It's interesting to consider that two of this coming summer's biggest titles - Transformers: The Last Knight and The Fate of the Furious - are centered on the conceit of its main protagonist "going rogue," to slightly paraphrase Dwayne Johnson in the latter film's recent trailer. It's telling of the political climate - unable to know allegiances and reasons beyond appearances - but it's also not entirely new. Captain America essentially went rogue in Civil War last year, and then there's Batman's infamous, pointed ploy as a villain in Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Trilogy. Still, with seemingly lighter fare like Transformers and Fast & Furious, you don't quite expect these sort of turns. There's a truly awful thesis paper in here somewhere.

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Image via Hasbro/Paramount PIctures

Michael Bay isn't exactly shy about going dark, as anyone who has watched The Rock or Pain & Gain can attest freely. And in the new clip from Transformers: The Last Knight, he ratchets up his dystopian worldview to include children in constant and often fatal danger from robots. Like many scenes, the moment highlights the film's quasi-ambivalent attitude towards the future of technology, seeing the Transformers as guardians of the world and many of their robotic kin as the repressors and policers of their rights. It's heady stuff that Bay has rarely ever tapped into in these movies, opting instead for pure thrilling chaos and near-operatic destruction, which is for the better really. You can check out the clip below and check out Steve's Transformers: The Last Knight set visit here, along with interviews with Mark Wahlberg and Lorenzo di Bonaventura.

Here's the clip from the Kid's Choice Awards:

Here's the official synopsis for Transformers: The Last Knight:

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.

transformers-5-trailer-teaser
Image via Hasbro/Paramount Pictures
transformers-5-trailer-teaser
Image via Hasbro/Paramount Pictures
transformers-5-trailer-teaser
Image via Hasbro/Paramount Pictures