A Review of “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023)”

 

This is the first Transformer-titled movie to not be directed by Michael Bay. Bumblebee (2018) was a breath of fresh air from the ridiculously stupid Michael Bay movies. It gave me hope that the Transformers franchise will be able to finally accelerate in a good direction. However, is this actually the case? Or does it just fumble like the old entries?

Firstly, the design of the transformers is great. I love that they are a lot more colourful with distinct looks which makes it easier to recognise who is who. There are new Beast Transformers called the Maximals and they look terrific. The action scenes are also way more visible and easier to comprehend what is going on compared to the Bay movies. The action is incredibly entertaining with great choreography. The story also gives a proper character arc for Optimus Prime which is interesting. We don’t see this side to his character so I quite liked it.

In terms of the human characters. I think Noah played by Anthony Ramos is okay. He has a sympathetic story about his very ill brother he takes care of and not being able to get a job. He also has good chemistry with the Transformers, most notably Mirage voiced by Pete Davidson. On that note, Pete Davidson does a good job of making the character likeable without being overly annoying. The legendary Peter Cullen continues to voice Optimus and he is still awesome. Michelle Yeoh is enjoyable as the Maximal Airazor, and Ron Perlman is great as Optimus Primal and does a good job of making him sound like an equivalent leader to Optimus. Peter Dinklage as the villain Scourge is great too.

However, despite the title being about the rise of the beast, the Maximals are barely involved in the film. They are there at the beginning and in the 3rd act but that is really in. Plot-wise, they don’t contribute much which is massively disappointing. There are just too many characters in this film and unfortunately, many of them barely get any dialogue or personality. This is notable with the Maximals Cheetor and Rhinox and even some of the Autobots. The 3rd act is a little dull to look at as well with its very grey landscape. There is also a very overdone cliche that is used here which has been used in a lot of superhero movies. The script is also kind of cringy and corny. Some jokes did land but there are definitely a fair amount of weak dialogue that doesn’t feel natural.

The plot is also very basic and has been done twice already in this franchise. A human meets a Transformer and gets scared but then help each other to take out some evil robot who wants to destroy the planet. It’s weird that they keep doing the same formula. The 3rd act also has so many ridiculous plot conveniences to keep the humans involved in the plot. I also found the human and Transformer friendship to be weaker than Bumblebee (2018). They just don’t invest enough time into it for me to care. I dislike the stupidity of the villains as well. They have opportunities to kill the characters but never do. E.g. they could kill the humans but instead they send silly spider things that can somehow be hurt by a stick.

Overall, it’s a fine Transformer movie. It definitely isn’t as good as the previous entry Bumblebee or even as entertaining as the First Bay Transformer movie. It does a lot of things better than those but there are a lot of weak elements as well. This is a step in the right direction and the ending certainly made me interested in the future of this franchise. I hope to see them truly Transform this franchise for the better though.