A Reel Review - TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS

In 2007, everyone’s favorite director Michael Bay brought the TRANSFORMERS franchise to the big screen. Bay would helm four more of the spectacle-driven films before stepping aside for the kid-friendly, 2018 BUMBLEBEE spinoff, and despite dazzling visual effects and major box office hauls, the franchise has been bogged down by mixed-to-lousy receptions from critics and fans. Here in 2023, a prime opportunity arises to get things headed in the right direction with TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS. 

 

In 1994, Noah (Anthony Ramos), a down-on-his-luck tech wizard, and Elena (Dominique Fishback), a down-on-her-luck artifact researcher, fall into the company of the Autobots to try and prevent the planet Earth from being devoured by the galactic threat that is Unicron. 

 

Directed by Steven Caple Jr., the plotline of BEASTS is very similar to what we’ve seen before in this franchise: find a secret and ancient whatchamacallit before the bad guys do to save the Earth. To do this, Noah and Elena are whisked across the world from NYC to Peru with the heroic Autobots, where they link up with the also-ancient Maximals; an advanced race of beast-robots who have been hiding out on Earth protecting those secrets. They are all pursued by the Terrorcons (thugs of Unicron), who are nearly indestructible. 

 

It's a simple plot with many moving parts, but what makes it work is that this time there is decent character work done to give the story some emotional draw. Noah is pulled into the war due to his desire to help his family, and even the heroic Optimus Prime is given an arc that actually works. Characters make this one tick, and it is a pleasant change of pace for a TRANSFORMERS film. 

 

But where BEASTS excels in character, it falls flat in spectacle. The action scenes are somewhat dull despite one or two stand-up-and-cheer moments, and much of the fighting isn’t as fun as it thinks it is. There is still some fat to be trimmed; the Elena character doesn’t offer much and feels like it could have been merged with Noah. 

 

Much like its predecessors, visual effects are dazzling. Director Steven Caple Jr. doesn’t quite seem to know what to do with all, and every frame is kinda ho-hum. Pop-music of the 1990’s is used heavily in place of a score, and it’s more annoying than fun. 

 

Anthony Ramos performs well in his first big-budget film, and Dominique Fishback does well with her thin script. The great Peter Cullen, who has now been voicing Optimus for over 30 years, sounds great as always. The voice-cast for the other robots is impressive, including Peter Dinklage, Ron Perlman, and Michelle Yeoh, but they are so modulated that they’re barely recognizable. 

 

The question everyone wants answered: Is it better than the Bay films? Yes and no. There’s a lot Bay did better (action, cinematography, spectacle), but there are things BEASTS improved on (character, plotting). On its own, BEASTS is all-right film (despite two mid and pre-credit tag scenes that are pretty stupid), and does set up an interesting future for the TRANSFORMERS. It’s a shaky re-start, but it is a start. 

 

BOTTOM LINE: Rent it