Following a week heavy with mega movie trailers (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 and The Mummy) everyone was still processing what 2017 was going to look like. It seemed like nothing could top these incredible trailers, and anyone who attempted to would be a damned fool. Then suddenly, late on a Monday, Christmas came a little early.

 

 

That’s right! After an impossible three-year wait since Transformers 4: Jurassic Park, we will get its sequel, Transformers: The Last Knight, wherein Optimus Prime will go medieval on some Decepticons, and maybe even flip the script on his own team, like Starscream.

The Last Knight will be the fifth installment of a series that despite routinely negative reviews (the franchise averages a 25% rating on Rotten Tomatoes), continues to enjoy success that warrants sequels; the financial, if not critical, success of first four films have resulted in films planned through 2025, not unlike the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the DC Extended Universe and the Universal Monsters Shared Universe.
 
Elitist “film critics” haven’t stopped the global audiences from flocking to IMAX 3D theaters, impossibly blazed, to throw billions of dollars at the franchise, which has become the main vehicle for Michael Bay’s signature explosive filmmaking style in the past decade, other than 13 Hours and Pain & Gain.
Say what you want about Michael Bay, you know what you’re going to get when you see his name in the director’s credit, for better or worse. Bay himself seems like he might be tired of the franchise, vowing after each installment that it will be his last. This time, though, it was the writers who pulled him back in, inspiring work that was challenging and exciting for the veteran director.
 
“The palette on this one is the most different I’ve ever done. It will be the most different. The third act is spectacular looking. It’s stuff that I’ve never done that excites me. It’s stuff that’s really complicated. I say: “I have no fucking idea how we’re going to shoot this.” It’s fun. That’s the fun of it,” Bay told Screenrant.
 
When Michael Bay says anything is “spectacular looking” you already know what time it is.
 
Whereas the last installment saw the introduction of robosaurs – excuse me, dinobots – this one will introduce an Optimus Prime who is more handy with the steel, if you know what I mean.
 
 
How this film will fit into the film universe remains to be seen. Despite the standalone nature of each movie in the franchise, certain elements bleed from one film into the others. This time, the filmmakers worked from a “bible” created by Hasbro that included major storylines and plot points from the cartoon and comic adaptations that will figure into The Last Knight, and the franchise films moving forward, which will be a boon for OG fans who have been critical of the cinematic departure from original stories and characters.
 
Transformers: The Last Knight will release June 23, 2017. You can watch the trailer here.