Thanks to an action-packed Super Bowl spot and the trailer that launched earlier this month, we’ve already had the chance to see a good amount of Michael Bay’s Transformers: Age of Extinction, but this evening at CinemaCon in Las Vegas we got a special treat. As part of their opening night presentation, Paramount Pictures delivered a full 10 to 15 minutes of footage from the explosive film, showing off various intro and action sequences from the upcoming blockbuster.
After a packed montage full of CGI dinosaurs, a truck – possibly Optimus - driving through the desert, spaceships flying through a city, a massive car chase, and a shot of Stanley Tucci freaking out about being forced to hide in a big glass room, the extended footage began with Cade Yaeger (Mark Wahlberg) pulling up to his farmhouse in a tow truck pulling what looks like a huge hunk of junk. His daughter Tessa (Nicola Peltz) and his employee/partner Lucas (TJ Miller) are waiting for him in the yard, and immediately start yelling at Cade the second he steps out of the cab. It is immediately clear that the Yaegers are having serious money problems and both Tessa and Lucas are upset that Cade would spend money on such a big piece of garbage. The patriarch swears that he’ll be able to strip the truck for parts and that it will pay for itself, but his daughter and friend are hardly convinced, and instead argue that Cade wasn’t even able to get Tessa a dress for prom. There is concern that our soon-to-be hero isn’t responsible enough to care for himself, but he stresses that one day he will build something that matters.
Later that evening Cade is working under the truck in a shed and excitedly calls out to Tessa and Lucas, who come rushing into the "garage." Cade tells them that he has found "not normal steel" in the vehicle, and when he hooks it up to a battery it not only suddenly comes alive but starts to talk, saying, "Calling all Autobots." Rather than matching Cade’s excitement, Tessa and Lucas sprint out of the shred at top speed and are absolutely terrified to have an alien presence suddenly in their world. It turns out this fear is just a little bit justified.
The scene then cut to Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer) sitting in some kind of government control center where Cade’s scrap find is up on a bunch of monitors. After a call to action from Attinger we then see a bunch of federal agents pack into black SUVs and helicopters and make their way out to the Yaeger farm. The leader of the agents, Savoy (Titus Welliver), approaches Cade and his daughter and asks him to reveal the location of the Transformers. Cade makes a snide remark ("You know, there’s a saying about people messing with people from Texas"), but this gets a violent reaction from Savoy, who tells his men to attack Tessa. In a flash we then see the Transformer in the shed burst out with guns blazing, saying "Here I am." It doesn’t take long for the entire scene to turn to turn to chaos, but Cade and Tessa are rescued when Shane (Jack Raynor) pulls up in his car. As they race away, it’s revealed to Cade that Shane is Tessa’s boyfriend – which is news that Cade is not very happy to hear.
The next sequence began with Optimus Prime doing battle with Galvatron on an open stretch of road, with Cade, Tessa and Shane at their feet trying not to get squashed by the giant robots. It’s revealed that Galvatron is actually a remote-controlled Transformer (being manipulated from a control room by Stanley Tucci’s character and a random guy) who was presumably created so that humans would have a weapon against a future alien invasion. While Cade and Shane are able to get to safety, Tessa gets caught in the middle of the fray and can’t escape, eventually hiding in a parked car. The scene gets interrupted as a rocket slams into Optimus, knocking him back. We then see where the shot came from: Lockdown, another Transformer, is walking down the road with a giant spaceship behind him. Lockdown’s face turns into an absolutely massive gun and Optimus is once again hit by a blast, this time knocking him on top of the car Tessa is in. As the new threats come closer, Lockdown gets back into the ship a tiny vehicle comes flying off of the big one, throwing down a net that captures both Optimus Prime and the car he is lying on. Cade sprints towards the ship and leaps to grab the netting, trying to free his daughter. His attempts are in vain, however, as he is unable to hold on and the aliens fly away. In frustration, Cade slams his fist on the ground in slow motion.
The footage ended with another giant montage featuring all kinds of various action, including more explosive car chases, the main characters swinging down the side of a skyscraper on power lines, and Cade and Savoy having an epic chase across rooftops. The footage ended with a giant piece of alien machinery flying into a busy intersection and crushing a car. Cade exits the giant hunk of metal, and the driver of the car he crushed comes out to complain, saying, "I hope you have insurance." Cade reacts violently to this, and calls to his daughter: "Tessa, hand me my alien gun."
It may be a little while before we get another preview of Transformers: Age of Extinction, but stay tuned in the coming months for more and stay tuned for more of our CinemaCon coverage later this week!
