The "Transformers" films, especially the ones directed by Michael Bay, are right up there with the "Fast and Furious" franchise as movies critically despised, yet highly profitable. Whether we like it or not, or say we don't like it just so we don't get the admonishing glare from our peers, they will continue. Bay has already confirmed what a "Universe" for the film series is.
What some fans might not know is that Bay tried to get someone else to direct "The Last Knight," but nobody would step forward. Some might speculate that he was too busy with his personal projects, such as "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi," or that he was just tired of the ridicule from people who continue to hate everything he touches.
The latter may be the biggest reason why he couldn't get another director at the helm: They might not have wanted to inherit his ironic "fan base" of people constantly wishing the series would just end.
What's new in 'Transformers' this time?
If you've seen "Age of Extinction," you'll know that Optimus Prime left Earth to get answers from the creators, a sentiment driven by Lockdown's spoken reasons for hunting down the Autobots. According to the trailers for this entry, it appears Optimus is converted against the Autobots by the creators themselves. This is further evidenced by his alleged destruction of Bumblebee in the first trailer.
Anyone who's kept up with the news surrounding this franchise will know that Bumblebee has a spin-off film of his own, so we probably shouldn't be too worried about his fate in "The Last Knight." Plus Megatron always seems to come back from the dead, and Optimus died and came back in the second film.
One detail the latest "Transformers: The Last Knight" trailer reveals is that there were apparently members of the Cybertronian race at least present during the days of King Arthur. With the voice-over by Sir Anthony Hopkins, it's given that little extra edge of nobility, indicating there has been indeed "more than meets the eye" for millennia.
The franchise's history is starting to get confusing
One thing many fans are starting to notice is that the origins of the Transformers' time on Earth seem to either change or get more complex every time. In the first film, we had the Cube, which apparently gave sentient life to machines and somehow changed how they were built on the inside
The second one hinted at a history of Primes (possibly foreshadowing "The Last Knight"?) and a fallen Prime who needed Optimus dead in order to come to life and begin an apocalyptic event involving the Pyramids of Giza.
The third one gave the nod to the infamous moon landing, using it as a cover-up to distract from Neil Armstrong's team's real purpose, to uncover crashed Cybertronian technology.
"Age of Extinction" introduced a grand plot by Megatron to rebuild his army using human technology, and some of the arguably laziest transformation animations in the series, and revealed that the dinosaurs had given way to the Dinobots.
"The Last Knight" appears to be mirroring "Revenge of the Fallen" a bit with the Knights possibly being a human equivalent of the Primes. We have yet to see how Shia LaBeouf's Sam Witwicky somehow became an honorary Prime despite being human. Possibly the most confusing part is that Optimus had undergone a noticeable character arc in the fourth film, and now he's gone full evil, as though he is a confused teenager.
Either way, whether you love it or hate it, these movies will continue for at least four more installments, or possibly until fans stop paying to see them.
