Anthony's Film Review - Transformers: The Last Knight (2017)

The Transformers head in a slightly new direction, while still delivering formulaic but fun action...

There are now five live-action Transformers movies. The first three share pretty much the same core formula: the ongoing battle between the Autobots (the good Transformers) and the Decepticons (the evil Transformers) taking place on Earth, with humans fighting alongside the Autobots. The fourth establishes that the majority of humans no longer trust the Transformers. The fifth, subtitled The Last Knight, goes a little further. It now appears that the battle between humans and Transformers is raging on, especially as the Autobot leader Optimus Prime (voices by Peter Cullen) is turned to evil. There is also a sense of an impending apocalypse, given that major locations worldwide have been destroyed by Transformers throughout the first four movies and this one now has the entire Earth at stake. That's because the Transformers' dying home planet of Cybertron is headed towards our world for malicious reasons.

With all Transformers considered enemies to the human race, there is now a special paramilitary force called the Transformers Reaction Force, or TRF. Besides destroying Transformers, members of TRF also apprehend any humans aiding the robots, including Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg, who was previously seen in Transformers: Age of Extinction). He is now a fugitive who is hiding out in a junkyard with other Transformers. A few times, he gets awfully close to being arrested, but he ultimately gets away, which is good because he comes into possession of a talisman that might be important later.

This is where he meets two other key allies, both from England. One is Vivian Wembley (Laura Haddock), an Oxford professor who discovers astonishing secrets related to the current Transformers situation. The other is Sir Edmund Burton (Anthony Hopkins), the last surviving member of a secret society that tracks the little-known history of the Transformers since the Middle Ages. It becomes clear that they must retrieve a legendary staff of power, before any Transformer, like Optimus Prime or the Decepticon leader Megatron (voiced by Frank Welker, the original Megatron of the animated Transformers), gets to it first.

So let me quickly go over other elements you would expect in a Transformers movie. The action is intense and explosive as before. There are a couple of action scenes spread throughout, with the climactic action overshadowing all other action scenes. As for low-brow humor, there is a little of it, though not as much as the first and second Transformers movies, which is a good thing my opinion. You cannot have it overdone in a movie like this. And given that Michael Bay is back directing this, you do have the presence of a hot young actress (Laura Haddock, as mentioned already) and a bit of sexual innuendo (mainly in one scene taking place at Vivian's home). But at least, as far as I'm concerned, it's not too much of a distraction.

Of the first four Transformers movies, I thought the fourth one was the best so far. This fifth one feel a small step below, only because it feels more familiar than original. but at least it's as fun as the first Transformers movie. Therefore, I'll give this movie a 7 out of 10. And while this movie makes it feel as if the end of our world is near, the series is definitely not over. Unless I'm gravely mistaken, there WILL be a sixth Transformers movie. Will the series get stale after this fifth one? I don't know. Based on how fun this movie was for me, anything is possible with the future of the franchise.

Anthony's Rating:

For more information about Transformers: The Last Knight, visit the Internet Movie Database.

In addition, check out my reviews of the following: