The Transformers franchise continues to find its footing in the post-Michael Bay era with another fun entry. The film brings fans into a beloved storyline that boasts big action and likable characters, but also a thin narrative and standard franchise fare.
Inspired by the Beast Wars storyline, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts has Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen) and his fellow Autobots team up with a new pair of humans who try to help them find an ancient artifact that could help the Autobots get back to Cybertron. Unfortunately, the all-powerful Unicron (voiced by Colman Domingo) has sent a small army led by the vicious bounty hunter Scourge (voiced by Peter Dinklage) to retrieve the artifact. Thus, Optimus is forced to rely on the assistance of the Maximals – a faction of Transformers who can transform into hulking mechanized animals – to defeat Scourge and save Earth from Unicron’s destructive power.
Rise of the Beasts, like 2018’s Bumblebee, has a distinctly different feel from Bay’s Transformers films. This is due to the film being led by Creed II director Steve Caple Jr. rather than Bay. Caple Jr. brings a stronger focus on character-driven storytelling over mindless action, and it pays off greatly in making this one of the most likable and interesting casts of any of the Transformers films.
Optimus isn’t the noble leader that fans are used to as he’s much more ruthless and self-centered in his mission. He’s harboring self-resentment over past choices and now finds himself trying to make up for it by doing whatever he can to fix things. This is the most emotional we’ve seen Optimus – largely thanks to Cullen’s great performance and Caple Jr.’s vision for the character – and it works in making his interactions with human character Noah (Anthony Ramos) and Maximal leader Optimus Primal (voiced by Ron Pearlman) more meaningful.
On the villains’ side, we get some of the most daunting and brutal enemies of the franchise with Unicron’s presence creating this looming evil and Scourge being pretty scary himself. Scourge is a very memorable villain, unlike his forgettable cohorts, thanks to how he’s characterized as a bounty hunter. There’s awesome lore built around him particularly with him bearing the emblems of the Transformers he’s slain throughout the years (this also makes for great easter eggs) as its a visual reminder of how dangerous is. Dinklage’s voice work makes him even more terrifying, and it’s made clear very early on that Scourge spares his enemies no mercy – making every appearance of his carry strong suspense.
Now, even though Rise of the Beasts takes a more character-driven approach to its story, that doesn’t mean it doesn’t know how to have fun. There’s a lot of great banter and one-liners throughout that’ll have viewers laughing and smiling. Mirage (voiced by Pete Davidson) is a great addition to the cast due to the comedy Davidson provides and the characters’ unique elements like his holograms and transforming can bring to the action. The action, in general, is a lot of fun and the finale fight is particularly epic. There’s so much awesome destruction that audiences will love and some brutal kills as no one is pulling their punches by the end. Fans of Bumblebee will be especially happy with the sequence dedicated to him in the finale since the music and action are just non-stop fun. Plus, there are plenty of nods to the 90s and great music choices that make Rise of the Beasts a true summer blockbuster.
Unfortunately, Rise of the Beasts can’t overcome shortcomings that stem from a thin narrative and an inability to effectively use all its fun characters. For a film like this being based on a beloved, lore-heavy storyline like Beast Wars, it’s a shame how simple and standard it feels for this franchise. The lore feels gutted and overall feels like a get from “Point A” to “Point B” adventure with nothing too interesting happening in-between. It’s overly predictable and struggles to really shock fans or do something new for the franchise. Rise of the Beasts is just “another” Transformers film and is devoid of real risk-taking – outside of an ending surprise that teases a crossover that would be incredible to see happen.
By sticking to the usual franchise script, a lot of characters either don’t have much to do or have thin stories themselves. Although there’s some good heart to Noah and another main human character, Elena (Dominique Fishback), they just don’t feel that memorable. Ramos and Fishback aren’t given enough depth in their characters to deliver performances that match their talent. Plus, Transformers who don’t have a main part in the story just feel like they’re there to fill up the screen and despite Unicron’s daunting presence, you can’t help but wish he would do something more. There are a lot of likeable personalities amongst this cast, but most of them just get thrusted to the background only to be called up for quick one-liners or action scenes – which is kind of lame and makes them forgettable.
Although Rise of the Beasts won’t exactly be a completely memorable Transformers film simply because it doesn’t tap into the full potential of its characters and story, there’s more than enough here to please fans and audiences looking for a summer blockbuster with good laughs, likable characters, and big screen action.
