With Paramount Pictures and Michael Bay preparing to release the director’s fifth Transformers movie in 10 years, they’ve decided to change up the marketing a little. The most recent trailer for Transformers: The Last Knight was distributed via teen star Isabela Moner’s Facebook account and is screening in theatres before the recently released live-action Beauty and the Beast.
The first trailer, which dropped in December, had a somber tone with Ursine Vulpine’s solemn cover of The Flaming Lips’ “Do You Realize?” accompanying Anthony Hopkins‘ voiceover describing the forthcoming war between robots and humans over images of violent historical battles and modern-day destruction. While Moner’s Izabella initially had very little screen time, she is the dominant force in the latest video. Speaking directly to the camera, she recalls the derisive comments people make about girls — “You run like a girl”, “You throw like a girl”, “You fight like a girl” — while juxtaposing them with scenes of her running to save her friends, throwing bombs at Decepticons and fighting alongside the Autobots. After demonstrating her abilities, her one-on-one with the audiences concludes with her saying, “Yeah, I fight like a girl… don’t you?”
This is obviously an attempt to make the traditionally male-centric franchise appeal to a younger, female audience. But based on their track record, it feels more like a gimmick than a genuine shift in attitude — especially Moner’s fourth-wall breaking, girl power monologue. Aside from Izabella’s newfound supremacy, the trailer also includes more footage of the baby Dinobots, Izabella’s robot Sqweeks, a new Autobot named Canopy and a few more scenes from what appears to be Bumblebee’s fight with an evil Optimus Prime. The film is scheduled to be released in June 2017.
