Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) Review

The Bots

1. I’m glad they brought back Lennox, General Morshower, Wheelie, and Simmons for the fifth installment. I was pleased with the size of their roles.
2. Laura Haddock’s role was done well. She is one of the few girls that actually has a well written part.
3. Anthony Hopkins. Man this guy is great! I really thought that he would be the guy to screw humanity over. I really did especially in the third act.
4. Fight sequences are better than the fourth. There were less explosions and the story revolved around humans more so than Bee, Prime, Megatron, and Quintessa, but the franchise has never had a great human element so I consider this a good thing. Prime’s role size did not bother me.
5. The thing that any Transformer fan would know about and why they keep coming to Earth is what I am looking forward to seeing. Core is a hint in case anyone is confused to what I am talking about. The midcredit scene sparked a lot of interest too.
6. I wish that they would have gone over how Bee disassembled himself. I thought it was a cool trick.
7. I found most of the humor enjoyable and so did the people in my theater.

Cons

1. I disliked Isabela Moner’s role. There were times when I thought she did a good job though, but there was not enough of that to have an overall “good job”.
2. I hated what the General Morshower, Lennox, and the soldiers did. I thought it was moronic. If you see the movie, you will know when and what I am talking about.
3. Optimus Prime at the end was way too stupid. To keep from spoilers, it is on the Knight’s ship. I hated that, but I’m glad that it was spoken. This is confusing, but I’m not spoiling anything for anyone.
4. The screen kept switching from full screen to wide screen. The full screen was for the IMAX shots which were beautiful. It’s one of those things that if you don’t notice then there’s no reason to worry.

Ratings:

7.5/10, B-, 4/5 GM

Synopsis

In the dark ages, Merlin (Stanley Tucci) is master of the dark arts and has found a crashed alien ship. This ship is controlled by the Knights that transform into Dragonstorm. The other 11 knights are on the battlefield fighting for humanity. More of the Transformers’ history is revealed by Sir Edmund Burton (Anthony Hopkins).

1600 years later, Optimus floats in space and says his last line from Age of Extinction, “This message is to my creators. Leave planet Earth alone.” Cybertron is near and Prime is sucked in. Quintessa (Gemma Chan) tells him that he was built to do what she said, so she brainwashes Optimus Prime so he can retrieve what is hers, the staff given to Merlin. Cybertron is on course for Earth, and the humans see that this is happening before Cybertron hits the atmosphere.

Earth has now made a law that says that no alien Transformer is welcomed on our planet. A few kids decide to go into an authorized personnel area only to find alien souvenirs. They try and hide from Transformers Reaction Force (TRF) and are rescued by Izabella (Isabela Moner) and Sqweeks (Reno Wilson). More attacks are coming from the TRH soldiers when out of nowhere Cade Yeager comes to save the children with Bee. Lennox’s team has surrounded him and Bee. They escape and head to the junk yard where Grimlock, Drift, Slug, Strafe, Hound, Crosshairs, and minidinobots. All of them have minor roles so do not expect a lot of screen time from them. New Autobot, Daytrader (Steve Buscemi), comes to give them parts for their ship and a vocal box for Bee.

Megatron (Frank Welker) and Barricade begin to talk about negotiating with the humans because they will help them with some new alien technology only if they release Decepticons- Onslaught, Mohawk (Reno Wilson), Nitro Zeus (John DiMaggio), Dreadbot, and Berserker.

The Decepticons locate Cade and the Autobots and fight in what appears to be an abandoned town, but it is not. Cogman (Jim Carter) helps Cade out with his new problem, the metallic talisman. Burton has been eyeing at Vivian Wembley (Laura Haddock) while she explains the “stupidity” of people during the dark ages. As she walks into the house, her mother and friends start to ask her a lot of men/boyfriend questions, but Vivian does not give satisfying answers. She is kidnapped by Hot Rod (Omar Sy). Cade and Vivian are to Burton’s house where a history lesson in Transformers is given.

The TRF have found them all. Barricade is after Bee and Hot Rod. Burton escapes to and finds the Prime Minister to tell him about what is going to happen. Simmons calls Burton to tell him that he had found an ancient book that states even more Transformers-Earth history. Cade, Cogman, and Vivian head to an old Navy museum to find a WWI submarine. The TRF is en-route to their location and all go to the same ship that was found by Merlin so long ago. Optimus returns to Earth and is willing to kill anyone that stands in his way. The ship begins to rise and Cybertron is entering Earth.

A fight between the two most beloved Autobots begins. Something happens and Optimus snaps out of it. The Knights are trying to kill him, but the talisman reverts to one of the 12 Knights’ sword and the Knights stop. They now work together with the TRF to save humanity from Quintessa and Megatron, who is the one who stole the staff from Optimus when he recovered and brought Cybertron to Earth’s surface. There is more to the battle, but spoilers. Midcredit scene too.