Sci-Fi Bulletin: Exploring the Universes of SF, Fantasy, Horror and Spy-fi!

Empire Leicester Square, April 4 2017

While some journalists were being introduced to Pearl Mackie’s Bill at a screening of the new Doctor Who series opener, Paramount entertained others with glimpses of the latest Transformers movie. Greg D. Smith reports…

Showing on the main IMAX screen at the Empire, it was clear from arrival that Paramount are going all out for this latest instalment of Bay’s Transformers franchise. The buzz both in the foyer and auditorium was palpable, huge throngs of fans showing up to get this world first glimpse at footage from the upcoming movie. Plentiful goodies, including pairs of tickets to the premiere, were given out to lucky winners of a random lottery, and then finally, the lights dimmed.

A brief intro from Bay explained the technical power going into this new entry – this is the only film being released in 2017 which has been entirely shot in native 3D IMAX, meaning that the fullest possible extent of 3D is available. Another brief addendum from him explained that the film is still in post-production, so the presentation we were seeing would not be in 3D and would have some raw FX shots which were not yet finalised. All this done, with excitement in the room high, the footage itself commenced.

As warned by Bay, the footage represented not a complete ‘chunk’ of the movie but rather individual glimpses into parts of it. It’s impossible to discern a huge amount about the plot from this, beyond that it involves Arthurian legend now being a part of the Transformers movie mythos, as well as fighting Nazis. Wahlberg’s Cade Yeager returns, and is joined by Anthony Hopkins as a delightfully ditsy English Lord, Sir Edmund Burton, and Laura Haddock as esteemed Oxfordian professor Vivian Wembley. We also got introduced to tough street waif Izabella, played by 15 year old Isabela Moner, who looks to be a fairly key part of proceedings.

It’s clear that this is a film in which Bay has had access to all of the toys. Not just the technical feats of 3D native IMAX but the full gamut of history and legend with which to play. Even from a franchise which has encompassed government conspiracies around the Hoover Dam, the Moon landings and more, this represents an ambitious leap, narratively.

But what did come through is something that was keenly missing in the previous two entries – a sense of humour. This sample had plenty of smiles and a few laugh out loud moments. There were perhaps fewer robots on display than one might expect (though certain of the unfinished FX parts contributed to this) but plenty of human drama and action set pieces. It felt, on balance, as if Bay has turned up everything to 11 (this being his last scheduled film in the franchise). We may, as a result, get the best entry yet in the series – one which fully embraces the whacky nature of its core premise, and elects to have more fun than dark grit – in a summer blockbuster, that’s no bad thing.

The subtitle of this one may well prove to be How Michael Got His Groove Back. While there was nothing earthshattering or revolutionary on display here (technology aside), there was ample evidence of humour, balls to the wall action and a whole gamut of tongue-in-cheek liberty-taking with history. Played right, this could be a fitting swansong to Bay’s time with the Robots in Disguise.