Transformers: Rise of the Beasts – Decent But It’s Getting Old

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is the seventh installment in the live-action Transformers series and serves as a standalone sequel to 2018’s Bumblebee. The film takes place in 1994 and follows Noah Diaz (Ramos), a man who is thrust into an Autobot adventure alongside Elena Wallace (Fishback) after unintentionally carjacking Autobot Mirage (Pete Davidson) in Brooklyn. From there, they are then taken on a globetrotting adventure where the Autobots are forced to team up with Maximals, a new faction of Transformers to stop a new threat from destroying earth. As someone who’s always been a fan of this franchise, the film delivers an entertaining addition even if it never quite reaches the same heights as its predecessor or the best this franchise has had to offer.

The film finds a smooth mix between the tone of Bumblebee and the tone of the Michael Bay directed installments. Not only does it have all the explosive action and exciting robot fights one would expect to see in a Transformers film, but it also has much of the same heart and emotion of Bumblebee. While it never fully commits to either, it balances those two different tones well. That being said, the human characters are still one of the weakest parts of this film. However, they’re thankfully given less focus this time around in comparison to the Transformers, while still developing them enough to the point where they’re not caricatures.

The human characters aren’t anything special, but they are likeable enough and get the job done. The standout was Ramos’ Noah whose chemistry with Davidson’s Mirage is undeniably the best part of the film. While the latter created a standout character with Mirage thanks to some strong voice work and comedic timing, his friendship with Noah provides the film a much-needed boost of heart and emotion. Peter Cullen is once again great as Optimus Prime who is given plenty of badass moments and while the film isn’t the best audiences have ever seen from Bumblebee, he’s once again a major highlight. The rest of the voice cast all turn in fun performances though Peter Dinklage as Scourge makes for a pretty great and menacing villain.

Most people come to a Transformers film for the action and special effects and for that, this film does not disappoint whatsoever. Its visuals look incredibly strong throughout while putting a lot of other modern blockbusters to shame. The action itself is a ton of fun and extremely entertaining to watch from its car chases to its fight scenes. The film features a lot of big action set pieces that are all filmed well, but thankfully never become exhausting. Meanwhile, it helps that the film gives audiences enough reasons to care about what is happening across its gigantic set pieces. Its 1990’s time setting could be felt in the soundtrack and even though a fair share of jokes that fall flat, there are still a lot of laughs to be had here. As much fun as it is in the moment and likely please diehard fans of this franchise, this installment is far from perfect it has a fair share of problems that ultimately hold it back from reaching the same heights as other Transformers films.

The biggest issue with the film is the writing. Having essentially the exact same storyline as most of the Transformers films, it’s quite frustrating that it once again revolves around some sort of McGuffin that will bring the world to an end and the Autobots are the only ones who can stop it. It just feels lazy at this point and although it might be a tough ask for the seventh installment in a franchise that’s been running for nearly 20 years to do something more original or unique, it still is a bit annoying and unfortunate that it rarely even attempts to do so. The film also suffers from cheesy dialogue and moments that feel too silly. However, those who go into this for the Maximals might want to temper their expectations because while they are technically not underused, they don’t have nearly as much to do as the trailers suggest and are mostly there to dump exposition or save the day.

In the end, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts might not be great, but it’s the kind of mindless entertainment that the summer movie season was made for. Although it might not be considered one of the best installments in this franchise, it’s also far from its worst. It definitely feels like the team behind this entry could have done a bit more to change up the formula or do something new but nevertheless, it is still a decent time that is likely to please its target audience. For those who have already checked out of this franchise, then this won’t change any minds. However, for those who are still on board, it is certainly worth checking out on the biggest screen you can find.

still courtesy of Paramount Pictures

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/