"Transformers: Rise of the Beasts: - DVD Review
This piece was written during the 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the labor of the actors currently on strike, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts wouldn’t exist.
It’s been sixteen years since the first live-action Transformers film, and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is the seventh installment of that franchise. The film acts as a sequel(ish) to Bumblebee and a prequel to the 2007 flick that started it all. Rise of the Beasts also marks the first Transformers title without Michael Bay in the director’s chair. That honor falls on Steven Caple Jr., and no matter what the audience feels about Bay as a director, there are big shoes (wheels?) to fill. Fear not, the film provides more than enough robot brawls to fill that summer blockbuster high, even as we go into winter.
Rise of the Beasts takes place in the ’90s and acts as a backstory to the franchise’s beloved, gravelly-voiced hero: Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen). The Transformers have been stuck on Earth without a way home for seven years. Their only hope for a way to return to their home planet of Cybertron is the Transwarp Key. It originally belonged to the Maximals, a breed of mechanical animals whose planet was destroyed by the Terrorcons. As one might guess from their name, the Terrorcons are up to no good and want to find the Transwarp Key so their leader, Unicron (Colman Domingo), can travel freely among the galaxies while eating planets to sustain himself. There are also some humans, Noah (Anthony Ramos) and Elena (Dominique Fishback), who are somewhat unwittingly pulled along for the ride to save Earth once again.
PARAMOUNT PICTURES and SKYDANCE
While not as much of an exciting departure from form as Bumblebee, Rise of the Beasts feels a little more down to earth than Bay’s trademark mechanical madness of the other installments. While the humans seem to be an afterthought in some of Bay’s entries, Elena and Noah are utterly charming and far more developed than the likes of Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox. There’s an earnestness to Ramos and Fishback’s performances, a true human feel to their characters. Yes, their main purpose is to infuse some levity and distraction from big robots beating each other up, but they exude a heartfelt, warm sincerity that is reminiscent of what made Bumblebee soar. Fishback’s Elena could have a series of her own as an Indiana Jones-type character, and Ramos’ Noah might just have a new career in covert special operations as the events of Rise of the Beasts wrap up.
PARAMOUNT PICTURES and SKYDANCE
At the end of the day, Rise of the Beasts is still fundamentally made to be a carefree summer Blockbuster. It doesn’t ask much of its viewers in terms of critical thinking, and its characters have on-the-nose names like Airazor (a falcon) or Cheetor (cheetah). The beats of the film can be guessed long before Play is pressed and there’s the usual early-film tragedy that’s reversed in the final act to give the heroes a happy ending. And so what? It’s hard to believe that anyone is walking into the newest Transformers movie expecting to leave with a greater emotional understanding of the world. Some movies exist just for fun, like watching gigantic robots utterly decimate cities while talking about crazy things like a Transwarp or an AllSpark. Without Bay in the director’s seat, there’s a noticeable lack of uncomfortable humor, leering shots of women, and mind-numbing fight sequences. Of course, it all ends with the Maximals and the Terrorcons running at each other across a barren field to fight in a CGI brawl, but there are far less fighting interruptions than in the Bay entries.
Across seven installments, the audience has been told that Earth is on the edge of extinction at the hands of these otherworldly robots. There’s an inherent tediousness that comes with being the seventh film that has to fight off the end of the world, but in the same breath, it’s what the audience signs up for when they buy a ticket. Rise of the Beasts is the best Transformers entry since Bumblebee, but it won’t be the last time we see these robots fight on the big screen.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is now available on 4K Ultra HD SteelBook™, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray™, and DVD, with over an hour of bonus content that includes a deeper look at the Autobots, Maximals, and Terrorcons.
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