Now, this is really funny as last night I watched ‘Transformers - Age Of Extinction’ on Blu ray and whilst sitting there casually wondered what the soundtrack might sound like. I knew previous ones had been heavy in vocal tone tracks from big bands, but I was liking the sounds being made here in the background when scenes got a little feisty, shall we say. And then, bam! This very morning the soundtrack score CD shows up for review!

Now, as much as the actual film is two hours and 45 minutes worth of cinematic trash (sorry, but it is!), Jablonsky - featuring Imagine Dragons on background vocals on 5 of the tracks - has still managed to create a score that matches the movie stride for metallic stride. Jablonsky and director Michael Bay have enjoyed a longstanding working relationship that has produced numerous blackbusters, and when you listen to this score CD away from the film you can understand why he was chosen once again.

If I have to give you a brief story line for this mess of a film, it would be that in the fourth installment of the live-action sci-fi film series, we begin after an epic battle has left a great city, Chicago, torn; but with the world saved. As humanity picks up the pieces, a shadowy group reveals itself in an attempt to control the direction of history … while an ancient, powerful new menace sets Earth in its crosshairs.

Jablonsky’s skill is that he has fixated on the sculptures in front of him, has learnt how they move, what they might sound like turning, running, fighting, and brought forth a plethora of sounds, instrumentations and musical observations that mirror image exactly what you would expect from one of these hulking Transformers moving in front of you! The film may well end up on the scrapheap, but Jablonsky’s score deserves high, high praise, indeed.

Reviewed by: Russell A. Trunk