Connect with us

Featured Article

‘Transformers The Last Knight’ preview footage: Our reaction

Whilst most of you have been spending your Tuesday evening lamenting the end of season seven of The Walking Dead, we attended a special preview event for Transformers: The Last Knight. During the evening we, along with a Cineworld Empire Leicester Square IMAX screen full of Transformers fanatics, were treated to around twenty minutes of exclusive footage from the forthcoming summer smash.

The festivities kicked off with an introduction by director Michael Bay who revealed that this is the only summer blockbuster to be filmed entirely in native IMAX 3D. that means that everything with 3D effects that you see was filmed on location, there’s been no post-converting here. Bay promised that this would be the best way to experience the film and implored fans to seek out a brightly-lit 3D performance. Transformers apparently helped build IMAX so it seems only right that the latest film utilises the format to its maximum potential. According to Bay, and the execs whom also featured in the introduction, ‘the resolution and the clarity is mind-blowing!’

This will be Bay’s fifth time directing a Transformers film, and although he repeatedly said this was his last one, we can’t help but not believe him. If this does indeed end up being his last, he has promised that he’s ‘going out with a bang.’ As with previous films, this one will again travel around the globe with filming occurring all over the world. Bay also shared that the idea for The Last Knight was one of fourteen different stories that was birthed from his hive mind of writers. He teased that all of the ideas were fantastic and proclaimed the potential for a ‘wonderful mythology’ – we hope he’s not alluding that there are another thirteen films to come, no one can handle that many giant robots. He also ensured fans that this might be the fifth film, but it feels fresh; then he bowed out of the screen and the footage took over. What follows is a play-by-play of the highlights:

The footage began with what will surely be the opening moments of The Last Knight, a journey back in time, all the way back to the middle ages and the mythic time of King Arthur. It served as a great example of how the IMAX experience will be heightened. The battle sequences had a ton of depth and were on a par with the likes of Braveheart and Game of Thrones. King Arthur, played by Liam Garrigan whom previously played Arthur in Once Upon a Time (clever casting), was in the thick of the action. He and his men were waiting on a very late Merlin; it turned out that Merlin was busy getting ‘sozzled’ and encountering dragons, which may or may not have been Autobot in origin.

Then the story jumped bang up to date as four young boys made their way inside a restricted ‘alien’ (transformer) ‘graveyard’. Once inside they soon found themselves in peril from some very Robocop ED-esque sentry machines. Luckily for them, new girl Izabella (that’s with a Z folks), Canopy and Sqweeks turned up to help. Sqweeks is clearly taking aim at the cute robot mantle currently held by BB-8. He’s pretty adorable and has his own quirk – he’s a transformer who can’t transform (poor little guy). Mark Wahlberg‘s Cade then arrived with Bumblebee and we were firmly in a familiar Transformers film.

What followed then were several sequences that gave insights into our Transformers cast, new and old. It’s revealed that Cade, now a fugitive, is hiding out in a desert junkyard with his trusty T-Rex, Grimlock (whom in the clip we saw, is the ultimate untrained naughty puppy), and a slew of other Autobots. Soon enough Cade, his new sidekick Izabella, and new comedy relief Desi (played by real-life funny man Jerrod Carmichael), are racing around abandoned chapels, being chased bu gun-toting drones. Then our hero Cade is whisked away by a robotic Jeeves called Cogman.

It is then that we were introduced to Anthony Hopkins‘ Sir Edmund Bunton, the last in the line of ‘Witwickians’. He revealed his ‘Autobot retirement home’ to Cade before explaining that he is ‘more important than he can possibly imagine’. The pair are joined by this movie’s female eye-candy, Vivian, played by the stunning Laura Haddock, and Bunton shares a tale about King Arthur. It turns out that Arthur and his round table had back-up in the form of Cybertron Knights. Apparently ‘one last knight will be chosen and the struggles of the world will begin’…

Finally we got to see the big man, Optimus Prime, but far too briefly. It seems that this time around Prime is seeking redemption for past actions. No sooner was he on screen than he was off, replaced by a refresh of the first trailer which, amongst other things, showcased Autobots fighting Nazis.

The footage definitely went down well with the fanboys, and there was an audible cheer when Optimus appeared. For us the IMAX footage really does show promise, and more importantly there wasn’t a sunrise or sunset in sight! The opening medieval scenes look suitably massive and immersive, and are sure to wow crowds when the movie opens. In terms of plot, the details are a little thin on the ground, most of what we saw was probably from the opening hour (remember Transformers movies go on for hours) and there’s clearly a lot more to come. The footage we were shown missed the likes of Stanley TucciTyrese and Josh Duhamel meaning that there’s a whole story-line still to be unveiled. Overall, everything looks to be as per a usual Transformers movie, giant robots and a lot of action, popcorn cinema at its grandest.

You can see Transformers: The Last Knight in all its IMAX glory when it arrives in cinemas on 23rd June 2017.

Kat Hughes is a UK born film critic and interviewer who has a passion for horror films. An editor for THN, Kat is also a Rotten Tomatoes Approved Critic. She has bylines with Ghouls Magazine, Arrow Video, Film Stories, Certified Forgotten and FILMHOUNDS and has had essays published in home entertainment releases by Vinegar Syndrome and Second Sight. When not writing about horror, Kat hosts micro podcast Movies with Mummy along with her five-year-old daughter.

Latest Posts

More in Featured Article