‘Transformers: The Last Knight’ is total nonsense, but at least strives to be creative
All the loud action and Arthurian legend doesn’t quite hide the fact that this franchise is losing steam…but they sure help
Somehow, there are now five Transformers movies, all directed by Michael Bay. And let’s face it, if Michael Bay is going to insist on making movies that hinge on explosions and ridiculous action set pieces anyway, they may as well revolve around giant alien robots that turn into trucks and sports cars. And since we’ve already bought into this premise, and we’re already four movies deep, it’s a reasonable time to somehow throw Arthurian legend into the mix, because why the hell not? (Frankly, this is not at all the worst use of King Arthur in theaters this summer) After all, these movies require us to follow the first rule of improv — “say yes” — and then just roll with the messy plot they throw at us and enjoy the ride.
Transformers: The Last Knight certainly delivers on all the big, loud, ridiculous action promised by any Transformers movie, and although it falls victim to beginning to feel like a case of diminishing returns, it’s an improvement on the fourth entry, Age of Extinction. While the plot is convoluted and not worth the struggle of really trying to make sense of, tying Arthurian legend to the Transformers mythology was a fun and creative shakeup, similar to how Dark of the Moon rewrote the history of the moon landing as a huge government cover-up for a Transformer sighting. Whether or not it all makes sense, gotta give Bay points for taking a big creative swing on this one.
The Last Knight picks up sometime after Age of Extinction, with Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) living as a fugitive among the Autobots, as all Transformers are deemed enemies of the state and hunted by the Transformers Reaction Force (TRF). Meanwhile, Optimus Prime has left Earth to seek out the Creators and hold them accountable for their plot to terraform Earth (or something like that). He finds Quintessa, the Creator, on a fragmented Cybertron heading towards Earth, and is manipulated into a mission to help her destroy Earth. Now here’s the Arthurian kicker and driving force of the action — Merlin’s staff was bestowed to him by a Cybertronian Knight, and it’s the key to draining Earth to help rebuild Cybertron.
Anthony Hopkins unexpectedly steps into the franchise in a key role as Sir Edmund Burton, a historian well-versed in the Transformers’ long history on Earth. Hopkins is surprisingly game and has fun playing up Burton’s eccentricities. Burton brings Cade together with Viviane (Laura Haddock), a professor at Oxford University, to prevent the impending disaster by seeking out Merlin’s staff to save Earth. This also leads to a fun submarine chase scene with the TRF (between this and The Fate of the Furious, submarines are having a hell of a year).
There are a few familiar faces back in the fold, namely Josh Duhamel returning to the franchise as Lennox, who’s now reluctantly working alongside the TRF but also working to do right by the Autobots. John Turturro also returns as Simmons. While it’s good to see him back, his role is pretty pointless — he’s living in Cuba and makes a few phone calls but never gets involved in the action, let alone shares any screen time with anyone else in the cast. It felt a bit forced. Even Optimus Prime dropped out of the movie for so long that if he wasn’t CGI, you’d have thought he had a scheduling conflict.
Actually, one of the biggest problems with this movie is it juggles a lot more character than it needs to. Megatron returns and somehow negotiates with the government to have a crew of Decepticons released from prison (which even in a ridiculous movie, is soooo ridiculous) for no other reason than to squeeze in another loud action scene. Clocking in at two and a half hours, it’s a safe bet there was already enough action baked in, and shaving 15 minutes wouldn’t have hurt the final product.
Isabela Moner is introduced as Izabella, an orphaned teen and daughter-figure to Cade who lives on the streets and helps repair Autobots. It initially seemed like the focus of this movie would shift to her, but she’s given nothing to do in the second act while Cade is off racing submarines to the center of the Earth (Wahlberg claims to be out for the sixth, so maybe Izabella will get her comeuppance?). Jerrod Carmichael plays a friend and assistant to Cade, and is mostly around for comic relief, getting no more screen time than T.J. Miller’s role in Age of Extinction. Tony Hale also cashes a quick paycheck as an unnamed NASA scientist who drops some physics knowledge. Lastly, special shout out to Hot Rod, voiced by Omar Sy, who steals the show as an Autobot with a thick French accent who turns into a Lamborghini.
After five movies, it’s no surprise these movies have lost some steam, and with so many big, loud, world-threatening events on the big screen each summer, there’s only so many tricks another Transformers movie can pull (granted, retro-fitting Arthurian legend into the Transformers mythos is a pretty fun trick to pull). The Last Knight at least offered a huge namedrop, hinting that there will be a clearly defined final chapter to the franchise that will tie up most of the Wahlberg-era (Okay, it’s Unicron. Unicron’s name was dropped and he’s kind of the big Transformers villain.). None of it will make much sense. In fact, it’ll be batshit crazy. But these are giant alien robots, when you buy a ticket, that’s pretty much what you sign up for. Just roll with it and enjoy the ride.
