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Update: June 7, 2023
Dragonlord’s Review of TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS (No Spoilers)
Bottom Line: Squandering whatever goodwill 2018’s Bumblebee garnered, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts wastes its fresh start by unwisely copying Michael Bay’s previous Transformers installments and producing the same generic, formulaic movie but blander.
Bumblebee (2018) revitalized the stale Transformers live-action film franchise by focusing on a smaller scale, coming-of-age story with a throwback Amblin movie vibe. Bumblebee was not a great movie necessarily but it was still a decent watch and a breath of fresh air for the IP. More importantly, the reboot showed the promise of what Transformers movies would look like without Michael Bay directing it.
That is why it is so frustrating that Transformers: Rise of the Beasts throws away whatever goodwill and momentum Bumblebee paved and they just copy/paste the past Michael Bay Transformers movies. A mishmash of plot elements from Transformers 1 to 5, the seventh installment revolves around evil robots searching for a powerful MacGuffin (the Transwarp Key) that has been hidden on Earth for centuries.
It would have been more tolerable if the human or robot characters had some depth to them but they’re just written so poorly and soullessly. A sore problem throughout the series, Optimus Prime is portrayed half of the time as a cranky, senile old man that either speaks in awkward monologues that feels disconnected to whatever scene is happening or he shouts in cringey threats to his opponents. Fan-favorite Bumblebee doesn’t have enough screen time in here. But even if he had, I do admit I have grown tired of his radio voice gimmick. Just fucking fix his voice box already!
Surprisingly, Mirage (voiced by Pete Davidson) is the “best” Transformer character in the film due to his fun personality in comparison to his other stiff Autobot comrades. The bad thing about Mirage is his robot design which looked so generic and unmemorable. But the award for the dullest robot design goes to the villain Scourge (voiced by Peter Dinklage) who just looks like a bunch junk parts pieced together. Whether he is reporting to his all-powerful master or relentlessly pursuing theMother Box Transwarp Key, Scourge just reminds me of Steppenwolf from Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
As a fan of the 1996 Beast Wars animated series, the Maximals were a disappointment. They were treated more like glorified cameos similar to how the Dinobots were portrayed in Transformers: Age of Extinction. It’s a shame since Michelle Yeoh did a good job voicing Airazor, giving her a regal and dignified aura while Optimus Primal (voiced by Ron Perlman) was a better leader/character than Optimus Prime in the short time he was on screen. It would have been better if they adapted the 1996 cartoons and gave the Maximals/Predacons their own movie. It was cool to finally see Unicron in all his glory but a better script could have maximized the story potential.
Unlike in previous films where there’s a bunch of annoying characters running around, there’s only two main human characters in here – Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos), an ex-military electronics expert and Elena Wallace (Dominque Fishback), an artifacts researcher. The good news is these two are not obnoxious unlike their predecessors but they’re still a bit on the bland side, especially the girl. I miss Bay’s penchant for giving us some eye candy though.
Transformers: Rise of the Beast is not the worst of the film series but it's so Goddamn generic and formulaic that it will feel like you’re just watching the Michael Bay films all over again. There are two post-credits scene with the second one teasing a massive cinematic crossover which has the potential to be really cool (but I’m pretty sure they’re still going to find a way to fuck it up).
RATING: 5.5/10
(Please leave a Like if you appreciate my reviews.
)
Dragonlord’s Review of TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS (No Spoilers)
Bottom Line: Squandering whatever goodwill 2018’s Bumblebee garnered, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts wastes its fresh start by unwisely copying Michael Bay’s previous Transformers installments and producing the same generic, formulaic movie but blander.
Bumblebee (2018) revitalized the stale Transformers live-action film franchise by focusing on a smaller scale, coming-of-age story with a throwback Amblin movie vibe. Bumblebee was not a great movie necessarily but it was still a decent watch and a breath of fresh air for the IP. More importantly, the reboot showed the promise of what Transformers movies would look like without Michael Bay directing it.
That is why it is so frustrating that Transformers: Rise of the Beasts throws away whatever goodwill and momentum Bumblebee paved and they just copy/paste the past Michael Bay Transformers movies. A mishmash of plot elements from Transformers 1 to 5, the seventh installment revolves around evil robots searching for a powerful MacGuffin (the Transwarp Key) that has been hidden on Earth for centuries.
It would have been more tolerable if the human or robot characters had some depth to them but they’re just written so poorly and soullessly. A sore problem throughout the series, Optimus Prime is portrayed half of the time as a cranky, senile old man that either speaks in awkward monologues that feels disconnected to whatever scene is happening or he shouts in cringey threats to his opponents. Fan-favorite Bumblebee doesn’t have enough screen time in here. But even if he had, I do admit I have grown tired of his radio voice gimmick. Just fucking fix his voice box already!
Surprisingly, Mirage (voiced by Pete Davidson) is the “best” Transformer character in the film due to his fun personality in comparison to his other stiff Autobot comrades. The bad thing about Mirage is his robot design which looked so generic and unmemorable. But the award for the dullest robot design goes to the villain Scourge (voiced by Peter Dinklage) who just looks like a bunch junk parts pieced together. Whether he is reporting to his all-powerful master or relentlessly pursuing the
As a fan of the 1996 Beast Wars animated series, the Maximals were a disappointment. They were treated more like glorified cameos similar to how the Dinobots were portrayed in Transformers: Age of Extinction. It’s a shame since Michelle Yeoh did a good job voicing Airazor, giving her a regal and dignified aura while Optimus Primal (voiced by Ron Perlman) was a better leader/character than Optimus Prime in the short time he was on screen. It would have been better if they adapted the 1996 cartoons and gave the Maximals/Predacons their own movie. It was cool to finally see Unicron in all his glory but a better script could have maximized the story potential.
Unlike in previous films where there’s a bunch of annoying characters running around, there’s only two main human characters in here – Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos), an ex-military electronics expert and Elena Wallace (Dominque Fishback), an artifacts researcher. The good news is these two are not obnoxious unlike their predecessors but they’re still a bit on the bland side, especially the girl. I miss Bay’s penchant for giving us some eye candy though.
Transformers: Rise of the Beast is not the worst of the film series but it's so Goddamn generic and formulaic that it will feel like you’re just watching the Michael Bay films all over again. There are two post-credits scene with the second one teasing a massive cinematic crossover which has the potential to be really cool (but I’m pretty sure they’re still going to find a way to fuck it up).
RATING: 5.5/10
In the post-credits scene, Noah is recruited by a unnamed guy played by Michael Kelly and given a calling card with G.I. Joe written on them. A secret door opens and Noah sees a massive secret headquarters with lots of hi-tech equipment and vehicles. So this is going to be Paramount's next move, they're setting up a G.I. Joe/Transformers crossover. Between the ho-hum Rise of the Beast and 2021's terrible Snake Eyes, I don't have high hopes for this endeavor.
(Please leave a Like if you appreciate my reviews.
)
