Transformers: Age of Extinction is a 2014 science fiction action film based on the Transformers franchise. It is the fourth installment of the live-action Transformers film series and stars Mark Wahlberg in the lead role. A sequel to Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the film takes place four years later, after the invasion of Chicago. Like its predecessors, the film is directed by Michael Bay and executive produced by Steven Spielberg. Ehren Kruger is the film's screenwriter, since Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. The film features an entirely new cast of human characters and is the first in the series to feature the Dinobots. Returning Transformers include Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Leadfoot, Brains, and Megatron now known as Galvatron. The film was released on June 27, 2014, in IMAX and 3D.
Sixty-five million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period, beings known as the Creators detonate many "Seeds", wiping out most life on Earth. In the present, a geologist named Darcy Tyril discovers a dinosaur corpse covered in a strange metal.
Four 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 in hopes of sending Cade's daughter Tessa to college. Cade soon discovers that the truck is an injured Optimus Prime and repairs him. Meanwhile, Cemetery Wind, an elite CIA unit headed by paranoid agent Harold Attinger and team leader James Savoy, has been tasked with hunting down the remaining Decepticons. However, he also secretly hunts down the Autobots, believing them to be a threat and intent on ridding earth of them as well. With the aid of the Transformer bounty hunter Lockdown, they ambush and brutally kill Ratchet when they found him hiding on a stern of an abandoned ship. After locating Optimus in Texas, the unit and Lockdown travel there and threaten Cade, Tessa, and Lucas. Optimus comes out of hiding and attacks the operatives, allowing Cade and his friends to escape. They are saved by Shane Dyson, Tessa's secret boyfriend, and after a lengthy chase they escape. However, Lucas is killed by Lockdown's grenade. Optimus rallies the last remaining Autobots: Bumblebee, Hound, Drift, and Crosshairs. Cade hacks into a drone he took from the attack in Texas, and learns that Cemetery Wind is working with a corporation called KSI. They decide to infiltrate KSI headquarters in Chicago for information.
Meanwhile, Joshua Joyce, the head of KSI, shows Darcy that he has perfected Transformium, the codeable, molecularly unstable metal that the Transformers are made of. He has imprisoned Brains to decode dead Transformers' brains and utilize their data for the human-created Transformers. He shows Darcy his prized creation, Galvatron, who was created using data from Megatron's brain.
Optimus and the Autobots storm the facility, break Brains out, and start to destroy it. Joyce stops them and explains that humans don't need the Autobots anymore, as they can create their own Transformer soldiers, and the Autobots leave. Attinger forces Joyce to launch Galvatron and Stinger to pursue the Autobots. Galvatron and Optimus battle before Lockdown wounds and captures Optimus, along with Tessa into his ship, where he locks Optimus in the middle of his trophy room, which also carries the Dinobots, legendary knights that Lockdown imprisoned. He explains that the Creators want Optimus back. Before leaving, Lockdown gives Attinger a Seed, a bomb that can cyberform any area of land, giving Cade, Shane, and the Autobots time to board the ship. Cade and Shane save Tessa, and escape with Bumblebee. The other Autobots save Optimus and escape before Lockdown's ship enters deep space. Optimus and Brains reveal that Galvatron is Megatron reincarnated, and that he has been manipulating KSI to make an army and steal the Seed in order to wipe out humans and create more Decepticons. Cade warns Joyce, which at the same time Galvatron activates by himself and possesses all the Transformer prototypes to do his bidding. Joyce betrays Attinger and retreats to Beijing with Darcy and his business associate Su Yueming to get a military extraction.
As the Autobots try to retrieve the Seed in Hong Kong, their ship is shot down by Galvatron's army, leaving Hound and Bumblebee to fight the battle outnumbered. Knowing this, Optimus releases and tames the Dinobots. With their help, they destroy Galvatron's army. Lockdown returns and uses a magnetic weapon in an effort to reclaim Optimus and the Dinobots. However, Optimus destroys it and proceeds to fight Lockdown. Cade, after managing to evade and kill Savoy,( with a football ) tries to help but is held at gunpoint by Attinger, who is disgusted by Cade's choice to side with the Autobots. Optimus saves Cade by killing Attinger, but Lockdown gains the upper hand and impales Optimus with his own sword. Cade and Bumblebee distract Lockdown while Tessa and Shane take the sword out of Optimus, who then kills Lockdown. Galvatron retreats, vowing to battle Optimus another day. Optimus sets the Dinobots free and requests the Autobots to protect Cade and his family before flying into space with the Seed, sending a message to the Creators that he is coming for them
