SPOILER FREE
Let me start by saying that prior to watching this film I was previously a fan of the Transformers franchise but that was mainly because of my enjoyment of the first movie. The first Transformers surprised everyone with being action-packed, but also having moments of heart that were guided by Steven Spielberg producing the movie with Michael Bay giving the film his trademark directorial style which meant endless explosions and tons of moments of witty comedy with the plot making little to no sense. It just happened to all blend together nicely with the first Transformers movie because while the sequels got progressively worse in the story department, the first Transformers kept things consistent and gave audiences as well as fans of the classic cartoon show what they wanted. Revenge Of The Fallen is when things began to fall apart for the franchise as the sequel was not only poor in it's scriptwriting but everything became excessive and over the top (Those controversial twin robots didn't help things either as they received the largest movie character backlash since Jar Jar Binks). Dark Of The Moon made an attempt to amend the problems of Revenge Of The Fallen with an improved script but gone was Megan Fox as Shia Labeoufs love interest as she was replaced by a model that audiences have already forgotten about. One of the things that made the first Transformers movie quite spontaneous and magical at times was not just the impressive technology the film presented but also getting to know Sam Witwhicky played by Shia Labeouf and watching him try to win over Megan Fox's character. When the arc of Shia Transformers films ended with Dark Of The Moon, that's when the series really began to take a turn for the worse as Age Of Extinction was not only the worst Transformers film since Revenge Of The Fallen but it genuinely felt like Michael Bay didn't care about coherent storytelling anymore and jumped into hyperdrive in the action and special effects department without any type of regard for anything else. As awful as Age Of Extinction turned out to be, it was at least watchable for laughs but what comes after it is not even pleasantly watchable in a so bad it's good way, it's just really bad. Transformers: The Last Knight is not only the worst movie of the franchise ala Die Hard 5, it's perhaps the worst and most toxic film to be released this year thus far with no amount of explosions or action that is able to save it.
Transformers: The Last Knight is a product of the greed and recklessness of it's director, whose ditched fundamental storytelling in exchange for one major action set piece after another. There is no argument that the films special effects are once again very impressive on a technological scale (That seems to be the only thing Bay advances at in this franchise), it's everything else in the food that falls apart with a story and script that's so convulted and messy for audiences to understand. While they may enjoy the occasional explosion that comes every 10 to 15 mins there's hardly any story to latch onto. The plot for The Last Knight centers around the Autobots and Decepticons raging war with humans on the sidelines. With Optimus Prime gone, the key to mankind's future lies within the ancient secrets of the history of the Transformers that lies on Earth. One would think that the combination of mid evil times meshing with modern day Transformers would seem like the genuine pick me up the franchise needed but unfortunately it wasn't. The model aspect of the story is poorly handled and not given much time to be properly explored in the story. As far as acting performances go, Mark Whalberg brings nothing special to the table and is clearly here for a paycheck. Anthony Hopkins is the only saving grace of the film as he takes the material hes given and makes the absolute best of it. His casting is one of the few things done right with this film. Laura Haddock does her absolute best impersonation of Megan Fox look wise as she appears to be casted based on her physical appearance being similar despite her character being completely different. She's there to look hot more so then add anything pivotal to the storyline other than a potential love interest for Mark Whalberg character. The film desperately tries to tie itself with the Shia Labeouf Transformers films with important side characters making return appears such as John Turturos character and Josh Duhamel reprising their respective roles to help connect the new films with the past. While it's nice to see familiar character make return appearances, it does very little to change the overall mood and tone of the film ( Anyone else wonder where Tyrese's character was at in the film since he was so closely associated with Duhamel's in the first three movies). What made the first Transformers film so likeable and appealing to fans as well as audiences, was how it came off as being cool while never trying to take itself too seriously. The movie was clearly aimed at it's teenage audience, who still flock to see these movies regardless of how diminishing their quality becomes with each installment. What the first movie had first and foremost that the sequels lack is heart. You actually cared about the robots as well as Shia Labeouf and Megan Fox's character. Perhaps Spielberg was holding Bays hand while making the first movie because after the first film, that heart and becoming emotionally involved with the story faded. Who didn't feel emotion when BumbleBee was captured by the authorities in the first movie and wanted to jump through the screen and help Labeouf rescue him? With The Last Knight, the audience could care less about the characters or what's happening in the story because as much as Bay and the writers want to pass off the story as being something of actual value, it feels paper thin and lacking any kind of heart and soul. The problem that Bays Transformers films have outside of the first film is them all feeling stretched out plot wise with characters that are bland, and a plot that is so messy and contrived it confuses and irritates the viewer rather than drawing them in. The Last Knight is pretty much Bayhem at his most extreme and careless as he places the state of the art technology first and foremost over everything else. The Last Knight is exactly the type of film you'd expect it to be as both a Michael Bay film and a fifth installment of the Transformers franchise that began strong but now has morphed into nothing short of CGI porn.
As much as I criticize Michael Bay with my review of The Last Knight, I do not think he's complete disaster of a filmmaker. When it comes to creating visual styles and world's, Bay is one of the best working in the business today as he can give audiences pure spectacle on the big screen even if it's derived of any kind of storytelling. The film plays out like one endless trailer rather than actually feeling like a movie which the first one was. It isn't that Bay is not capable of making good movies (Bad Boys, The Rock, Armageddon, The Island, and Transformers were strong films), it's that he doesn't seem to value storytelling over style and chooses the latter knowing that audiences don't come for the stories but rather the explosive action and groundbreaking technology he presents on the big screen. The man is essentially James Cameron in regards to advancing technology with each Transformer film he does excepts lacks the brains and intelligence that come with Cameron's scripts to balance out the visual effects. As an overall film, The Last Knight is a huge disappointment for fans of the franchise and just comes off as being a bad movie altogether. There was a time when even the worst Transformers movies came out, you still felt a tiny ounce of interest in watching them because you know exactly what you're getting from them being their directed by Michael Bay. With The Last Knight, the movie is just long, torturous, frustrating, and lacking all the basic fundamentals of storytelling to make it a good movie. This is not only one of the worst movies of the year thus far but may be Michael Bays worst film as one thought he couldn't get any worse than either Revenge Of The Fallen or Age Of Extinction. We were wrong. Fans of both the franchise and the old cartoon deserve much better than what's being dishes at them. This is not a movie that feels like it has the love for the fan base driving, it feels more like a slap in the face to them with Bay showing his disregard for doing the source material justice nor respecting it. Avoid like a nasty plague and pretend the series ended with previous highs, which for me was the end of the first movie. The only promising thing that comes at the end of watching this installment is the movie apparently doing so poorly with audiences at the box office that it just might prevent Michael Bay from directing another one. For that, we can only hope.
2 out of 10
Transformers: The Last Knight is a product of the greed and recklessness of it's director, whose ditched fundamental storytelling in exchange for one major action set piece after another. There is no argument that the films special effects are once again very impressive on a technological scale (That seems to be the only thing Bay advances at in this franchise), it's everything else in the food that falls apart with a story and script that's so convulted and messy for audiences to understand. While they may enjoy the occasional explosion that comes every 10 to 15 mins there's hardly any story to latch onto. The plot for The Last Knight centers around the Autobots and Decepticons raging war with humans on the sidelines. With Optimus Prime gone, the key to mankind's future lies within the ancient secrets of the history of the Transformers that lies on Earth. One would think that the combination of mid evil times meshing with modern day Transformers would seem like the genuine pick me up the franchise needed but unfortunately it wasn't. The model aspect of the story is poorly handled and not given much time to be properly explored in the story. As far as acting performances go, Mark Whalberg brings nothing special to the table and is clearly here for a paycheck. Anthony Hopkins is the only saving grace of the film as he takes the material hes given and makes the absolute best of it. His casting is one of the few things done right with this film. Laura Haddock does her absolute best impersonation of Megan Fox look wise as she appears to be casted based on her physical appearance being similar despite her character being completely different. She's there to look hot more so then add anything pivotal to the storyline other than a potential love interest for Mark Whalberg character. The film desperately tries to tie itself with the Shia Labeouf Transformers films with important side characters making return appears such as John Turturos character and Josh Duhamel reprising their respective roles to help connect the new films with the past. While it's nice to see familiar character make return appearances, it does very little to change the overall mood and tone of the film ( Anyone else wonder where Tyrese's character was at in the film since he was so closely associated with Duhamel's in the first three movies). What made the first Transformers film so likeable and appealing to fans as well as audiences, was how it came off as being cool while never trying to take itself too seriously. The movie was clearly aimed at it's teenage audience, who still flock to see these movies regardless of how diminishing their quality becomes with each installment. What the first movie had first and foremost that the sequels lack is heart. You actually cared about the robots as well as Shia Labeouf and Megan Fox's character. Perhaps Spielberg was holding Bays hand while making the first movie because after the first film, that heart and becoming emotionally involved with the story faded. Who didn't feel emotion when BumbleBee was captured by the authorities in the first movie and wanted to jump through the screen and help Labeouf rescue him? With The Last Knight, the audience could care less about the characters or what's happening in the story because as much as Bay and the writers want to pass off the story as being something of actual value, it feels paper thin and lacking any kind of heart and soul. The problem that Bays Transformers films have outside of the first film is them all feeling stretched out plot wise with characters that are bland, and a plot that is so messy and contrived it confuses and irritates the viewer rather than drawing them in. The Last Knight is pretty much Bayhem at his most extreme and careless as he places the state of the art technology first and foremost over everything else. The Last Knight is exactly the type of film you'd expect it to be as both a Michael Bay film and a fifth installment of the Transformers franchise that began strong but now has morphed into nothing short of CGI porn.
As much as I criticize Michael Bay with my review of The Last Knight, I do not think he's complete disaster of a filmmaker. When it comes to creating visual styles and world's, Bay is one of the best working in the business today as he can give audiences pure spectacle on the big screen even if it's derived of any kind of storytelling. The film plays out like one endless trailer rather than actually feeling like a movie which the first one was. It isn't that Bay is not capable of making good movies (Bad Boys, The Rock, Armageddon, The Island, and Transformers were strong films), it's that he doesn't seem to value storytelling over style and chooses the latter knowing that audiences don't come for the stories but rather the explosive action and groundbreaking technology he presents on the big screen. The man is essentially James Cameron in regards to advancing technology with each Transformer film he does excepts lacks the brains and intelligence that come with Cameron's scripts to balance out the visual effects. As an overall film, The Last Knight is a huge disappointment for fans of the franchise and just comes off as being a bad movie altogether. There was a time when even the worst Transformers movies came out, you still felt a tiny ounce of interest in watching them because you know exactly what you're getting from them being their directed by Michael Bay. With The Last Knight, the movie is just long, torturous, frustrating, and lacking all the basic fundamentals of storytelling to make it a good movie. This is not only one of the worst movies of the year thus far but may be Michael Bays worst film as one thought he couldn't get any worse than either Revenge Of The Fallen or Age Of Extinction. We were wrong. Fans of both the franchise and the old cartoon deserve much better than what's being dishes at them. This is not a movie that feels like it has the love for the fan base driving, it feels more like a slap in the face to them with Bay showing his disregard for doing the source material justice nor respecting it. Avoid like a nasty plague and pretend the series ended with previous highs, which for me was the end of the first movie. The only promising thing that comes at the end of watching this installment is the movie apparently doing so poorly with audiences at the box office that it just might prevent Michael Bay from directing another one. For that, we can only hope.
2 out of 10
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