When the first Transformers film made its way into theaters a decade ago, nobody really expected much out of it. Could a series of toy robots really work well on the big screen? Would it really make for a decent film and not just a joke?
The answer, surprisingly, was yes. Director Michael Bay’s 2007’ film “Transformers” was an exhilarating action film with humor, spectacular visuals, and even a decent storyline. This paved the way for a promising film franchise in the years to come.
However, the glory days of this film series began and ended with the first film. Each Transformers film since then has been nothing but a disappointing headache full of over the top action, stereotypical characters, thin plot points and weak dialogue. There have now been five Transformers movies in total. The latest of which, called “Transformers: The Last Knight” was released in theaters last week.
With “The Last Knight,” Michael Bay is at it again doing what he does best, which is basically just making things explode and having robots fight each other. Those who want to spend 150 minutes watching giant robots beat the living daylights out of each other will probably get to enjoy this movie, but for those of us who crave a bit more substance with our movies, this one can afford to be missed. It is another Transformers film directed by Michael Bay though, so this really should not come as a surprise.
Michael Bay has said that this will be the last Transformers film that he will direct, so of course he had to kick things up a notch when it comes to everything that makes these movies so bad in the first place. This time around, we have dialogue that is so unbelievably bad it will probable play best with those who do not speak English, and we have a completely incomprehensible plot that Michael Bay himself probably does not completely understand. Maybe in the future, the film producers should hire a screenwriter who actually knows how to develop a character or tell a decent story. Just some food for thought.
Not even leading man Mark Wahlberg can save audiences from the unfortunate plight of suffering through this movie. He tries, but it is simply not enough. For some reason, acclaimed actor Anthony Hopkins also plays a large role in this film. I have no idea why he would agree to do a Transformers movie, other than maybe a fat paycheck. But, not even he can make the movie watchable, and if adding Sir Anthony Hopkins to your film cannot save it, you know that you were doomed from the very beginning.
At this point, nobody seems to hold much hope for the future of the Transformers franchise, but with Michael Bay finally stepping out of the director’s chair, you never know. The franchise is not ending just because Bay is departing, and plenty of future Transformers films are already in development. Despite the fact that these films are continually given negative reviews by critics, they are huge moneymakers, and thus will of course continue to get made. Perhaps a new director will take the franchise in a different direction and actually make a decent movie instead of the pile of slush Michael Bay has been churning out over the past decade.
“The Last Knight” is quite possibly the worst installment of the franchise, which really is saying something considering that besides the first one, they are all pretty bad.
Go see it if you think you can handle two and a half hours of mind-numbing CGI robot fights. In the mean time, the rest of us will have to find something else to watch while we quietly thank Michael Bay for stepping away as director of the franchise and cross our fingers with the hope that “Transformers 6” will actually be decent.
