"You want to know, don't you? Why they keep coming here?" Beyond the fact that they earn vaults filled with money for Paramount Pictures, you mean?
The first full trailer for Michael Bay's fifth Transformers movie, Transformers: The Last Knight, dropped during Monday Night Football this evening, and it was steeped in the franchise's history, as well as our planet's history... OK, our galaxy's history. It started to fill in the narrative gaps that we have had regarding The Last Knight as Bay worked through production. And it showed off some of the majestic creations from ILM, who routinely push the envelope every time Bay and his crew want to bring the Autobots back to life on the biggest screens possible.
So, as Michael Bay planted explosives near the Knights of the Round Table and some World War II-era Nazis, here are the images that caught our eye after watching this trailer over and over. What stood out to you?
Historical Dinobots
This unique breed of Transformer was introduced back in Transformers: Age of Extinction, but the first trailer for The Last Knight shows that the cyber-dino warriors prowled the skies over Scotland at the time of Lancelot and Merlin. Great touch, having the wings of this three-headed monster touch the water as it flies near the emerald mountain tops in this majestic opening frame.
A Stadium in Ruins
The driving theme of this trailer is that, over the course of our planet's history, we have repeatedly been locked in conflict between two races -- one of flesh, and the other of metal. Some longtime Transformers fans gripe about this, because each movie finds a way to involve the human race, when the Transformers cartoons and comics got by with Autobots fighting Decepticons, humans be damned. But these films always find a way for the battle to affect our major cities, and The Last Knight looks no different.
Optimus is Lost in Space
At the end of Transformers: Age of Extinction, heroic Autobot leader Optimus Prime left Earth, heading off into space to find The Creators. Well, this shot suggests that it isn't going well. Optimus isn't in control as he pilots the galaxies. He's drifting. He looks damaged. And if that's Saturn, he has a LONG way to go before he comes back to Earth to help CADE YEAGER (best name in any franchise, ever).
Our Moon is Doomed... Again
I'm not a Transformers guru, so I'm not certain what that craft is that's about to swallow or moon. But I do recall that Michael Bay enjoyed destroying our moon in the aptly titled Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the last chapter to heavily feature Shia LaBeouf. (RIP, Sam). Ofcours,e our planet never suffered the gravity shift that would occur of our moon actually WAS damaged. Maybe that will happen when The Last Knight drops in the summer time?
Cade Yeager Has A Space Gun
Mark Wahlberg wasn't expected to return to the Transformers franchise after Age of Extinction. That was meant to be a one-and-done favor for his Pain & Gain director. But he must have had fun playing CADE YEAGER, because he's back in business, racing around London, dropping into bodies of water, and wielding this snazzy space weapon. Who's he firing at? My guess is he's aiming right at Stanley Tucci.
Optimus Is Back!
Naturally, this sequel wasn't going to go on for too long without its most recognizable hero, Optimus Prime, returning for the action. Wherever he drifts off to in outer space, he eventually recovers, and comes back down to our planet. Only...
Something is wrong! The trailer for Transformers: The Last Knight sells a WWE-style heel turn by Optimus, as he asks for forgiveness and then looks to wield his weapon on Bumblebee as CADE YEAGER screams on in defense. Is that what's really happening here? Will Optimus go evil? Watch that trailer one more time for yourself and decide.
