Optimus Prime and the Autobots take on their biggest challenge yet. When a new threat capable of destroying the entire planet emerges, they must team up with a powerful faction of Transformers known as the Maximals to save Earth.
These live-action Transformers films started off well. Michael Bay had a unique combination of loud noises, explosions, sexy women, military glorification, low-brow humour, and unorthodox close-up action choreography that was impossible to decipher. An unusual mix of styles, but you can't disagree that the end result was a pretty fun set of films. The plot was non-sensical, and frequently contradicted itself, but what can you really expect when you create a modern cinematic interpretation of an 80s toy line of vehicles that transform into robots and fight each other. As the franchise progressed, Bay's policy of going bigger each time began to collapse on itself and ratings eventually dipped.
Even after Bay's departure from the director's chair, the spin-off, Bumblebee, failed to gain traction at the box office, despite a more reserved, grounded, and emotional approach to the film, so the franchise did what all franchises do once they start seeing diminishing returns; they wait a few years and try again. Thus, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts was born.
The lack of success from Bumblebee has led to a reversion back towards the Michael Bay formula. Explosions and low-brow humour still remain, alongside a nonsensical plot (i.e. antagonists arrive to acquire the MacGuffin that will end the world, and the Transformers must team up to defeat the antagonist at the last moment), but there are some clear adjustments made to the formula. The most striking of which is the (human) military focus being largely removed from the movie. Apart from one of our main protagonists being ex-military (which really plays no real part in the film), the government or military have no real part to play in this edition of the franchise. In fact, as this film technically occurs in 1994 (after Bumblebee but before the original Transformers film), our Autobot protagonists want nothing to do with humans, let alone cooperate and collaborate with them.
While very shallow an idea, the premise is an intriguing one; to delve into the origin of why the Autobots care so much about humans. To explore the transition from selfish to selfless. Aside from the interesting perspective, the lack of military presence simply makes Rise of the Beasts feel more homey and intimate. Despite still travelling the world to battle our antagonists in multiple countries, the lack of faceless black suits and soldiers brings the focus to our main characters and allows the opportunity to provide some depth and backstory (as minimal as it is).
We get a better feel of our human heroes, Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos) and Elena Wallace (Dominique Fishback), one who is struggling to get a job to support his ill little brother, the other a highly intelligent and inquisitive historical intern who is never given the career advancement or credit that she deserves. The film flashes racism and inequality for fleeting moments and attempts to use Noah's sick brother in an attempt to form a quick sympathetic bond with the audience, before jumping into the action sequences. Regardless of how poorly executed the attempts at story and emotional depth are, the attempt is a praiseworthy step in the right direction.
The third point of our main protagonist triangle (not a love triangle, purely platonic) is Pete Davidson. I mean the Autobot, Mirage, voiced by Pete Davidson. This is the first time that the audience has been given the opportunity to properly get to know the character and personality of a Transformer, outside of Bumblebee and Optimus Prime. Whether you enjoy his characterization or not, Mirage is a fresh change of pace. These three take the spotlight for the majority of the runtime, and their adventures bring the reality that it would be great to see either a fully Transformers film without any human intervention or a Transformers film that doesn't have a world-ending threat; bring out the tomb-raiding, national treasuring adventures where the Autobots search for their history and their way off of Earth, without the need for constant battle. Bring the character arcs, strategy, and detective work, to the franchise about highly technologically advanced robots that can transform. Anything better than "if only we knew someone that could fit down the human-sized tunnel in this Transformers facility".
Rise of the Beasts is named thusly due to the introduction of the Maximals to the franchise (known from Beast Wars). Heavily represented in the trailers, one would have hoped they would have an integral part to play in the story, but like the Dinobots in Age of Extinction, their role is rather minor; new characters to increase the toys that can be sold around the film, but characters that could have easily been replaced or removed entirely from the film. Airazor and Optimus Primal (and the other forgettable cheetah and rhino one) look awesome, but there is no real substance.
It's refreshing to have a film that isn't centred around Megatron for once, and the Terrorcons (Sourge specifically) is an impressively indomitable adversary, ruined only by a lack of consistency in the film. Scourge is unbeatable, and dominates every character in every fight...until they decide he isn't. No reasoning, no cutting off his power, no discovering his weakness, not even the power of friendship. He, along with the other Terrorcons, simply gets nerfed in the final act. Not satisfying in the slightest.
To be fair the action sequences are a lot easier to follow as the characters have a lot more colour and simplified designs that make it much easier to distinguish movements, but when the extent of most battles rely on either pulling pieces off of each other or hitting and stabbing each other, there isn't a lot of variety to keep action sequences entertaining for long.
It's an improvement, and it has taken some of the better aspects of Bumblebee and embedded it into the usual formula. It isn't something that is worth writing home about. In fact, you could even say that the positive elements of the film when put together with the negative elements, end up cancelling themselves out, leaving you with a mediocre and forgettable film. The younger audiences will still be entertained by it, and the fanboys will get some enjoyment from trying to pick out every piece of nostalgia bait and easter egg that has been injected into the film, but for the general audience, it's another piece of the Transformers franchise that will blend in with the rest.
To be honest, do any of us remember the locations, the names of the world-ending devices, or who the villains were in the previous instalments? Revenge of the Fallen, Dark of the Moon, Age of Extinction, or The Last Knight; all have much of a sameness. Rise of the Beasts fails to be something different. The young ones will love it, so drop them off with their friends, but mature audiences won't find much to appreciate here.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is in NZ cinemas from June 22, 2023