Transformers: The Last Knight (film)

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So forget any ideas you've got about lost cities, exotic travel, and digging up the world. We do not follow maps to buried treasure, and "X" never, ever marks the spot.

Transformers: The Last Knight

Production info Production companies Hasbro Films di Bonaventura Pictures Bagboyent Media Weying Galaxy The H Collective Distributor Paramount Pictures Release date June 21, 2017 Story by Akiva Goldsman Art Marcum Matt Holloway Ken Nolan Screenplay by Art Marcum Matt Holloway Ken Nolan Directed by Michael Bay Edited by Mark Sanger John Refoua Debra Neil-Fisher Roger Barton Adam Gerstel Calvin Wimmer Cinematography by Jonathan Sela Music by Steve Jablonsky Producer(s) Lorenzo di Bonaventura Tom DeSanto Don Murphy Ian Bryce Executive producer(s) Steven Spielberg Continuity Live-action film series Running time 149 minutes Budget $217–260 million Box office $605.4 million

Transformers: The Last Knight is the fifth film in the live-action film series, serving as a sequel to Transformers: Age of Extinction, and was released on June 21, 2017.

When he is gifted a Talisman by a dying Transformer knight, Cade Yeager finds himself pursued by both the Decepticons and the Transformers Reaction Force. He is soon recruited along with Viviane Wembly by Sir Edmund Burton, last of the Order of the Witwiccans, to once again save the world from a new impending threat.

Synopsis

Eternal life, Doctor Jones! The gift of youth to whoever drinks from the Grail.

It is the year 484 in England. A medieval battle rages. King Arthur and his knights are looking down the barrel of defeat at the hands of the Saxons, and their only hope lies with the magician Merlin. Elsewhere, Merlin (in reality merely a drunkard), rides up to a long-crashed alien ship and beseeches the occupants for help. He has kept their secret, but now needs their help. The other knights are losing hope, but Arthur believes Merlin will come through. Merlin manages to convince a giant metal red-armored knight at the ship to help, and it presents him with a staff, allowing him to return to the battle with a giant metal dragon. The battle is won in favor of Camelot.

Present day: five years have passed since the battle of Hong Kong. Optimus Prime drifts apparently lifeless in space. Both he and Megatron have vanished from Earth, and in spite of the atrocities caused by the CIA's Cemetery Wind, the vast majority of Earth's governments agreed that all Transformers should be considered illegal out of fear for more of the devastation that had already occurred in the past, with the Transformers Reaction Force set up to track them down, though they've found refuge in some places such as Cuba, where Seymour Simmons is hanging out with some displaced Autobots. Meanwhile, Transformers continue to arrive in waves while NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory detects something large incoming.

He speaks a dozen languages and knows every local custom. He'll blend in, disappear and you'll never see him again.

Four kids, craving adventure, breach a fence and enter a section of Chicago ruined by a previous Transformer battle. They stumble on a crashed Transformer ship containing a still-living occupant. TRF Sentinels close in on them and warn them that they're trespassing; however Izabella appears out of nowhere to help, slinging bottles of Energon which result in one of the Sentinels shooting the another. Izabella's tiny robot Sqweeks wraps a cable around the legs of the remaining Sentinel and it topples over, allowing the kids time to get away. Pursued by another Sentinel, Izabella takes the kids to shelter — a Transformer named Canopy whose back is a hollow mound of rubble. They're joined by Sqweeks, who's lost his arm in the battle. Canopy and the kids start moving, unaware the TRF has spotted them. Unable to determine what faction Canopy is and with kids possibly in danger, TRF commander Santos orders an air strike. The missile takes out Canopy, who thanks a tearful Izabella before dying. The kids are soon rescued by Cade Yeager and Bumblebee who destroy another Sentinel.

Cade drives the kids to the border of the no-go zone and drops them off before returning to the crashed ship. Despite his efforts, the pilot within dies, but not before attempting to present Cade with the Talisman. Cade does not take it. He reports the pilot's death to Bumblebee shortly before Barricade appears and Cade is suddenly surrounded by TRF forces. Meanwhile, the Talisman sprouts legs and crawls away from the ship. Cade refuses to divulge where the other Transformers are. Bumblebee arrives, only to be blown to pieces by the TRF. Moments later, the parts start reconnecting as Bumblebee reassembles himself, sending the TRF forces into disarray as he does so. He and Cade take Santos hostage, but the standoff is interrupted by the arrival of Lennox who tries to talk Cade and Bee into standing down. Hound's appearance settles things however, and Cade, Bee, and Hound leave, though the TRF manages to surreptitiously attach a tracking device onto Bumblebee.

Lennox reports to General Morshower who plays a recording of Barricade reporting back to Megatron. Megatron is disappointed Barricade failed to secure the Talisman as it is the object they need to lead them to the staff, but Barricade believes the TRF will lead them to it. Morshower orders Lennox to return to his covert infiltration of the TRF.

My soul is prepared. How's yours?

Optimus's voyage through space comes to an end as he crashes on the ravaged surface of Cybertron, which has been mysteriously disassembled into many pieces. He encounters and attacks Quintessa, who claims to be his creator and the "Prime of Life," but she easily restrains him.

As he returns to the junkyard he calls home, Cade realizes that the Talisman has somehow ended up in his vehicle. In England, Cogman alerts Sir Edmund Burton to the arrival of the Talisman. Elsewhere in England, Viviane Wembly wins a game of polo for her team before returning to the University of Oxford. She lectures her class on King Arthur, someone she believes to be a made-up legend, unaware she's being watched by Burton. Burton gives instructions to a nearby parked car.

Quintessa tells Optimus that he must retrieve her staff, stolen by her knight guardians and hidden on Earth.

Drift and Crosshairs are hanging out in the junkyard. Cade, Hound, and Bumblebee stop off on their way back so Cade can banter with the local authority, Chief Sherman, who complains that his cruiser has been stolen. The trio continue to the junkyard where Jimmy and Wheelie are looking at online photos of custom cars. They are unaware Izabella and Sqweeks have stowed away on Hound. While Bumblebee and Crosshairs come to blows, Cade persuades Grimlock to cough up Sherman's cruiser, or what's left of it. Daytrader arrives, bringing Starscream's head and a new voicebox for Bumblebee. He's interested in Cade's Talisman, and says it's a sign of the impending apocalypse. Izabella fronts up to Cade and attempts to persuade him to let her stay. They return to Cade's trailer for antics with the Baby Dinobots and trade stories of lost family members. Izabella manages to impress Cade with her knowledge of Cybertronian physiology and he's convinced to let her stay.

In Namibia, scientists arrive at a location to find a giant metal horn poking out of the ground. News of the horn, and five more like it, get back to Simmons and Burton. Meanwhile, the NASA scientists meet with presidential staff to report they have detected an approaching planet, which they say will arrive in three days.

Helped by Hound, Cade makes an untraceable satellite phone call to his daughter at college, but is unable to speak to her for fear that his voice will be recognized by the CIA, and can only listen as she tries to convince him to get a girlfriend.

Lennox meets Morshower at the Pentagon for a briefing on the horns — Megatron has been spotted visiting them and has snatched up two CIA operatives as hostages. Lennox and some lawyers meet with Megatron to negotiate the return of some of his men. They agree to release Mohawk, Dreadbot, and Nitro Zeus; Berserker, however, turns out to be a step too far, and Megatron is forced to select Onslaught instead. Morshower believes they can use Megatron so they can get hold of Cade's Talisman themselves.

The Grail is mine, and you're going to get it for me.

As morning breaks over the junkyard, the Decepticons prepare to move in, observed by the TRF. Izabella attaches a new arm to Sqweeks, before helping Cade fit Bumblebee's new voicebox. Bee is not happy with the result, which sounds like a GPS. Sherman gives the group advanced warning of the impending Decepticon assault, and the Autobots and humans scramble to get ready to escape. Megatron's group arrives to find the junkyard deserted, at least until Hound pops up and starts shooting. Megatron returns fire. The Autobot group heads into the nearby town, where Drift swiftly disables the tracking device on Bee. Grimlock and Slug ambush the TRF forces en route to the town. Santos has a swarm of unmanned drones sent in. The Decepticons arrive in the middle of town and immediately spot Sqweeks, which draws Izabella out in an attempt to save the tiny Autobot. Cade detonates the explosives hidden around town and flees with Izabella, pursued by Barricade. The 'Con is knocked aside by Grimlock, who also devours Dreadbot. As the battle rapidly turns against the Decepticons, with Onslaught being killed by Drift and Crosshairs, Megatron calls a retreat. Mohawk, however, is left behind and is subsequently reduced to a head by Bumblebee. Cade, Izabella, and Jimmy take cover in a disused church as the TRF drones move in, however the drones continue to pursue them through the church. Cade and Izabella take two of them out, but Jimmy tries to bluff a third, banking on the idea it's using facial recognition. He gets shot anyway, but fortunately it was only a beanbag.

The trio head into another disused building and enter a lift where they encounter Cogman, who announces he's come to collect Cade. The discussion ends when a drone arrives, and Cade ends up clinging to it as it flies wildly around the street. Cogman phones Sir Burton to report the bad news, but fortunately Cade survives his impromptu flight, partly thanks to the Talisman protecting him from bullets. He manages to ride another drone to the ground and is met by Cogman who explains that he's important because of the Talisman. Crosshairs attempts to prevent Cogman from doing anything, only for the smaller robot to break his finger. Cogman convinces Cade to go with him and leave the others. Cade and Bee accompany Cogman on a plane to England.

Morshower and Lennox track the flight, and note that Megatron's group is giving pursuit. Lennox is ordered to take the TRF team to the UK as well.

Simmons calls Sir Burton to let him know a book has been tracked down. NASA continues tracking the incoming planet, now identified as Cybertron. Quintessa reveals to Optimus that Earth is actually Unicron and that they're going to kill him with the staff, an act which will destroy Earth and restore Cybertron. Optimus's optics turn purple as Quintessa addresses him as "Nemesis Prime". Optimus swears to fight anyone who interferes with his new mission.

Nazis. I hate those guys.

Viviane and her family watch a news report on the giant horns. Conversation turns to her dead father, and her mother suggests she check her father's study in case there's anything useful for her work. Disinterested, she instead gets into her car where an invitation falls out of the glove compartment. The car takes off of its own accord and starts driving her through the streets of London. When she smashes a window, the car complains in a French accent and throws her into the trunk. She calls for help, having realized she's in a Transformer, and the car scans a passing Lamborghini, reconfiguring itself into a copy of the other vehicle.

Cade's plane lands at Sir Burton's castle, where he and Bumblebee are shot at by a tank Transformer. Sir Burton apologizes and takes a look at the Talisman. Hot Rod arrives carrying Viviane, who is unhappy at being kidnapped. Once things calm down, Sir Burton explains he's the last of the Order of the Witwiccans. Cade's boorish behavior towards Viviane results in him being assaulted by Cogman. Sir Burton shows off portraits of his family tree and the Witwiccans, and relates how the Transformers have been helping humans for centuries, such as when Bumblebee and Hot Rod took part in World War II. They head to another building which houses the original Round Table used by King Arthur and his knights when they teamed up with the twelve Guardian Knights. Further there is a legend that a last knight would be found and thanks to possessing the Talisman, that's Cade. Only Merlin's DNA can unlock the power of the staff, which is where Viviane comes in as a direct descendant of Merlin. She has no idea where the staff might be though. Further discussion is halted as MI6 and TRF forces arrive to assault the castle. Despite one of the elderly Autobots attempting to defend the castle only to power down as a result of his aging, Hot Rod's time stopper weapon gives the group enough time to escape.

How does one get off this thing?!

Simmons makes an irate call to Sir Burton, who is currently being pursued through London and is late for the appointment at Trinity Library. Bumblebee arrives at Viviane's house with her and Cade, and the pair start rifling through her father's study in search of a clue. Sir Burton's dropped off at the library, but Simmons demands to be inducted into the Order of Witwiccans before he'll point Sir Burton to the Book of Cyber-Kells, which reveals Earth is Unicron and points them to Stonehenge. After experiencing flashbacks to her childhood whilst touching a pendant in a matching urn, Cade and Viviane find a clue in an old popup book which points them to the HMS Alliance at a naval museum. The TRF arrive at the house. Meanwhile, Sir Burton and Cogman switch cars and a high-speed chase through the streets of London ensues. Cade and Viviane, now also making a getaway in Bumblebee, let them know about the navy museum. Cogman manages to shake his pursuers while Bumblebee manages to shake Barricade by blasting the Decepticon.

Bumblebee reaches the naval museum at the same time as Cogman and Sir Burton, and they have the HMS Alliance evacuated. Sir Burton leaves the others to it, explaining that the submarine, in reality a Transformer, knows the way to the staff. The sub launches, with Bumblebee clinging to the exterior so he cam come along for the ride. The sub's departure is noted by TRF and they track it as it heads away from England. The TRF scramble their own submersibles to give chase. A nuclear sub fires missiles at the Alliance which responds by ramming the other sub and diving deeper into the ocean. Cogman fires himself out through a torpedo tube.

Sir Burton arrives at Number 10 to see the Prime Minister, but is turned away. Cogman returns to the sub with a couple of fish he's caught. Viviane and Cade share clumsy sexual chemistry until Cogman reveals he's made sushi as a "last meal". Sir Burton takes a secret back entrance into Number 10 to talk to the PM, holding off security by threatening to release the watch that killed Hitler. Sir Burton tells the PM to mobilize the military to Stonehenge. The Alliance zeros in on a vast undersea Transformer ship, which lights up as they approach. The pursuing TRF subs also spot the ship, but have to make their own way in after the airlock doors close behind the Alliance. The Alliance surfaces beyond the airlock, and the group starts exploring.

Two selfless martyrs. Jesus Christ!

Back at the junkyard, Izabella, Sqweeks, and Crosshairs look up at the approaching Cybertron. Elsewhere, NASA and ESA scientists give a briefing as the approaching planet scrapes the surface of the Moon. The doomsday news is broadcast on television around the world. The subs carrying the TRF teams led by Lennox and Santos emerge into an air pocket, and they move out. Daytrader arrives back at the junkyard with the Autobots' ship, and the group there prepares to head to England to help out. Cade and Viviane find a chamber holding motionless Guardian Knights. Cybertron moves into Earth's atmosphere, passing the International Space Station. Viviane touches a Celtic engraving which reveals Merlin's sarcophagus, inside which they find a wooden staff. As the TRF moves through the same chamber, one of the knights springs to life. Cade keeps it distracted as the TRF attacks it, eventually bringing it down. Viviane grabs the wooden staff which transforms into metal in her hands. Lennox and Santos attempt to get her to hand it over, but she reveals only she can use it. More knights revive and attack, however a short time later, Optimus kills them and forces Viviane to turn the staff over to him. Sending the others back to the sub, Cade, Lennox, and Bumblebee go after Optimus.

You're strangely dressed... for a knight.

Bumblebee fights with Optimus atop the vast ship as it comes to the surface. Bumblebee manages to get the better of his former leader, and Cade attempts to persuade Optimus to stop fighting. As the ship rises out of the water, Optimus is able to get the upper hand and is prepared to end Bumblebee when Bee manages to talk in his own voice. Shaking Quintessa's influence, Optimus drops his sword, just in time for Megatron and Nitro to swoop in and claim the staff. After the Decepticons leave, the remaining Guardian Knights emerge from the ship and are ready to execute Optimus for aiding Quintessa's cause. The Talisman transforms into a sword which Cade uses to block the killing strike, and the Knights recognize Cade as a knight. Though Prime is ready to die, Cade talks him out of sacrificing himself, and Optimus announces they have to destroy Quintessa with the other Autobots show up in their ship.

He chose...poorly.

Cybertron makes touchdown on Earth, causing untold destruction. Megatron arrives at Stonehenge with the staff. Lennox contacts Morshower with the coordinates for the "end game", an ignition chamber which is part of one of the dangling pieces of Cybertron and military forces move in. Cade comes up with a plan to load Ospreys onto the Autobot ship so they can get close enough to the ignition chamber to land. NASA thinks this is a bad plan and works on an alternate idea. The massive ship continues towards Stonehenge where the Decepticons, along with Sir Burton and the military forces, are waiting. At Sir Burton's signal, the military opens fire on the Decepticons as the massive ship arrives directly overhead. The Autobots regroup with Cade and the TRF, and Optimus Prime gives a stirring speech before blasting off. Cogman manages to find Sir Burton, who had been blasted by Megatron sometime prior to the Autobots' arrival, shortly before he expires.

Megatron returns to the Ignition Chamber where Quintessa is waiting. She plugs the staff into the floor, and lightning starts arcing about. The pieces of Cybertron start moving about and joining, causing those on the ground to run for their lives. Massive worldwide destruction ensues. As the Autobot ship carries Autobots, knights and humans up to their fates, Cade asks Viviane out on a date. Jets soften up the defenses around the ignition chamber while the humans all board the Ospreys, and Cade has it out with Santos. Shamed, the TRF troops all rip off their insignias. The Ospreys launch, and Izabella and Sqweeks reveal they've stowed away on the one carrying Cade and Viviane. Covered by the jets and the giant three-headed dragon, the Ospreys head to the ignition chamber, and crash-land on the surface. The landing site is immediately a war zone as Megatron and his Decepticons stand in their way. Lennox spots the entrance to the chamber, but the team is pinned down by a gun emplacement. Izabella instructs Sqweeks to go blow the gun emplacement up. Infernocus forms under Megatron's orders and knocks Bumblebee and company out of the air.

May we go home now, please?

Meanwhile, the NASA scientists have come up with a plan to use nukes to cause a nearby chunk of Cybertron to destroy the ignition chamber. Morshower contacts Lennox to let him know the new plan, and the TRF forces start withdrawing. Sqweeks succeeds in blowing up the gun emplacement. Optimus arrives aboard the dragon and takes out Infernocus. As the TRF troops parachute off the platform, the jets nuke the neighbouring chunk of Cybertron. Viviane drops her parachute and heads back towards the chamber, followed by Cade. The chunk hits the platform containing the chamber, however despite the devastating impact, the chamber continues to function.

Trust no one.

The chamber tumbles down until it comes to rest on another part of Cybertron. Inside, chaos reigns as the Autobots and Decepticons fight and Viviane grabs the staff. Optimus kicks Megatron through a wall shortly before another impact sends the chamber tumbling out of the sky. Bumblebee kills Nitro Zeus and blasts Quintessa as Optimus manages to distract her. Quintessa vanishes in a flash of blue light. Viviane finally pulls the staff free, shutting down the Ignition Chamber just before it crashes to the ground. Optimus dramatically drives out of the cloud of debris raised by its impact, carrying Cade and Viviane. As everyone reunites, Optimus gives another stirring speech about how Earth and Cybertron are now joined as one before the Autobots depart for Cybertron alongside the guardian knights.

Meanwhile, back in Namibia, Quintessa, now in a human form, walks up to one of the scientists studying the giant metal horn and offers to tell him how to kill Unicron.

Main cast

Quotes

"All right, I am what they say. I'm a liar, a charlatan. I've deceived my whole life, but if I could, for one moment, change this world for the better, I would give up everything! Everything! I'd give up drink! Money! Wom- ...Drink and money!"

—Merlin

"You dare to strike your God?! Your war doomed Cybertron!"
"Megatron started the war-"
"You destroyed your world, you fool!"

—Quintessa shows Optimus who's boss after slapping him.

[In a Siri-type voice]
"Daytrader is a punk-ass bitch."

—Bumblebee isn't happy.

"There is a way to heal your world. My power of creation, the staff, was stolen from me by my twelve Guardian Knights. They betrayed me, and hid it on Earth. Gave it to your precious humans...the staff is the only way to bring life back to Cybertron. You are going to find it for me. Do you seek redemption, Prime? Do you?"
"My maker, I do."

—Quintessa coaxes a half-brainwashed Optimus to her side.

"The end is near, my old treacherous friend... what a shame you'll be unable to see it."

—Megatron musing to the decapitated head of Starscream

"Go to hell!"
"'This planet is hell!"

—Izabella and Megatron exchange smack talk

"Don't kill the messenger... or the messenger will kill you."

—Cogman

"You are needed, sir. Urgently. My master is fond of saying that all the important decisions in life often come down to just one moment."

—Cogman impresses on Cade the gravity of the situation.

"Introductions. Miss Viviane Wembly: Master of History, Oxford; Doctor of Philosophy, also Oxford; and Doctor of Letters, Oxford again, I think. Anything else? Anyway, meet Cade."
"...Yeager. Cade Yeager. I'm an inventor."

—Sir Edmund Burton and Cade Yeager

Hot Rod: "Bonjour, chérie! Je m'appelle Hot Rôd."
Viviane: "Ut what?"
Hot Rod: "Hot Rôd."
Viviane "Hut Rud?"
Hot Rod: "Hot Rôd!"
Sir Edmund Burton: "Hot. Rod."
Hot Rod: "Mhmm."
Sir Edmund Burton: "It's his French accent."
Viviane: "Is he French?"
Sir Edmund Burton: "No, he just likes the accent."
Hot Rod: "Non! No no no, I HATE the accent! But I can't get rid of it! I'm stuck with the accent!"

—Everybody loves Hot Rod.

"Bee?"
"Yes."
"But he's so nice."
"Behind the lines during the war they called him many things... nice was never one of them."

—Cade and Sir Edmund on Bumblebee's past.

[Cogman is playing the organ]
"You ruined the moment again."
"I was trying to make the moment more epic"

—Cogman annoying Sir Edmond Burton and practicing for Britain's Got Talent.

"Optimus... it is time you knew the truth. The place you call Earth has another name: Unicron."
"Earth... Unicron? Cybertron's ancient enemy?"
"Yes. You are going to kill him. With my staff, we will drain the very life from Unicron. Earth will die."
"Yes..."
"And your world will be reborn... Nemesis Prime."
"I will fight anyone who stands in my way."

—Quintessa coaxes a completely brainwashed Optimus Nemesis Prime to her side.

"I-I am Bumblebee... Your oldest friend! Optimus... I would lay down my life for you."

—Bumblebee regains his voice, and Optimus regains his mind.

"You blew your chance to kill Unicron!"
"I knew you couldn't do it! Your time is over, Prime. You FAILED! You turned your back on Cybertron, now you will watch Earth DIE!"

—Nitro Zeus and Megatron denounce Optimus after his redemption.

"Knights, Autobots - this cannot and will not be the end. To save Earth and her people, we are going to steal Quintessa's staff. Only you, Viviane, can take it back. I will lead the way into her chamber, and when the account of the ages is etched into the cosmos, let those who exist long after us know that this was our finest hour!"

—Optimus rallies his new and old allies before the final battle.

"Did you forget who I am? I AM OPTIMUS PRIME!"

—Optimus as he effortlessly kills the Infernocons. They should've run for cover, or at least DUCKED.

"We were brothers once!"
"Once."

—Megatron and Optimus Prime

"At the heart of every legend, there is truth: a few brave souls unite to save the world. We can be heroes in our own lives, every one of us, if we only have the courage to try. Our fates were always intertwined, but now our worlds are joined as one. We need to repair our planets, work together, if we wish to survive. A dangerous secret is buried deep inside the Earth. There is more to this planet than meets the eye. I am Optimus Prime, calling all Autobots... It is time to come home."

—Optimus Prime's closing narration.

Continuity notes

• Optimus left Earth at the end of the last movie, to look for the mysterious Creators. The Seed he was carrying is absent and its fate is unmentioned, but he did say he was going to take it where "it could never be found," so perhaps he accomplished that first. As for the Creators, they are left ambiguous; Quintessa professes to have created the Cybertronian race, but no attempt is made to connect or reconcile her with the biomechanical alien arm seen in Age of Extinction, and she is labelled "the great deceiver" by the knights, throwing anything she claims into question.
• It seemed as though Cybertron was disintegrated at the end of Dark of the Moon, but it was unclear if what we were seeing was literal, or just an exaggerated visual of the space bridge collapsing and the planet disappearing with it (this was a film in which a planet could be "half-teleported" and be absolutely fine, after all). Here, it appears partially broken-apart, chunks of the planet tethered to the rest by cables.
• Merlin mentions that Cybertron was "destroyed"; he's not referring to Dark of the Moon (which, obviously, hadn't happened yet at that time), but to the planet being ravaged by the war, and left barren and lifeless by the loss of the AllSpark prior to the first movie.
• As per the end of Age of Extinction, Drift has only one of his two longswords, having evidently never recovered the other after he hurled it into a KSI Sentry during the final act of the film. However, see "Errors".
• Wheelie and Topspin reappear following their absence from the previous film, both revealed to have survived Cemetery Wind's Autobot hunt. Given that Sideswipe was indicated to have been killed by Cemetery Wind in Age of Extinction tie-in material, the only Autobots that survived the end of Dark of the Moon whose current status (i.e. around the timeframe of this film) are unknown are Roadbuster and Dino, who were listed by Harold Attinger's deck of dead-or-alive Transformers cards as not being "eliminated".
• The Dinobots were "set free" by Optimus at the end of the last movie, though at least some of them have since joined up with the main Autobot team in hiding, presumably for pragmatic reasons. Unnamed in dialogue in the previous film, Grimlock is here called by name (by Cade), the only Dinobot named on-screen.
• Izabella mentions that her parents were killed during the Decepticon invasion of Chicago in Dark of the Moon.
• Morshower says that America has made deals with the devil before to get while they want. While there's certainly a lot of real-world basis for this claim that is beyond the scope of discussion for this wiki, in the context of the films, mention could be made of the United Nations agreeing to Sentinel Prime's demands for the Earth Autobots to be evicted from the planet only to backfire horribly for humanity.
• Cade's daughter Tessa was a soon to graduate high school student in Age of Extinction, and she has since gone on to college.
• Starscream was killed by a NEST boomstick at the climax of Dark of the Moon. Age of Extinction established that scavengers had salvaged many objects from the Battle of Chicago, explaining why Daytrader found his head in Buffalo.
• The T.R.F.'s prison facility is labeled "N.B.E. Supermax", in reference to Sector Seven's acronym for the Transformers.
• The dagger gun used by Cade in Age of Extinction can be seen when he and Jimmy are gathering weapons as the TRF are approaching the junkyard.
• Megatron addresses Starscream's disembodied head as "my treacherous old friend". Back in Revenge of the Fallen, Megatron accused Starscream of abandoning him to die in the first movie. We wouldn't call that a justified accusation, but what can we do? It's the word of a dead skull against that of the universe's greatest warlord.
• When Viviane is abducted by Hot Rod, she asks if her captor is a famous Transformer such as Shockwave or Soundwave, unaware that they both died in Dark of the Moon.
• Pictures of Sam Witwicky and Archibald Witwicky are briefly visible in Burton's mansion. Burton's claim that he is the last living member of the Witwiccans indirectly implies that either Sam died off-screen after his last appearance in Dark of the Moon, or simply being a Witwicky wasn't enough to count as membership.
• Multiple photographs, newspaper clippings, and other memorabilia in Burton's mansion depict Megatron, Starscream, Optimus Prime, Shockwave, Drift, Hound, Ironhide, Bumblebee, and The Last Knight-introduced characters, Hot Rod, Bulldog, four Guardian Knights, and more generic 'bots: Samurai Knight, WWII Plane Transformer, and Da Vinci Bot as part of human history. However, see "Errors".
• A Pillar and the Ark fuel cell are briefly visible as a part of the many historical artifacts in Burton's mansion.
• Daytrader gives the Autobots Lockdown's ship, which was last seen being attacked by Chinese military jets in Hong Kong.
• The Ark is briefly seen on the Moon, where it was revealed to be back in Dark of the Moon, having been left there untouched in the years since, along with the site of the Apollo 11 moon landing.
• Among the landmarks trashed by the hanging chunks of Cybertron is the Great Pyramid of Giza, where the climax of Revenge of the Fallen took place. The top of the pyramid is still missing following the events of that movie, in which it was torn open to reveal the Star Harvester.
• Optimus remarks that he has not heard Bumblebee's voice "since Cybertron fell". This is actually foreshadowing to the prequel film Bumblebee, which features Bee talking to Optimus in his normal voice in the Cybertron prologue. However, see "Errors".
• The Autobots and Decepticons are seen using Orbital Assault Carriers, which have been featured in the movie series since Dark of the Moon.
• The Baby Dinobots appear without any form of explanation as to where they come from or what exactly they are.

Transformers references

• The jars of green goo that Izabella tosses to distract the TRF Sentinels have Energon in them.^[1]
• Cade and the Autobots use a junkyard as a base.
• Hot Rod and Onslaught take their names from Generation 1 characters, but they have little relevance to their progenitors as far as appearance, personality, or role in the story goes.
• At some point in the movie, the Guardian Knights are also referred as "Knights of Iacon", a name that is usually associated to Autobot-controlled cities and/or military headquarters on Cybertron in other continuities.
• Quintessa is inspired by the Quintessons, the extraterrestrials antagonists from season 3 of the original 1980's cartoon. In the cartoon continuity, the Quintessons were the creators of the Transformers, in the same way that Quintessa claims to be in the film.
• Unicron is the ancient enemy of Primus/Cybertron, who was introduced in The Transformers: The Movie. The idea of Unicron being Earth is derived from the Transformers: Prime cartoon, in which the planet formed around his dormant body. Whether or not these particulars hold true for the movie's incarnation of Unicron remains to be seen.
• When Optimus Prime falls under Quintessa's control, he is dubbed "Nemesis Prime", an obvious reference to the evil clone/alternate version/corrupted future of Optimus Prime that has appeared in many continuities.
• Several Transformers introduced in this film have altered designs from past films, yet are entirely new characters nevertheless. Onslaught and Canopy are both altered versions of Long Haul, Nitro Zeus employs the same body design as the KSI Bosses but has a head modified from Shockwave's, Dreadbot is an altered version of Crowbar, Berserker reuses Crankcase, Trench is the same body-type as Scrapper and Scrapmetal, and Lieutenant is a much smaller modified model of Jetfire. Also, despite being based off Constructicons, Canopy and Trench are both Autobots.
• Edmund Burton claims Cogman is a "headmaster", which is typically a human-sized bot that transforms into the head of a larger bot. While this reference is borne out by his Deluxe Class toy, which features a larger vehicle body and a detachable head, indicating it was supposed to be part of the film, it didn't happen on-screen.
• Burton's walking stick makes the classic transformation sound when it turns into a gun.

Real-life references

• King Arthur, Merlin and the associated knights are from British legend. The battle depicted at the beginning of the movie is the Battle of Badon.
• The TRF Sentinel that attacks Bumblebee and the kids bears resemblance to the ED-209 from Robocop, with a nearly identical leg design.
• Jimmy says that when Cade is away from the junkyard, the Autobots are so rowdy that it becomes the Wild Kingdom.
• When Bumblebee calls Izabella over to have his voice box replaced, he states "Doc, come in, Doc", using a voice quote by Marty McFly in Back to the Future Part II.
• The bogus voice box Bumblebee gets from Daytrader has the voice of Siri, the AI assistant found in most iPhones.
• Crosshairs calls Cogman a "C-3PO ripoff".
• Sir Edmund Burton quotes the song It's a Long Way to Tipperary in reference to World War I.
• While evading the constabulary in London, Cogman breaks into an impromptu rendition of Ludacris's 2002 hit "Move Bitch", though he incorrectly sings "get out of my way" rather than "get out the way".
• Optimus' speech before the final battle begins ends with the line "let those who exist long after us know that this was our finest hour", paraphrasing one of Winston Churchill's most famous speeches.
• Optimus saying "Say hello to my friend, Bumblebee!" is loosely based on the line "Say hello to my little friend!" from Scarface.

Other editions

"International" version

Two versions of the film were released to theaters: one screened in English-speaking countries, which seems to be the "finished" version, and another shown internationally, with foreign language subtitles, which appears to be an earlier version. There are numerous differences in dialogue between the two versions, with some lines being dropped, added, or changed completely for the finished version, including ones that even help to make the film make more sense!

• When Hound shows up when TRF are talking to Bee and Cade, in the finished version he says, "Sorry I'm late! My invitation to this ass-kicking must have gotten lost in the mail." The alternate version has him say "Mornin', fellas! I like showing up to a gun fight! This round mound's gonna mow you down. Translation: Sayonara, suckers!"
• When Barricade meets Megatron to report about the Staff. In the finished version, Barricade replies to Megatron, "I know who can lead us to them", however in the alternate version, he states, "But I know who can lead us to them."
• When Crosshairs sits on the orbital assault carrier in the junkyard, in the finished version he says, "Losing our heads sitting around here, So tired of hiding.", while in the alternate version, he says "Ughhhhh, so bored on this forsaken rock.". Take note that his lip syncing is supposed to pair up with the alternate version's dialogue.
• When Hound arrives in the junkyard, he tosses aside a weapons cache that explodes on impact behind him. For some reason, the film plays this as a "flatulence" gag, though it differs between versions; in the finished version, Hound says "I shouldn't have eaten all of that Tijuana street machinery!" while in the alternate version, he says "Woah, been holding that one in for a while!"
• When Daytrader says "You always resort to violence, right off the bat!", in the finished version Hound replies "I love violence!". Hound does not reply in the alternate version.
• Hound has an extra line about wanting to "deep-six" Daytrader in the alternate cut right before the Vatti Bot appears, whereas he remains silent in the final edition.
• Izabella laughs at Cade's attempts to make Grimlock spit out the cruiser in the alternate cut. She smiles, but remains silent in the final version.
• When Jimmy and Wheelie argue, the finished version has Wheelie back down a bit when Jimmy threatens and grabs him, with Wheelie adding that Jimmy is the worst "senior vice president ever". In the alternate cut, Wheelie continues to berate him, threatening "I'll have my Autobot brethren kick your ass!". Oddly, he still flails his hands around when he's not saying anything in the latter version, meaning his animation is meant to be paired with the "finished" audio.
• In the "earlier" version, all of Nitro Zeus's dialogue is provided by Steven Barr, and the actor receives an on-screen credit for the role. For the "finished" version, it was all re-recorded by John DiMaggio (with the credits altered to reflect the change), with some differences. During his introduction, for instance, the finished version has him say: "I know where you live, Enrique, say hello to your wife for me!" while the other, he says: "By the way, Enrique, Chet's sleeping with your wife!" Though in the international version, after said dialogue, DiMaggio's laughter can be heard.
• When arriving at the Junkyard, DiMaggio-Nitro remarks "Aw man, I kicked more ass in prison!" upon learning that Cade and co. have left, while in the alternate version Barr-Nitro says "Unfortunate, because I was looking to knock some heads!".
• While Megatron is musing to the head of Starscream, as he says "The end is near", DiMaggio-Nitro cuts in with "Oh, she's coming!" while Barr-Nitro remains silent.
• When the Decepticons arrive in the abandoned town, Barr-Nitro says: "I know they're close!" while DiMaggio-Nitro says: "Oh, I feel a fight comin'!"
• In the final film, when the Autobots discover the tracker planted on Bumblebee, Crosshairs remarks "The tracker led 'em right to us! When are you gonna grow up?" but in the alternate version, he says "What's this? You brought 'em right to us!"
• In the final film, after Drift kills Onslaught ("and his fat head!"), Crosshairs remarks, "Don't get any deader than that!" In the alternate version, Crosshairs is silent, and Drift instead says "Fantastic!" after his quip about Onslaught's head. In the final film, Drift's lips are still visibly moving at the point when he says "Fantastic!" in the alternate cut.
  • Also, note that Crosshairs' gun's sound effect fires faster in the international version than the finished version's.
• After the town battle, Crosshairs calls the TRF drones "gnats" as he shoots them down in the finished version. He remains silent in the alternate version.
• In the finished version, when Crosshairs is talking about Cogman he says, "Hey Cade, what's with the C-3PO ripoff?", but in the alternate version he says, "I'll swat this metal cockroach for you Cade."
• Crosshairs whines that his finger is broken in the background when Cogman is speaking to Cade in the finished version. He remains silent in the alternate version.
• As the WWII flashback begins, a closeup of the Nazi stronghold's entrance is added in the international version, while the final version has the clip omitted.
• Before the end of the WWII flashback, Hot Rod screams a French language version of "Take that!" in the finished version. He screams it twice in the alternate version.
• When Megatron steals the staff from Optimus, the "finished" film features Nitro Zeus saying: "You blew your chance to kill Unicron!" followed by Megatron saying: "I knew you couldn't do it. Your time is over, Prime! You failed!" The other has no Nitro Zeus dialogue, and instead features Megatron saying: "Quintessa, the most ruthless of our Gods, knew you couldn't do it. She knows I'm strong and you're weak."
• When the Guardian Knights attack Optimus, in the alternate version one of the Knights tells Prime "She put you under a spell!". In the finished version, that line was removed.
• After Cade saves Optimus, there is an extra shot of him dropping the Excalibur sword to the ground.
• Barricade has an extra line at Stonehenge in the alternate version, where he says "Yes! Drain Unicron! He will be powerless!"
• When Hot Rod flies to attack Infernocus, he responds "I got him!" in the finished version. In the international version, the original line is "I got him, Hound!".
• The finished version adds an extra line between Cade and Lennox on Cybertron about Optimus never having made it to the Ignition Chamber, while the alternate version never acknowledges his absence.
• After Cade says "Just grab my hand!", he shoots his gun to propel himself and Viviane closer to the staff.
• When Optimus Prime attacks Quintessa, In the finished version she says, "You traitor!", and Optimus retracts his faceplate. In the alternate version she says, "Nemesis! You traitor!", and Optimus's faceplate does not retract.
• The final version has Quintessa scream as Bumblebee blasts her, while Bumblebee quips "Sting like a bee!"—but in the other version, Quintessa is silent, and Bumblebee's dialogue is very slightly different, with him saying "I sting like a bee."
• In the finished version, after the final battle, before the Autobots depart, Bumblebee crouches down and states, "You saved Prime." In the alternate version, Bumblebee is silent.

Digital release

Hound was feeling a little blue.

The home video release of the film on DVD and Blu-Ray uses the theatrical version, but with Hound's Red Cross symbols digitally recolored blue. The official digital release, however, changes a few other things:

• The scene of Wheelie checking the used car website has been removed.
• Hound's "Tijuana street machinery" line is replaced with his "been holding that one in" from the alternate version.
• A scene where Daytrader rummages through his backpack and accidentally pulls out a small Vatti Bot which Bumblebee angrily squashes, has been cut.
• Nitro Zeus' line "Unfortunate, because I was looking to knock some heads!" line from the alternate version is used in place of DiMaggio's "I kicked more ass in prison!", despite DiMaggio providing the voice for Nitro Zeus in every other scene. Both actors are credited for the role in the film's credits; this extends to the physical home video release as well, even though none of Barr's line are in those versions.

Errors

Continuity errors

• Sir Edmund says the battle depicted at the start of the movie took place in 484 AD, while a caption over the first present day scene says it takes place 1600 years later, which would result in the rest of the film taking place in 2084.
• Cybertron appears as smaller than Earth, when in Dark of the Moon, it was significantly larger than it.
• Megatron has undergone some drastic changes since we last saw him in Age of Extinction; he has changed his name back from "Galvatron," and he has acquired a new body that transforms normally as opposed to bursting into a cloud of Transformium. He has replaced his semi-truck alt mode with a Cybertronic jet. These changes are neither explained nor even acknowledged by the film, nor is it explained how he came to be in the service of Quintessa (aside from the suggestive presence of a red "scar" on his face like the one Quintessa inflicts on Prime when she brainwashes him).
  • However, the fact that Lennox recognizes his voice despite a change in actor from Hugo Weaving to Frank Welker isn't an error; it just means that within the fictional world of the film, Megatron's voice hasn't changed.
• Cade blows up the cockpit of the dying knight's ship, yet as he walks away from it the cockpit is intact.
• After Cade says "I don't sell out friends", he looks to his right, but in the next shot he's looking to his left.
• When Barricade is speaking to Megatron, he has his left forearm weapon equipped in one shot, where shots before and after he does not.
• When Barricade throws the truck door, several fiery papers are strewn across the ground. Yet when the door hits the ground, none of the papers are there, nor is the area illuminated by flames.
• During the scene where Bumblebee reassembles his body, Cade hits Santos over the head with his door and shatters the glass. When Bumblebee later transforms and drives off, both windows are intact.
• Speaking of, how Bumblebee gained the ability to reassemble himself is completely unexplained.
• The removal of the Vatti Bot sequence in the digital version introduces a continuity error: Cade can be seen falling over when parts fall off Daytrader's back, but is suddenly standing up in the next shot.
• Absent for the rest of the film, Drift suddenly has his second longsword for one scene, using the two blades to raise himself into a meditation pose on the morning of the Decepticons' attack on the junkyard.
• Bumblebee tears out the "defective" voicebox yet is able to talk to Optimus later. Presumably he must have put his old one back in offscreen?
• Sqweeks is missing his scavenged Decepticon arm when the Decepticons invade the junkyard, his original arm appearing back in its place. It returns in all subsequent scenes with the character.
• The abandoned town the Autobots and humans seek refuge in has buildings which are a few stories tall at most, then Jimmy, Cade and Izabella are abruptly in a multi-story building with janitorial staff and an external lift when they encounter Cogman. After Cade's ride on a drone, they're suddenly back in the area with no tall buildings in sight.
• When the Decepticons arrive at the abandoned town, Nitro Zeus transforms and lands in front of the group, on the right side of the screen. However, when Izabella begins approaching the Decepticons, Nitro Zeus is now in the back and on the left of the screen.
• Brief shots of the Witwiccans and some of their artifacts depict various Transformers such as Hot Rod and Optimus Prime with their "modern" forms, years before they would take on such bodies, or arrive on Earth at all. It's possible these are intended to be generics who share more famous body types.
• When leaving Burton's mansion, the order of the vehicles are (from front to back) Bumblebee, Hot Rod and the Aston Martin. However, several shots later, Hot Rod and the Aston Martin have switched places.
• Bumblebee actually spoke with his real voice briefly at the end of the first film, albeit with a different voice actor.
• When the knights charge at Optimus, at least eleven can be seen running across the ship. This excludes Skullitron and the Talisman Knight, who died by this point—however, Quintessa confirms there are "twelve guardian knights"—not thirteen.
• When Optimus shouts, "Viviane! Get in here!", he and the Autobots are shooting at Megatron and Nitro Zeus from a distance, as the Decepticons guard the entrance to the ignition chamber. However, two shots later, they're both gone and the Autobots have moved all the way to the chamber's entrance.
• In Dark of the Moon, Sam Witwicky thrusts a boomstick into Starscream's left eye, which causes Starscream's head to explode. Yet in this film Daytrader presents Starscream's head completely intact, somehow.
• Megatron refers to Starscream's decapitated head as his "treacherous friend", but this incarnation of Starscream never showed any disloyalty to Megatron.

Technical/animation errors

• A shot of two horsemen being hit by arrows and fireballs during the opening battle is "reused" five minutes later; the same scene was shot but from a different angle/camera.
• Hound's CGI vehicle mode model that was used for his transformation animations was based on Mark Yang's concept artwork and wasn't altered to match the alternate version that the actual vehicle prop was based on.
• Before crashing on Cybertron, Optimus's sword was attached to his back—yet when he crash-lands, he's kneeling in a crater holding his sword. In the same scene, he audibly groans, but his mouth does not move.
• When Optimus meets Quintessa and tosses his shield away, it reappears on his arm in the very next shot before disappearing again, not being seen even on the floor next to him.
• When Cade and Izzy are fitting a new voice box into Bumblebee, it is clear that they are using a prop on set, with no sign of Bumblebee's body.
  • A similar scene occurs later in the film: after Cade produces the Excalibur sword, he's standing on Optimus's back—which is obviously a prop as Optimus isn't moving at all.
• Onslaught is shown to have a redesigned head in his intro scene, one which resembles Brawl's, to showcase exaggerated speech. Yet it strangely reverts to Long Haul's head for the remainder of his screentime.
• Despite transforming into a larger vehicle, Dreadbot is visibly shorter than Barricade.
• When Megatron picks up Sqweeks, the handle to his ikakalaka sword is constantly flipping around between shots, before the sword itself disappears after Cade sets off the explosives, and reappearing as he shoots at Cade and Izabella before Grimlock arrives.
• After Cade sets off the explosions, Megatron can be heard shouting, "Get those vile beings!" When he rises from the smoke, his mouth opens as if he shouts something, but no words are heard.
• When Mohawk jumps on top of the car, Onslaught's head is shown leaning against the vehicle's left door. However, when Drift decapitated Onslaught, his head fell behind the car.
  • And for some reason, two different cars are used for the shots. The doors of the car were also open when Drift decapitated Onslaught, but are closed when Mohawk jumps onto the car.
• In a handful of scenes, Hot Rod, Cogman, and Barricade's voices are not provided by their credited actors. The performers delivering these lines appear to be the fill-in actors who performed the "scratch track" for the movie, whose recordings survived into the finished film.
  • When Cogman calls Burton after Cade falls out of the elevator, his line "I don't know, he just flew!" is not delivered by Jim Carter.
  • Hot Rod's anomalous line—"She's very difficult!"—comes when he and Viviane arrive at Burton's estate. We can tell this is the scratch track because a promotional clip of the scene released before the film featured all of Hot Rod's dialogue being delivered by this actor, before Omar Sy recorded over it; his first line in the clip ("Leetle lady, non!") is replaced in the film (with "Non non non, leetle lady, why do you have to be zat way? Pour quoi?") but "She's very difficult!" remains unchanged.
  • Barricade's non-Jess Harnell dialogue can be heard when the Decepticons arrive at Stonehenge ("I've lived for this! I've lived to kill a planet!" and "Drain Unicron! He will be powerless.").
• In the European French dub of the film, around half of Hound's lines are provided by Patrick Raynal instead of Benoît Allemane, for unknown reasons. The voices are pretty similar, and the two actors relay each other all film long at random moments, sometimes even in two successive phrases.
• In the London car chase, the physical Mustang used for Barricade is missing the "'to punish and enslave...'", except in shots that presumably use the CGI model, where it has "'Keep calm and Hail Megatron'" instead. This phrase was part of the redesign, and at least one physical Mustang has it^[2], but Barricade's appearance in the rest of the film uses "'to punish and enslave...'".
• When Cade, Viviane, and Cogman are aboard HMS Alliance, there is a camera shot of Cade looking through the periscope with Cogman to the right of screen. The camera angle then changes and shows Viviane in another part of the chamber. The camera returns to Cade, Cogman has vanished. The camera pans back to Viviane again, then returns to Cade, with Cogman back in the shot.
• When the HMS Alliance Transformer crashes into the submarine, a similar scene, the shot of Megatron crashing into a submarine in Revenge of the Fallen, is reused. This wouldn't be nearly as bad had Megatron not been removed from the shot—he can be seen flying towards the ocean's surface. A few of the clips and dialogue inside the sub are also reused from the aforementioned scene in Revenge of the Fallen.
• After Bumblebee speaks and says "Optimus.", the subsequent shot of Optimus staring lasts too long, as his wristblade can briefly be seen retracting—however, this happens two shots later.
• When the Autobots are commenting on the Guardian Knights, Hound's mouth is animated to be saying something too soon before he actually begins speaking.
• When the group begins advancing on the ignition chamber, Hound is missing from his previous position behind them. He returns in the very next shot.
• As Optimus shouts, "Viviane! Get in here!", the ignition chamber can be seen in the background. However, the lightning Quintessa is producing between the giant knights is absent.
• When Optimus attacks Quintessa in the final battle, his faceplate is on, yet it disappears in the subsequent shot when he's being electrocuted. Then, after Quintessa is vanquished, it is put on again.
  • Oddly, in the film's special edition, Optimus has the faceplate on throughout this scene—fixing the error.

Geographic discontinuities

• A road trip from the outskirts of Chicago to the Badlands of South Dakota takes about twelve hours, but Cade, Bumblebee, and Hound make the commute to and from Chicago all in the same day and are back by mid-afternoon.
• When the authorities arrive at Burton's mansion, it is noted that "TRF and MI6" are in pursuit. In real life, MI6 is the UK's external intelligence agency; it is more likely that MI5, the UK's domestic intelligence agency, would be the British central government's agency present.
• American street signs of the hanging green-coloured variety can be seen during the chase scene in London.
• Viviane leads her class from a large, expansive archaeological museum into the Oxford University Museum of Natural History. While there is an archaeological museum attached to the Natural History Museum, it looks nothing like the one featured in the film.
• The Royal Navy's submarine museum is nowhere near London as the movie depicts; it is actually in Gosport, Hampshire.
• Stonehenge is not as isolated in open countryside and from main roads as portrayed—the A303 among other roads runs past the monument. Also, the town of Amesbury is across said main road, less than two miles away.

Tie-in material

Two tie-in comics were published for the film: "A New Friend" by IDW Publishing as the promotion for both the film and Schick's Hydro line of electric razors, and "Mission to Cybertron" released exclusively for the Toys"R"Us exclusive Transformers: The Last Knight Blu-Ray Combo Pack.

Music

Score

Main article: The Last Knight (Music From the Motion Picture)

Continuing the tradition of the previous films, the music is once again composed by Steve Jablonsky. The ending theme of the movie is Torches by X Ambassadors.

Home video releases

Main article: Transformers: The Last Knight (film)/home video

Theatrical posters

Reception

The Last Knight's critical reception was as poor as had come to be expected for the film franchise, even managing to set a new low record for Rotten Tomatoes score with 16%.^[4] However, after four films where critics hated it but the audience nonetheless showered it with money, The Last Knight broke the trend by not being showered with money. It had been projected to make $70–75m in its first days in North America, itself the lowest opening,^[5] but that was downgraded to $63m after the first few days were even lower than the lowest expected.^[6] In the end it made almost $70m over the first five days, better than the revised projection but lower than all of the previous films.^[7] By mid-July, after over three weeks, the film had grossed $122.1m in North America against a $217m budget (not counting marketing costs). This meant a lot of critics began to zero in on the sluggish profit, taking the view that American audiences were just getting bored of Bay's version of the franchise.

Internationally the film did $196.2m in the same first five days, of which $123.4m came from China alone^[7] (which loves the franchise so much delaying The Last Knight reduced 2016 cinema growth to 3%, down from 48% in 2015!)^[8] The Chinese had been expected to spend up to $290m on the film's run.^[9] However, in its second week in China takings dropped by a harsh 75% and after 10 days it had only grossed $198 million, which was seen as a disappointment—some pundits had expected $400m from China—and left it unlikely the film would perform as well as Age of Extinction had.^[10] The Hollywood Reporter visited a Shanghai screening and reported "walkouts, general disinterest and plenty of snickering over a conspicuous abundance of [Chinese] product placement" despite a truly massive PR campaign and the fourth film's mega-popularity. Chinese social media made it clear the plot was too complicated and the product placement, all products the Chinese knew weren't in America, was too dumb; the audience found it very funny when Wheelie looked up a Chinese used car website.^[11]

On January 22, 2018, it was announced that Transformers: The Last Knight was nominated for ten Golden Raspberry Awards.^[12] After Dark of the Moon, The Last Knight has the honor of being the second Transformers film to be Razzie free with the most nominations, losing to the animated feature, The Emoji Movie for Worst Picture, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay and Worst Screen Combo.^[13]

While the next film in the franchise, 2018's, Bumblebee, was initially billed as a prequel to the franchise as a whole—bridging the gap between Bumblebee's World War II adventures and his appearance in the 2007 Transformers film—the movie would be hastily retooled relatively late in production to drop many of these elements entirely. Subsequent reshoots would instead set up this ostensible prequel as its own, standalone movie. It seems likely that the poor commercial reception to The Last Knight may have been a contributing factor in this last-minute change and positive reception to Bumblebee.

Final box office numbers were $605 million worldwide, over a hundred million less than the original Transformers.^[14] This also made The Last Knight the first Transformers movie not to end among the ten highest-grossing movies of the year, when Age of Extinction was downright #1!^[15] In January 2019 in an interview with the CEO of Viacom on the Bumblebee movie, ScreenRant revealed that The Last Knight had lost its investors $100 million.^[16]

Production staff

The film was directed by Michael Bay, and was written by Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, and Ken Nolan. Visual effects duties where like the previous entries, handled by Industrial Light & Magic with assistance by Moving Picture Company.

Development details

Transfivemers doesn't have the same ring to it.

• December 18, 2014 — Mark Wahlberg confirms to MTV that he is signed on for the next two Transformers films.^[17]
• March 27, 2015 — Paramount Pictures negotiates with Akiva Goldsman, hiring him to create a "writer's room" with the intention of building a cinematic universe.^[18] Goldsman goes on to hire a number of writers over the next few months: Steven DeKnight (Daredevil),^[19] Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead),^[20] Art Marcum and Matt Holloway (Iron Man),^[20] Christina Hodson (Shut In, The Fugitive),^[21] Lindsey Beer (Dig),^[21] Zak Penn (Pacific Rim 2),^[20] Jeff Pinkner (The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Lost),^[20] Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari (Ant-Man),^[22] Ken Nolan (Black Hawk Down), and Geneva Robertson-Dworet.^[23] Involved in the pitching process are Steven Spielberg, Michael Bay, Brian Goldner, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Mark Vahradian, and Don Murphy.^[24]
• May 27, 2015 — As part of the news surrounding Barrer and Ferrari joining the room, it's revealed that another pitch is an animated prequel movie set on Cybertron, titled Transformers One.^[22]
• June 8, 2015 — The writers meet on the Paramount lot for the writer's room.^[23] The writers work for the next three months to plot out the next ten years of Transformers films.^[25]
• July 28, 2015 — DeKnight reports that as a result of the gathering of writers, Goldsman and Pinkner will be co-writing Transformers 5.^[26]
• September 17, 2015 — Deadline reveals more about the writer's room process and reports that Barrer and Ferrari will write the animated feature, with Pinkner and Beer writing later films.^[24] Bay remains uncommitted to directing.^[27]
• October 3, 2015 — Hasbro Studios's Stephen J. Davis relates more details of the writing process in a keynote speech at the MIP Junior Conference.^[25]
• November 20, 2015 — With Goldsman now enlisted to create a writer's room for G.I. Joe and Micronauts, Paramount begins negotiating with Marcum, Holloway and Nolan to write the film.^[28]
• December 14, 2015 — Wahlberg re-confirms in an interview with CinePop that he'll be back in Transformers 5.^[29]
• January 4, 2016 — Bay confirms he will be returning to direct.^[30]
• January 12, 2016 — It's totally definitely the last Transformers film for him this time though.^[31]
• February 12, 2016 — Transformers 5 is now being released on June 23, 2017. In addition, Transformers 6, acting as a Bumblebee spin-off, and Transformers 7 are set to be released respectively on June 8, 2018 and June 28, 2019.^[32][33]
• February 18, 2016 — Casting calls go out for June filming in London and Detroit, also confirming Peter Cullen's return as Optimus Prime.^[34]
• February 26, 2016 — After negotiations, it's announced that Michigan will provide $21 million in incentives towards the film.^[35]

5 movies in and Michael Bay is still finding ways to make my face even more ridiculously detailed.

• April 6, 2016 — Cinematographer Jonathan Sela is reported as being booked to work on the film.^[36]
• April 13, 2016 — Filming dates are revealed via a casting call on acting-auditions.org.^[37]
• May 12, 2016 — Isabela Merced tweets that she's been cast in the movie.^[38]
• May 14, 2016 — Bay suggests Tyrese Gibson is under consideration to return.^[39]
• May 16, 2016 — The film's title is officially revealed to be Transformers: The Last Knight in teaser trailer posted on a newly launched Transformers Movie Instagram.
• May 17, 2016 — Josh Duhamel announced to be returning for Transformers: The Last Knight.^[40]
• May 25, 2016 — Michael Bay posts a photo as production begins in Cuba.
• May 27, 2016 — A teaser is posted containing morse code which translates to "I'm coming for you May 31st."
• May 31, 2016 — Michael Bay posts video of Megatron and announces production is about to start.
• June 3, 2016 — Anthony Hopkins joins the cast.^[41]
• June 4, 2016 — First look at Bumblebee's vehicle mode, which is a 2016 Chevrolet Camaro.^[42]
• June 4, 2016 — The World's Loneliest Dog is cast.^[43]
• June 10, 2016 — Barricade is confirmed to return as a 2016 Ford Mustang.^[44]
• June 18, 2016 — Mitch Pileggi reveals he has a role.^[45]

Back to the basics.

• June 20, 2016 — Laura Haddock joins the cast.^[46]
• June 22, 2016 — New robot character Sqweeks is revealed.^[47]
• June 28, 2016 — Tyrese Gibson is confirmed to return.^[48]
• June 30, 2016 — Santiago Cabrera joins the cast.^[49]
• July 1, 2016 — Drift is confirmed to return with a new Mercedes alt-mode.^[50]
• July 27, 2016 — Onslaught is confirmed to appear in the film.^[51]
• August 4–13, 2016 — A series of character profiles are released on the official movie Facebook. New character Hot Rod^[52] is first to be revealed, and Crosshairs^[53] and Hound^[54] are confirmed to return. Also shown are profiles for Drift,^[55] Sqweeks,^[56] Barricade,^[57] Megatron,^[58] and Bumblebee.^[59]
• August 9, 2016 — Members of a number of Transformers fan sites, including TFWiki, are treated to a set visit.
• September 4, 2016 — Stanley Tucci is back as Joshua Joyce (He later turned out to be playing Merlin, but it's unclear from the article where the confusion originated).^[60]

True fact: Isabela had to beat Megatron in an arm wrestling contest to get this part.

• September 24, 2016 — Location shooting at Blenheim Palace in England proved controversial as Winston Churchill's birthplace became draped in Nazi banners. Bay told BBC News that veterans shouldn't be too upset as Churchill is a "big hero" in the film.^[61]
• October 14, 2016 — Bay announces via Facebook that John Turturro will be back as Seymour Simmons and that John Goodman will be back to voice Hound^[62]
• December 5, 2016 — The teaser trailer is released.
• December 6, 2016 — Vague details regarding the film's story and characters are revealed in a plot roundup made from various media sources regarding any little tidbits they heard from the movie set visit.^[63]
• February 3, 2017 — The "Big Game Spot" is released on YouTube.
• March 12, 2017 — The Kid's Choice Award Clip is revealed.
• March 17, 2017 — The "Izzy Stays and Fights" preview, a family-aimed trailer attached to Beauty and the Beast, is released.
• March 21, 2017 — Members of fan-media sites from across the globe arrive in Hollywood for the "Transformers: The Last Knight Super Fan Event", including a representative from TFWiki.net.
• March 22, 2017 — Eight "motion posters" for the film's robot cast are released.
• April 12, 2017 — Another trailer is released.
• April 24, 2017 — As part of the "Reveal Your Shield" promotion, Hasbro releases a video featuring Peter Cullen and Frank Welker credited as the voices of Optimus and Megatron.
• May 5, 2017 — Variety reports that the film's release is being moved forward two days to June 21.^[64]
• May 7, 2017 — The "Optimus Prime Dialog Coach" teaser is released.
• May 9, 2017 — The "Secret Past" TV spot is released.
• May 15, 2017 — A preview of an Empire Magazine feature on the film includes the news that Jim Carter has been cast as Cogman.^[65]
• May 17, 2017 — The International Trailer is released.

Changes before, during and after production

• Tyrese Gibson was intended to return as Robert Epps, but the logistics of filming in Europe and a scheduling conflict with The Fate of the Furious resulted in him being unable to take part.^[66]

This would probably start another era of Trukk not munky.

• Concept art was made for Optimus Primal, Cheetor, and a Cybertronian snake that never made into the final film.^[67][68]
• An alternate death for Nitro Zeus was scripted in an early cut but ultimately went unfilmed; he would get his head tore off from his body by Cogman, who could commandeer the headless body like a transtector.^{[citation needed]}
• The first trailers featured Hound with Red Cross insignias, which were removed in subsequent trailers yet retained with muted colors in the finished film.
• Barricade was either supposed to have a mask/helmet for his redesigned head or retain his old head mold yet gain a pair of police shades.
• Sqweeks was planned to be slightly taller and to move around with a single wheel in concept art.
• Daytrader was depicted in concept art with a head directly based on his voice actor Steve Buscemi.
• Canopy was originally conceived as either a rather terrifying 'bot with a subway train alternate mode or a modified version of Optimus' first rusty body from the previous film in concept art. Regardless, he went by the working name "Ruins Bot".
• According to Josh Nizzi's Instagram account,^[69] a Decepticon sharing the same body-type as Hatchet was supposed to have appeared alongside Dreadbot and Berserker before ultimately getting cut from the final robot cast.
• The red "scars" on Optimus/Nemesis Prime and Megatron's faces came about one day when Michael Bay went into ILM and asked the animators to add red markings to their faces and come up with an explanation for them. Visual effects artist Chris Zammit came up with the idea that the markings were the use of Dark Energon due to its mind-control abilities and the presence of Unicron in the film.^[1]
  • In an early version of the fight between Nemesis Prime and Bumblebee, a canister filled with normal Energon (much like the jars Izabella used on the TRF Sentinels) could have been tossed onto Nemesis Prime to release him from Quintessa's control.^[1] The idea was scrapped, leaving the red markings as some kind of "paint" and Bumblebee's voice used as the device to restore Optimus Prime.
• Megatron was originally planned to transform into a Cybertronian dragon, with his ikakalaka sword forming his tail. Likewise, the Cybertronian jet that he turns into in the final cut was originally designed as a fighter jet for the Guardian Knights.^[70]

Notes

• Topspin, seen in Cuba with Simmons, is credited as "Volleybot", initially leaving it unclear whether or not he was meant to actually be Topspin, especially since he's sporting Leadfoot's head. A later Transformers Fan Favorite poll held on the Transformers Movie web site credited Topspin as appearing in both Dark of the Moon and The Last Knight, along with using a picture of Volleybot as his mug shot, confirming that Volleybot is Topspin.^[71]

Foreign names

• Japanese: Transformers/Saigo no Kishiō (トランスフォーマー/最後の騎士王, "Transformers: The Last Knight-King")
• Czech: Transformers: Poslední Rytíř ("Transformers: The Last Knight")
• Finnish: Transformers: Viimeinen Ritari ("Transformers: The Last Knight")
• French: Transformers: The Last Knight (France), Transformers : Le Dernier Chevalier (Canada, "Transformers: The Last Knight")
• Italian: Transformers - L'ultimo cavaliere ("Transformers: The Last Knight")
• Korean: Transformers: Choehuui Gisa (트랜스포머: 최후의 기사, "Transformers: The Last Knight")
• Mandarin: Biànxíng Jīngāng 5: Zuìhòu de Qíshì (變形金剛5：最後的騎士, 变形金刚5：最后的骑士, "Transformers 5: The Last Knight")
• Portuguese: Transformers: O Último Cavaleiro (Brazil, "Transformers: The Last Knight"), Transformers 5 (Portugal)
• Russian: Transformery: Posledniy rytsar' (Трансформеры: Последний рыцарь, "Transformers: The Last Knight")
• Spanish: Transformers: El último caballero ("Transformers: The Last Knight")
• Ukrainian: Трансформери - Останній лицар ("Transformers: The Last Knight")
• Turkish: Transformers: Son Şövalye ("Transformers: The Last Knight")

References

External links

• Transformersmovie.com
• The Last Knight at IMDB.com
• The Last Knight film on Wikipedia
• The Last Knight on RottenTomatoes.com