9. Hilariously Awful Dialogue
Paramount PicturesWe're not exactly expecting David Mamet-inspired dialogue in a movie about giant robots smashing up other giant robots, but it barely feels like franchise screenwriter Ehren Kruger is even trying anymore. Tellingly, the only movie in the series he didn't write is the best one (the first one), and each subsequent movie has front-loaded itself with laughable, groan-inducingly creaky dialogues, be they serious, tough-guy monologues or head-smackingly inane attempts at "humour" that even teenage boys will be left embarrassed by. Whether it's the cringe-inducing sexual innuendo-laced dialogue between Nicola Peltz's and Jack Reynor's characters or Titus Welliver's outrageous utterance of "My face is my warrant", AoE is absolutely jam-packed with verbiage that's supposed to pass for witty and funny, but is mostly just cornball, evoking laughter for completely the wrong reasons. At least it adds a little fun to the movie, if just not in the way Bay and Kruger will have hoped for. As for the expository plot dialogue? It's delivered in such a procedural, clinical way that it may prove a challenge for viewers to even concentrate on what the stakes are, let alone get invested in them...