All Change

Transformers. They are ‘robots in disguise’, able to take the shape of a truck or a supercar or a helicopter. But some things never change and in 'Transformers: Age of Extinction' - the fourth instalment of the film series, released at cinemas on Thursday (10 July) - the good transformers, Autobots, are still trying to save humanity from its enemies.

The leader of the Autobots, robot-cum-truck Optimus Prime, has passed many a test of his courage in battles with the evil Decepticon transformers. But when he is discovered in truck guise, broken down and gathering dust in a ruined building, he looks as if he would struggle to pass his MoT.

Not realising the truth about the truck, off-the-wall robotics inventor Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) takes it home to his workshop to see what he can make of it. He is amazed when - to the consternation of his angsty daughter Tessa and his slacker employee Lucas - the vehicle turns out to be an Autobot. Suddenly, there’s a lot to get angsty about. Having Optimus in his workshop alerts a CIA black ops team, which arrives in force.

Optimus is not in the mood to submit. He hits the road. The CIA’s interest in him is not friendly. Although the Autobots have defended humanity, maverick CIA man Harold Attinger is fed up with Transformers coming here, fighting battles, living on our planet. He wants them to go back where they came from. And he’s in cahoots with Joshua Joyce, a fanatical businessman who wants to use the programmable matter known as Transformium to monopolise the robotics industry. Harold’s vision is to create a US Army of Autobot-like soldiers that will rule the world.

Optimus and his fellow Autobots decide to help Cade, Tessa and her boyfriend Shane stop Harold and his gang from doing something stupid. It seems that the Autobots need to save humanity from itself. As one Autobot asks: ‘What’s wrong with you humans?’

The answer is: quite a lot. They care too much for power, they are happy to deceive others and themselves and are terminally selfish. They - rather than the Autobots - need to be transformed. It’s no wonder the Autobots talk in terms of humanity needing atonement.

Despite all the ways in which the Transformers story imaginarily alters the world as we know it, there’s no disguising the reality of its theme that humans are capable of causing mayhem for themselves. It has been obvious for centuries that we need to change. It is why one Bible writer urges readers: ‘Be transformed by the renewal of your minds’ (Romans 12:2 Revised English Bible).

The Bible insists that God revealed his life-changing love for us through Jesus, who pointed out the direction in which we need to take our lives but also, when he was murdered by the state, demonstrated God’s willingness to forgive us for what is wrong with us. As another of the Bible’s writers says: ‘He is himself a sacrifice to atone for our sins’ (1 John 2:2).

The message is that if we put our trust in God, a new future begins to take shape. He will transform us.

UK & Ireland War Cry 12 July 2014