We’re now on the seventh installment of the Transformers franchise, which has run for almost 20 years. By this point, franchise fatigue is a valid concern – something that this Hasbro toy-based series has found itself deftly defying by shifting gears to throwback prequels that fill in the earlier years of the canon timeline. Director Steven Caple Jr’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts continues that trend, while introducing some fan favorite characters with the Maximals from Beast Wars, and it also proves itself to be the best of the bunch in an explosively fun sequel.
Release Date: June 9, 2023
Directed By: Steven Caple Jr.
Written By: Joby Harold and Darnell Metayer & Josh Peters and Erich Hoeber & Jon Hoeber
Starring: Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback, Luna Lauren Velez, Dean Scott Vazquez, Tobe Nwigwe, Peter Cullen, Ron Perlman, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Yeoh, Liza Koshy, John DiMaggio, David Sobolov, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Pete Davidson, Cristo Fernández, Tongayi Chirisa
Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and language.
Runtime: 127 Minutes
Taking us back to 1994, Rise of the Beasts centers around new human protagonists Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos) and Elena Wallace (Dominique Fishback) as they’re ensnared from their Brooklyn neighborhood into the latest battle to protect the Earth from a massive robotic invasion. This time, the forces of evil are led by Scourge (Peter Dinklage), as he and his Terrorcon cohorts are trying to offer our world as a delicious treat to the planet-devouring Unicron (Coleman Domingo).
As old favorites like Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) and Bumblebee are back on the board to help save the world once again, we’re treated to some new friends as well. In the Autobot camp, Mirage (Pete Davidson) acts as the comic relief and companion closest to our human counterparts. And making their big screen debut are the Maximals, the Beast Wars characters that include Optimus Primal (Ron Pearlman), Airazor (Michelle Yeoh), and a handful of others. If the Maximals and the Autobots can put their differences aside, Earth might just have a chance.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is far and away the best movie in the entire Transformers franchise.
Being a Transformers movie used to mean an entirely different thing. Flashbacks to jokes about robot testicles and other questionable scenes of humor and romance plague the brand, even if it’s an inaccurate image of the IP’s current state. Rise of the Beasts continues to forge down a kinder and gentler but still action packed road that we’ve seen take hold in recent years, starting with Travis Knight's Bumblebee. The result is what is easily the best movie in the franchise to date.
The world is still very much in danger from threats that can convert into various vehicles that roam our streets, with massive wars spanning time and space still acting as the hook that the Transformers stories. There’s even a customary history lesson that fills us in on crucial Maximal events pertinent to the battle we’re about to see unfold. And yet, there’s more fun and warmth injected into this new round.
Even when the final battle blows up the scale of Transformers: Rise of the Beasts to the usual gigantic proportions that belong on the big screen, the movie doesn’t lose sight of its human heroes. Both a globetrotting adventure and a shining example of Brooklyn pride, the seventh round with Cybertron’s exiled heroes stands out as another lesson learned in how to properly tell a story in the Transformers toy box.
The lessons of Bumblebee have taken hold, with lovable human characters balancing the scales of scope and nostalgia.
For the majority of its life as a cinematic universe, the Transformers brand has been defined by director Michael Bay’s five film foundation. It wasn’t until 2018’s Bumblebee that the saga started to change its tune in terms of the stories it wanted to tell. With a scope that still aimed for epic, the number of humans and Transformers was scaled back to encourage better relationships between the audience and the characters – which is an approach that has clearly been acknowledged as a great success as it's still very much present in Rise of the Beasts.
Both Noah and Elena are identifiable characters that the audience can easily relate to on the surface, forming a solid basis for Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback to only enrich these figures with their winning personalities. If you were happy that Bumblebee gave us a story where the titular autobot could properly befriend Hailee Steinfeld in an Amblin-esque adventure, then you’re going to be just as pleased with what Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has to offer.
The same goes for the new complement of Autobots and Maximals that make up the CGI cast. Pete Davidson’s Mirage in particular is a standout, as he walks a fine line between comic relief and humanity’s best friend (reminiscent of Bumblebee’s role in the previous six chapters). This is not a suggestion that our new Autobot accomplice is merely filling a stereotypical role though, as Mirage and Noah’s friendship develops properly throughout the adventure.
If there’s any drawback, it’s the fact that the Maximals don’t get as much time as one might have hoped in a movie titled Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. That caveat aside, there’s still a good amount of Beast Wars antics to leave people wanting more; especially with Ron Perlman’s Optimus Primal feeling ripe for a saga of his own with his fellow beast-shaped machines. Human and automaton alike are easy to root for , especially when both sides have continued to benefit from great strides in character development.
A throwback in the Transformers franchise timeline, Rise of the Beasts also feels like a larger than life adventure that comes from a simpler time.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts isn’t just a throwback in the chain of events in the film series; it also feels like the sort of adaptation of this legendary brand that you could have seen released in the very ‘90s timeframe its set in. One could even say that the new blueprint of the franchise is to relocate the action to a new era each time, and mimic some of the big ticket movies of that age. With that in mind, if Bumblebee felt inspired by E.T., then Rise of the Beasts has the distinct influence of movies like Independence Day to thank for its successes.
We’re moving into another season of blockbusters in summer 2023, with comic book adaptations and high octane action already kicking things off in a proper fashion. Through this latest Transformers adventure, the world has yet another big ticket action/adventure, as well as a family-friendly tale of heroism and loyalty to indulge in.
There’s a bright future ahead, should the powers that be choose to continue following this path they’ve laid with this Transformers movie. Trading in the past era of slick action, edgy humor, and sex appeal, Paramount’s robot-fueled crowd pleaser further embraces a new form that opens itself to a wider audience than ever before. Judging by the movie that’s resulted, this is the type of blockbuster these toys have always been meant to transform into on the big screen, ensuring fans will continue to roll out to greet them with open arms.
