'Transformers: The Last Knight' Trailer Breakdown: What The Hell Is Going On Here?
The first trailer for Transformers: The Last Knight arrived one week ago, along with our coverage from a set visit that happened over the summer up in Michigan (find out what we learned right here). However, last week was chock full of a bunch of stuff, including the teaser trailer for Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, first trailer for The Mummy, the first trailer for Spider-Man: Homecoming, and the first trailer for War for the Planet of the Apes. So we thought maybe we should swing around to Transformers to try and assess exactly what the hell is going on in that first trailer.
One of the big questions following the trailer's debut is why Optimus Prime and Bumblebee were fighting (and some theories have been proposed), but there's much more to dive into in this trailer breakdown, and we're trying to make sense of it all in our Transformers The Last Knight trailer breakdown after the jump.
The first thing to notice overall from the Transformers: The Last Knight trailer is this:
That's right, the Transformers: The Last Knight trailer has eight different aspect ratios. As we learned on set, that's because they're shooting with a bunch of different formats. Director of photography Jonathan Sela explained to us that Michael Bay likes to mix up the format quite a bit. The cameras on set include the Red 6K Weapon Dragon, the Alexa 65 IMAX rig and the IMAX Phantom 65, all of which are 3D cameras. In addition, there are several 2D cameras, some with spherical optics, some GoPro footage and also some stuff shot on film. So prepare to see the aspect ratio change a lot throughout the movie.
All right, let's get down to the actual footage in this insane teaser trailer.
The trailer opens with somber piano music and a close-up on a sword that appears to be coated with blood. Is it human blood or Transformers blood? Do the Transformers actually bleed? We've seen liquid spew from them when they've been run through or dismembered by blades, but I'm not sure if that's their own blood or maybe oil that runs through their mechanics. Anyway, it seems likely to be human blood when we see...
These two shots from medieval times. There are knights charging with flags and swords, riding horses, showing that this is clearly from the flashback sequences we previously heard about involving Liam Garrigan as King Arthur.
Another shot seemingly from this same time period. A man on horseback rides along the edge of this picturesque landscape as what appears to be a three-headed dragon Transformer comes in for a landing. It appears Transformers have been part of human history longer than we previously knew, and perhaps the mythology of dragons came about because that's what Transformers used to change into before vehicles such as cars, trucks, and jets existed.
Back on the battlefield, knights light up arrows with fire, explosions rock the warriors. Are the Transformers involved in this battle somehow?
Flash forward centuries to World War II, when Nazis were terrorizing Europe. This looks to be part of the controversial sequences that had citizens of the United Kingdom upset that Winston Churchill's home was being draped with Nazi flags as set dressing for the movie. It's a quick shot and it's all we get from that time period, giving us no real clue as to how that time period ties into Transformers mythology.
Flash forward again and this appears to be a present day shot of soldiers caught up in some explosive action. Exactly what they're up against, we can't be sure, but it could be a shot that has a part in another action sequence that pops up later in the trailer.
A wide shot of a football stadium shows a gaping hole in the side of it, and there's debris like this everywhere. Is this where a Transformer ended up after being blasted out of the sky in Transformers: Age of Extinction? Since there is still some smoke and fire lingering, this looks like something that just happened moments ago, but what caused this destruction? That appears to be a jet engine there in the middle, so maybe it's a plane crash that will have more visual effects put in later?
Meet Isabela Moner, our young new heroine. She plays a character named Izabella (go figure) who becomes a key part of the story. On our set visit, we learned she was orphaned during the Battle of Chicago, and she's been living on and off the streets for a little while, even hiding out with Transformers, one of which we'll see a small glimpse of a bit later.
Here's our first shot of a Transformers in its alien form, but who is that? The yellow color indicates that it might be Bumblebee with a bit of a makeover. Maybe he changed his form so he's not as recognizable? That seems unnecessary since the Transformers Reaction Force is taking out any and all Transformers on the planet.
Now what the hell is this? When looking at the possible answers of why Optimus Prime is fighting Bumblebee, the possibility of Unicron manipulating the Autobot was floated, and that surface with a giant hole in it looks like it could easily be the planet-sized Transformer. On the other hand, we know that there's some kind of big underwater sequence involving a massive anomaly and a submarine Transformer, and these shots look like they could be deep in the ocean, especially the way those vehicles are circling.
A close-up of a dirty, busted Optimus Prime floats in space until we get this shot from farther out. Voiceover from Anthony Hopkins reiterates that Prime left us behind, reminding us of how he blasted off into space at the end of Transformers: The Age of Extinction to look for The Creators (who we have been told we'll be meeting in this movie).
A structure that looks reminiscent of Transformers technology sits in a desert. Exactly what that is, I couldn't tell you.
Our first shot of Anthony Hopkins, a character whose name we don't know. He's in some kind of large room that appears to have at least a couple of important artifacts. Notice there's that sword just sticking up there, perhaps the same sword from the opening shot of the trailer?
We get a close-up of some kind of metal seal, the text "Victoria Sine" can be made out, which means "victory without." Actually, since that's Latin, and the way it's spoken is not the same as English, it more likely is part of a seal that says "Without sacrifice, there can be no victory" — a line said in the voiceover by Hopkins himself earlier in the trailer.
We get another shot of Isabela Moner, this time looking into a headlight. But that's not just a headlight, that's the Vespa scooter Transformers known as Sqweeks. He's been with Izabella for awhile now, and he has some trouble Transforming. She's been trying to fix him, but he can't quite get the hang of it, so he's kind of broken and wonky.
In previous shots, voiceover from Anthony Hopkins gets more ominous as he says, "One hundred billion trillion planets in the cosmos, you want to know, don't you?" As Mark Wahlberg turns around in slow-motion, getting apprehended by the Transformers Reaction Force for harboring Autobots (a tidbit we learned on the set), the voiceover continues, "...why they keep coming here."
The giant pieces of some kind of broken techno orb appear to be moving closer to the moon. Is that our moon or just a moon somewhere else in space? What's at the center of those masses? Could that be Unicron?
These look to be smaller pieces from the giant ones we see in space, perhaps arriving on Earth and doing...something.
Those same pieces are seen floating in the sky, perhaps further away after destroying our moon. Who is that running through the junkyard? At first, I thought it was Isabela Moner, but the girl looks a little too tall. Could it be Nicola Peltz, who played Mark Wahlberg's daughter in Transformers: Age of Extinction?
A cut to an action shot. That's Bumblebee jumping through the air at a drone belonging to the Transformers Reaction Force. Franchise newcomer Santiago Cabrera controls one of those and mentioned getting into a scuffle with Bumblebee in the movie. That appears to be what we're seeing here, and the Autobot has no problem dispatching with the human-controlled weapon.
Isabela Moner isn't fooling around when she says, "I want to stay, and I want to fight them." Is the "them" she's referring to the Transformers Reaction Force or perhaps another threat that manifests itself this time around?
Mark Wahlberg has a brand new gun that he's wielding like a boss. This appears to be a confrontation before the Transformers Reaction Force actually apprehends him, or maybe it's after and instead of getting apprehended he gets away with the help of a certain yellow Autobot.
That's Mark Wahlberg's character Cade Yaeger running to grab Isabela Moner while some explosion goes off in the distance in front of what appears to be several Transformers. Are they Autobots? Are they Decepticons? If Cade and Izabella are running, then they might not be friendly.
Speaking of not friendly, who is this guy with the glowing red eyes? More importantly, where is he? It's pretty foggy, and there appear to be multiple cannons in place. Also, he appears to have some kind of weapon strapped to his back in addition to the one on his arm. Is that maybe the Transformer we see slamming his weapon into the ground in front of an unknown human later in the trailer?
A wide shot shows off more of the explosions that Michael Bay puts all over his movies. Where is this sequence taking place, though? Those hexagonal structures in the ground look covered in metal, not unlike Transformers technology, so where could this be? Maybe it's on one of those giant chunks of something we saw in space earlier.
Josh Duhamel looks like he's taken a beating, and he's ready to call it by saying, "The operation is over." Whatever mission they had has gone wrong. But Cade Yaeger says, "We're not giving up, okay?"
Then we see Cade slide down some kind of structure and into the water. A shot later and Josh Duhamel is reaching out to rescue him. We talked a bit about this sequence in our set visit report because it involved a giant platform on a gimbal that tilts at all sorts of angles, and it was made all the more dangerous by having thousands of gallons of water dumped on it for this sequence. You can find out more about that over here.
A car speeds through the United Kingdom with police cars along with it. That's a sleek, fast sports car, and I'm not entirely sure what it is, but it's in a hurry.
Here's that Transformer slamming a giant sword into the ground. That Transformer looks like it could be medieval in nature, maybe one with ties to the knights we saw in the earliest shots of the trailer.
Hey, that's another explosion. Those are soldiers of the Transformers Reaction Force getting blasted in their attempt to pick up Cade Yaeger and the Autobots he's been harboring. Sounds like it's not an easy job.
Mark Wahlberg flinches as a giant gun goes off next to him, blasting Barricade, the police car Decepticon. That arm appears to belong to Bumblebee since I see some yellow armor around the gun, but I can't be sure.
Here's a better shot of Optimus Prime, but he looks like he's seen better days. He's dirty and banged up, maybe after just getting the crap kicked out of him. However, the next shot we see, after Laura Haddock says, "Oh my God" and covers her mouth, is...
... Optimus Prime and Bumblebee running after each other. The semi-truck Autobot takes his former ally and slams him into the ground with a hefty punch. It looks like whatever Prime endured before has been taken care of, because his armor looks all cleaned up and new.
However, something appears to be off about Optimus Prime, because his eyes appear to be glowing purple instead of the usual electric blue as he prepares to stab Bumblebee, despite the pleas of Cade Yaeger. Maybe he's under some kind of trance, as hypothesized before by those with far more knowledge about the mythology of the Transformers and Cybertron.
And here's the title, with a style that's a little more lit up and electrified than previous treatments.
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As I said when tackling the question of why Optimus Prime was fighting Bumblebee, I'm still not sure what's going on in this movie. I was on the set and know more things than I'm not allowed to talk about without feeling the wrath of Michael Bay and Paramount Pictures, and I'm still completely in the dark with regards to the overarching story that's in play here. But with this breakdown, hopefully you learned a little more about the sequel. Now we'll just wait for the next trailer to arrive sometime next year.
Transformers: The Last Knight arrives on June 23, 2017.