Statute 22.011". This is also the number that appears in the English subtitles of the DVD, meaning that it was scripted as 22.011 and not 2705-3.
• The truck that Optimus scans, while still being from the Western Star manufacturer, is an older and different model than the one he transforms into.
• When Optimus is on his way to the reunion site, the human characters inside are sitting this way: Shane to the right, Tessa in the Middle and Cade to the left. However when Optimus gets to the reunion point Cade comes out of the truck using Shane's side door (right) instead of his (left). It is clear they (the director and his crew) were trying to get a "superhero" pose but it doesn't make sense.
• When Optimus arrived to the reunion site you can see the filming crew in the reflection of his front chrome parts.
• The statement that Drift claims to be a haiku ("Loyalty is but a flower in the winds of fear and temptation") is not actually a haiku: poems of that style generally consist of three separate statements in a 5-7-5 syllable pattern; the one mentioned in the film is a single unbroken statement that totals to the 17 syllables that a haiku technically consists of.
• Hound's dialogue when he's bickering with Drift doesn't really match up to what we see. Drift pulls his swords on Hound, but the big guy goads him on to "pull it", suggesting Drift was originally supposed to aim a firearm at him.

• When Joshua is in the lab showing Darcy Transformium, in two different shots, a gray, uncolored prop of Ratchet's head can be seen being worked on in the next room.
• As Cade's drone scans a KSI employee's name tag, it displays its location onscreen as around N 38°44'55", W115°28'27". These coordinates are for a patch of desert in Nevada rather than any place in Chicago.
• While first infiltrating KSI, in the showroom where Stinger is first viewed, Bumblebee is in car mode when Joshua walks in with Yueming. Bumblebee's engine audibly revs, yet Joshua doesn't notice that there's no one in the car to rev the engine.

• Megatron's severed head is in somewhat good shape for someone who got an axe stabbed on the top of his head. Furthermore, his head is more in line with its appearance in the first movie, not Dark of the Moon.
• Not to mention, after Joshua's group leaves and Bumblebee knocks Stinger down, there's no transformation noise right before Bumblebee returns to his altmode and the KSI executive walks in. Additionally, Bumblebee starts playing M.C. Hammer's "U Can't Touch This", when no one is in the car to turn the stereo on. Ostensibly it was for a comic moment, but it didn't raise anyone's suspicions that a car that wasn't typical of the ones being scanned, operating the engine and the stereo with no human inside, might be a disguised Cybertronian?
• After Bumblebee scans his new alternate mode, the camera pans over the car and Tessa and Shane are not inside. However, when he's getting his new upgraded form, you can see that they used stunt doubles for Shane and Tessa. That scene wasn't dangerous enough to require stunt doubles, was it?
• Some security guards in KSI fail to react to Crosshairs's shooting and shouting until a few seconds before the scene changes.
• When Galvatron first transforms and crashes into a truck, the way he is composed in the scene makes it look like he is simply floating above the wreckage, instead of being in the middle causing it.
• When Optimus transforms, Cade and Shane leap out of Optimus, while Tessa is trapped and rolls away. However, previous shots establish that the seating order in Optimus is Shane, Tessa, Cade. This means that Cade crawled over his daughter to escape(!), which is not quite logical or possible.
• Lockdown fires two missiles at Optimus Prime that, despite piercing his chest, don't manifest any kind of visible damage on his person, despite the previous shot showing Optimus's chest getting blown apart.
• When Lockdown is approaching Optimus after gunning him down, the driver's door of the Cadillac SRX he's resting on is shown to be open in two exterior shots, even though Tessa previously closed it after getting inside, and it's also shown closed in other (mostly interior) shots.
• When he loses his grip on the net holding Optimus and the car containing Tessa, Cade is shown falling toward the street, but he lands on the grass by the road.
• When the Autobots are on a bridge, before boarding Lockdown's ship, Crosshairs is clearly shown to be speaking but no dialogue is heard.
• Also in that same scene when Hound says "It's a bad idea but I'm all about bad ideas" his mouth movements are slightly out of synch.
• When Tessa gets taken to the trash in Lockdown's ship, a green screen can be seen at the end of the corridor.
• While locking up Optimus, Lockdown's scar is on the left side of his face. While talking to Savoy upon delivering the seed, it's on the right side of his face; however, it switches back to the left side right before he walks off after bidding Earth farewell.
• While the human characters are climbing across the anchor cables to the high-rise building, some of the Steeljaws begin to climb out after them. Cade tells his daughter not to look back and see them, but when we cut back to her, with a clear view of the cables behind her, the Steeljaws are gone.
• When Bumblebee jumps off Lockdown's ship to save the humans, he is followed by a Steeljaw. In the following shot, the Steeljaw is gone.
• While explaining Megatron's plans to the Autobots, Brains rings a bell on a train. In the next shot, the bell is not moving.

• In the scene where the KSI prototypes are being unloaded from planes in Hong Kong, Joshua and Su are standing in an airport runway during what appears to be sunrise. The subsequent clip that follows is partially recycled from Revenge of the Fallen; having a dead Optimus Prime swapped with an inactive Galvatron. This means that the "KSI worksmen" that are supposed to be unloading Galvatron, are now US soldiers and it is mid-day during the reused scene making it completely out of place with the sunrise setting the previous and subsequent scenes had set.
  • The transporter has also been reanimated to be moving out of the plane rather than in like the original.
  • This scene is considered "partially reused" due to the fact that the military hummer that passes Optimus in the original clip is only just driving up behind Galvatron before the it cuts to the next shot. Additionally, another hummer can be seen driving by in the distance in the Galvatron scene, but with Optimus, the hummer doesn't appear at all due to his clip taking place after the hummer has driven past.
  • The original footage was also heavily cropped down for Revenge of the Fallen and features a yellowing filter.
• During the motorcycle chase, the CIA cars change. At first, Joshua and Su are trailed by a Cadillac and an Audi; in the middle of the chase, the Cadillac is replaced by another Audi. By the end of the chase, the Cadillac is back.
• In Hong Kong, when Cade, Joshua, Tessa, and Shane enter the elevator to run away from the rooftop, the elevator won't move and Cade says it's overloaded. But in the next scene, we see that the maximum number of people that the elevator can carry is nine, and it's very clear that the Seed doesn't weight as much as five people.
• When Grimlock transforms to his dino mode and charges at Optimus, there are no other Dinobots, nor the ship, to be seen in the background. However, after Optimus punches Grimlock and the shot changes, Dinobots are standing almost right next to him.
• Optimus somehow has enough strength to not only maintain his ground, but propel Grimlock through the air during his charge. Considering Grimlock's strength, velocity and weight, it is highly unlikely Optimus would win.
• Immediately after he transforms into his triceratops mode, Slug is shown to have a very visible Autobot logo on his dino-mode forehead, yet he just met Optimus and the other Autobots moments before.
• One of the air conditioning units kicked off the building exterior by Savoy falls away to reveal ... a solid wall, with no connection to an apartment's interior.
• During Hound's stand in Hong Kong, the pickup truck he uses as a shield sways left to right whilst his arm remains still.
• The damage Hound receives after being shot down, most noticeably the pipe on his left shoulder, is fixed in subsequent shots.
• Crosshairs is seen driving alongside Drift and Hound through the bridge to take the Seed away from the city ... right after we just saw him staying behind to hold the line with the Dinobots.
• During the final fight, Bumblebee decides to just leave midway. Considering the distance between the factory and the dock where they met, he must have left long before Optimus flew there.
• Also during the final flight, Cade is hiding on his own behind a wall. After Lockdown fires, a second person is seen behind him. In the next shot this person has disappeared. Looking closely, the second person is wearing a suit like Attinger. Alternate take of his death, perhaps?
  • The wall itself also completely changes shape between multiple takes.
• When Grimlock and Slug transform into dino mode for the last time, they fracture the concrete under them by striking it. In the very next shot, Grimlock is on the grass instead and the ground is intact. The ground remains intact in other shots.
• When the Dinobots depart into the forest in the final scene, the trees shoved aside by Scorn and Slug are removed in the IMAX edition, but not the trees' shadows. Because of this, dark spots can be seen ahead of the Dinobots' paths. The shadows move around at the same time the trees are knocked over in non-IMAX releases.
• As Optimus takes off, the Dinobots' footprints in the forest are seen to his right, but not any trees.
• The Dinobots' positions are inconsistent with their footprints when they depart. From the humans' perspective, when Grimlock transforms, he is to the right of Slug and to the left of Scorn, and there are no footprints to his right in the patch of grass. When he runs away, his path indicates he crosses over and will be on the left of Slug. However, the left two trails of footprints are later shown to be completely parallel. The pattern and density of the footprints suggest that it should be Grimlock on the left, Slug in the middle, and Scorn on the right.
• When the Dinobots are departing, three of the West Kowloon Waterfront Promenade wind chime pillars are seen toppled and crushed, and Grimlock runs between their remains. The aerial view shows different pillars damaged, with some even suffering the direct impact of Slug and Grimlock's feet.
• After Optimus takes off, the other Autobots are absent from the shot of the main cast watching Optimus fly off.

Geographic discontinuities

• When Cade tries to use his card at an ATM, not only is the card issued from a Chinese bank, which wouldn't have any branches in north Texas, where the Yeagers live, the text on the ATM screen (behind the Access Denied warning) is in Chinese.
• Despite being from north Texas, Cade and Tessa have no Texas accents. Not all Texans have noticeable accents of course, but Wahlberg in particular spends the whole film speaking with his natural Boston accent.
• Despite the KSI pursuit scene taking place on a two lane highway, there are several scenes spliced in of the Transformers with supercar alt modes (like Stinger and Crosshairs) driving on what is obviously a racecourse (specifically the GM proving grounds in Milford, Michigan). This is apparent by the horizontal incline of the road in some of the shots that are also missing the markings that would normally be on a road, and a reaction shot for Stinger that shows a straight, one lane ninety degree turn.
• The entirety of the KSI pursuit scene switches between taking place between the left and right sides of the two-lane highway, despite being only supposed to take place on the right side. Furthermore, the shot showing stray missiles colliding with oncoming traffic takes place on a completely different highway, one with five lanes instead of three and a wooden fence on the side of the street as opposed to a guardrail. Moreover; the car crashing stunt for the bridge jump scene starts on the five lane highway, continues on the left side of the three lane highway, and then finishes on the right side of the three lane highway. Trouble finding shots, eh?I
• Furthermore, because this is in Chicago, a U.S. City, it makes no sense for cars to be driving on the left side of the road, instead of the right.
• All of the vehicles seen in Hong Kong are left-hand drive, rather than the right-hand drive you'd expect in a location that drives on the left.
• Some scenes supposed to take place in Hong Kong depict a very distinctively American city with traffic lights suspended by wires above the street.
• Chicago's Willis Tower can be seen in the background of Hong Kong.
• The bridge out of the city shown in the film (Tsing Ma Bridge) is at least a half-hour drive from the battlefield in Central.
• Furthermore, despite Optimus's comment, there are no bridges connecting Hong Kong Island (where all the action allegedly takes place) to the mainland. The only way to get off Hong Kong Island (other than by boat or swimming) is via one of three tunnels, none of which are used, referenced or mentioned in the film.
• Speaking of bridges, Tsing Ma Bridge (the gray version of the Golden Gate Bridge) shown in the movie is effectively a dead end unless one is going to the airport or Disneyland, because it only leads to/from Lantau Island.
• The bridge where Grimlock "digs in" is an expressway bypass. Geographically defending it is pointless as there are multiple other routes (including at least one that is faster) to bypass the bridge and tunnel yet end up at the same place on the other side.
• In one of the fight scenes there is an overhead railway (the Detroit People Mover). There are no overhead railways on Hong Kong Island (yet) and the MTR (the subway train network) trains look nothing like the train used in the scenes, as they are a completely different shape and color.
• There are no "glass houses" on Hong Kong Island.
• There are no Chinese temple ruins on Hong Kong Island. The temples there are all intact and frequently used or preserved and don't have giant metal umbrellas at all.
• The area where Optimus battles and "tames" Grimlock is in the Wushan Valley in Northern China which is over 1100 km from Hong Kong, yet is depicted as being in Pok Fu Lam on the South Western side of Hong Kong Island (which is a high rise residential area). Even flying it would take well over 2 hours to get from Wushan Valley to Hong Kong.
• It's not possible to drive a car from Beijing into Hong Kong, as the number plates would be invalid, and it would take over a day to drive that distance. Chinese vehicles coming into Hong Kong have to be from the Canton area (number plates are black) and have to be registered with Hong Kong plates, which means they must display both plates at all times one above the other. (In addition, the process to obtain permission for a car to have that is also lengthy and costly.)
• The blue SUV used by Cade and his companions is not a type of vehicle that exists in Hong Kong. In addition, its steering wheel is located on the left side, even though cars in Hong Kong have their steering wheels on the right side.
• Optimus Prime's Western Star alternate mode would be illegal to drive on Hong Kong roads, since it's oversized. The Freightliner truck used for Galvatron is the maximum size/gauge allowed on Hong Kong roads. All scenes with Optimus driving in truck mode were filmed elsewhere, the Western Star truck was never brought to Hong Kong. Even his previous Peterbilt alternate mode would be illegal in Hong Kong.
• The area depicted as the final battle scene where Optimus and Lockdown face off was digitally added on the map of Hong Kong shown in the movie. It doesn't exist at all in real life, where it's actually a breakwater/typhoon shelter full of boats on Victora Harbour. In addition, the factories in Hong Kong (which are all located on Kowloon, because Hong Kong Island is purely a residential/business/shopping district) look nothing like the buildings used in the scene.

Paleontology weeps

• The cyberformed remains of a Tyrannosaurus and a Spinosaurus appear frozen together in the arctic at the beginning of the film, which is rather odd considering the two are found on different continents (North America and Africa respectively) and separated by around 35 million years of evolution. Note that a few months after the release of the movie, the morphology of Spinosaurus was completely revised, with a different spine shape and shorter legs. Even more revisions came in 2020, which turned the tail into a newt-like paddle.

• The opening scene of the movie shows a Psittaccosaurus (100-120 million years old), a generic hadrosaur that might be either an Edmontosaurus or a Shantungosaurus (65-70 million years old), and a brachiosaurid (100-157 million years old) all present during what is implied to be the K-Pg extinction event (64.5-65 million years old).
• The Psittaccosaurus, a well known herbivorous animal, is seen actively hunting and killing live prey. In a nod to paleontological accuracy, however, it is depicted with a row of quill-like feathers along its back, as many ceratopsian dinosaurs are believed to have had.
• The Dinobots' alternate modes are orders of magnitude larger than the real dinosaurs on which they're based. In an interesting twist, using Optimus as a proxy for the average human, all the Dinobots bar Strafe have been accurately scaled up. At 850 tonnes, 63.5 feet tall (from feet to horns) and 150 feet long (from tail to muzzle),^[1] Grimlock is as large compared to Optimus as a real Tyrannosaurus would be next to a human.

Transformers references

• As usual, many of the new characters have roots in older portions of the mythos:
  • Drift is based on a Generation 1 character introduced in IDW's 2008 All Hail Megatron series.
  • Lockdown is derived from a character in the 2008 Animated cartoon who had already jumped over to the G1 comics and, in toy form, to the movie universe.
  • Hound shares a military-green alternate mode with his Generation 1 counterpart, but is otherwise unrelated. His portly physique has put many a fan in mind of similar military-green Autobot Bulkhead, but again, the movie character's crusty, violence-hungry, trigger-happy personality owes more to John Goodman’s previous roles than to that gentle Autobot giant.
  • The name Crosshairs has been used by a few characters before, but this version has nothing to do with any of them.
  • Galvatron being a new form for Megatron has been a thing for basically forever. With Joyce's intentions of creating him as a counterpart to Optimus Prime, he also takes cues from Nemesis Prime; in particular the human-controlled Prime character.
  • The Dinobots are the latest iteration of the powerhouse subfaction that first appeared in the early days of Generation 1. Their leader Grimlock is a direct analog of his Generation 1 counterpart; Strafe and Slug are based on Generation 1 Swoop and Slag, respectively.
• The Creators seem inspired by the alien Quintessons from the Sunbow The Transformers cartoon, who were revealed to be the creators of the Cybertronian race in the third season of said cartoon.
• In the film's opening act, Optimus has adopted a cabover truck alternate mode akin to that of his G1 counterpart. His robot mode also draws some inspiration from his G1 design, such as the large grill on his chest.
• Ratchet and Lockdown are paired off against each other; the first incarnation of Lockdown from Transformers: Animated was pitted off against that version of Ratchet in his very first appearance, presumably inspiring their scene together.
• As he hunts for Ratchet, Lockdown's head-up display shows characters in Ancient Autobot, an alphabet originating in the Generation 1 episode "Cosmic Rust". Unlike some uses of the language, it appears at random here, with no secret messages to decode.
• In the scene where Optimus scans a passing truck, the classic transformation noise plays when the Autobot symbol emerges from his grill.
• The scene where Galvatron goes active and breaks free in KSI's Chinese facility mirrors the scene in the 2007 Transformers movie when Megatron breaks free inside Sector Seven's facility, down to a reuse of the line "I am Megatron", only with the name changed to "Galvatron".
• The ringtone on Gill Wembley's cell phone is a remixed version of the original The Transformers cartoon's theme song.

Real-life references

• Among the objects KSI makes from Transformium in the film is a Rainbow Dash doll from My Little Pony.

Other editions

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Prequel material

• Transformers (Titan Magazine)

Titan's monthly title in the UK (the final rebrand of their existing comic).

Adaptations

Unusually, no novel or comic adaptations of the film were released. The Transformers Annual 2015 contained an extremely cut down prose summary of events.

Sequels

Main articles: Transformers: The Last Knight (film) and Bumblebee (film)

Music

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Score

Main article: Age of Extinction: The Score

Home video releases

Main article: Transformers: Age of Extinction (film)/home video

Theatrical posters

• 

  Something has survived...

• 

  Will you follow me... for the fourth time?

• 

  The Prime, the Grim, and the Marky.

• 

  Cade, look out behind you! Ah, too late, Lockdown's ship got him.

• 

  So the five minute scene about his relationship with a minor was supposed to be funny?

• 

  She wants you to forget she was in The Last Airbender.

• 

  So the minor character gets a poster and two lengthy filler action scenes to herself?

• 

  Age of Extinction, come and spend your money here!

• 

  It's a scene not in the movie!

• 

  This is not human extinction, it's just war.

• 

  So we face extinction if we don't stand with you? Huh, that's kinda harsh...

• 

  "Now look down. Now look at me. I'm on a dinosaur."

Reception

Transformers: Age of Extinction was critically panned, and nearly universally condemned on the American front, receiving a rating of 18% positive critical reviews on RottenTomatoes.com, one percent lower than the final score for Revenge of the Fallen. Common criticisms leveled against it included its relatively long run time of 2 hours and 45 minutes, the disproportionately small amount of screen time the Dinobots got in relation to their relatively large exposure in promotional materials for the film, an over-reliance on product placement, obtuse humor (including jokes about knowing precisely when teenagers are old enough for adults to have sex with them), and the decision to set the final act in Hong Kong, which was perceived as a choice solely done to pander towards the Chinese audience for the film. However, the film received praise for its visual effects, action sequences, and the performances of some of the human actors, mainly Mark Wahlberg, Stanley Tucci, and Kelsey Grammer.^[2] Despite any criticisms, the film was the worldwide top-grossing film for 2014, earning over a billion dollars.^[3]

It won one Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director (Michael Bay), was one of four movies contributing to Kelsey Grammer's Worst Supporting Actor win (along with The Expendables 3, Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return and Think Like a Man Too), and was unsuccessfully nominated for Worst Picture; Worst Supporting Actress (Nicola Peltz as Tessa Yeager); Worst Screen Combo ("Any two robots, actors (or robotic actors)"); Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel; and Worst Screenplay ("screenplay by Ehren Kruger, based on Hasbro's Transformers action figures").

For Chinese audiences, however, it was a phenomenon and some farmers started making replica Transformers as a new job.^[4]

Production staff

Age of Extinction was written by Ehren Kruger, who also wrote Dark of the Moon and helped write Revenge of the Fallen.

Visual effects

Like the previous films in the series, Industrial Light & Magic (with assistance from Atomic Fiction and Base FX) was employed to do the visual effects. Method Studios and Tippett Studios also contributed to the film's VFX production.

Locations department

Development details

Cast and crew signing on

On June 26, 2011, thirteen days before the official theatrical release of Dark of the Moon, actor Tyrese Gibson gave an interview to Movieweb, in which he claimed that Michael Bay would not return for a fourth Transformers installment; instead, executive producer Steven Spielberg himself was allegedly interested in directing a sequel.^[5] Ten days later, on June 26, 2011, still three days before the official theatrical release of Dark of the Moon, Michael Bay posted praise for actor Shia LaBeouf on his official forums, while at the same time expressing regret for leaving the Transformers franchise.^[6] Another two days later, on June 28, 2011, LaBeouf confirmed that Dark of the Moon would definitely be his last Transformers film, as he didn't think there was "anywhere to take" his character of Sam Witwicky.^[7]

Eight months later, on February 13, 2012, producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura gave an interview during Toy Fair 2012, in which he confirmed that a fourth film was scheduled for a release in the Summer of 2014, Michael Bay would direct it after all, and that the movie would be a "reboot". He promptly clarified that it was actually a "hybrid", an "evolution" of the franchise that would be in continuity with the previous films, citing 2012's The Amazing Spider-Man reboot of the Spider-Man film franchise as an example of what people should not expect from a fourth Transformers film. Di Bonaventura also confirmed that no casting discussions had taken place yet at that point, since there was no set story yet. However, there would be "a lot of new cast", and it was still uncertain at that point whether any of the previous cast members would return. The only characters that would "certainly" return would be Optimus Prime and Bumblebee.^[8] A day later, on February 14, 2012, Bay himself and Paramount Pictures officially announced that Bay had indeed signed a deal to make a fourth Transformers film. The film's release date was stated alternatively as either June 27 or June 29, 2014.^[9][10] That same day, Bay also confirmed that he and Spielberg were working on a "whole new re imagining[sic] of Transformers".^[11] Two days later, on February 16, 2012, actor Josh Duhamel expressed his doubts that he, Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley or Tyrese Gibson would return for the fourth installment.^[12]

Four months later, on June 6, 2012, Michael Bay confirmed in an interview centered around Transformers: The Ride that the fourth film would feature "some redesigns of the robots and an entirely new cast", and that it would be the last Transformers film he would direct.^[13] A few weeks later, on June 21, 2012, Bay confirmed that the fourth film would feature "different human actors", but the film would not be strictly a "reboot", but rather take the story "in a new direction". While hinting that the story might venture into space for "a little bit", he still wanted to keep it "grounded".^[14]

On September 21, 2012, Michael Bay confirmed the first "cast" member for the film in the broadest sense, namely the fact that voice actor Peter Cullen would be kept on as Optimus Prime. He also confirmed that the film would not be a reboot, but would pick up the story from where Dark of the Moon had left off in Chicago.^[15] One and a half months later, on November 8, 2012, Bay confirmed Mark Wahlberg as the first human cast member,^[16] after having referred to such claims as "just a rumor" a mere month earlier.^[17] On December 15, 2012, Wahlberg himself confirmed that filming would commence in May 2013.^[18] Another month later, on January 8, 2013, Irish American actor Jack Reynor was confirmed as the second human cast member.^[19] Nicola Peltz was confirmed on March 26, 2013,^[20] followed by Stanley Tucci (confirmed to be an antagonist) on April 16, 2013.,^[21] Kelsey Grammer as a lead (human) villain named "Harold Attinger" on May 1, 2013,^[22] Sophia Myles as a scientist on May 6, 2013,^[23] Chinese actress Li Bingbing in an at that point still unspecified role on May 20, 2013,^[24] and actor-comedian T. J. Miller as a mechanic and best friend to Wahlberg's character on May 28, 2013.^[25] Titus Welliver wasn't officially confirmed until July 25, 2013, after he had been spotted on set in Texas.^[26] In the lead-up to the release of the movie, Welliver would stir up a minor controversy with an interview in which he stated that the film would be darker and "not a kid's movie". Following a storm of online discussion regarding this statement, he issued a new statement to the effect that Age of Extinction is in fact a kid's movie, and he meant to say it would expand the audience.^[27]

A rather unusual addition to the cast were Byron Li, Candice Zhao, Austin Lin and Teresa Daley, which won their part through participating in the Transformers 4 Chinese Actors Talent Search Reality Show on August 25, 2013.^[28]

The remaining robot voice cast (barring Optimus Prime) wasn't officially revealed until May 8, 2014.^[29]

Writing and production

On March 20, 2013, the Michigan Film Office announced that the fourth film would return to Detroit.^[30] Principal photography began on May 28, 2013, at Monument Valley.^[31] Other shooting locations were the small towns of Lockhart, Taylor, Elgin and Pflugerville in Texas.^[32] Shooting in Michigan involved two historic passenger steamboats, the SS Columbia and her sister ship, the SS Ste. Claire, which were docked in River Rouge awaiting restoration at the time being used as props.^[33] While shooting in Detroit, Mark Wahlberg's children visited the set and were given small parts in the movie upon their father's request.^[34]

Due to an increased focus of Hollywood studios trying to market its movies to the Chinese audience, parts of the movie were not only set in China, but actually filmed there. One of the shooting sites was Hong Kong. While there, the movie crew encountered the risks of shooting a movie in China firsthand when director Michael Bay was assaulted on the set by two locals demanding money; according to some sources, they were store owners that were not satisfied with the compensation they received for the inconvenience of having a movie filming nearby. Bay received minor injuries, but played the incident off on his blog. Both he and an official Paramount statement suggested that the assailants were under the influence of drugs.^{[35][36][37][38]} A second extortion attempt occurred several days later, this time allegedly by several triad gang members. Although one of them was later arrested, no-one was injured this time around.^[39][40] Once again, Bay played down the extortion attempts in an interview, noting that most of the locals were apologetic over what took place, and that he wanted to film more projects in Hong Kong.^[41]

Late script changes resulted in Bay and his crew returning to the Chinese city of Chongqing for a week reshooting a scene in January 2014.^[42]

Some of ILM's post-production effects were done at a newly opened Lucasfilm facility in Singapore.^[43]

Sponsors and partners

General Motors and other car manufacturers

Age of Extinction continues the collaboration with General Motors. Earlier in the film, Bumblebee chooses a customized 1967 Chevrolet Camaro SS as his disguise when hiding from Cemetery Wind, whereas later on, he upgrades to the newest model, a 2014 Camaro concept car. (The production crew was actually accused of ripping off a one-of-a-kind custom for the 1967 version.^[44]) Furthermore, new addition Crosshairs's alternate mode is a 2014 Chevrolet C7 Corvette Stingray, and recurring character Ratchet briefly appears at the beginning of the movie and transforms into his Hummer H2 ambulance mode (in the color scheme from Dark of the Moon) before being killed at the hands of Cemetery Wind and Lockdown.

Age of Extinction is the first movie to feature an official partnership with a manufacturer for Optimus Prime's alternate mode. Earlier in the movie, he transforms into an old, rusty Marmon 97 truck cab (presumably without support from the manufacturer), but later upgrades into a brand new Western Star "5700 OP" concept truck that was designed specifically for the movie by "Twins Custom Coaches" and the team at West Coast Customs, with Western Star being a subsidiary of Daimler Trucks, who also provided a 2012 Freightliner Argosy that serves as Galvatron's alternate mode.

Other manufacturers that provided vehicles to be used for characters' alternate modes were the Oshkosh Corporation with an Oshkosh Defense FMTV truck for Hound, the Volkswagen group with a 2013 Bugatti Veyron Grand Sport Vitesse for Drift and a Lamborghini Aventador for Lockdown, and independent Italian manufacturer Pagani Automobili with a Pagani Huayra for Stinger.

Changes before, during and after production

• Slash was originally intended to appear in the film (he even made it into some concept artwork).^[45]
• Glenn Morshower was originally set to return in this film, reprising his role of General Morshower, but didn't return due to a scheduling conflict.^[46]
• Both Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson were intended to cameo reprising their roles as William Lennox and Robert Epps but were cut before filming started.^{[47][48][49][50]}
• Ed Welburn, General Motors' vice president for global design, was originally set to cameo as the C.I.A. head before being recast as a KSI employee.^[51]
• A scene depicting Hound and Bumblebee dancing with Tessa (while Drift bobs his head in the background) was not present in the final cut of the film.^[52]
• Scorn's toys lack the additional two sails he has in the film, suggesting it was a late design change.
• The Pagani Huayra that eventually ended up as Stinger was at one point intended as the alternate mode of a female robot with the working name "Widow Maker".^[53][54]
• Wahlberg's character was named "Flynn 'Ray' Vincent" rather than "Cade Yeager" in a casting call. The same casting call also revealed that actor Glenn Morshower was supposed to reprise his role as General Morshower from the previous two films.^[55]
• A scene where Cade says "Stick behind me" is not present in the final cut of the film.^[56]
• Another piece of dialogue cut from the film is when Cade says "You tell me" to Attinger when he asks for Optimus Prime.
• In some concept artwork, Grimlock appears as a horn-less T-Rex.
• The original running time of the film was 2 hours and 7 minutes, which would have made it the shortest film in the franchise. The final running time was 2 hours and 30 minutes ^[57][58]
• Dwayne Johnson was originally offered the role of Cade Yeager, but due to his commitment to Hercules: The Thracian Wars, the role was later taken over by his Pain & Gain co-star Mark Wahlberg.^[59]
• In some concept artwork, Drift was colored orange instead of blue, but according to the Generation 2 featurette in the Blu-ray release, this was changed because the vehicle that was going to play Drift was sold off.
• Some concept artwork shows that Optimus was intended to have his original trilogy body in the scenes where he had his new look.
• According to Ehren Kruger in the Generation 2 featurette, in the early drafts of the film, it was not originally centered on the Cade Yeager character.
• Numerous silver redeco toys were produced for Optimus Prime with the moniker of "Silver Knight", suggesting that he was originally supposed to take on this alternate appearance in the film itself, almost certainly upon drawing a sword from the Knights' armory. In the finished film, he does undergo some slight physical alteration at this point, his arms reconfiguring to resemble armor plates, but that's as far as it goes. This was also prrrrobably where he was supposed to get the rocket-boots he suddenly deploys at the film's end.
• A scene depicting Harold Attinger throwing a man out of a moving vehicle was reportedly cut from the film.^[60]
• Kickback was seemingly considered to appear among the Insecticons, as concept art of the character was made by Rob Wiggins.^[61]

Disinformation campaign

Like Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of The Moon before it, Age of Extinction had a campaign that would mask details of the final film. However, unlike the previous films, this one was all encompassing; no novelization or comics by IDW Publishing was released, allowing for a great deal of the movie's spoilers to actually remain unknown longer than for the previous three films.

In the original Michigan Film Office press release published on March 20, 2013, several vague plot details were revealed, including the fact that Autobots and Decepticons had "all but vanished from the face of the planet", a "group of [...] businessman and scientists" were developing new technologies based on past encounters with the Transformers, and an "ancient, powerful Transformer menace" was targeting Earth.^[62] These plot details were later claimed to be inaccurate by Paramount Pictures,^[63] but in all their vagueness ultimately turned out to be not too far off from the film's plot.

A lot of the newly-added characters were given "code names" during production, most of them related to the Rocky saga: "Duke" for Hound, "Adrian" for Galvatron, "Ivan" for Grimlock, "Rocky" for Slash (who was originally intended to appear in the movie, as noted above), "Southpaw" for Scorn, "Paulie" for Strafe, and "Thunderlips" for Slug. In addition, Crosshairs was code-named "Slingshot", Drift was code-named "Bruce", Lockdown was code-named "Max", and Steeljaw was code-named "Wolf" (which might have simply been a working name).^[64]

Notes

• Not only do the Dinobots go unnamed in the film (other than Scorn getting the nickname, "Spike"), but the word Dinobot is never even said by anyone. The audio description soundtrack on the home video releases refers to them as warriors or barbarians, but notes during the final scene that they "turn into Dinobots" (of course it also refers to Galvatron transforming "into an Autobot" when he turns into a robot, so make of that what you will).
• In addition to the Shadow Raiders, Steeljaws, the ball-shaped drones, and Stupid Drones, inside Lockdown's ship there were also several hovering drones. These drones appear to be of the same type as those the United States used in Dark of the Moon (the one that got sucked into the engine of Bumblebee's commandeered Decepticon fighter). Maybe Attinger sold them to Lockdown?
• Michael Bay's website incorrectly refers to the film as "Transformers 4 The Age Of Extinction"
• The Autobots and Decepticons shown in the cards Attinger pulled early in the film include Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Megatron, Starscream, Ironhide, Sentinel Prime, Que, Dino (though he is listed as "Mirage"), Shockwave, Skids, Mudflap, Arcee, Roadbuster, Leadfoot, Igor, Loader, Garagebot, and the Driller.
  • Even though most of these Transformers are listed as deceased, Dino, Roadbuster, Igor, and Garagebot are not. Therefore, they could have been alive during the events of the film.
• This film seems to put a final nail in the coffin regarding the films' abandonment of the concept of using protoforms to travel through space; when the Autobots steal a ship from Lockdown, they immediately move to leave Earth, indicating they had been stranded on Earth for the past five years without a spaceship (following the destruction of the Xantium). The fact that no mention is made of searching for any possible survivors of Cemetery Wind's hunt also suggests that all Autobots who did not return for this film have been killed off as well.
  • Fortunately, Wheelie and Topspin reappear in the next film while Dino and Roadbuster are among the "not deceased" Transformers cards. Conversely, Sideswipe is stated to have been killed by Cemetery Wind in some tie-in material.
• The robot designs in this film are markedly different than the previous three; the robots have fewer alien appearances and are more heavily influenced by human forms with far less visible vehicle parts.
• Speaking of the appearance of the Autobots - they all are based on specific types of human combatants throughout history: Optimus is obviously a medieval knight, Hound heavily resembles a World War II-era commando, Crosshairs looks like a mercenary or assassin, Bumblebee's new form is highly Ninja-like, and Drift is unsurprisingly a samurai.
• Director Michael Bay makes a cameo appearance in the film as a guy sitting in the passenger seat of a truck whose trailer Optimus Prime and Bumblebee crash through after being attacked by Galvatron and Stinger.^[65] Heck with it, many of the KSI cars are part of his personal collection!
• This film re-uses a few minor pieces of footage from earlier films:
  • The establishing shot of Attinger's plane is reused from Dark of the Moon, where it was used as Charlotte Mearing's plane.
  • A shot of Bumblebee's radio from the first movie gets reused, even though it doesn't make sense why the radio would look so beaten up when the rest of his '67 Camaro mode is in very good condition.
  • The satellite tracking footage of the highway is exactly the same as the footage used in Dark of the Moon when NEST was tracking the Dreads. The image had obviously been altered to have the Autobots replacing the Dreads and new on-screen overlays that say "KSI" on them, but all of the surrounding civilian vehicles remain the same.
  • The footage of the drone tracking the Autobots tilting its camera is re-used from the beginning of Operation: Firestorm in Revenge of the Fallen.
• When the Dinobots depart into the forest in the final scene, Scorn and Slug are seen knocking down trees with their legs; however, these trees were removed in the IMAX release.
• Age of Extinction is one of the only two yearly highest-grossing movies released during the 2010s that weren't distributed by The Walt Disney Company, the other being Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2 from Warner Bros. Pictures in 2011. Take that, Mickey Mouse!
• Nearly nine years after its release, comedian Ben Schwartz revealed in May 2023 on the Game Grumps web series that he provided lines for Bumblebee's radio voice in the film. Bay hired Schwartz to create original dialogue for the character's radio communication. While most of his work was in the finished product, a portion of his radio voice was omitted and replaced by lines from various media.^[66]

Foreign names

• Japanese: Transformers/Lost Age (トランスフォーマー/ロストエイジ Toransufōmā Rosuto Eiji)
• Cantonese: Binying Gamgong: Chimmit Saigei (變形金剛：殲滅世紀 "Transformers: The Century of Annihilation")
• Czech: Transformers: Zánik (Transformers: Extinction)
• French: Transformers : L'Âge de l'extinction (France, "Transformers: The Age of Extinction"), Transformers : L'Ère de l'extinction (Canada, "Transformers: The Extinction Era")
• German: Transformers: Ära des Untergangs ("Transformers: Era of Doom")
• Mandarin: Biànxíng Jīngāng Sì: Juéjī Chóngshēng (變型金剛4：絕跡重生, 变形金刚4：绝迹重生, "Transformers 4: Rebirth from the Extinction")
• Polish: Transformers: Wiek zagłady ("Transformers: Age of Extinction")
• Portuguese: Transformers: A Era da Extinção (Brazil, "Transformers: The Age of Extinction"), Transformers: Era da Extinção (Portugal, "Transformers: Age of Extinction")
• Russian: Transformery: Epokha istrebleniya (Трансформеры: Эпоха истребления "Transformers: Age of Extermination")
• Spanish: Transformers 4 (Argentina)
• Turkish: Transformers: Kayıp Çağ ("Transformers: Lost Age")

External links

• Transformersmovie.com
• Age of Extinction at IMDB.com
• Age of Extinction film on Wikipedia
• Age of Extinction on RottenTomatoes.com

References

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