These days, a movie is either one of the best, or not worth the price of a ticket and popcorn, and can be watched upon its digital release. Call us maximals, because that’s quite extreme! It begs the question, are only big event films worth going to the theatres for? Where does a film like Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts fit in? It’s not a big milestone release like Fast X, and yet the seventh instalment of a beloved franchise that’s been around for years. What’s more, it isn’t extraordinary or award-worthy, yet shows you a decently fun time at the movies. It checks boxes like good CGI and emotional connect, even if it doesn’t surprise or thrill you big time, might even give you deja vu in its final battle scenes. Methinks, Transformers fits in just fine, then.
Directed by Creed 2 filmmaker Steven Caple Jr, Rise Of The Beasts stars Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback, and boasts of quite the voice cast: John DiMaggio, David Sobolov, Michelle Yeoh, Ron Pearlman, Peter Dinklage, Liza Koshy, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Colman Domingo, Tongayi Chirisa, Cristo Fernández, and Pete Davidson, with Peter Cullen returning as the voice of legendary Autobot leader Optimus Prime. The screenplay is by Joby Harold, Josh Peters, Darnell Metayer, and Eric and Jon Hoeber. Michale Bay, director of Transformers 1-5, is a producer.
Unicron is a Dark God who is always hangry and has his minions, the Terrorcorns, serve him entire planets for dinner. For this, they need the Transwarp Key that lets them open portals in space and time. They find it on a jungle planet in the care of beast robots, known as Maximals. An epic battle ensues and the Maximals leader sacrifices himself, so Optimus Primal and the other Maximals can escape to Earth with the key, shutting out Unicron.
It’s 1994 on Earth. In New York, a curious museum intern unlocks a part of the Transwarp key, which sends out an energy beacon that alerts the Autobot Optimus Prime, and the Terrorcon leader Scourge. Simultaneously in Brooklyn, an ex-military Noah Diaz (who’s nifty with electronics) unsuspectingly becomes a part of the quest while trying to steal a car which is actually the Autobot Mirage, activated after Prime’s summon. Mirage brings Noah to a meeting with Prime, Bumblebee and Arcee, and seeks his help. Despite Prime’s initial mistrust, Noah and Elena become a part of the Autobots mission to save the key from Scourge and Co and keep Unicron at bay. While each faction—Autobot, human, and Terrorcon—has its own agenda with the key, the stakes are cosmic.
Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts is a pretty predictable, straightforward quest. It’s a bit laughable just how easy it becomes for the good guys to solve the puzzles that lead them to the McGuffin, so much that you start doubting the sapience of the bad bots. But the story is infused with enough heart and humour to keep you engaged and not fidget with the threads that bother you. The bromance between Noah and Mirage is the highlight of the film. In fact, Mirage, voiced by Pete Davidson, is hands down the best thing about Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts.
The film has its funny moments, thanks to Noah’s friend Reek, Mirage’s casual, chilled-out attitude, and the antics of a few other Autobots we meet along the way. The emotion is infused with the sweet relationship between Ramos’ Noah and his brother Kris, played by a compelling Dean Scott Vazquez. The film feels more human, less transformer at all times, which is where the hardcore fans might feel cheated. I didn’t find myself complaining. Every other film in this genre these days wants you to care about cosmic stakes, yet none really willing to let beloved characters die with no chance of resurrection. The stakes then never register or hit you hard. It’s an astute move to lead with emotions and play with human stories on the front foot to appeal to a wider audience.
The final battle was a whole lot of “Oh, this looks like a mashup between Avengers: Endgame and the climax of the Return Of The King.” Noah has an Iron Man moment; Scourge does feel like Thanos, and there’s even a tower à la Mordor surrounded by lava when the key opens the portal, and instead of the eye of Sauron, you’ve got the mouth of another Dark Lord. I swear there’s a Gollum joke too in there somewhere. Clearly, I found my fun in this exercise of comparison; it all looked pretty dynamic, and the scenes between Mirage and Noah brought the feels. In fact, even though a certain last-minute battle entry wasn’t exactly a surprise, it still made the crowd hoot and cheer when it happened. Similarly, the ending, though predictable was wholesome and felt like a satisfactory payoff.
All of this set to the right music that pumps you up? Man, even the bots would feel them feels.
I do have to say that while the film does have a lofty voice cast, none of the new actors is able to bring much personality into their bots, barring Mirage and Optimus Primal. And that’s my one peeve. I only cared for Noah, Mirage, Bumblee, and Optimus. No one else.
Also Read: What to Watch This Week Of June 5 To 11: Never Have I Ever S4, Bloody Daddy, Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts, And More
Verdict
Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts isn’t some pathbreaking blockbuster that’ll give you a lot to take home or incite some elaborate film bro discussion. But it is good, simple fun that looks good on the big screen. Relaxing because it is a standalone sequel so you don’t need to have done any essential watching, and is also a prequel so you kind of know the endgame. You can cruise through it as chilled out as Mirage!
If anything, the real excitement is the cliffhanger of an ending that brings a surprise and a promise, tying a nice little bow on this package that you should definitely pick up this weekend. Yes, in theatres.