This year marks a decade of Michael Bay's Transformers franchise. In 2007 the robots-in-disguise made the leap from toy shelves and nostalgic memories of the eighties cartoon to the big screen, becoming one of the biggest movie series of all-time in the process. The films receive typically negative notices from the critics but clearly tap into the audience psyche, with each one making eye-watering grosses at the box office (the most recent two both passed $1 billion worldwide).
The anniversary will be marked by the release of the fifth film in the series, Transformers: The Last Knight. Bay's in the director's chair for the fifth time, bringing Age of Extinction's Mark Wahlberg back to lead. Based on the trailer and TV spot already released, we have a fair idea of what the plot's about; the historical event the series is meddling with this time is Arthurian legend and the major switch-up to the status quo is that Autobot leader Optimus Prime has (at least temporarily) gone bad.
To add to that, an official synopsis for the film has just been released on the franchise's official Facebook page that provides some new details:
The Last Knight shatters the core myths of the Transformers franchise, and redefines what it means to be a hero. Humans and Transformers are at war, Optimus Prime is gone. The key to saving our future lies buried in the secrets of the past, in the hidden history of Transformers on Earth. Saving our world falls upon the shoulders of an unlikely alliance: Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg); Bumblebee; an English Lord (Sir Anthony Hopkins); and an Oxford Professor (Laura Haddock).
There comes a moment in everyone’s life when we are called upon to make a difference. In Transformers: The Last Knight, the hunted will become heroes. Heroes will become villains. Only one world will survive: theirs, or ours.
A lot of these are standard Transformer movie elements - two worlds at war, the key lying in some ancient involvement, a small group becoming humanity's only hope - but it does give a better idea of what the limited narrative of the action spectacle will be, with Wahlberg's returning hero teaming up with Hopkins (who it seems isn't playing a villain for once). The most intriguing idea in the synopsis, though, is that the film "shatters the core myths", which ties into comments that The Last Knight will be different from other films in the series. Of course, we've heard that before on previous entries, so it's fair to expect classic Bayhem all the same.
This synopsis arrives just in time to set the stage for the film's Super Bowl LI spot. According to the Facebook post, we can expect something big soon, which suggests the trailer will be released ahead of the game itself. Based on everything we've seen of the movie's marketing so far, this will probably once again hinge on Optimus' dark side, really playing up the "friends become enemies" side of the tale. There are a lot of major films dropping new footage at the Super Bowl, but given how highly-viewed the first trailer was, Transformers is set to be one of the biggest.
MORE: Transformers 6 & Bumblebee Movie Release Dates
Source: Transformers Facebook
