It is difficult to comprehend that the first Transformers was released in theaters a decade ago, in a summer that started with the infamous Spider-Man 3 and ended with Rob Zombie's remake of Halloween. I believe it is an underrated piece of filmmaking and definitely one of the better ones in Michael Bay's 22-year-long career as a filmmaker. While I can address the latter three installments have their moments of enjoyment, the series has definitely lost steam since its beginning.
There was a lot surrounding Transformers: The Last Knight, as it follows the disgusting Transformers: Age of Extinction from 2014 and Bay's surprising 13 Hours from last year. It had outstanding marketing, as does most of Bay's work, and I was hopeful that The Last Knight would reinvigorate the Transformers franchise by bringing it back to the roots of the first where it was contained an intriguing plot and entertaining popcorn excitement. I am shocked to say that The Last Knight might be as worse than Age of Extinction and that the movie failed to intrigue me in ways I was hoping it would.
As expected with the Transformers franchise, the visual effects are phenomenal and the action sequences are top-notch. Even though some of the sequences overstay their welcome, I was still impressed with the scope placed within The Last Knight. I have to commend the effects team for crafting together a breathtaking-looking picture, as this was shot almost entirely on IMAX cameras, similar to Clint Eastwood's Sully. With that format of filmmaking evolving, it was can be inventive, but also extremely distracting.
The movie has a plethora of different aspect ratios thrown throughout, which was due to the idea of the movie being shot on numerous cameras, including the Red 6K Weapon Dragon, the Alexa 65, the Phantom 65 and even a GoPro. I have to commend cinematographer Jonathan Sela as this is definitely my favorite in terms of cinematography of the Transformers franchise, as Sela is behind John Wick, the upcoming Charlize Theron-starring Atomic Blonde and many music videos varying from Green Day ("21 Guns") and The Weeknd ("Can't Feel My Face"). Other than that, this movie is a gigantic piece of garbage.
There is no main storyline in The Last Knight and I understand that the Transformers movies have never wanted to go down a route where it have a focus on the story and characters more than the visual scope, which is something that certain big-budgeted franchises like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings are smart about.
With Optimus Prime being absent from protecting Earth as he has set off into space to find some answers, a war between the Autobots and the humans has commenced. In order to stop that war from leading to a bigger destruction, Age of Extinction protagonist Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) teams up with Bumblebee, Oxford University professor Viviane Wembley (Laura Haddock), street-wise tomboy Izabella (Isabella Moner) and astronomer Edmond Burton (Anthony Hopkins) to learn the secrets of why the Transformers have never officially left Earth.
There are numerous subplots and while the Shia LaBeouf-led Transformers installments had a few of them, they had a main storyline that was crucial from the beginning to the end. I believe with the departure of screenwriter Ehren Kruger that the screenplay would be coherent, but it was, unfortunately the opposite.
When it comes to the acting, it is unclear whether the performers are there for a paycheck or not, but Wahlberg looks like he had a delightful time working on this project, following the solid Peter Berg-directed dramas Deepwater Horizon and Patriots Day. He is an actor I enjoy watching on-screen, but Yeager is an one-note character and similar to most characters Wahlberg plays nowadays. It was utterly painful watching Hopkins act in a Bay-directed picture and was definitely noted that he was phoning in the performance.
All the other performances are weak, with the worst being from comedian Jerrod Carmichael as Yeager's colleague Jimmy, who felt reminiscent of T.J. Miller's Lucas from Age of Extinction. It was also odd seeing Josh Duhamel and John Turturro returning to the franchise, as William Lennox and Seymour Simmons, with Lennox having a character transition that had a weak build-up to it. I can see that some of the actors clearly love working with Bay on this franchise, but watching a majority of these talented actors in something disastrous like Transformers is heartbreaking.
In the end, with The Last Knight being the final Transformers installment for Bay, it was pretty much what was expected. I was hoping for vibes of the original from 2007 but, instead, I was given the same schtick that has been given to us since Revenge of the Fallen was released back in 2009. The action sequences and visual effects are incredible, but the screenplay, acting and directing is far from that. I had some fun when watching this, as it was not on the levels of painful like Resident Evil: The Final Chapter or King Arthur: Legend of the Sword. At times the pacing was flashy, but then it took a dive when it got to boring exposition. If a sixth Transformers movie hits theaters and it's under the direction of someone that isn't Bay, I hope it's going to be something fresh and vastly different from the five we have received within the last decade.
