Transformers: The Last Knight review – Marky Mark goes to Camelot in Autobot mash-up

Part five of the Michael Bay series has received a drubbing in the States. Actually, though convoluted and mostly indistinguishable from piffle, it’s by no means the worst of the bunch. Our old friend Cade (the indefatigably smart, folksy and firm-chested Mark Wahlberg) gets tangled up in a quest to find Merlin’s sword. Because the extra-terrestrial car-warriors, it turns out, have a soft-spot for olde worlde Brits and celibate English-speaking hunks willing to save the world.

Soon, Cade’s hanging out with salty Sir Edmund Burton (Anthony Hopkins, good value) and Oxford professor Vivian (Laura Haddock), who talks like Thunderbirds’ Lady Penelope.

We’re in a time warp, for sure, but, one dodgy outfit aside, actress Laura Haddock is actually treated like a human being. Autobot Bumblebee gets the best character arc and a chase sequence in which Cade jumps on to giant, Frisbee-shaped bits of machinery is nifty.

It’s daft to accuse this franchise of being past its prime. It’s always been on its last legs and can probably hobble along for at least another decade.

Cert 12A, 150 mins