Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Review
★★☆☆☆ Big, loud and very, very dumb, the Transformers main series reboot fails to spark.
Liberated from the explosive oppression of Michael Bay, the Transformers franchise showed promising signs of, ahem, transformation with 2018’s Bumblebee. Something of a throwback with its eighties setting, the film — starring Hailee Steinfeld and John Cena — was only a modest commercial success but delighted with its smaller-scale adventure.
For the first time since the series began, what we got actually felt like something in the true spirit of the classic animated show we grew up loving.
Still set before the events of the first movie, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts seeks to recapture that same nostalgic magic, jumping forward to New York in 1994, where young Brooklynites, ex-soldier turned carjacker Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos — A Star Is Born), and archaeologist intern Elena Wallace (Dominique Fishback, Judas and the Black Messiah) encounter species of robotic alien lifeforms, engaged in a millennia-long conflict that once again threatens the safety of the planet.
Rise of the Beasts is nowhere near as terrible as Bay’s gross efforts, but that’s really where the praise ends. For all its positive intent, this feels like a return to pre-Bumblebee form; a clunky, noisy, effects-heavy assault on the senses, groaning under the weight of self-imposed prequel-itis that robs the film of any meaningful stakes and consequences. These Autobots are in serious need of an oil change.
As the various robots, now joined (inevitably) by the Maximals from the popular Beast Wars spin-off series, morph and clash in a spectacular soup of computer-generated action sequences, there’s an overwhelming feeling of homogeneity.
We’ve seen all of this before, not only in previous instalments but also in other sprawling franchises like the MCU or Legendary and Warner Bro’s MonsterVerse. Films that feel less like movies and more like an endless conveyor of products for mass, don’t think about it, consumption.
The feeling of cold corporate planning is painfully evident in the film’s final moment, an eye-rolling attempt to integrate G.I. Joe into what I can only imagine will be the creatively titled Hasbro Cinematic Universe. Brace yourself; the epic Transformers/Power Rangers/Nerf/Monopoly team-up is inevitable at this point.
Michael Bay might be long gone, but in his place is something that I would passionately argue is just as bad.
The kids are almost certain to love it. It’s simple and silly fun for the most part, a familiar parade of cool-looking robots that will inevitably succeed in selling a gazillion plastic toys. Also having fun is an impressive voice cast, including Ron Pearlman (Hellboy), Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All At Once) and Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones), more than happy to spout off pages of junky exposition for one of the easiest paycheques they’ll ever earn.
Originally published at michaelkenny.uk
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