Rating: 4.1/5
Review: "Transformers: The Last Knight 3D film review"

"Transformers: The Last Knight has painfully become a typical standard Michael blockbuster fare. However the excellent and immersive 3D made it a lot more entertaining."

One sequel after another, Michael Bay refused to back out from his beloved franchise. Although the transformers franchise is one of my best guilty pleasures, I can't help but wonder how will it be like if another director take reins of the Transformers universe. As much as I like Michael's directing style, I prefer to see him taking up other projects. It is already crystal clear that he has nothing much left to add on to the already tired franchise.

The story: The ridiculous and implausible plot seems to get a lot of flak. It scored an all-new low 15 percent on rotten tomatoes and the general audience didn't seem to like it either. If this replaced the second installment of Transformers, I am sure this would be slightly better received. Transformers: The Last Knight is the most action-packed transformers film yet. From the start to the end, Michael injects it with explosions, car porn, chase scenes and more explosions. Even with it lengthy runtime, 2 hours and 30 minutes, there is no pause in the pace. Literally everything is hurled across to the audience from the screen. Many characters, checked. A lot of action, checked. Abundant of explosion, checked. Out-of-the-world subplots, checked. Attractive females, checked. Ridiculous humor, checked. Car porn, checked. Full-blown CGI fest, checked. Military porn, checked. Everything Michael is trying to outdo the previous installment is checked. Somehow I am still strangely entertained by his tactics. Am I brainwashed by him? His tactics are still the same old with only one goal in mind: to entertain the short attention span people. He still crafts some pretty neat and thrilling action scenes though there is nothing new to his action department anymore. The plot is considered ridiculous for a transformers film but it only serves as an obligatory placeholder for the action scenes.

The characters whizz from one place to another in a treasure hunt that will determine the fate of the planet. Main Autobot Optimus Prime is severely underused and reduced to a side character. Thankfully at least, Bumblebee steps up to protect the humans. Acting by the humans is okay enough but on a superficial level. Music is standard as Steve Jablonsky, being his fifth score for the transformers franchise, brings nothing new to the table.

3D: This is where transformers shines. The 3D is the best part of the film. It is touted to be shot 80 percent in IMAX 3D and it shows. I have watched this in normal 3D so I can't comment on how it looks like in IMAX. The depth is very natural and easy to look at. The heavy CGI scenes blend nicely with the depth and effect. The 3D effect may be disappointing at first as it does not have a lot of in-your-face moments but it does an impressive job of immersing me into the fantasy world. Michael made a wise choice in shooting this in IMAX 3D. Even when the film is long, my eyes did not feel tired and I even forgot that I was wearing the 3D glasses. There is a slight annoyance I have with the ratio aspect. There are times when it just switches to a different ratio aspect. It is jarring especially when your eyes have already adjusted to the wide IMAX scope of 1.85:1.

Overall: I enjoyed it a lot due to its excellent 3D. If I had watched it in 2D, I would have given it a lower rating. Being the fifth in the series, Michael clearly has no more idea on how to steer the franchise away from the typical standard Michael blockbuster fare. This is what you have now: a normal Michael blockbuster. It is not a bad thing but the huge transformers universe could benefit from so much more. I wouldn't mind Michael coming back to finish off his Transformers universe but I hope that it will be his last for the Bay's franchise.