Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

 This review may contain spoilers!

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is the seventh live-action Transformers film and sees the Autobots adventuring in the 90s, trying to find two halves of a key so they can return home to Cybertron. Unfortunately, the sinister Terrorcons (not to be confused with the Decepticons!) are also searching for the key to unleash the world-devourer, Unicron, on Earth and Cybertron both. Aoptimus Prime and the Autobots must team up with former soldier, Noah Diaz, and a new faction called the Maximals to stop Unicron's sinister cronies. If there's one thing I can praise about this film it's that it starts really well. The first act held my attention and introduced a human character with a tough personal background that was actually quite interesting. Diaz has a lot of skills and talent, but he is torn up by a lot of anxiety he holds for the wellbeing of his family which seems him almost take a turn down a criminal path. Instead we get one of the better chase sequences of the film with the introduction of Mirage; and more importantly, we get a great core friendship in Noah and Mirage that continues to work well across the film.

The special effects looked good in the moments things were still or set at stable mid shots, the designs for the main Transformers all looked appealling in and of themselves. The score was the real technical powerhouse of the film, it drew me back to the big fanfare Transformers films used to use to highlight the feature as pinnacle action blockbuster. I also liked how the soundtrack really placed in the setting of the film both via time and place; there was some absolutely classic hip hop and rap on show here.

 

Anthony Ramos, who played Noah Diaz, is a really solid protagonist and does a great job leading the bulk of this film as the central human character; I think Ramos played the conflict his character held over how he could protect his family well. Tobe Nwigwe, who played Reek, is actually great as the more comedic relief to kick the film off with; Nwigwe could just play a street thief with street smarts but the oddball spiritualistic angle his character holds makes the role sincerely funny. Michael Kelly, who played Agent Burke, has always knocked it out of the park with government agent types; Kelly has one big scene but he is so playful and memorable in it that it definitely left me hoping for more of him in the future. Pete Davidson, who voiced Mirage, might have just found one of his best roles to date; Davidson as Mirage is entirely quick-witted and funny while also bringing the most heart out of any Transformer in the film. Liza Koshy, who voiced Arcee, is such a light presence; Koshy's character might not have the biggest presence but she really comes at her delivery with an energy that differs from the rest of the cast. Colman Domingo, who voiced Unicron, comes at this film with some serious power; this is not an antagonist we get for long but Domingo makes him really resonate with us as an audience in so much as we all know to fear him by feature end.

However, the best performance came from Peter Dinklage, who voiced Scourge. I really didn't know what to expect going into this film, heck I just assumed I'd be watching more Decepticons. But the Terrorcons are a whole new threat that actually live up to the name, chiefly due to Dinklage's voice work. I found Scourge to hold a real sense of gravitas, he was powerful and radiated a presence that dwarfed the Autobot and Maximal characters at multiple points. Dinklage brings a cool intensity that actually makes the role intimidating, even scary. Yet at the flip of a coin he can also be deferential, more of a fanatic in service of the greater go-like antagonist he serves. Dinklage brings a great antagonist to life here, one that made me immediately compare him to the great work Hugo Weaving did as Megatron back in the day.

This is a film that starts strong before getting comfortable and immediately turning to old franchise formulaic plot points. While I liked the character of Noah, I found his relationship with his younger brother to get annoying at times and the importance they placed on that dynamic really stretched thin. The fact the big Act three final fight speech came from a kid who could barely act trying to psych up his ex-military older brother felt bizarre. But beyond this the movie really had a solid first act and opted to then take all our main protagonists and have them go globetrotting for important artefacts, just a big race against the clock treasure hunt. As if that hasn't been the plot for like four of the Michael Bay films already. Worse than this the story barely excites, we move from getting an artefact to losing an artefact to having to stop the big bads at the big scary big bad final fight location. The film is marketed as being about the Beasts/Maximals but they barely do much in the film - chiefly they spout exposition and bore the audience. The final fight felt low stakes, there is a lot of fighting henchmen in the main arena but the human characters are the only ones racing the plot forward. But the film takes some weird liberties here, opting to give Diaz some weird Transformers-based power armour and turn him into a loose symbol for humans and Autobots coming together I guess? It's very flimsy, shallow thematic writing. The bad guys are defeated in a very easy, predictable way and the film plods onwards back to a world barely changed by the events that have transpired. Any time a character is killed or teased to die the film fakes it out or takes it back, there is a real franchise fear here of losing beloved characters when in reality they're only lowering the stakes of their own movie. This film has the gall to tease a sequel concept that sounds stupid but also doesn't feel earned after giving such a dull plot for the past two plus hours.

The cinematography often feels really inadequately framed here, I haven't been so unimpressed by so many empty wides in a Transformers film before. This translates into the wider special effects problem of the film; Transformers do not look so good in the larger shots and sometimes the special effects backgrounds just fall short. I often found the action to be slow moving for these sorts of films, in fact this might be the worst blend of the Transformers characters to live-action action sequence we've had yet. This film boasts a pretty solid soundtrack but the way the feature's driving son, 'On My Soul' hamfisted its way over the climax of the final act was just bad film making. It made me think of Age of Extinction when they played that one Imagine Dragons song three times. Steven Caple Jr. can be a great director, he made my favourite Creed but it does not seem like a mammoth special effects blockbuster is suited to his style. 

Dominique Fishback, who played Elena Wallace, is an up and coming actress I see in big parts and often struggling to meet them; in this film Fishback starts off strong but she loses her place as soon as the first act moves on from the museum. Luna Lauren Velez, who played Breanna Diaz, is a lot more likely to be remembered for Across the Spider-verse than she is for this film in 2023; Velez gives quite a generic take on an overworked and stressed Mum which undersells her talent. Dean Scott Vasquez, who played Kris Diaz, is such an annoying young performer; sometimes placing a kid in such a central role shows all the flaws of the role and that's exactly what Vasquez brings to the table. Peter Cullen, who voiced Optimus Prime, seemed so disengaged with the character on this one; Cullen had no real emotion or passion with how he delivered Optimus and I was quite disappointed. Ron Perlman, who voiced Optimus Primal, is really just in this film to give long winding exposition and lay out the shallow themes for the audience/main characters; Perlman normally comes with such gravitas but Primal felt small in a movie that should have featured him more. Michelle Yeoh, who voiced Airazor, is off from that Oscar buzz and back to giving dull exposition heavy dialogue; Yeoh crafts a character that feels so emotionless and is never really one we connect with. John DiMaggio, who voiced Straosphere, is back to voice more forgettable Transformers; DiMaggio's old blustering Transformer made me think of the bad old days of Michael Bay. David Sobolov, MJ Rodriguez and Tongayi Chirisa, who voiced Rhinox/Battletrap, Nightbird and Cheetor respectively, are the most forgettable Transformers of the cast; these are all the named characters that are content with being background dressing or dull henchmen. Cristo Fernández, who voiced Wheeljack, is just in this feature to have a joke made around his accent; it's a weird scene that fails to be funny and is yet another moment that felt like the awful jokes that used to make the Bay films so glaringly awful.

This might not be the worst Transformers film, but it is almost certainly the most creatively bankrupt. I would give Transformers: Rise of the Beasts a 4.5/10.