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I have read a very large number of reviews for Transformers: Age of Extinction and I am well aware that the majority of the opinions have been negative. There are some positive reviews out there in Internet Land, believe it or not, and I’ve actually found them to be more articulate than the negative articles.

The point of this article is not to give my positive review on the movie in an attempt to change someone’s opinion or to troll on the haters, because my point of view is just another drop of water in an ocean mostly composed of sharks. I became a very large fan of Michael Bay five minutes into my first viewing of Bad Boys so I will also admit that I am probably biased when I watch his movies, much like the critics are in their contempt and that is what I want to write about.

I’m disgusted with the reviews this movie has been getting not because they hate it, but because the things that are being said are factually incorrect, lazy, and highly hypocritical. Also, to be clear before anybody starts grinding their teeth, I’m referring to the critics who actually get paid to give their point of view. However, I do find it incredibly interesting that the general public gave the fourth Transformers movie an A- Cinemascore, but a 6.4 IMDB rating and a 59% positive on Rotten Tomatoes. If you want to get theoretical, I believe this shows how an opinion can be skewed once someone gets behind their computer and has that little voice in their subconscious urging them to jump on the general consensus of their peers, which results in another member of the “I Hate Michael Bay” bandwagon.

Reading the reviews from the “Professional” critics, I need to question how professional they are actually being. I wonder whether some of them have even watched the movie and already had their “Michael Bay Sucks” articles ready beforehand with a few blanks left to be filled out once they heard from other detractors. If in fact they were in attendance, it was certainly with a negative attitude beforehand, provoking them to watch with half an attention span, notebook in hand, just waiting for something “stupid” to latch on to and shake their fist at.

The number one example of this lazy critiquing is the outcry over the use of the term “Transformium”. If you have read at least 10 reviews on Transformers 4, ask yourself how many times you have seen a critic call the movie and/or the screen writing juvenile, stupid, or idiotic for this term? What nobody ever mentions is that the movie quite clearly states just before this term is used that the laboratory had a focus group to name the element and they thought that Transformium would be a “catchy” phrase. It’s stupid on purpose!!! It’s a statement on the type of ludicrous marketing concepts that get created in our society. Every single time I read this complaint the critic loses credibility. They are being paid to watch the movie with an open mind so pay attention!

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