Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Review

While the critics blasted Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, really they are complaining that the film continues all the hallmarks of what a Transformer film is, with all the good and bad. Ultimately the result is an entertaining popcorn action film. As others have pointed out, it doesn't have the heart of Bumblebee yet it also avoids the story and fast editing mess that was the hallmark of the Michael Bay films.

The story is straightforward but it still relies on the Bayverse chestnut of tracking down a McGuffin that can be destructive or constructive depending on who is weilding it. The Autobots want it to return home to Cybertron, the bad guys want it so Unicron can drop by and have Earth for dinner. The entire story is tracking down the two parts of the McGuffin as the Decep... I mean the Terrorcons fight the Autobots over it. The story takes odd little shortcuts to justfiy why the Optimus Prime and company are willing to work with humans, the first time being actually very practical and by the end of the film the reasons are forced but at least the effort was made beyond "just because". There is an attempt at a story arc for Optimus Prime involving learning to trust humans that to me was unncessary considering the character's core philosopy is "Freedom is the right of all sentient beings" but the films are not known for a character arc, its something different. Unicron's appearances are impressive and epic in scope just do his sheer size but story wise he is effecitvely just another McGuffin.

Since films have a budget, it means the movie cannot be all robots, all the time, so here we have two main human characters. One is an ex-soldier worried about his family, the other is an academic forced along for the ride due to her knowledge. The film attempts to give them a backstory of sorts but honestly just like in previous films, its more to justify character decisions and could be skipped. The backstory is mostly about budget savings of having scenes that do not necessarily require expensive special effects to pull off.

This brings us to the usual high point of all the films which is the special effects. The Transformers all look outstanding, there are plenty of transformation sequences, and every penny they could spare was used to allow them to be on screen as much as possible. Really once the Transformers were introduced after an action squence involving Jazz.. I mean Mirage's car mode, there were few scenes that didn't have them on screen in either alt mode or robot mode. The action scenes are handled with skill so fortunately the editor didn't have to use quick cuts to hide lazy film making like the Bay films required. If there was one quibble its that the action scenes still suffer from a look of uniformity across the second tier characters where it becomes a mess of gunmetal clashing with gunmetal. There is a practical reason that Hasbro designed the characters to have set colors to define them. It makes it them easy to identify even if cannot remember their names and outside of Mirage and Optimus Prime, that use of color was never employeed well so often times would get confused on what a character was doing when in robot mode. It is something they really need to work on for future movies.

The acting on the film was as good as expect with any Transformers film. The human actors do a good job at the roles given which I know meant reacting to nothing but air. They get their moments, often forced to provide that human perspective to any given sequence whether its needed or not. The voice cast do their job, even though it leaks through that some were just there to collect a paycheck and little else as emotional inflection was far and few between. The stand outs were Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime who somehow plays the same role for decades and yet makes it sound new and impressive everytime and Peter Dinklage as Scourge who seems to relish being the bad guy.

If I had one huge negative of the film it was the music. Thanks to Guardians of the Galaxy's James Gunn, directors' seem to feel like they need to create music moments in their action films and frankly few have the story or the skill to do it right and that was the case here. Because of the emphasis on 1990s music along with the sounds of fighting, 90% of the time I could barely hear the score. Really the only reason I know the film has a score is because it has been released on streaming services and every now and then I would pick up hints of Transformers The Movie chords during Unicron scenes. A good score can often take a meh scene and help it soar as it works with what is on screen to convey the emotion the director intends and here that couldn't happen because the sound mix wouldn't allow for it. The result was a film that often felt flat to me. I could visually enjoy the film, appreciate the transformations, the effects, and more but emotionally it did nothing for me.

If I had to sum up the movie, it would be "it was fine." Writing this up I just kept wanting to use the word "fine" to describe everything. The story was fine, the various characters were fine. The acting was fine. The directing was fine. Nothing stood out one way or the other compared to previous Transformers films or current action films. I was expecting a Transformers film and that is exactly what I got. A fun action romp with a whatever story, involving whatever characters, clashing and duking it out with the best special effects Hollywood can provide.

Side Note: If by some miracle the producers of the franchise or the director see this, I have one piece of advice - fly free from the Bayverse. This film in its own weird way with use of Beast Wars characters and Terrorcons, is trying desperately hard to not contradict the Bayverse continuity too much (despite everything about it contradicting that continuity) and that likely held back what the director and writers might have done without such constraints. Just stop it. Embrace Bumblebee and Beasts is a new continuity so that means that all the Decepticons and Autobots are now back in play and take advantage of that. The film ends on a very interesting connected universe note that comics and Hasbro fans have long wanted for live action. Such an idea only works if you 100% abandon the Bayverse continuity. Its time is over.