Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
Starring Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback, Peter Cullen, Pete Davidson
Directed by Steven Caple Jr.

As a child of the 80s I grew up with the original "Transformers" television series which still holds a special place in my heart, and I had pretty much literally every Transformer toy ever made. Optimus Prime and company were my heroes, and I still remember seeing the animated movie back in 1986 and being scarred by it since it was essentially Hasbro's way of eliminating the old Autobots and Decepticons in favor of introducing a whole new line of toys for new characters. To this day the film is one I return to time and again even though it's not technically a masterpiece, it still elicits childhood memories and also has the best soundtrack out of any movie period (prove me wrong). When Michael Bay turned the Transformers into live action (well, CGI set against live backdrops and characters), I was beyond excited - and while the first film was serviceable, every subsequent sequel just delivered diminishing returns until it finally took its last breath with "The Last Knight." In 2018 the film series was revived with the prequel film "Bumblebee" not directed by Michael Bay, and became the best "Transformers" film in the franchise because it returned to its 80s roots by having them transform into their actual other modes instead of Bay's line of fast cars. 2023 saw the return of the Transformers with "Rise of the Beasts," and now they're accompanied by the beloved Maximals from the hit series "Beast Wars," and even though the story is generic and typical, it's now - to me anyway - one of the best of the live-action "Transformers" movies to date.

In 1994, Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos) lives with his mother and sick brother, and is an ex-military electronics expert who can't find a job. He settles for stealing a car from a wealthy social gathering but too late discovers that it's no ordinary car he's inside, but rather an Autobot in disguise named Mirage (Pete Davidson), who drives Noah to a secret meeting place where his boss, Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen), has gathered the other Autobots to tell them that a beacon known as the Transwarp Key has been activated, and could be their way home.

The beacon was accidentally activated by artifact researcher Elena Wallace (Dominique Fishback), who finds a mysterious clay bird and breaks it apart to find the Key inside. This also draws the attention of Scourge (Peter Dinklage) who leads the Terricons and also works for the world-devouring Transformer Unicron (Colman Domingo) who needs the Key to cross the multiverse to reach Earth. At first wary to trust humans, Optimus agrees to let Noah and Elena help in finding the two parts of the key before Scourge does, and gets help from the Maximals led by Optimus Primal (Ron Perlman), who arrived on Earth with the key centuries ago to keep it safe. As they travel across the planet, both Optimus Prime and Noah learn to trust one another and find a way to all work together - or Earth will be the next planet consumed by the unstoppable Unicron.


The Good:
The "Transformers" series isn't known for their wealth of character development, but in casting Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback in the lead roles director Steven Caple Jr. was able to shed light on their characters in ways that couldn't be done before. You see the hardships both face as persons of color living in 1994 - Noah can't get a job because he's seen as someone who can't work with others, while Elena is overlooked by her white boss as she interns at the museum. They find their strength in their common goal to save the world, and both actors give great performances.

Peter Cullen has voiced Optimus Prime from the onset of the television series in the 80s and has never stopped since, and his voice is a soothing presence for anyone longing for the classic 80s cartoons in live action form. Here, Optimus isn't a friend to humans but is rather mistrusting of them, and it's a different change of pace for the character. He also shows emotion for essentially getting his team stuck on Earth when they were in search of Energon from their home planet of Cybertron, and comes across as a war weary warrior who essentially serves as a father who wants to protect his family.

Pete Davidson's casting as Mirage was a daring one, as the actor really hasn't been in anything tremendous that I've seen, and I was apprehensive at the choice. My worries were relieved when he came across as a fun loving, free-spirited Autobot who wasn't as annoying as Davidson is in real life, and was actually enjoyable.

The Maximal leader Optimus Primal and falcon Airazor also stood out due to the vocal talents of Ron Perlman and Michelle Yeoh respectively. Primal - like Prime - wants to protect his family and also protect the world that he's grown to love after spending centuries there, and is someone who's much more trusting of humans than Prime is. Yeoh's Airazor is a warrior and also an intellectual emotional creature who is as majestic as anything, soaring the skies and breathing fire when needed. Peter Dinklage voices Scourge with a deep, fearful baritone that made him truly terrifying, a seemingly unstoppable killing machine who wears the emblems of the Transformers - specifically the other Primes - as badges of honor.

I've been waiting to see how Unicron would adapt to the live action treatment, and he does not disappoint. In the animated movie he's a massive world-eating Transformer, and here he's exactly the same. The design is perfect, the menace is palpable, and Colman Domigo gives him a terrifying voice. Though similar to Galactus (and Scourge his Silver Surfer), Unicron is still an unstoppable force that exists in the nether-regions of space that could arrive at any time and easily devour our world - and serves as the most terrifying threat of all.

The CGI is effective and perfectly delivered, rendering the Transformers in brilliant color that also allows them to showcase human emotions. You sense Prime's anger and mistrust just in his eyes, and their transformations are fluid, succinct and balanced - almost graceful as opposed to Bay's more rough transformations.

The battles were also fluid and easy to watch, unlike Bay's action where you need a barf bag because the camera is zooming and flying all over the place as metal CGI clicks like two five year olds hammering their Transformer toys into one another. Here the battles are still epic in scale, but slowed down so you actually see what's happening. It was a great change of pace for the franchise and amped up the excitement levels.


The Bad:
Not necessarily a bad thing, but the story really lacks in originality. It's something that you've seen in numerous action films, and you can predict the beats before they come. There's a MacGuffin that will either send the Autobots home, or bring Unicron to Earth, and it all depends on who has the key, which is the actual MacGuffin. Of course, as the good guys go in search for it, the bad guys sit back and wait for them to find it before engaging in battle to steal it, and of course the key is split into two so it's not so simple to attain. In typical fashion, there's also a kill switch that will stop the key from working if it falls into the wrong hands, and it just so happens that they needed someone who's well-versed in archaeological languages to find it - someone like Elena. While people don't go to these types of films to find a Shyamalan-style twist, it would be nice sometimes to get a different story that doesn't rely on the typical tropes.

I don't know why these "Transformers" movies don't utilize more Autobots, but it always seems to happen. In Bay's films there was only a handful of Autobots, and "Rise of the Beasts" is more the same. When it comes to the Maximals, only Primal and Airazor get any sort of development, while the other two (who's names elude me) exist as foot soldiers. Likewise the Autobots on Earth only consist of Prime, Mirage, Bumblebee, Arcee, Wheeljack, and Stratosphere, and in a world where Autobots are so numerous in scope, to only have a handful of them fighting a slew of Terricon soldiers was a bit disappointing.


The Verdict:
While it lacks originality in storytelling, you don't go into "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" to find a cerebral storyline, but rather your beloved Autobots fight to save the world, and to that end there's no greater "Transformers" movie that handles that massive task.


The Score: A