On The Town: Transformers The Last Knight

In a world where movies come out in massive hordes, one tends to stereotype movies on a range of things.

It may be certain actors, certain studios, a genre, or even a director. If you’re going to see a Michael Bay movie recently, you may be going in with a certain expectation of what you are going to see. Transformers does not change this formula as most of the movie tries to blend a science fiction, action, war, romance movie that cranks out more explosions than a Fourth of July fireworks display.

Transformers is, at its heart, giant robots and explosions. Ever see Sucker Punch? This movie not only is okay with its own stereotype, it embraces it with open arms. And to its credit, Transformers has learned from its previous films. It is far easier to follow the action than you may have noticed in the first two Transformers. I remember the very first movie thinking, “I can’t even tell who is who. Jazz, Megatron, Ironhide, Barricade? Outside their car forms, there was no easily distinguishing between them as details were sacrificed for action.

In The Last Knight, however, each transformer doesn’t just portray its own personality, but its own style and form that makes it much easier for the audience to follow with each of them. Which is nice considering the numerous cast changes this film has gone through between its robots and actors both.

Still you must ask yourself if you’re expecting a decent plot flow in this movie? Don’t. Look at Bay’s resume with Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers, and Pain & Gain. I won’t lie and say I haven’t enjoyed either Transformers or TMNT, but Pain & Gain almost made me turn off the movie. I don’t mean to rag on Producer Michael Bay, it’s just that his recent films, while not bad, always lack something that his earlier films delivered. Remember Armageddon? Pearl Harbor? Great action and great stories both. Most of the faults in movies may fall on Directors more than most of the other talent involved, but this is just becoming a trend with this Producer.

But you know what? I stayed. I watched this whole movie. I didn’t walk out. It’s like a great roller coaster you’ve ridden a hundred times. It’s all predictable beyond belief, but you still ride it because it’s thrilling and fun. Like a child playing with action figures, I don’t care about why my GI Joe is fighting a Power Ranger, I just care that that Power Ranger just is flying through the air doing Martial Arts.

An easier way to explain this, usually I watch a movie and I want to talk to someone about it. I love taking people to the movies because of the conversations afterwards. I walked out of The Last Knight alone and I didn’t care. I didn’t want to talk about it because I didn’t think there was much to talk about.

Transformers The Last Knight is over two hours of sensory overload that kick-starts your adrenaline with giant robots, war, lasers, swords, and magic and sprinkles in the stereotypical ‘guy humor’ as a sweetener.

My favorite part of this film was a character, Cogman. Think of your old comedic, uptight, British Butler mixed with C-3PO. He is seriously the best character in the movie, like Cogsworth (Beauty and the Beast) as a Ninja-Transformer.

Ultimately, I can’t say 100% that The Last Knight is a bad movie. It’s not. The action pans out to make a thrilling movie. However, when I compare it to other films, especially Bay’s older productions like Pearl Harbor, I just can’t say it would be a first pick for me to watch in theaters. I could find a number of other films I’d rather see.