Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Review

Here’s my Transformers: Rise of the Beasts review from Paramount Pictures starring Anthony Ramos, Peter Cullen, Pete Davidson, Michelle Yeoh, Ron Perlman and more.

The film is set in the new timeline post Bay-verse and 7 years after Bumblebee. It’s the 90s and a new threat is coming which is connected to the Autobots and their future descendants, the Maximals.

With a clean slate to work on, director Steven Caple Jr, builds up a film that truly fits the era it was set on by giving equal feature to the heroic Maximals from the series Transformers: Beast Wars and doing a nice crossover with the Transformers G1 gang stuck on Earth.

I liked how they calibrated the story to have all these fun elements and teasing a big bad for future movies.

Totally not a spoiler now but Unicron makes a proper appearance in this film and not like what happened in “Transformers: The Last Knight” where he was only mentioned. And I’m talking about what we remember him from Transformers The Movie from the 80s. And just like his animated version and like Marvel’s Galactus, Unicron has other beings doing his bidding which comes in the form of Scourge, Battletrap and Nightbird.

Peter Dinklage runs over the good guys as Scourge, an imposing ‘bot who also looks like the TF version of the Phantom of the Opera. Very solid design for the character but even Dinklage can’t save him from looking like a generic bad guy with his cliché lines. But damn it, he looks pretty good err bad. I just wish he got more back story rather than acting like a generic bad guy.

Love the designs for the two other baddies here especially Nightbird and I have to simp a little bit on Arcee voiced by Liza Koshy who was wonderful in this film both to listen to and to see. One thing though is that we never got to see these two fight. But that could be a little pandering if you know what I mean. And if you catch the film on IMAX (or at an SM Cinema near you), then you’ll be able to really see the details they placed in the various characters. Speaking of designs, gone are those “techno organic” looks from the Bay-verse which was polarizing – some love them some hate them. This time the Autobots and the Terrorcons all look like bipedal machines.

OPTIMUS PRIME in PARAMOUNT PICTURES and SKYDANCE Present
In Association with HASBRO and NEW REPUBLIC PICTURES
A di BONAVENTURA PICTURES Production A TOM DESANTO / DON MURPHY Production
A BAY FILMS Production “TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS”

It sucks though that we didn’t get much of the other Maximals in this movie and that Bumblebee gets benched for most of the film. The latter gets its redemption when in the climax, we get the alt forms of Cheetor and Rhinox but it still sucks that we didn’t get to see them much. The latter one, has a nice pay off and you could totally understand why they sidelined Bee for this movie. At least he did get a killer moment here.

I liked Mirage here and the character that they gave him; very 90s and very in tune with the times. It’s a treat to hear Pete Davidson also being wholesome albeit managing to sneak in some dirty jokes. Plus that surprise thing he does at the end is also fun although have to admit I’m not a fan of the design. Still Mirage gets bumped up high in my list of Autobots thanks to this film.

I did like the new take on the human characters for the film in the form of Ramos’ Noah Diaz and Dominique Fishback’s Elena who all have their own plot lines that also gets resolved in a satisfying manner at the end of the film. Elena’s spunky and shows her heart through most of the scenes she’s in. And I’m all for inclusivity and all that and with that permit me in saying that the casting of Elena was excellent because for this story we’re not looking for a love interest for our hero; rather its a friend that he can throw lines at and show vulnerabilities to. Great choice for giving us Elena, a believable “geek” rather than an unbelievable supermodel who also has multiple PHDs.

Noah and Elena Transformers: Rise of the Beast

What I am not a fan of anymore is the constant running away from smaller terrorcons. That I can give a hard pass especially when you mix the running away from small metallic creatures together with massive explosions around them. That’s so Transformers 2007 and I don’t think I want that in this new universe we live and operate on. The humor here is hit and miss and if you’re a fan of stoner style comedy or the vibe that Pete Davidson gives off then this is for you. If not then its a small speedbump that you can shrug off anyway.

Small comforts for me is also the fact that we do have a neat reference to Bumblebee in this film.

Left to right: Hailee Steinfeld as Charlie and Bumblebee in BUMBLEBEE from Paramount Pictures.

Small nitpick here is that we don’t even have a single representation of 90s rock in this picture. Not even a Guns N Roses?? Nothing?

Verdict:

8/10

Transformers: Rise of the Beast can be a hit or miss but when it hits the spot, mapapa “rollout” ka sa sinehan. It could arguably be the best Transformers movie for me since the first one all those years ago. Plus (without spoiling) trust me when I say its building up something HUGE and that alone is worth the admission.

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