Chapter 675: Optimus Prime Makes His Entrance

"Surround it! Surround it! Lock and load!"

Dozens of US Military troops swarmed forward, using combat vehicles and the terrain for cover as they encircled a Black Hawk helicopter.

Meanwhile, the movie filled the entire massive alloy screen.

Hemmed in by rings of US Military troops, the Black Hawk helicopter sitting on the tarmac gave no response at all. The situation was eerily quiet.

"Order your crew to exit the aircraft immediately, or we will kill you!"

As the warning crackled over the radio, the Black Hawk's engines finally cut out, and its spinning rotor blades abruptly folded together.

The instant that iconic, metallic transformation sound rang out, the image on the screen shifted almost imperceptibly. Filmed with an IMAX 3D Camera, the sequence automatically expanded to a 1.43:1 aspect ratio, filling the entire 27.3 by 19.7 giant alloy screen.

Wearing the latest 3D glasses, every viewer in China stared wide-eyed, their mouths parting slightly as the Transformers completed their first true transformation on the big screen!

Filling the massive screen from edge to edge, Blackout looked close enough for Wang Ziming to reach out and touch. With breathtaking realism, the helicopter morphed into a towering humanoid machine—thousands of parts shifting in unison, retracting, extending, and locking into place in a dazzling sequence of seemingly impossible movements that finished in the blink of an eye.

"Besides Hollywood," Luo Qinghua murmured to Bi Jun from the back row, staring at the unbelievable sight, "I can't think of another country's film industry that could pull this off. Is this the IMAX 3D technology they've been promoting?"

"The effect is incredible!" Beyond sheer shock, Bi Jun couldn't find a better word to describe it.

Even as he spoke, Blackout launched a sudden assault on the US Military. His firepower was ferocious, and most of the US Military personnel were caught unprepared. Decades earlier, the armed forces had already proven how poorly the US Military fared against surprise attacks, and the battle quickly turned into a one-sided rout.

Captain Lennox managed to rally his special operations team and fought back against Blackout with the few weapons they had. Lacking heavy weaponry, they couldn't deal enough damage to Blackout, though they did manage to slow the Decepticon's assault.

Through shots like these, Duke conveyed his own vision: the Transformers held a massive, even overwhelming advantage over humanity, yet they were not invincible.

The full IMAX 3D sequence had already run for over two minutes, and it wasn't over yet. The camera abruptly cut to the sky some distance away from the US Military's Qatar Base, where two business jets manufactured by Gulfstream were circling. The moment Blackout's crushing assault hit a snag, the two jets emitted an eerie sound—Thundercracker and Skywarp were moving out—and vanished from the sky.

In the next instant, they reappeared at low altitude over Qatar Base, transforming in midair in a dazzling blur of motion before slamming into the ground and unleashing a lethal strike against the US Military.

Meanwhile, the ground across the base heaved like rolling ocean waves, easily flipping several tanks that had just rumbled into motion. Sand and chunks of concrete blasted into the air as a massive, sinister-looking scorpion lunged out from beneath the earth.

The demonic scorpion Scorponok wiped out the last two moving armored vehicles with the beam cannon on its tail stinger, then burrowed back underground.

Faced with this three-pronged heavy assault, all hope was lost for the US Military.

By adding Skywarp and Thundercracker with their short-range teleportation and beefing up Scorponok, Duke deliberately tipped the balance of power in the Decepticon assault to match the Decepticon lore later in the film and in its sequels.

Gunfire, shouting, and explosions paired with towering flames to create an indescribable impact in the full IMAX 3D footage, immediately hitting the theater audience with visuals even more striking than those of The Dark Knight.

When Blackout tore open the roof of the US Military command center and clamped his massive mechanical hand onto the server rack, the image on screen reverted to a standard 3D frame, bringing the full five-minute IMAX sequence to a close.

Having accepted sponsorship from the Pentagon, Duke naturally didn't forget to showcase the bravery of the US Military. Even in the face of mortal danger, the US Military commander still forcibly cut off the server's power supply.

Much like Independence Day, which had been filmed earlier, Transformers wove its narrative across multiple storylines before pulling every thread together to detonate the climactic battle.

After the opening battle designed to hook the audience, the camera shifted to California, America, focusing on an ordinary high school graduate named Sam.

Not yet twenty, the young man had divorced parents and no intention of living with either of them. The first thing he did after graduating from high school was travel from New York to Valencia, a satellite city in Greater Los Angeles, after a lawyer notified him that under the will of his grandfather—who had passed away a few months earlier—he was set to inherit the most precious part of the Witwicky Family estate.

Sam hadn't come just to claim his inheritance; he also planned to work a part-time job during the break to earn money for his upcoming expenses at the University of California.

Led by the lawyer, he arrived at the old Witwicky Family house near a used car lot and saw the most treasured property of the Witwicky Family left behind by his grandfather.

There were nautical charts, a sextant, vintage sailor gear, and a pair of old-fashioned glasses belonging to his great-great-grandfather. Picking up the glasses, he recalled the family legend his grandfather used to talk about—a sea captain who had once led an expedition to the North Pole...

Aside from those items, there were also a few thousand dollars in cash.

Once the paperwork for the will transfer was smoothly completed, Sam stood by the window looking out at the used car lot not far away, his mind starting to stir.

A car was practically a boy's rite of passage, yet he still didn't have one of his own. Looking at the inherited dollars and old relics, he got the urge to buy the first car of his life. After all, whether for working a job or heading off to college later, having a vehicle would make things much more convenient.

Most importantly, having a car made picking up girls relatively easier.

Especially when he could catch glimpses of a long-legged blonde beauty right over in that used car lot. For a young guy not yet twenty, what could possibly be more enticing than that?

Sam was a typical young man in America; the "family treasures" his grandfather had left behind held nowhere near the appeal of cars and pretty girls. It didn't take him long to decide to put the items up for auction on Amazon, both to raise money for his car fund and to pocket some cash.

The next day, Sam headed out to the car market. Knowing the money in his pocket wouldn't cover a brand-new vehicle, a suitable used car was clearly the smart choice. Perhaps drawn by the beauty from the day before, he subconsciously walked right into that used car lot—stepping onto a path that would inextricably entangle him with the Transformers.

The person who greeted Sam was none other than that blonde beauty named Mikaela, though she proved far tougher to deal with than she looked. After a round of haggling and the car windows inexplicably shattering, it wasn't until her father, the boss, stepped in that Sam finally bought the used Camaro Sports Car with racing stripes he had set his heart on.

"No car likes a stingy driver," Mikaela said alluringly in response to Sam's lunch invitation. "And no woman will accept an invitation from a man who brings weird situations with him!"

Meanwhile, in another main storyline, the Pentagon launched a thorough investigation into the attack on Qatar Base, listing Iran and North Korea as the primary suspects. The Department of Defense recruited a large group of young computer network experts, who successfully detected Frenzy hacking into Air Force One, though they failed to catch the comic-relief Decepticon.

Frenzy tracked down the items Sam had put up for auction online, linked up with Barricade, and headed straight for Valencia.

Behind the wheel of his newly acquired used Camaro, Sam took a spin around the small town and didn't return to the old Witwicky house until after dark. While sleeping that night, he was suddenly jolted awake by the sound of a car engine starting up and discovered that his newly bought Chevrolet had been stolen. Charging out of the house, he hopped onto a bicycle and pedaled furiously after it while calling the police.

The unlucky kid had no idea that Barricade already had him in his sights, or that his call to the police had been intercepted right at Barricade's end.

Racing out to an abandoned factory outside town, Sam witnessed an unbelievable sight: his newly bought car actually came to life, transforming right under his gaze into a giant yellow robot with puppy-like eyes.

The robot didn't seem to notice him at all, appearing instead to be beaming a signal up toward the sky.

Poor Sam accidentally alerted two large guard dogs inside the factory. Just as the hounds chased him into a dead end, that yellow Camaro drove the vicious dogs away.

Everything that had happened tonight nearly overwhelmed Sam's mind. Faced with the approaching vintage sports car, he made a decisive choice—to run!

The transforming car seemed unwilling to let him go and chased him all the way back. Sam snatched up his bicycle and pedaled blindly back the way he had come while calling the police. Before he knew it, he had bolted right up to the front of the used car lot near his home, running into Mikaela just as she was closing up.

"Hey, kid, you shouldn't be here!"

Faced with the beauty's questioning, Sam shouted back in panic, "Why did the car you sold me come to life? Why did it turn into a robot?"

"Are you on drugs?"

Right amid the beauty's disbelief, a police car pulled up toward them. Thinking his savior had arrived, Sam immediately sprinted over—only for the police car to complete its transformation right before the stunned eyes of the young pair!

At that critical moment, Bumblebee roared in to save Sam. Confronted by an evil robot no ordinary person could fight, Mikaela had no choice but to climb into Sam's Chevrolet Camaro.

The film moved into the territory Duke did best: car chases, brawls, and destruction. While Bumblebee fought Barricade, the beautiful Mikaela and Sam were hounded by Frenzy. Summoning her courage, Mikaela grabbed a small power saw from the abandoned factory and sawed off Frenzy's head, never noticing as it transformed into a Mobile Phone and slipped into the handbag she had dropped.

In the fierce brawl, Bumblebee took down Barricade and used his radio to communicate briefly with the two of them.

Meanwhile, the squad led by Captain Lennox came under attack from the demonic scorpion Scorponok.

Backed by air support, the US Military deployed a massive wave of warplanes—F-16 fighters, gunships, early warning aircraft, and drones all joining the fray to pound Scorponok with a dense barrage of artillery fire.

The Decepticons were not invincible. Formidable as Scorponok was in combat, the relentless bombardment still blasted it into several pieces.

Likewise, both of these action sequences were shot entirely with IMAX cameras, and the effect was breathtaking.

After a brief exchange, Bumblebee drove Sam and Mikaela out toward the suburbs, and 22 minutes and 13 seconds into the film, the undisputed lead, Optimus Prime, finally made his entrance!