Review: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023)

In Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, the year is 1994, and in New York former military electrician, Noah Diaz, is down on his luck. His younger brother has an ongoing medical issue, which he can’t seem to get treatment for, and Noah is finding it difficult to land a job.

With things simply not going his way, and with a family to support, Noah attempts to steal a Porsche, after his friend convinces him it will be a quick way to make money. But what Noah doesn’t realise, is the Porsche is secretly disguised Autobot, Mirage.

After his plan falls through, Mirage takes Noah to meet the rest of his Autobot friends, including group leader, Optimus Prime. Here Noah learns more about these unusual alien beings, and the reason as to why they are on Earth.

Meanwhile, across town, museum intern Elena Wallace is investigating a mysterious artefact when she accidentally uncovers an energy emitting device hidden inside. This device is one half of a Transwarp Key, which is very important to the Autobots.

However, the Transwarp Key is also very important to a group of Terrorcons, who have been tirelessly searching for the device. These Terrorcons – led by the menacing Scourge – are after the Key on behalf of their master, the planet devouring being known as Unicron.

If they can gain possession of both halves of the Key, then Unicron will have the ability to travel anywhere in time and space, consuming as many worlds as desired. As such, the only chance of stopping the total annihilation of everything, including Earth, rests in the hands of the Autobots, Noah and Elena, and a new group of transforming companions called the Maximals.

Directed by Steven Caple Jr., and based on a story by Joby Harold (with a screenplay by no less than five people), Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is the latest entry in the live-action Transformers movie franchise. The movie – new to UK cinemas today – is the seventh instalment overall, and acts as a sequel to 2018’s Bumblebee, as well as a prequel to 2007’s Transformers.

Rise of the Beasts stars Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback, and features the voice talents of Peter Cullen, Pete Davidson, Ron Perlman and Peter Dinklage. The film also includes a collection of new characters who long-time Transformers fans will know very well, as they originated in the popular ’90s computer-animated series, Beast Wars: Transformers.

As with its predecessor, Bumblebee, this film is a departure from the first five live-action Transformers movies, in that series director Michael Bay is no longer behind the camera. As such, Rise of the Beasts doesn’t suffer from some of the ‘Bay-hem’ often associated with these films, including the poorly executed (and difficult to follow) action sequences.

Rise of the Beasts also doesn’t try to be too complicated, nor does it lose sight of its target audience. Franchise fans will most certainly enjoy what’s on offer, and I can say without doubt that Rise of the Beasts is far from the worst entry in the Transformers series.

However, Rise of the Beasts does suffer from a couple of problems: It is very underwhelming and it’s largely very boring. While I am sure die-hard fans will like it, I can’t say the same for anyone else.

Rise of the Beasts is a by-the-numbers movie, which fails to excite, delight, or do anything worth its 127-minute run-time. It runs out of steam pretty quickly, is dull for the most part, and at best it’s merely ‘watchable’.

I will openly admit I am not a huge fan of the Transformers movies. For those who care (and I’m sure some of you do), I think 2007’s Transformers is OK, but I believe 2009’s Revenge of the Fallen to be abysmal.

All I can say about 2011’s Dark of the Moon is that it is loud, while 2014’s Age of Extinction is dull, boring, and just plain bad. In fact, I disliked Age of Extinction so much, that I skipped 2017’s The Last Knight altogether.

The only film in the series I genuinely enjoyed was Bumblebee. It wasn’t perfect, but it was fun in all the right places and quite likeable.

So, going into Rise of the Beasts I wasn’t expecting a great deal, but if it could be more like Bumblebee and perhaps Transformers, and less like the rest, then that would be a good start. And in fairness, I did find it to be more like the better films, and a step away from the dross, so this is very much a plus point.

But despite it being an improvement, I still found it difficult to connect with the material, or even care about what was happening on screen. Every step of the way I felt as if I was going through the motions with this picture, and watching a series that makes it very clear it has nothing new to offer.

Sure, there are new characters in the shape of the Maximals, but they make little-to-no impact whatsoever, and feel like an afterthought rather than some bold new direction. None of them get much to do, and even those that do get a bit of screen time are completely overshadowed by series regulars, Optimus Prime and Bumblebee.

As far as the story goes, its servicable, but again, nothing interesting or imaginative. The longer it goes on, the less engaging it becomes, and it sure does sag in the middle.

Thankfully, the finale does save things a little, even if it is fairly generic stuff. It still remains underwhelming, but the big battle during the climax has enough going on to stop most audiences nodding off, and should keep some people happy.

The film also has a smattering of humour which is fine, and some decent visuals. No one is pushing any envelopes here, but they aren’t buggering things up by showing any signs of corners being cut in the effects department.

While watching Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, I was continually reminded of Fox’s X-Men movie series – or rather, the dying days of the series. Those last couple of entries offered something for fans and were fine in places, but they had lost their appeal to general audiences and any spark or creativity had long since died out.

This is exactly how I’d describe Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. There is something here if you are a fan of this series, but for anyone else not already invested, it’s just a slog and terribly unappealing.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts might be an improvement on the worst offenders in this series, but this is far from a recommendation. This is a movie series which is long past its Optimus Prime, and needs to be transformed into something else.

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