"Troubled times" in new Transformers: The Last Knight trailer

The new trailer for ‘Transformers: The Last Knight’ has arrived, and in keeping with all we’ve seen so far from the upcoming fifth film in Michael Bay’s sci-fi action series, it’s all a bit dark this time around.

Boasting narration from Sir Anthony Hopkins (who recently declared his director Bay to be “a genius”), the trailer hints at an ominous secret history to series figurehead Optimus Prime, who – as previous trailers have made clear – may not be such a good guy this time around.

While previous trailers have shown Prime attacking his old friend and fellow Autobot Bumblebee, with no explanation why, here we at last get some hints as to what’s going on: Prime was somehow responsible for the destruction of the Transformers homeworld eons ago, and now, as he declares here, “for my world to live, yours must die.”

Phew. That’s a pretty far cry from his old “freedom is right of all sentient beings” line.

Unsurprisingly the trailer promises some very large scale robot-on-robot action, this time around with some kind of time-travelling twist, with scenes that appear to be taking place in Medieval times, no doubt tying into the ‘Last Knight’ of the title.

Fan reaction since the trailer came up seems very positive, with the doomy ‘end times’ tone attracting some comment:

The official synopsis for ‘Transformers: The Last Knight’ tell us the sequel “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.”

All sounds very climactic, and Michael Bay has promised this will be his last film in the series – although we rather doubt it’s the end of the world for the Transformers just yet, given there’s a ‘Bumblebee’ solo movie lined up for 2018, and a sixth ‘Transformers’ planned in 2019.

‘Transformers: The Last Knight’ opens in UK cinemas on 23 June.

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