There are some spoilers in this review for the IMAX screening of Paramount Pictures’ science-fictio film Transformers: Rise of the Beasts – directed by Steven Caple Jr.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is about Autobots and Maximals, with the help of a few humans, going up against a menacing threat called Terracons.
It’s an exciting action-packed Endgame level event, that keeps in line, however, I’m feeling quite mixed about this film.
The opening and plot was near enough the same as Bumblebee, just with different characters and extra CG filled galore moments.
The human/robot element is still a strong part in the franchise, and it’s continued with Anthony Ramos’ Noah Diaz; who is a very likeable character. Diaz also had a fun screen prescense. Different to Hailee Steinfeld’s character, who had a stronger emotionally driven backstory.
Ramos’ character was set up well and the plot of the film was explained enough to understand what was going on from start to finish.
Although, the plot was far too convenient at times; when it came to the human characters, especially Dominique Fishback’s character ‘Elena Wallace’ already having solutions to problems, when the autobots mentioned what they needed to do, it happened quite often. Everything just fell into place too easily. However, Fishback’s performance in the film was great.
Stakes were high for the most part, and then other parts fizzled. They didn’t seem to want to let ‘fan-favourite’ characters stay dead.
A major villan called Unicron, reminded me too much of that Galactus cloud from Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. A threat so large that feeds on worlds.
Peter Dinklage did an incredible job voicing a menacing Terracon called Scourge, that was more interesting than Unicron.
Enjoyed seeing Mirage (voiced by Pete Davidson), as a lighthearted, funny, energetic Autobot character with some cool moves. Great line delivery too!
As the film is called Rise of the Beasts, I was hoping there would be more screen time dedicated to the Planet of the Apes looking Maximals, regardless they were still a great addition, while still enjoying the involvement of the Autobots.
In the final part of the movie, they did something with one of the humans and more conveniently again that the character already seemed to know how to do things that an Autobot could do. Although, it seems to be an interesting set up for something else in the future.
Plenty of the dialogue was cheesy, mediocre and repetitive, some jokes landed with me.
Visuals
It is of course heavy on CG, with the majority of it being focused on robots rather than humans. The CG is impressive to look at for the robots, really like what they also did with the Autobot Mirage, it was so fun to see! Always like the animations when they transform too.
There’s a few moments that didn’t look right in terms of CG for a human character, which stood out, and one of the maximals appeared unfinished in parts when speaking.
Epic battles to look at with plenty of explosions.
Sound
The sounds of the villain’s voices; Scourge, Unicron, as well as action scenes the rumbled the cimema. It’s a movie that’s heavy on bass. Terracons fighting were really screechy and high pitched.
I didn’t care for the song choices in the film, not really the music I would listen to, however it matched the interests of the character well, as there were posters of these bands in their home.
Final Thoughts
On a surface level, it’s a really fun film to watch, with plenty of exciting CG action scenes and likeable characters to root for. However, the dialogue is weak and the plot tropes are unoriginal and the film dragged on for longer than it needed to.
