After over a decade of some of the worst blockbusters released by Hollywood courtesy of Michael Bay, the Transformers series finally had a bit of a reprieve in 2018 with “Bumblebee,” a prequel/reboot that became known as “the one legitimately good live-action Transformers movie.” Now, five years later, Paramount has enlisted in director Steven Caple Jr. (“The Land (2016),” “Creed 2”) and writers Joby Harold (“King Arthur: Legend of the Sword,” “Obi-Wan Kenobi”), Darnell Metayer (“BMF”), Josh Peters (“BMF), Erich Hoeber (“The Meg,” “Red”), and Jon Hoeber (“The Meg,” “Red”) to deliver “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts”, a film that not only soft-reboots the Transformers world and acts as a sort-of-sequel to “Bumblebee,” but also as a film that introduces one of the biggest pieces of the original franchise not yet seen in live-action before: the Maximals.
Set in 1994, the film follows Noah Diaz, played by Anthony Ramos (“In the Heights,” “She’s Gotta Have It (2017)”), who, alongside Elena Wallace, played by Dominque Fishback (“Judas and the Black Messiah,” “Swarm”), helps the Autobots, consisting of Optimus Prime, voiced by Peter Cullen (“The New Adventures of Winnie The Pooh,” “Predator”), Bumblebee, Arcee, voiced by Liza Koshy (“Freakish,” “Hamster & Gretel”), and Mirage, voiced by Pete Davidson (“Bupkis,” “Bodies Bodies Bodies”), find an alien key that can help send them home. All the while, they’re pursued by Scourge, voiced by Peter Dinklage (“Game of Thrones,” “The Station Agent”), a servant of Unicron, voiced by Colman Domingo (“@Zola,” “Selma”), while having to work with the Maximals, a group of animal-based Transformers consisting of Optimus Primal, voiced by Ron Perlman (“Hellboy (2004),” “Sons of Anarchy”), Airazor, voiced by Michelle Yeoh (“Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Everything Everywhere All At Once”), and Rhinox, voiced by David Sobolov (“Guardians of the Galaxy (2015),” “The Flash (2015)”).
If that sounds like a lot, it really isn’t. There’s an abundance of characters but thankfully the film keeps things fairly simple in terms of its overall plotting. There aren’t any weird alien metals or government conspiracies here, simply good guys and bad guys who both want the same mystical artifact. It’s generic for sure, but the simplicity of it at least means that there’s time for the characters and relationships to be established and grow. Ramos and Fishback have great chemistry and are fun to watch banter back and forth with each other. Prime continues to serve as a stoic leader figure, learning from his human companions and teaching them as well. It’s a well-worn formula, but it works well enough here. Koshy is fine, and Davidson is delivering his high-energy comedic relief well. The Maximals meanwhile feel fairly forgettable, and, besides Cullen, only Dinklage seems to be putting in a lot of effort with his performance.
Meanwhile, despite advertising itself as a fun 90s throwback adventure, “Rise of the Beasts” only really exists in the 90s for the first thirty minutes, taking the rest of the runtime to run away to Peru to trot around ruins and jungles. For all their faults (and there were a lot of them) the Bay films at least looked and felt like they were worth their budget. So much of Rise of the Beasts consists of watching CGI robots stand in forests and green backgrounds to fight. The third act in particular is a slog of gray, bland environments and cloudy skies. It almost seems like a shock to say this film costs the same as the rest of the films, sans “Bumblebee.”
Thankfully, it isn’t very long. The simpler nature of the story means that things are wrapped up much faster than before, resulting in a film that’s a little over two-hours compared to the near three-hour behemoths these films used to be. The problem with the overall package though is one that seems to be almost paradoxical.
“Rise of the Beasts” is, emphatically, better than every previous “Transformers” film besides “Bumblebee.” Maybe you can make an argument for the first film, but regardless, it’s a movie that is simple, to the point, moves quickly, and doesn’t get lost in so many of the other movie’s vices. However, its also the most generic movie the series has made yet. Yes, it’s objectively better than Bay’s, but it doesn’t have anything nearly as weirdly fascinating as Transformers helping out Harriet Tubman or King Arthur or learning a sun-destroying machine was hidden in the Great Pyramid of Giza. Are those things good? No, but they’re bizarrely captivating in a weird kind of car-crash way, pun intended.
“Rise of the Beasts” is a film that is unequivocally better than each Bay film. While that isn’t a high bar, it does manage to be the most generic film in the franchise yet. It’s also kind of a wonder where the budget seems to have gone, even when not compared to Bay’s previous orgies of destruction. It’s hard not to compare this movie to those; after all, it’s the first movie with “Transformers” in the title he hasn’t directed in the series. And while its much better, its just less interesting overall. 3/5
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