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Transformers The Last Knight poster

CAST
MARK WAHLBERG
STEVE BUSCEMI (VOICE OF)
SANTIAGO CABRERA
JERROD CARMICHAEL
GEMMA CHAN
PETER CULLEN (VOICE OF)
JOSH DUHAMEL
LIAM GARRIGAN
JOHN GOODMAN (VOICE OF)
LAURA HADDOCK
TONY HALE
ANTHONY HOPKINS
ISABELA MONER
GLENN MORSHOWER
JOHN TURTURRO
STANLEY TUCCI
KEN WATANABE (VOICE OF)
FRANK WELKER (VOICE OF)

BASED ON THE TOYLINE CREATED BY
HASBRO

STORY BY
AKIVA GOLDSMAN
MATT HOLLOWAY
ART MARCUM
KEN NOLAN

SCREENPLAY BY
MATT HOLLOWAY
ART MARCUM
KEN NOLAN

PRODUCED BY
IAN BRYCE
TOM DESANTO
LORENZO DI BONAVENTURA
DON MURPHY

DIRECTED BY
MICHAEL BAY

GENRE
ACTION
ADVENTURE
SCI-FI

RATED
AUS:M
UK:12A
USA:PG-13

TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT (2017)

Big, loud, complicated and messy, Transformers: The Last Knight fittingly caps an end to Michael Bay’s tenure on the worst blockbuster franchise to disgrace the screen.

4 films. Over $3.7 billion at the global box-office. Even 7 Oscar nominations. That is the pedigree upon which the fifth Transformers entry, Transformers: The Last Knight, rides into on an opening release weekend that will no doubt secure pole position worldwide. It will also receive little to no critical acclaim, and with good reason. A mess of a film that will conjure much in the way of eye rolling sighs as opposed to eye opening spectacle, Transformers: The Last Knight boggles the mind with its stupefying plot and throw spaghetti on the wall visuals. It is about as Michael Bay a film Michael Bay could Michael Bay. It is nonsense.

MMR Top 150 banner

The film begins with a world at war with the Transformers alien race, who we are told first contacted the human race back in the days of Merlin (Stanley Tucci), King Arthur (Liam Garrigan) and the Knights of the round table. 1600 years later, the Transformers planet of Cybertron under the rule of evil Quintessa (Gemma Chan) threatens to consume the Earth whole. Now it is up to a new era of heroes led by inventor Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) to bring a splinted world together and join the Autobots in saving mankind.

If the plot sounds stupefying in writing, just wait until you see it on the screen. A befuddling and disjointed screenplay filled to the brim with exposition on top of exposition, and then consistently interrupted with humour that is schizophrenic in delivery, does little in providing an inch of depth or feeling of stakes at play within a universe where the threat of mankind’s extinction is greeted with a shrug of the shoulders.

Performances are even worse. Mark Wahlberg is essentially playing a parody of himself with permanent frown and constant shouting of his dialogue. Laura Haddock is just as bad, the talented actress essentially moulded into a British version of Megan Fox under Bay’s perverted eye. Only Anthony Hopkins seems to be having fun, no doubt ad-libbing most of his dialogue because, well, he can. Had all the cast be given the freedom to improvise their dialogue, many then sense could be made from this abortion of a script.

There is no denying that Michael Bay has talent. The problem is how he projects that talent. It’s as if he were the bastard child of Steven Spielberg and James Cameron dropped on his head and given the latest film technology to play with. Films such as 13 Hours and The Rock proves there is a filmmaker worth lauding praise upon. Transformers: The Last Knight only gives Bay another big canvas upon which he can display his worst traits as a filmmaker. Let us pray that an international audience does not add another cent to this billion dollar monstrosity.

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