Transformers 4: Age of Extinction

Character: Darcy Tirrel
Directed by: Michael Bay
Written by: Ehren Kruger
Other cast: Mark Wahlberg, Nicola Peltz, Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer, T.J. Miller, Bingbing Li, Peter Cullen, Jack Reynor, Geng Han, Titus Welliver
Release date: 27 June 2014 (US), 11 July 2014 (UK)
Genre: Action/Adventure/Sci-Fi
Running time: 165 min

Five years after the Deception invasion of Chicago, Autobots were granted sanctuary into the Earth. Believing they are a threat, they were secretly eliminated by an elite CIA unit with the help of a transformer bounty hunter, Lockdown. Because of this, Optimus has since lost his faith in humanity after the ambush that caused his injury and even considers leaving the planet until Cade, a mechanic, convinced him to reconsider his faith in humanity after helping him slightly recover. Together with his family, they join the Autobots to exterminate the bounty hunter, the reincarnated Megatron (in the form of Galvatron), and the Cemetery Wind (elite CIA unit tasked in killing Transformers).

Story Description

In a pre-historic time, ancient beings known as the Creators detonate many Seeds, wiping out all life on Earth. In the present, an archaeologist named Darcy discovers a dinosaur covered in an unknown metal.

Five years have passed since the Battle of Chicago. Cade Yeager, a struggling inventor and his friend Lucas buy an old truck to strip it for parts and sell it to get Cade’s daughter, Tessa, through college. He soon discovers it is a Transformer by the name of Optimus Prime. Cade sees that he is injured and repairs him. Meanwhile, an elite CIA unit titled Cemetery Wind, headed by paranoid agent Harold Attinger, has been tasked with hunting down the remaining Decepticons. However, he secretly hunts down both Autobots and Decepticons. With the help of a bounty hunter named Lockdown, they hunt down and brutally kill Ratchet. After finding out Optimus is in Texas, the unit, led by James Savoy, and Lockdown travel there and threaten Cade, Tessa, and Lucas. Optimus comes out of hiding and attacks the operatives, allowing them to escape. They are saved by Shane Dyson, Tessa’s secret boyfriend, and after a lengthy chase they get away from the unit. However, Lucas is killed by Lockdown’s grenade. Optimus rallies the remaining Autobots: Bumblebee, Hound, Drift, and Crosshairs. Cade hacks into a drone he took from the raid and finds out that KSI is playing a role in Cemetery Wind. They decide to infiltrate their headquarters to see what they are doing.

Meanwhile, Joshua Joyce, the head of KSI, shows Darcy that he has perfected transformium, a codeable, molecularly unstable metal that the Transformers are made of. He has imprisoned Brains to decode dead Transformers’ brains and put them into the human-created ones. He shows Darcy his prized creation, Galvatron who was created using data from Megatron’s head.

Once he infiltrates the facility, Cade finds them burning Ratchet’s head. Infuriated, Optimus and the Autobots storm the facility, break Brains out, and start to destroy it. Joshua stops them and explains that they don’t need them anymore because they can create they’re own Tranformers. Disgusted, the Autobots leave the facility. Attinger forces Joshua to launch Galvatron and Stinger and go after the Autobots. Galvatron and Optimus battle before Lockdown shoots him. Tessa gets trapped and she along with Optimus get sucked into his ship. He locks Optimus in the middle of his trophy room, carrying legendary knights that Lockdown imprisoned. He explains that Optimus’ creators wanted to capture him and bring him back. Before he leaves, he gives the Seed, a bomb that can turn a city into transformium, to Attinger, which gives Cade, Shane, and the Autobots enough time to board the ship. Cade and Shane save Tessa, and with the help of Crosshairs and Bumblebee, they are able to escape. Shortly after, Hound and Drift save Optimus and leave before Lockdown enters deep space. Optimus and Brains reveal that Galvatron is Megatron reicarnated, and that he has been manipulating KSI to make an army and steal the Seed to wipe out Hong Kong and create more soldiers. Cade warns Joshua, who retreats to Hong Kong with his business associate Su Yueming and Darcy to get a military extract, betraying Attinger.

In Beijing, Galvatron activates by himself and corrupts all prototypes to do his bidding. One of his minions shoots down the Autobots’ ship. Hound and Bumblebee jump out and struggle to protect the humans. Knowing this, Optimus releases and tames the Dinobots. With their help, they destroy Galvatron’s army. Lockdown then appears and sucks anything metal into his ship in an effort to reclaim Optimus and the Dinobots. However, Optimus destroys it and proceeds to fight Lockdown. Cade tries to help but is held at gunpoint by Attinger. Before he can kill Cade, Optimus kills him which allows Lockdown to gain the upper hand against him and stabs him. Cade and Bumblebee distract Lockdown while Tessa and Shane take the sword out of Optimus, who proceeds to stab him in the chest and slice his head in half. Galvatron retreats, vowing to battle Optimus another day. Optimus sets the Dinobots free before flying into space with the Seed, sending a message to the Creators to leave Earth alone and that he is coming for them.

Sophia’s Role

Sophia Myles plays Darcy Tirrel, an English geologist who works within the mining division of Joshua Joyce’s company, KSI. The film opens with Darcy arriving on an arctic work site and making a discovery that could change history.

Trivia

Not a reboot of the franchise so previous films continuity remains intact and is set four years after the events in Dark of the Moon.

Bay redesigned everything from top to bottom, including the Transformers and teased the movie as a “chase from hell”.

Part of the China agreement was casting four roles (2 pro, 2 amateur) via the “Transformers 4 Chinese Actor Talent Search” which aired in June 2013.

Quotes from Reviews

Daily News

Sophia Myles deserves more screen time because though her geologist, Darcy Tirrel, is on screen for a few episodes, she stirs up interest in the audience.

Moviepilot.com: James Wood

T.J. Miller, Li BingBing and Sophia Myles are superb welcome additions to the cast, bringing wit, style and big laughs to this massive international cast.

Quotes from Sophia

I love working with the whole cast and Michael Bay is just an incredible director. I feel so privileged, I’m still pinching myself. We’re still shooting right now. We’ve been all over the world: we’ve been in Detroit, Chicago, Washington, Texas and a lot of it in Hong Kong and maybe parts in China.

———-

A lot of my work is with Stanley Tucci and he’s just so funny. He’s so talented and I have to not laugh at him being incredible, and that’s one of the hardest things I’ve had to do on the film. I think it’s going to be even better than the last ones and they were pretty great, We’ve all been sworn to secrecy. I’d love to tell you more but I can’t.

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