AOE get my vote for the best onefor many reasons
1. Actual character development
I mean hound drift and crosshairs were awesome in the film and they are my favorites compared to some before them
2. Dinobots
3. A lot of robot fighting

And ROTF wasn't even as bad as people say it was. Was it bad still? Yea. But it has cool action scenes with a epic finale and it had although a lame one a combiner. What did TLK have that was better the ROTF?

 

I have no clue. I'm gonna assume the cluster duck that was making cybertron.

 

This movie is absolutely stunning in IMAX 3D it's such a shame it turned out how it did.

 

That's what I was thinking

 

This can't be a serious question.

 

It really is visually amazing from start to finish

 

No constant sex jokes, some manner of plot, something at least tangentially related to transformers happening at all times, decepticons that while characatures were actually fun, continuity with the rest of the franchise, direct setup for a sequel...

 

Fair point. My emotions are just starting to cool down.

 

Wow.

That was by faaaaaaaaaaaar the most incoherent TF movie so far.

The funny thing is that despite being an absolute mess, up until around the time the finish up in the Autobot museum at Hopkins house, it was just joyous. I didn't care at all how stupid and messed up it was. It was so much fun. But then after that point ugh. I'm not even sure if I'll buy this one or not. I probably will, but I don't know.

 

Wow.

I'm going to be spoiler-iffic with this one, so if you don't want to be spoiled, skip my entire post. Seriously, this is your last chance...

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...Okay, you were warned: Oh and I'll warn you now, TL;DR is warranted for my post. I apologize. I just had to get all of this out. I had to or I was going to burst.

I don't even know where to begin. I'll start with my consensus of it, then fill in from there:
It's good, not great. And it's just good, it's not even solid good. There are moments in the film where you can tell it wants to be something more than it is, but it just can't be. For whatever reason, for whatever thing, it just cannot reach for the stars and be the movie it wishes to be.

Opening scene? Black screen with text, no sound, that says Paramount Pictures and Xinhua and someone else such and such present, then the Paramount logo, then right into the film. I've never seen that before in the series and it was ODD. Even my wife was like "Uh, isn't that backwards?"
You get a lovely voice over by Sir Anthony Hopkins and he does a fantastic job of filling in the backstory of the current Bayverse flick, the entire Bayverse (for what he can, he's restrained by the content) and how the knights came to be in this universe. Why they existed (the human knights, that is) is kind of neat.

The Knights, their battle, the scenery? Amazing. One of the best openings to a TF film, period. This is also the only time you get to see Stanley Tucci because he's playing Merlin. He plays it pitch perfect with his comedic timing and he carries the scene. He does not appear as Joshua Joyce at all, there's not even a mention of him, but you can imagine he's somehow tied to Merlin. (He's apparently not because Viviane is, but anyway...)

Eh, I'll just go with the scenes I can remember, fully, and not the order in which they were shown, it'll be easier on me, that way.

You see Izabella saving some school kids in an abandoned Chicago neighborhood because they're stupid, she's not and you find out that some Transformers did survive the Chicago assault and camped out there. (How they survived, why they weren't captured by Cemetary Wind is never, ever explained, you just find out that TRF is after them and will kill on sight.) Of course, Cade and Bumblebee show up to save the day and this is the scene in which Bumblebee is blown apart and rebuilds himself. It's actually quite cool to see the entire sequence unfold, there's a bit more to it than what was shown in trailers/commercials/Ellen. You do get to see Hound in the scene, but he's at the very end of it and basically throws a quip out there. It's never, ever explained why Bumblebee can disassemble, nor is it explained why TRF is going after ALL Transformers. (I know, people will blame Bay for this, but it's a writing issue. Bay is guilty of some problems in this film, I'll admit to that, more than any other films in the franchise, but the writers have a HUGE hand in the problems of this film.)

You get to see the other Autobots and the remainder of the Dinobots in Cade's junkyard, but no Scorn, which is odd considering he's getting a Voyager Class figure, this time. I mean, he's NOWHERE to be found. Huh, for that matter, neither is Swoop, now that I think about it. *cocks head like a dog* Wait, now that I really think back on it.... You see Grimlock and Slag/Slug, plus the baby Dinobots, that's it. Oh and the baby Dinobots are adorable. I don't care if the fans or the general audience don't like them, they're friggin' adorable. (The audience at my showing LOVED them. I'm going to say fans will just outright HATE them.) You get to meet Cade's new assistant. I have no idea what his name is, I don't think they mentioned it even once. (No, I'm not joking. I could be wrong about his name never being mentioned, but I seriously don't recall a single scene in which I heard his name.)

They do mention Tessa and that she's at college, so she's explained away, but there is ZERO mention of Shane. It's like he just disappeared off the face of the Earth. For a guy who promised to protect Tessa forever and Cade finally accepted him in, it's like he never existed. Bad, bad handling. I'm glad they didn't ignore them outright.

The review that everyone was polarized on, the one that seemed trollish, was actually telling the truth to some degree, this was indeed a rip off of Suicide Squad. Barricade is being followed, secretly, by TRF and he has more lines of dialogue in this film than any other. Different voice, too. Why? Not explained. At all. Anyway, he leads them to Megatron. Megatron knows of the medallion, Merlin's scepter, the danger hidden inside Earth and why Quintessa is bringing Cybertron (yes, it is indeed Cybertron) to Earth. (Though it is NEVER explained HOW he knows. You're left to infer it. More on that in a moment.) The humans task HIM with finding the missing pieces so they can stop Cybertron from coming and he asks for a team in return. Now, this segment could've been handled badly and could've been rife with horrible all around, but it was one of the funnier scenes in the film and it wasn't misplaced. There was genuine, laugh out loud humor in this scene. When they go through the roster of Decepticons the humans are holding in prison, the audience couldn't help but laugh. Berserker does make an appearance and the toy does a pretty good job of replicating his on-screen look. He's a no go for Megatron's army and it's just funny. Onslaught gets a speaking role, even Mohawk does as well. Nitro Zeus steals this scene, however, and goads a prison guard into flipping him off. (And yes, it's funny, no it's not stupid. It's absolutely justified in the scene. If you can't laugh at this scene/segment, then you might as well not watch the film.)

Optimus crashes into Cybertron, while frozen from being in deep space. Why? It's never explained. In fact... It's never explained why he's frozen, but other Transformers in the cosmos were not, it's also never explained how he suddenly crashed into Cybertron after floating out there with nothing in his way for all this time since he left Earth. I can only guess Quintessa moved Cybertron into his path to capture him. It doesn't take much convincing from her or torture for her to turn him to her side. She gives an incredibly brief history of the Knights, explaining there were 12 human knights and 12 Cybertronian Knights, of the round table and how those 12 knights fused themselves together to form Dragonstorm. (The toy only shows 2 becoming 1 and the name is never, ever mentioned in the film.) It's so glossed over that you just barely process her words before the next part of the scene begins. When she does turn Optimus, he is called Nemesis Prime. I was surprised by this and there were a couple of people in the audience who knew who that was and were like "OH, YEAH!"

We're now back on Earth and Megatron and the TRF are hunting for Cade and the Autobots so they can get the medallion so Megatron can go find the scepter and stop Cybertron from coming. The Autobots pack up and leave Cade's new base of operations and this is where we get to see the Dinobots have their moment of action in the film. They're criminally underused and passed over in this moment. It's over in seconds. (It's an utter waste.)

Oh, before I forget, during all of this, there's a downtime scene with Izabella and Cade repairing Bumblebee's voicebox and we get to meet Wreck-Gar. (He's called something else in the film, I truly cannot remember his name. It's utterly stupid, anyway, the name.) He's absolutely detested by the Autobots, but it's an okay scene. (He reminds me of Swindle, honestly. He's actually voiced by Steve Buscemi! No joke!) He cons them into giving Bumblebee a female voice box, which was another genuinely funny scene. (The audience was definitely drawn into the humor more, this time around.) Anyway, back to the rest of the film...

We get to see Viviane in action, she has no problem getting rough and dirty as evidenced by her vicious mouth and polo playing skills, but she's also a brilliant...whatever you want to call her. A curator? A professor? Etc. You name it, she's it, basically. Fortunately, she's not eye candy this time, nor is she half dressed. (So, hey, evolution for Bay.) She thinks the round table thing is all myth and that humanity basically comes to it's own rescue when called upon, etc. During this, we see Sir Edmund Burton following her and listening to her talk in a rather depressing point of view about how there's nothing really special out there, etc.

It's during the Burton scenes in which the film is it's most solid. Sir Anthony Hopkins saves the film and his scenes are nothing short of excellent. Even Agent Simmons can't drag his performance down. During this time we also get to meet Hot Rod (also criminally underused and his backstory is RUSHED) and the absolutely fantastic Cogman. (Cogman is sent to retrieve Cade shortly after Megatron and TRF chase the Autobots from the junk yard. This is the scene where Cogman breaks Crosshairs' finger.) Bay thought Sqweeks would be the scene stealer because he's a practical effect and adorable (which he absolutely is), but he was wrong, Cogman absolutely COMMANDS your attention every time he's on screen. He's utterly fantastic. Think all of the funny parts of the Autobot team in AOE, all wrapped up into one character.

He's a sociopath (and even prefers that title to psychopath), he's violent and can't really control his impulses (which is actually funny) and he's just basically unhinged. Got a mouth on him that's quick-witted and sharp as a tack. Burton's explaining the history of the humans and the Transformers (which ignores the previous films, but it doesn't negate them either, they're just not mentioned is all) and the score is swelling and it's just full of gravitas (thanks to Hopkins's performance) and then you find out it's Cogman playing music on the organ because he thought it helped with the story. (When I write it down, it sounds stupid, I know, but it's absolutely hilarious. No, seriously, it's just downright funny.) Later on, he sings opera (also to help the story) and his banter with Burton is just pitch perfect. (Think Han Solo/Chewie banter, not Sam and his parents' banter.)

The medallion is explained and why it was revealed to Cade, etc. Brace yourselves, you pretty much knew it was coming, yes.... Cade is the titular last knight. We also find out that Viviane is Merlin's direct descendent. He can protect her and bring her to the scepter, she can control it and wield it's power, together they can save the human race, but only together. Now, that's not to say that the Autobots aren't needed because the Transformers are very much needed at this point and onward to the conclusion. It's during this sequence that we find out more about our current Autobot heroes and their history with Earthlings. The review that mentioned Suicide Squad was either straight up trolling or severely misinformed because all of the historical people, such as Leonardo DaVinci, etc were human and not Transformers even though the troll review said they were. They helped the humans, they didn't take their place. He's either full of it (which I'm leaning towards) or he's seriously mistaken (he'd have to be an absolute idiot, though...) In the flashback, we see Bumblebee attack the Nazis with Hot Rod and it's only a few seconds longer in the film than what you see in the commercials/trailers. For whatever reason, Bumblebee doesn't remember Burton, but Burton does and it's not really explained why the Autobots don't remember their human-centric past. (It's more or less explained that Sam and his family, including Archibald, are Witwickys who are part of a group (and I guess their lineage??) known as Witwiccans (nope, not kidding, I'm being 100% legit on this one) who went throughout history hiding the Autobots and erasing any traces of them so the world would keep on spinning without the public finding out the secret history of the Transformers, because it would basically just rip the world apart. (Uh....okay.)

Cade, Viviane, Cogman and Bumblebee use a Cybertronian vessel, disguised as a submarine, to reach the ship hidden in the oceanic depths, where Merlin's scepter is hidden and can save the day (or destroy it, as we later find out)
The TRF has followed them, along with Lennox (at the behest of Morshower) into this submerged...whatever to stop the Autobots and Megatron so they can obtain the scepter and control the balance of the battle with the impending Cybertron arrival and Quintessa. They emerge from the water and Cogman sends them onto their mission and doesn't want to take part in it, basically because he doesn't want to get in the water. Bumblebee takes care of that by flicking him into it with a pretty good swipe. He then blames Cade and Viviane for dragging him into this (even though it was his mission all along) and flat out states "You two are on my shit list." (which the audience roared at, I was one of those people, it made me laugh, couldn't help it.) Cade and Viviane proceed ahead to find the scepter, none the wiser that a military force is following them. (How Bumblebee and Cogman missed this at first is beyond me.)

And borrowing from ROTF, they do indeed find Merlin's tomb and just a wooden walking stick. Cade is basically throwing in the towel when Lennox and TRF show up. It's roughly at this moment that Viviane touches the stick and it reveals that it's actually the fully functional scepter. It also wakes Skullitron (who's not named in the film) and he begins attacking the humans to protect the scepter. They start shooting him, of course, and threatening Cade and Viviane all the while and then she threatens to throw the scepter over a ledge into the abyss below. (I'm actually getting that backward, but this scene is just a bunch of wow all in 2-3 minutes, it's a flurry, honestly. An assault on the senses, really.) While they're all trying to get away and stop Skullitron, they don't see the person coming to their rescue, all they see is Skullitron getting cut in two and green goo spraying everywhere. The audience thinks it's Bumblebee, but nope, it's Nemesis Prime and he's getting ready to attack anyone in his path to the scepter. Cade surrenders and tells Viviane to give Optimus the scepter. She refuses, of course, but he sways her and Optimus leaves. (Bumblebee gives chase with a hammer that came out of nowhere. I mean, literally NOWHERE.)

The fight is taken to the surface of the ship, which has broken through the surface of the water (basically all of the scenes in the trailers/commercials) and Bumblebee and Optimus continue with their utterly vicious fight, attacking each other with a ferocity you haven't seen from either one thus far. I mean, Bumblebee is NOT holding back. Cade tells him to go all WWII on Optimus and so he does. Yes, it's true, your eyes do not deceive you... Optimus rips Bumblebee's wings off and he's doing his level best to kill the little guy, but I'll give Bumblebee his props, he ain't backin' down. Not even a little bit. Cade jumps into the fray and tries to talk Optimus out of his current delusion, but to no avail. And in what's probably the dumbest cure to what ails you, like, ever... Quintessa's hold over Optimus is broken when Bumblebee speaks for the first time since TF1 in 2007 and he says something along the lines of "It's me, Bumblebee. I'll die to save you" or somesuch... Optimus bats his eyes and you see them return to blue and he apologizes for his lost mind.

Before another breath can be taken, the Knights that woke when Skullitron did have surfaced and proceed to beat Optimus senseless. They've sworn an oath to kill anyone who would use the scepter for evil, that includes Optimus and nothing he says can stop them, they want his blood. Why? Because it's found out that while Quintessa says she's the Prime of creation, they say she's a liar and must be destroyed because Earth is actually the home they were destined to live on and its people are the people they're to protect at all costs. Basically, Cybertron is no longer their home and hasn't been for quite a LONG time. From the onset of the film, these curved, pointy structures have been slowly protruding from the Earth's surface as Cybertron has made its way from wherever... and Simmons, who's in Cuba for whatever reason (looking broke af) with some mishmash of a Wrecker that has Topspin's body with Leadfoot's head and bits of Roadbuster hanging off of him, with a horrible southern hick accent (that wants to play soccer something fierce) and he's demanding to be a part of the Witwiccans (which Burton reluctantly allows) so he can tell Burton where to find a book that holds information on what's going on and WHO is at the center of all this mess.

It's Unicron. He's inside Earth. (Yep, straight up ripped off of Transformers Prime.) Unicron could suck the remaining lifeforce from Cybertron if given the chance, but Quintessa will use the scepter and her powers to drain Earth and all of its life force to restore Cybertron (and she comes pretty darn close to doing so.) Now, back to Optimus getting the crap kicked out of him (I jumped ahead to another scene to explain this whole thing, not that it happens like that in the film, but it might as well have...) and just as one of the Knights is about to execute Optimus, Cade's new armor activates and provides him a sword which he uses to stop the massive Knight's blade of doom. (Yeah...) The Knights then put their swords up as if they were around the round table and Optimus does his whole "I am Optimus Prime" spiel and they're all buddy buddy again and Optimus tells Lennox and the only other important humans that Quintessa must be stopped and the only way to save their home, Earth, is to kill her.

I'm not sure how they got the message from Cade (I'm really not, but they clearly say he gave her a message) but Izabella wakes up (with the baby Dinobots, which are still incredibly adorable) and sees Cybertron on the horizon and runs towards Cade's office to alert everyone. Old news. Cade's new assistant (seriously, dude must have a name...) shows her the TV and reporters are saying the loss of life will be in the tens of millions and there's no hope left, basically. The Wreck-Gar character brings them the Knights Temenos ship (which seems no worse for wear) and the Autobots pack up to assist in the final battle. Izabella asks Hound if she can go along and he says some line about not being a good father figure or somesuch and tells her to come along (what?! She's 14!) and of course, Squeeks comes along for the ride, because reasons.

The final battle location leads them all to Stonehenge where Unicron's horns have fully pierced the Earth and are reaching up to meet the once submerged ship and now Quintessa has the scepter thanks to Megatron swooping in at the last moment during the sequence where the Knights were beating the crap out of Optimus and she begins the transfer that will heal Cybertron and kill Earth. As she does this, Cybertron's ...limbs (I guess?) scrape across the surface of the Earth, eating up resources and destroying everything and everyone in their path. The military/TRF, Cade, Viviane and the Autobots have all joined forces to get to the power port that's making all of this happen so they can stop Quintessa once and for all. (During the sequence at Stonehenge, Megatron basically gets his one big scene in the film, he kills Burton with a blast that throws him probably a good 50 feet or more.) During all of this, Cogman runs to his master's side and for the first time in the film shows that he does have a genuine care for others besides himself and says goodbye to Burton.

From there on out, it's usual Michael Bay fare with the humans and Autobots fighting side by side against Quintessa and Megatron's forces to stop the transfer and save Earth. Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong. The military is listening to a scientist who trusts facts and figures more than anything and they take his incredibly STUPID idea and blow up the very platform they're on in the hopes of stopping the transfer. Cade is trying to tell everyone to have faith in something more than science, something more than themselves, faith in Optimus and beyond. No one listens to him and the military blows up the platform. As it's careening to Earth, Lennox and his crew take Izabella with them but Cade and Viviane choose to believe in the something more and stick with the fight. Optimus faces off against the Beast Hunter Abominus repaint (so there is an actual reason for it to be repainted and for Quintessa to be included with it) and then quickly dispatches it/them with a couple slashes of his Excalibur (it's also never said whether or not his sword is such, nor is it said that Cade's is either, but it's King Arthur's sword, so it's implied that Cade is wielding Excalibur.)

The platform then begins spinning in a freefall and all the while, Viviane is trying to reach the scepter and stop the transfer while the Autobots and Decepticons continue thrashing each other something fierce. Guess what? The scientist was wrong, destroying the platform and its connection does nothing, the transfer is still happening. (Surprise, surprise.) Optimus flies up to Cybertron to confront Quintessa and is confronted by Megatron who says "We were brothers, once!", Optimus says "Once." and proceeds to rip Megatron's arm off, then throws him through a wall. (A clear homage to the 1986 animated film, and yes, yes it is.) Quintessa grabs Optimus and tells him what a failure he is and how it can't be stopped, etc and he says "Say hello to my little friend...Bumblebee" and yep, you guessed it, Bumblebee saves the day by shooting her point blank and killing her. She vaporizes in a cloud and Viviane removes the scepter destroying the transfer, thus saving the world.

The platform comes crashing down in the England countryside with a horrendous cloud of dust and destruction. The military looks on in horror as it all comes to an end and our heroes are vanquished along with the danger. Or...are they? Optimus bursts through the cloud, with Bumblebee in tow and carrying Cade and Viviane in his cab, where they share a kiss (of course they do!) and Optimus gives a grand speech about us being able to save both worlds if we better ourselves and one another. (It's become cliche by this point...) and the film fades to black in one of the quickest and most abrupt endings I've ever seen in a film, let alone the TF franchise.

Oh wait, what's this? There's MORE? Yep, you bet. Half of the audience has now left and all of a sudden a scene appears and there's an absolutely stunning, gorgeous woman (good grief, she made my jaw drop) wrapped in black and blue wandering through the desert (Wha?!) and comes to a seashore where scientists are examining Unicron's horns (which are still continuing their upward protruding movement, thus signaling the danger isn't over) and the woman speaks and basically says she can show them how to destroy the monster within and her face shifts, revealing that Quintessa has survived and is now on Earth. Fade to black, it's over.

Uhh... Wow. All of that in 2 hours, 29 minutes. (Less if you cut the end credits, so it's a LOT to take in.)

The biggest problem is that the film wants to be ambitious. It wants to be more than it really is. It wants to be a GREAT film, but it's just barely good. The performances are rock solid and not at all cheesy, even though the critics would say otherwise. The humor, of which there is a lot, isn't your usual Michael Bay humor, so you can definitely feel a different influence from the writers this time around. It's not cringy or corny or hamfisted, it's straight up funny and takes you back to Bad Boys era Michael Bay humor. The CGI and basically ALL the visuals are stunning and top notch, one of the prettiest Transformers films to date.

Another major problem is the runtime. The pacing is too fast, but the script is really, really thin and just barely fills enough of the 2.5 hour run time. There's a point in the film where Optimus is fighting Bumblebee and the movie just feels over. Like "Okay, that was breezy and I'm surprised they ended it that way. Huh." and then you realize "Oh, wait, no... There's still yet another movie in here. Wait, we still have at least 30 minutes left? Are you kidding me? Whoa." Up to this point, you feel that the film has pretty much told its story and that it's over and there's really nothing more you can do here. You're absolutely wrong. I finally see what people are talking about when it comes to Bay and his unrelenting Bayhem. This is, by far, the most unrelenting of the 5 films. Yes, even above AOE. AOE went on for way too long, but you kept wanting to see how it ended, if it ended at all, and to see Lockdown one more time. It had a beginning, middle, and end. This has a beginning, what seems like no middle and then an end... and then another beginning! It's basically THREE movies in one and it's too much for 2.5 hours with a paper thin script that barely holds a lot of it together.

Cade and Viviane becoming heroes and finding out the secret history of the Transformers and the Knights Of The Round Table is one whole movie on its own. It's not a bad one, but it's not your usual TF fare. Optimus becoming Nemesis Prime and fighting for Cybertron is a whole movie on its own. Definitely not a good one, but your usual TF fare. The final battle and tying it all together is a short film that would be submitted by a film student for extra credit. Yet, all THREE combine into one unending, unrelenting juggernaut that definitely stretches its 2.5 hours just to say it's 2.5 hours long.

I've done my best to back this film series and support it. I've said Michael Bay wasn't the only one to be held to blame for these. I've watched all of the films more times than I can count. This one finally let me down. Michael Bay definitely let me down. Other than taking my daughter this weekend, I don't know how many times in the future I'll sit down to rewatch it.

The story, overall, is not a bad one. In fact, it's probably one of the better ones in the film series. It does have some genuinely interesting segments and aspects to it. The execution is the problem and because Bay says this is his last film in the series (and quite honestly, it feels like it) it gives you a sense that he more or less phoned in on this one. I'm not saying he didn't put a lot of work into it, I'm not saying he didn't have his usual work ethic on this one, but his performance as the director is markedly different. You can see it, you can hear it, you can feel it. He's tired of Transformers and he basically threw this one together just to get it in the can and call it a day. I know people say that about the other films, but they're wrong. See this one, you'll come back and say "Okay, yeah, this one really does feel like he's saying "I'm out. You get what you get." He's out, man."

I know critics aren't kind to Bay and usually find his movies too bombastic and overblown, so they'll go ahead and knock him down a few pegs simply because they can. I know they're not big fans of the franchise, so that's another point against him, but this time they're actually right on both counts. It's almost like he directed the explosive action scenes and let someone else film the story scenes, it doesn't entirely feel like a Michael Bay film. And let me tell you, that's not a good thing. I know people think replacing him is a good thing, I get why, but when he's at the helm and he gives up on something, you friggin' notice it. This is not his usual work, I'm serious. I can't find another way to describe it. You ladies and gentlemen have hated him in the past for certain choices and ideas and how the previous films turned out. I didn't agree with that then and I still don't agree with you on those films, but when you see this one, you're going to be dumbfounded. You're going to come back and say "I can't say it's actually worse than the other ones, but it went in another direction I wasn't expecting. I think we broke Michael Bay. I think we have."

And we have. It's like all of his passion for the usual work on these films has just burned out. It's like he got up one morning before the first day of shooting and said "Hmm. You know what? I said I was done and I mean it. Let's get this in the can, asap." His assistant(s) would say "But, Mr. Bay, you're cutting corners here, here and here." He'd say "Yup. Screw it. I'm done. I'm actually done." and this time, just by the tone and feel of his handling of it, he's absolutely done. I think he will actually step down from the director's chair. I know he's staying on as a producer, but I think he's going to be less involved than you think. Seriously, watch the film, it's just not at all what I was expecting.

I went in with lowered expectations because Power Rangers was basically the summer blockbuster flick for me this year, I had wanted to see it more than I did TLK and it did not disappoint. Even with lowered expectations, this one failed to win me over. Was it beautiful? Yes. Was it funny? Yes, it's by far the funniest of the series. Was the story good? Honestly, yes, it was. Were both the experience, and the film just flawed from beginning to end? Oh, you bet. Oh, you bet big time.

I'm hoping this weekend's viewing will go better than this time, I can at least hope, but I'm not really optimistic. Okay, if I'm being honest, I'm not optimistic at all.

I finally see the complaints of the films being human-centric. This is, by far, the most human-centric of the films. Yes, even more so than TF1 where the title characters didn't show up until 58 minutes into a 2.5 hour film. That said, the human storyline wasn't that bad, it did keep your attention, it really did. That's more a testament to the performances of the actors and the writers than it is the film or Bay. Now, that's not to say that the Transformers weren't in the human portions of the film, they were. Hot Rod, Bumblebee, and Cogman, to be specific. Fortunately, Cogman was a strong enough character on his own to carry those scenes for the TF fans, but just barely. Bumblebee wasn't his usual audience connection point that he usually was. Hot Rod was so unimportant that he just felt kind of tacked on. Sqweeks was there for the sake of being adorable and had ONE (and I do mean ONE) scene in which he did anything of importance. An awful lot of chest puffing and nail buffing from Bay for what amounted to a cameo appearance from a Mary Sue type character that you just don't really give two hoots about.

To give you an idea of how much the Transformers, as a whole, are not really in this film (and why I say it's basically three films in one)...

Optimus is in the film maybe 20 whole minutes.
Megatron, perhaps 10.
Barricade, 5, if that.
Onslaught has one speaking line and is then promptly beheaded and not seen or heard from again.
Mohawk, same. (No, seriously, literally the same death for him. Beheaded.)
"Wreck-Gar" about 5 minutes.
Hound, Drift and Crosshairs, roughly 5-7 minutes for them, combined. (Maybe a slight bit more. Maybe.)
Bumblebee, Hot Rod and Cogman carry the bulk of the run time for robots in this film.
Quintessa, probably 5 minutes as a robot, 1.5 as a human and most of that is her walking through the desert in a distant shot. (Dang, is she gorgeous. Good grief, Gemma Chan is just...wow.)
The Knights get roughly 6-8 minutes of screentime, about 2-4 lines of dialogue and not a single one of them is named. If it weren't for the toys, we'd have no idea who they are. Skullitron and the Abominus repaint are the only two that really stand out enough that you can figure out who they are based on the toy designs. I think, and again I think, Steelbane was the Knight in the crashed pod in Chicago when Cade saves Izabella and the kids.

On top of that, as crazy as it sounds, the film is incomplete. No, you can tell it's actually incomplete. There are segments shown in the trailers and commercials that are outright missing from the final film, including fully rendered scenes (and we all know Michael Bay does not waste money, say what you will about the man, but he's not wasteful, he's definitely thrifty) and they're not in here at all. You can tell they'd help fill in some of the clearly there gaps. For example? Optimus telling Viviane "For my world to live, yours must die!" is NOT in the film. Yes, you read that right, it's GONE. The scene of Prime's torture and the scene of Bumblebee half transforming to blow away Barricade? Both shortened heavily, thus cutting down parts of the film.

You walk away feeling like "Hmm. I'm pretty sure there's going to be an extended cut when it comes to Blu-ray." That's how incomplete the film and some of the scenes feel. I know people said the IMAX version was supposed to be longer, but this certainly feels like MORE than 4 minutes was cut from the film.

Also, it makes no sense to say it's the final chapter, when it's clearly not. None of the previous films set up sequels, they all kind of ended as if they were either standalone films or just barely connected sequels of what's come before. This one? It's right there, plain as day, rubbing it in your face "It's not over. There's more to come. But, yep, this is the final chapter. But, no, seriously there's more to come." The ending alone is just like "Wait, whut?"

If anything, this is Michael Bay's final chapter. If that's truly the case, then the tagline is indeed truthful and correct. And if this film's any indication, then yes, I want him to step down. I don't want him there if he doesn't want to be there and it's clear that he does indeed not want to be there in the director's chair.

And no, this is not me being worn down by a decade of film after film of Bayhem, it's me saying this film is truly not up to snuff. It just isn't.

Do I hate it? No. I actually do like it, because of Cogman and Burton, I just wanted to love it and I can't. Like I said in the beginning, it's a just good film that wants to be a great film. It just can't be. It's impossible.

Oh, one last thing (if that's possible...lol) it's easy to infer that Quintessa got her hands on Megatron and provided him his new body. He has the same red splash on his face that Optimus has and it's only given by Quintessa. Plus Megatron knows about the medallion and the scepter and pretty much no other TFs know about it. Optimus somehow does, but that's more or less shoehorned in.

 

Is there more on screen Transformers in this movie compared to past films or less?

 

Thank you so much , Ill be completely honest ,this time I do actually think that this is Michael Bays fault because this time most of us can admit that the plot was good but the way he directed the movie was bad , I still liked the movie but I know that if he wasn't the director it would have been a better film don't get me wrong the plot was great in my opinion but it's just the bullshit humor he allows in it that makes it bad in some ways , also it felt as if there was more to the movie and that it was rushed a bit kind of like suicide squad and just like it i feel that this will get a bunch of mixed reviews

 

Yes and no.

Fleshed out? No. Given some meat to chew on? Yes.

I'd say it's a bigger cast than AOE because most of those were clones of one another, these were individual robots and there were upwards of about 20 of them.

A smaller cast definitely works better in these films.

 

Wait, so the Wreckers combine or something lol?

 

No, that would've made more sense. This is a completely new entity made out of various Wrecker parts. I can't tell if it's a new character altogether or some monstrosity made from dead Wreckers.

 

Oh God

Screw you Bay. You're messed up man.

 

Wait wait wait.....

I remember reading somewhere that Junkions can put a Transformer back together with only a few pieces of metal or something....

Perhaps Daytrader discovered the three Wreckers had been totalled and he rebuilt them into one Bot!

 

Plus most audiances probably forgot that Barricade existed

 

There are many to be honest and im happy because most if not all got lines

 

Well to be fair , Topspin always looked similar to leadfoot