Review of Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) by Thequietgamer — 17 Nov 2017

Much more entertaining than I initially thought it would be. Yes, it's still a Michael Bay movie. Expect explosions, nonsensical storytelling, and takes on the Autobots and Decepticons that are so bland the characters almost completely indistinguishable from one another provided their names aren't Bumblebee and Optimus Prime. However a much needed change in tone from the last movie and the infamous director not taking things seriously in any way make for a more enjoyable movie than one might expect. Just don't come for the plot or anything other than the action and some cheap laughs.

There's a surprisingly large cast of familiar faces involved in this ridiculous new take on Transformers lore. Among them is Anthony Hopkins for some reason. Michael Bay clearly enjoyed having the respect actor around to use, and Hopkins himself seemed to be having a blast despite that starring in a movie like this is him just slumming it at this point in his career. While he still ain't no Labeouf, Mark Wahlberg's character is so much more likable this time around. Something that's due to the plot not giving him any extra baggage hanging around in the form of his character's obnoxious daughter and her useless, statutory rapist boyfriend (no, it's cool. There's this one law...). They, along with the material, aren't here to choke out the actor's natural charm. The material is so much lighter than that of the previous film "Age of Extinction." Bay goes for a lot of different kinds of gags and ends up filling the movie with almost wall-to-wall humor. A move that is much appreciated. The plot itself is crazy. It regularly jumps back and forth from different locations and even time periods in an effort to come off as complex. Instead it just feels convoluted. It's easy to lose track of certain characters as they get left behind for large parts of the film only to pop up later. I actually forgot about Cade Yeagers new human cohorts there for a while. Naturally, this isn't the kind of movie you watch for good writing. Michael Bay is known for making movies for teenage boys. Here he really embraces that.

The Last Knight is much lighter and surprisingly more diverse than the other Transformers films. You even get some pretty cool action scenes that aren't just explosion fests that rely more on the physicality of the actors. Of course there's also some gorgeous sci-fi scenery. Those underwater scenes are astounding. Ultimately, this is still pretty brainless entertainment. As far as the writing goes, it's the most incoherent Transformers yet. However, by embracing the absurdity and silliness, and just going for jokes and spectacle, Bay crafted what might just be the best Transformers movie yet. For whatever that is worth to you.