Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
Directed by Steven Caple Jr.
Written by Joby Harold, Darnell Metayer, Josh Peters, Erich Hoeber, Jon Hoeber
Starring Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback, Peter Cullen, Bumblebee
Rated PG-13
Runtime: 2 hours, 7 minutes
In theaters June 9

by Ryan Silberstein, Managing Editor, Red Herring

I’m not a Transformers fan. Not really. I missed the original popularity because the animated movie came out the year I was born. With Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Real Ghostbusters, Batman: The Animated Series, and X-Men, dominating my attention (and my parents toy budget), I just never gave the robots much thought beyond seeing them on toy shelves and the ads for the very early computer animation of their Beast Wars incarnation when I was 10. I finally saw Transformers: The Movie in high school during my 80s phase (I listened to “The Touch” a lot), but never got into the franchise until Michael Bay brought them into live action in 2007 and gave us five movies I like a lot. After The Last Knight, the franchise took a page out of the X-Men movie playbook and went for a prequel with a different tone.

Bumblebee, set in 1987, was helmed by Travis Knight, his first foray into live action, and combined his personal love for the franchise with a more character-driven story different from the conspiracy-theory laden set piece machines favored by Bay. While that story had action beats, it was ultimately a smaller scale film that was also a love letter to Amblin’s output of that decade, and one of the better 80s period films so far (apologies to Gen X and above for calling these period films). Now, Rise of the Beasts, directed by Steven Caple, Jr. (The Land, Creed II), jumps ahead to 1994, and attempts to bring the franchise back to the scale of Bay’s run. What results is an enjoyable, if somewhat generic entry.

The story, involving Unicron (Colman Domingo), a gigantic planet-devouring Transformer, and a group of animal-like Transformers called Maximals, is your perfectly serviceable sci-fi action plot. There’s a MacGuffin wanted by Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) and the Autobots, which is also wanted by Scourge (Peter Dinklage), Unicron’s lead lackey. The Maximals, led by Optimus Primal (Ron Pearlman), named after the series’ lead, are the ones protecting the MacGuffin and hiding it on Earth to save more planets being eaten by Unicron. Caught in the middle are the film’s human leads. Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos) is an ex-soldier who hates authority but helps take care of his mom and his younger brother, Kris (Dean Scott Vazquez), as they struggle to afford care for his chronic illness. Noah meets the Autobot named Mirage (Pete Davison) when he tries to steal Mirage from a parking garage while Mirage is in car form as a Porsche 964 Carrera RS 3.8. Elena (Dominique Fishback) also gets roped into the chase when she uncovers a Maximal artifact at the museum where she works.

Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback are a major reason for how fun Rise of the Beasts is, especially given how many times we’ve seen Transformers reveal themselves to human main characters (this is the fourth in seven movies by my count). Thankfully, Noah and Elena feel like new characters, and not stand-ins or replacements, complete with their own motivations and dynamic. Noah’s distrust of authority goes from his military background through his relationship with Optimus, and the script does a great job pointing out how people working towards the same goals can still disagree about the right course of action. For her part, Elena is shown to be a sort of archeological prodigy, but struggles with leaving New York for the first time in her life, while also having her own moral compass. The interplay between Noah and Elena is great, as the actors have chemistry, and seeing their camaraderie develop also helps to keep the film grounded. The characterization of Mirage also helps, as he’s shown to be a more rebellious and less serious Autobot, and this commonality with Noah leads to a very sweet friendship between the two.

While none of the films in the series have been thematically deep (unless you want to go full Freud on Bay’s work, which, fair), Rise of the Beasts has some interesting commentary about healthcare and finding work as a veteran. One commendable thing the film actively tries to avoid is the Chariots of the Gods? approach to mixing with native peoples or indigenous cultures. See my Eternals review for a bit more on this, but to call that book culturally damaging racist pseudoscience is almost an understatement. Here, Optimus Primal explicitly says they “can’t take credit for human ingenuity,” and the film clearly tries to depict the indigenous peoples and cultures of Peru respectfully (I’m not the right person to evaluate how successful that is, but I think the attempt comes across).

Where Rise of the Beasts stumbles is the action. The action is rarely bad, and it is usually clear and easy to follow. But it’s a little boring. Steven Caple, Jr. doesn’t try to recreate Michael Bay’s trademarks, likely a smart move, the result can be called competent. There’s some great moments, especially with Mirage, but a lot of it feels no more creative than most Marvel movies these days. There’s a big battle on an open field, with a bunch of little canon fodder robots for much of the final set piece. It’s just a bit of a letdown from a franchise that is so tied to a particular auteur’s distinct visual style and tone.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is certainly less interesting than any of the previous six films in the franchise, but it was a fun and entertaining enough entry that it was worth rolling out to see.