In the fifth installment of the Michael Bay/Hasbro CGI explosion of transformative alien robotics,?Transformers: The Last Knight?delivers a bombastic firestorm of epic proportions that will entertain the staunchest fan of the line of heroic Autobots in their battle against the Decepticons. In fact, while Mark Wahlberg, Josh Duhamel, Anthony Hopkins, Laura Haddock, and John Turturro have their moments as the brave humans allied with the Autobots to fight off the destruction of Earth, the Transformers have the first, middle, and final word.
The plot involves some incredibly genre-mashed points that join the legend of King Arthur with the plan of Cybertron to suck the life from Earth. This one makes sense the way that a Scooby-Doo team-up with Batman and Robin makes sense; if you’re down for a roll with the likes of Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and even some Dinobots, you probably won’t mind that the CGI is more prominent than the plot.
Ultimately, each Transformers-based movie boils down to the age-old principle that Optimus Prime twists to discuss humans in the first one: that they are more than meets the eye. Of course, as kids we thought that was all about the robot/aliens; now, we understand it’s also about the heroic humans who dare to stand in the face of world-eclipsing destruction and stand against evil, in all its forms – robotic and human.
Of course, there are some good shots here, some witty repartee between Hopkins’ ‘true believer’ and his Autobot butler, some moments where Wahlberg stands for truth, hope, and the human dream. But this one is straight popcorn, and one that you’ll probably pop in on a cold winter’s night, hoping that it’ll be more than meets the eye (test).
Special features on Paramount’s Blu-ray Combo pack include a look at Arthur and the Transformers in “Merging Mythologies,” the training for the more humanoid characters in “Climbing the Ranks,” the experience of the Transformers in the United Kingdom in “The Royal Treatment,” and a few more behind-the-scenes/development pieces.?
