Love or the hate the Transformers franchise, it’s been an interesting series of movies to dissect. Perhaps it’s a small number people, but many would claim that the best Michael Bay Transformers movie was the very first one that came out in the summer of 2007. It’s got Bay’s style all over it, make no mistake, but it seemed to be the more focused and cohesive film in comparison to the other four. Revenge of the Fallen, while being a terrible victim of the 2007-2008 writers strike, was an incredible letdown and was almost universally panned by almost everyone. Dark of the Moon, the third film, has been getting a lot of respect over the years for how gloriously epic the final battle is in Michigan Avenue. However, Age of Extinction and The Last Knight were ruining the franchise on a quality level that the desire for people driving in droves to see a Transformers movie came to a grinding halt. Most people are fully aware that there are a large portion of film fans that enjoy these movies as fun dumb movies, but the numbers were declining rapidly that it was obvious that people weren’t nearly as interested as they used to be.
Then this little movie called Bumblebee comes out which not only serves as maybe the greatest come back for any franchise in history, it was clearly looked at the best Transformers movie by a lot of people and we know that there’s fans of the animated Transformers movie from 1986 that would say that’s the best one, but it doesn’t even remotely hold a candle to Bumblebee. What Travis Knight did with that film was remarkable and it managed to bring heart and a soul to a much needed franchise. The only mistake Paramount made was them not doing a more traditional sequel to Bumblebee, instead they wanted to jump ten years ahead into the 1990s and introduce the maximals. Be that as it may, it is what it is and the least we can do is see what Transformers film can do after how good Bumblebee turned out to be.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts isn’t on par with the emotional roller coaster that Bumblebee was but damn this movie slaps with spectacular Transformers action, solid VFX, bad ass music and solid performances from the main cast. The biggest problem with Rise of the Beasts is there’s far too much exposition being said and the maximals feel almost rushed or slightly forgotten, but the sheer entertainment value of this movie is there and far more focused than almost any of the Bay movies, with the slight exception of the first film. There’s some great voice work from the Autobots and maximals and the performances from Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback were solid.
Serving as a sequel but also as a standalone movie, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts takes us back to the ’90s where a new threat emerges between the on going battle with the Autobots and Decepticons. In this chapter, we’re introduced to a new wave of Transformers which include Maximals, Predacons, and Terrorcons.
Even the best Michael Bay Transformers movie is riddled with issues and things that could have easily done better. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has one major problem that most people would agree on and that’s the fact that the movie spoon feeds the audience with maybe the most heavy dose of exposition in any big movie that comes to mind. It really boils down to the use of the Maximals, which are terrific when they’re on screen, but the majority of their dialogue is feeding us with exposition where it gets to a point where the movie isn’t comfortable to let the narrative grab us without overtly hitting story beats. A movie like Transformers: Rise of the Beasts isn’t necessarily one that requires something complex, deep or rich, but that doesn’t change the fact that it should feel the need to bore us even more with an annoying presentation of it’s story. Certain arcs within the Maximals “development” don’t feel as thought out as it probably should been.
Beyond the over abundance of exposition and some rushed story aspects, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts delivers maybe the best and most epic action the franchise has ever seen. Like the action in Bumblebee, the action sequences in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is palpable, easy to follow and visually gorgeous. You have an actual sense on who’s fighting and what their fighting for which makes it intelligible. Usually, the Transformers movies have stellar action and solid VFX work, but in the case of Bumblebee and Rise of the Beasts, this is how you exceed on it.
From the voice work from the Autobots and the Maximals to the performances from Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback, it was solid work. Not to say we expect Oscar caliber acting in a Transformers movie, but it’s always crucial to give us likable and engaging characters. Ramos was super enjoyable, it’s wonderful to see Dominique Fishback in a big movie but man the voice work from Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime is terrific stuff. Seeing Bumblebee in action is always a great sight to see because he’s arguably the most popular Autobot this series has to offer. Even the voice work from Ron Perlman, Michelle Yeoh, Pete Davidson and Peter Dinklage was great.
If you were a fan of Bumblebee, then the odds of you enjoying this are probably moderately high. Then again, the Transformers franchise as a whole isn’t the most beloved in the grand scheme of things. While Rise of the Beasts isn’t the emotionally powerful movie that Bumblebee was, it manages to get the franchise back on track.
Zane's take at the Cinema's 