When the first Transformers movie hit the screens, it was like Oh My God, world’s most fascinating automobiles are now larger than life? Michael Bay directing it? Chase sequences? Sarcasm… the list goes on. So coming out of that astonishment, the sequels kept coming from Moon, far far away from the galaxy, under the core of earth and so on, so when Mark Wahlberg decided to step into the franchise it was expected to go even further into action mode, it did but in Last knight Michael Bay decided to put in everything; Mark with action, a few random kids to win teen audience love, some flashback that goes back to centuries if not thousands of years before.
Mark Wahlberg returns as Texas creator Cade Yeager who is now off the network and looking after Autobots in a sports car junk yard. Mark Wahlberg clearly has the ability to lead these movies in a way Shia LaBeouf did in the first three movies. UK actress Laura Haddock plays Oxford professor Viviane and is the strong female lead this series needed after Megan Fox left the franchise after first two movies. The chemistry between Haddock and Wahlberg is simplistic dealt comically. We find Wahlberg's mad inventor Cade now in hiding protecting the good Autobots, while government guys chase the evil Decepticons. Somewhere in space, the weird Quintessa has turned heroic Transformer Optimus Prime to the dark side, and now they're heading to suck the life out of Earth, so he has task out as a villain turning the hero side bad. Human race can survive in a way that the mysterious talisman Cade possesses which only Oxford professor Vivian can use. She's accompanied by dotty Sir Edmund (Anthony Hopkins), who helpfully explains the mythology with the assistance of robot butler Cogman (Jim Carter). Then everyone unites on Stonehenge for an epic battle.
What’s frustrating is that Transformers movies don’t have to be bad. Yes, giant alien robots coming to Earth and fighting other giant alien robots is a weird concept, but that doesn’t mean the movie has to be insultingly slow or painfully exhaustive. In the hands of a director who cared more about storytelling than just dramatic action shots of jets taking off from aircraft carriers, the franchise could make you care about Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and the humans they encounter. There’s nothing that says because a film has bombastic action that forgets to build on its character than just being loud metal bashing each other.
The whole Last Knight affair is loud, exhausting and the 150 minute ordeal gets you rather tiring. Still, the film isn’t completely miserable. Anthony Hopkins delivers a delightfully out-of-place performance as the same character he always plays, and his robot butler Cogman provides some much needed metal to a largely monotonoud cast. And when Optimus Prime does inevitably return to save the world even though he starts bad, showing the humane touch that he has and as always the speech of the amazing species called Human!
But really, if you’re in the attitude for some robot-punching-robots feat watch all the prequels, Last Knight is strictly for die-die-die hard fans only, them who will watch crazy action with extensive loudness. If Michael is set to extend this franchise, the early plan of a GI joe crossover or maybe some even better storyline should do the trick else Transformers is just heading downhill.
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