Transformers: The Last Knight

Transformers: The Last Knight is a 2017 American science fiction action filmbased on the Transformers toy line created by Hasbro. It is the fifth installment of the live-action Transformers film series and a sequel to 2014's Age of Extinction. Like its predecessors, the film is directed by Michael Bay, and features Mark Wahlberg returning from Age of Extinction, with Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, and Glenn Morshower reprising their roles from the first three films, as well as Laura Haddock and Anthony Hopkins both joining the cast. It is the final film in the franchise to be directed by Michael Bay.

The film premiered at Odeon Leicester Square in London on June 18, 2017, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 21, 2017, by Paramount Pictures in 2D, 3D and IMAX 3D. The film was panned by critics, despite some praise for its action sequences and visual effects, and with an approval rating of 16% on Rotten Tomatoes, it is the worst-reviewed film of the Transformers series; at the 38th Golden Raspberry Awards, it was nominated for 10 awards, including Worst Picture, Worst Director and Worst Actor for Wahlberg, but did not win any. It grossed $605 million worldwide over a budget of $217 million, making it the lowest grossing film of the franchise.

A spin-off/prequel, directed by Travis Knight and entitled Bumblebee: The Movie, is scheduled for release on December 21, 2018.

Plot

In 484 AD, King Arthur and his knights battle against the Saxons. Elsewhere, Merlin approaches the Knights of Iacon, a group of Transformers hiding on Earth, to help win the war. They hand him an alien staff, before transforming together into Dragonstorm, warning Merlin that a great evil will come for the staff.

In the present, a year after the Hong Kong Uprising, Optimus Prime crash-lands on Cybertron, and meets his alleged creator Quintessa. She blames Optimus for Cybertron's destruction and brainwashes him into helping to gain Merlin's staff, which can absorb Earth’s energy to restore their homeworld. Earth is revealed to be the slumbering Unicron, whose horns are emerging across the planet.

On Earth, Transformers remain unwelcome amongst humanity, apart from in Cuba, and are hunted by the Transformer Reaction Force (TRF), a paramilitary force formed from the fallen Cemetery Wind. Cade Yeager, an ally to the Autobots, helps hide refugees from the TRF in his remote junkyard. In the war-torn Chicago, Cade, Bumblebee, street-wise scavenger Izabella and her Transformer companions Sqweeks and Canopy help a group of children evade the TRF drones, but Canopy is killed. Cade receives a mechanical talisman from a dying Autobot knight and has a brief standoff with the TRF before heading back to his junkyard with Izabella and Sqweeks. Both Megatron and the American military become aware of the talisman’s value and power, reluctantly joining forces to obtain it. A group of Decepticon prisoners are released to aid in the mission.

The Decepticons and the TRF locate Cade's hideout thanks to a tracker that the TRF had planted on Bumblebee during the standoff. Cade, his assistant Jimmy, Izabella, and Sqweeks flee from the Decepticons and the TRF to an abandoned town where the Autobots ambush their enemies and defeat them while Cade, Jimmy, and Izabella battle a unit of TRF drones. Cogman, a steampunk Transformer, approaches Cade and invites him to travel to the United Kingdom and meet his employer, Sir Edmund Burton, who has connections to the Transformers. Burton also has his associate, Hot Rod, bring Viviane Wembley, a University of Oxford English Literature professor, to his estate.

Bringing Cade, Viviane, and Bumblebee together, Burton explains that Transformers have been aiding mankind in war for centuries, their existence hidden by a secret society of historical figures known as the Order of Witwiccans. The talisman can lead to Merlin’s staff, buried with him in a Cybertronian spacecraft hidden at the bottom of the sea. However, only a direct descendant of Merlin can wield it, revealing Viviane is the last in his bloodline. The TRF and the local authorities discover them, forcing them to flee. Following a series of clues, Cade, Viviane, Bumblebee, and Cogman commandeer the HMS Alliance, which is revealed to be a Transformer, to find the spacecraft, followed by the TRF in their own submarines.

Burton later contacts Seymour Simmons, both learning that Earth is Unicron, and the staff will be used to drain the planet’s life, via an access point hidden under Stonehenge. Locating the ship, Cade and Viviane discover Merlin’s tomb and obtain the staff. Viviane activates it, causing the spacecraft to become airborne, awakening the Knights of Iacon. As the TRF try to take the staff from them, Optimus arrives, forcing them to surrender the staff. Bumblebee and Cade confront Optimus, the former speaking in his own voice, stirring Optimus’ memories and freeing him from Quintessa's control. The Knights try to execute Optimus for his presumed betrayal, but Cade stops them when his talisman transforms into Excalibur and the Knights yield to him.

Cybertron anchors itself to Earth above Stonehenge, Megatron joins forces with Quintessa after taking the staff from Optimus. Burton tries to intervene, but is mortally wounded by Megatron. The Autobots and TRF arrive, storming Quintessa’s lair to destroy her and obtain the staff. While many of the Decepticons and Quintessa's minions are killed, Optimus defeats Megatron while Quintessa is seemingly destroyed by him and Bumblebee. Cybertron and Earth are spared upon Viviane removing the staff, now connected together. Optimus sends a message out to surviving Autobots to return home and rebuild their world.

In a mid-credits scene, Quintessa, disguised as a human, approaches a group of scientists inspecting one of Unicron’s horns, offering a way to destroy him.