Time: 149 Minutes
Age Rating: M – Violence & offensive language
Cast:
Mark Wahlberg as Cade Yeager
Josh Duhamel as William Lennox
Stanley Tucci as Wizard Merlin
Anthony Hopkins as Sir Edmund Burton
Laura Haddock as Viviane Wembly
Isabela Merced as Izabella
Director: Michael Bay

Having enjoyed the fourth Michael Bay Transformers movie, I was curious about his fifth and final film in the series, The Last Knight. Based on many of the reactions, it seemed to be competing with Revenge of the Fallen for the most disliked Bayformers movie. Still, I was fairly optimistic going in, and unfortunately, I have to say that it turned out to be my least favourite of the five. However, I’m still comfortable saying that I enjoyed it. 

One thing that the movie has going for it is that it takes some pretty big swings and goes crazy in some areas. There is some wacky mythology, immediately seen in the opening sequence. It takes place during the time of King Arthur in which we see humans (including Merlin) interacting with transformers of that time. There’s enough of that weirdness throughout that keeps much of the movie amusing. There are many ideas shoved into this one movie and while I do appreciate that, a lot of them don’t have great payoffs. One example is Optimus Prime, who is brainwashed to fight for the main villain, but doesn’t have much screentime despite the idea having potential, and the resolution is disappointingly quick. Even Megatron feels so inconsequential in this movie despite being one of the main villains. For a Transformers plot, it was weirdly convoluted and difficult to follow, and I don’t even remember the last movies being this incoherent. For a good chunk of the movie, it is oddly dull, but it picks up considerably the moment that Anthony Hopkins is introduced. The humour is very hit or miss, although for what it’s worth, it’s probably the least juvenile and tasteless of the five Bayformers movies. At 149 minutes it does feel long, though the occasionally sluggish nature of the movie made it feel longer than Age of Extinction. 

Mark Wahlberg returns as protagonist Cade Yaeger from Age of Extinction and he’s okay. Laura Haddock and Isabela Merced are also good in major roles. The Last Knight does have a couple of familiar faces with Josh Duhamel and John Turturro reprising their roles from the first three movies, although the latter unfortunately isn’t in the movie as much as he should’ve been. Stanley Tucci is also in this movie in a small role, not reprising his role from Age of Extinction, but instead playing Merlin, and is amusing in his screen time. The aspect I was actually looking forward to the most was Anthony Hopkins, based on the few clips I saw of him, and he didn’t disappoint. You can tell that he’s having such a fun time here, getting to be goofy, silly and funny here. He and his manservant Autobot Cogman really elevated the whole experience, and this movie would’ve been so much less enjoyable without them. 

Michael Bay directs, and that comes with everything you’d expect from him, for better or for worse. There are some great and striking visuals and some good mixes of practical effects and CGI, especially with the large action sequences. That said, I couldn’t help but feel that something was missing, it’s like it was lacking even the complete insanity of Revenge of the Fallen, to a degree it felt like Bay on autopilot at points. Also, during the action, the aspect ratios would often change between each shot (mainly during action) and it is very noticeable and distracting. Steve Jablonsky as always composes an epic score to elevate the movie. 

While unfortunately feeling a little tired and having a difficult to follow plot, Transformers: The Last Knight has enough insanity, stylised direction and large action sequences that I enjoyed it. It is definitely my least favourite of the 5 Transformers movies directed by Michael Bay though, and by the end it really felt like he was ready to move on, and it’s no surprise that he was intending this to be his last of these movies.