Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
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Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is a 2023 American science fiction action film based on Hasbro's Transformers toy line, and primarily influenced by its Beast Wars sub-franchise. It is the seventh installment in the Transformers film series and serves as both a standalone sequel to Bumblebee (2018) and a prequel to Transformers (2007). The film is directed by Steven Caple Jr. from a screenplay by Joby Harold, Darnell Metayer, Josh Peters, Erich Hoeber, and Jon Hoeber. Michael Bay again serves as producer.
It stars Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback, as well as the voice talents of Ron Perlman, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Yeoh, Pete Davidson, Liza Koshy, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, Colman Domingo, Cristo Fernández, Tongayi Chirisa, and returning franchise regulars Peter Cullen, John DiMaggio, and David Sobolov. Set in 1994, the film follows ex-military electronics expert Noah Diaz and artifact researcher Elena Wallace as they help the Autobots and the Maximals protect an artifact known as the Transwarp Key from the villainous Terrorcons. Principal photography took place from June to October 2021, with filming locations including Los Angeles, Peru, Montreal, and New York City.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts premiered at Marina Bay Sands in Singapore on May 27, 2023, and was theatrically released in the United States on June 9, 2023, by Paramount Pictures. Upon release, the film received mixed reviews from critics with many deeming it as inferior to the preceding film, and despite grossing $438 million worldwide against a production budget of $195–200 million; it was labeled as a financial disappointment, making it the lowest-grossing installment in the franchise.
Bad Qualities
- The overall movie is a downgrade compared to Bumblebee (2018), which is unfortunate because that movie saved the franchise. However, Rise of the Beasts failed to continue its legacy and it does repeat more than a few of the mistakes most Transformers movies have. Ultimately, the movie partially makes the Transformers film series decline in quality once more.
- Steven Caple Jr.'s direction is a mixed bag. He tries to mix the style of both Michael Bay and Travis Knight but the end result feels uneven. The first half of the movie has Bumblebee's style while the second half suddenly feels like a Michael Bay movie. It would have been better if the whole movie felt like a mix between both styles.
- Uneven pacing, with the film slowing down by the second half.
- Overuse of dull rap for background music and the use of too many Mexican vibes, which can make many parts of the movie feel corny and not breathtaking enough, including the action scenes.
- Even the Michael Bay-style Transformers music right after the final battle came out of nowhere.
- While most of the Transformers do get decent amounts of characterizations, the overall character focus for the robots are unbalanced and it wasted potential for some of them, particularly the Beast Era characters, which is a shame because this could have been their amazing debut in the live action movies. Cheetor and Rhinox are given a minute role in the film and get overshadowed by other characters and are barely given any spotlight or even dialogue. After the opening scene, they only appear again shortly before the final battle (and were given little focus as well).
- Even Airazor was wasted despite having a fair amount of screen time, because she is killed off before we could see her transform into robot mode.
- While most of the Transformers' designs are good, Wheeljack's redesign is pretty awful, looking absolutely nothing like his modernized G1 look in the Bumblebee movie. In this film, he looks like a stumpy, unimposing, uncreative pile of junk with an overly human face. It feels like the creators didn't bother taking the character seriously and instead treated him like a joke.
- His design looks about as ugly and unappealing as his DOTM design, but even that had more effort and a better car mode.
- The cinematography does look kind of washed out as it looks more dull than gritty, which can make it look boring.
- The trailers outright spoiled Bumblebee's return after his death at the hands of Scourge.
- Bad release date: The film came out days after Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which was a far better movie than this. It also contributed to the film bombing at the box office
Good Qualities
- The movie is still considered superior to most of Michael Bay's Transformers films, having more plot and character development.
- At least this is the first Transformers prequel film to focus more on Optimus Prime instead of just Bumblebee.
- Splendid and spot-on acting, both from the Transformers and the humans.
- Despite the recastings of Wheeljack and Arcee, Liza Koshy and Cristo Fernández at least do splendid jobs voicing them.
- As always, Peter Cullen does an amazing job as Optimus Prime.
- CGI is still holding up since 2007. Unlike The Flash.
- Despite the background music, the sound effects and sound editing are still pretty great.
- The action scenes are still pretty great, and the final battle is better constructed compared to the overlong final fights in most of the Michael Bay films.
- The designs for the Transformers (except for Wheeljack) are undoubtedly amazing and the slight redesigns for some of them were nice too.
- Most of the Transformers are still great and were given good portrayals:
- Optimus Prime had character development in this film and his cold attitude is much more sympathetic and relatable compared to in the Michael Bay films (only in the sequels).
- Bumblebee is still just as cute and lovable as ever.
- Mirage is pretty funny and entertaining, having a cool brotherly bond with Noah. He also has this energy to him that makes him a scene stealer.
- Arcee is pretty badass and entertaining, having a lot of cool lines and some sick moments. She feels brings back a lot of the feel of her portrayal in Transformers: Prime. Her design is also beautiful.
- Scourge is a pretty threatening and awesome villain, having a horror vibe and a captivating personality (much like Megatron and Lockdown in the Michael Bay films). He is shown to be pretty deadly and formidable, being able to last long in his fights.
- This movie also introduced him way better than the 1986 movie did, actually giving him character in his debut rather than just contriving his appearance just to replace old characters (but without any proper characterization for himself).
- The mid-credit that hints a possible crossover with G.I.Joe is exciting.