In what can only be explained as overpriced, relentless action, Transformers and Michael Bay seem to have gone over the top once again. They have made an uncharismatic, plotless movie that never lets up even for a second. It’s something that we’ve grown to love or hate over the years as these Hasbro toys have been transformed into something we can’t explain.
The formula remains unchanged as once again we have our hero, Mark Wahlberg, work with a talented lady, Vivian Wembley, as they try to save the world once again. This time they’re joined by a kid, Isabela Moner, and an old man with a family history, Anthony Hopkins. The characters have somehow become more flat as Josh Duhamel’s and John Turturro’s recurring characters have somehow gotten more boring. They have just become caricatures of their former selves from other films. Wahlberg has the most character plot, but it’s just continuing the story from the previous film and not so much adding to his character. Wembley’s character has little to no character development and it hinders the film.
The best part of this film is that the action once again has a character to it. Sometimes it’s hilarious and sometimes, it actually makes you feel tension when you’re not paying any attention to the rest of the film. It’s sad that this film is something that’s easy to wonder, why is the dialogue making this worse? They could’ve easily hired a better writer, right? I just kept thinking to myself that this is something that could be easily fixed and no one would mind. The visual effects were solid and made the Transformers distinguishable from each other and it easy to follow the fights. This is a vast improvement from the other films. The Transformers didn’t morph that frequently, but when they did, it looked good.
The film’s plot can only be described as atrocious. It serves no point and hurts the film time and time again. The extended exposition never lets up and continues for far too long. Optimus’ journey in general is about a quarter of what it should be. I never could follow what was happening during the introduction because I kept getting distracted with sparks during those action sequences. I understand they can be around in the present day, but the medieval times? Also, the medieval characters had absolutely no purpose. They were so boring, like Nemesis Prime. I felt like the film was building to something that never came to fruition. The film leads us down this path of mindless action and ridiculous action to give us something that we knew would happen from the opening. It never surprised us or challenged us or even made us think for one second that something else would happen.
Weirdly, this film is very anti-education. Wahlberg constantly makes fun of higher education and says that he learned all of his knowledge from the streets. The kid who can fix anything learned from the streets and also disapproves of education. The girl who is a professor doesn’t like her life and wishes that she could do something that goes against education. The biggest offense comes at the end when the physicist makes a crucial mistake and it takes the uneducated people to figure it out. The film patently doesn’t like education and I admit that it’s great. It’s so funny to me. It’s probably the best joke in film and there were a myriad of terrible ones.
In conclusion, Transformers: The Last Knight is once again a steaming pile of garbage that you continue to ask to end even though it’s halfway over. The long, drawn out sequences constantly bore and don’t impress. They make you feel tired even after a good night’s rest. So basically, it’s like all the other ones.
Grade: D
