Michael Bay's "Transformers: Age of Extinction" is expected to be the first $100 million opening of 2014 but the movie has been attracting a lot of negative press due to a number of factors, which include its lengthy runtime and the absence of any original cast members.
The movie stars Mark Wahlberg as Cade Yeager, Nicola Peltz as his daughter Tessa and Jack Reynor as Tessa's love interest Shane Dyson. However, because of the absence of many original cast members such as Shia Labeouf and Megan Fox, many believe the film lacks familiarity.
Critics, on their part, have panned the movie, calling it "horrible" and "stupid".
For instance, Tom Long of the Detroit News wrote in his review that the movie is "absolute garbage" and added that it is "repetitive beyond belief, soulless and shamelessly, endlessly chaotic".
"This is, of course, the "Transformers" tradition, although the franchise's last installment showed some hope. But here director Michael Bay has elected to get back to basics - in other words, banging on audience skulls.
"Seriously, the next movie should just be called 'Transformers: Hammer to the Skull,'" he added.
Joshua Starnes of ComingSoon echoed similar sentiments.
"With his fourth bite at the Transformers apple, director Michael Bay escapes from the dungeon of the actively insulting and scales the giddy heights of the mildly obnoxious," his review noted.
However, many feel that the movie could be salvaged with a 90-minute runtime cut.
"Although I never once felt sleepy because of all the noise and action, this is just too much for any normal human to endure. But I firmly believe that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger," Tony Medley wrote.
The plot of "Transformers: Age of Extinction" is once again the battle of the good versus the bad. The good robots, which include Optimus Prime and Bumblebee, are being hunted down by the the CIA, who are in cahoots with the bad robots.
In far Texas, inventor Cade buys a truck that turns out to be the damaged Optimus Prime. Not heeding to his daughter's warnings, Cade nurses the robot back to health. The CIA soon shows up to get hold of Optimus Prime and this is what leads to the non-stop clash between the good and the bad robots which lasts throughout the movie.
As one reviewer noted on Rotten Tomatoes, the final confrontation alone lasts for close to an hour.
The movie review aggregator has given the action flick just 18 percent on the tomatometer.
