Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

Following the success and positive reception to the 2018 Bumblebee film, Paramount Pictures and Hasbro began to rethink the direction of the live-action Transformers universe, including a mix of live-action and animated films. Around this time, following a period of G1 oversaturation, Hasbro seemed to collectively remember that other portions of the brand exist and that not everyone started with or has nostalgia for the 1984 version, and so the first of these films, the live-action Rise of the Beasts, borrows characters and concepts from Beast Wars, the first new iteration of Transformers from 1996. While I do have some experience with the Beast Wars cartoon, as well as the Beast Machines sequel series, I will admit that I don’t have any clear memory of it, since I watched it on DVD when I was a kid, and out of order at that, plus it was not my gateway into the franchise (for me it was the 2001 Robots in Disguise series). Still, I became curious about it due to how good the last film was and that the director, Steven Caple Jr. (Creed II), is a fan of Beast Wars, giving me some hope for its quality despite trailers presenting an increasingly-worryingly complex plot. After getting to attend a Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Early Access Fan Event screening at AMC, my fears were assuaged and it turned out far better than I could have expected.

In 1994, Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos) is down on his luck and unable to find a job to help his younger brother, leading him to turn to theft out of desperation. Meanwhile, Elena Wallace (Dominique Fishback) is an underappreciated museum researcher who takes interest in an unusual find, a bird-like statue with strange symbols. Elena sneaks a look at the statue to investigate further, revealing its secret and activating a beacon. Noah’s first theft, a car, turns out to be the Autobot Mirage (Pete Davidson), who is summoned by Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) in response to the beacon’s activation, eventually leading him and Elena to cross paths and get involved in something far bigger.

Elena Wallace (Domique Fishback, left) and Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos, right)
get swept up in the Transformers conflict.

Despite my initial fears of an over-bloated plot, as in The Last Knight, Rise of the Beasts actually has a very clear through-line with its plot, one that is very easy to follow even for those who have not seen Bumblebee or any of the preceding films, though the events of the former do get a passing mention. While there are more robot characters than in the previous movie, there isn’t an overabundance of them and their designs make them easy to keep track of, even if not all them get too much screen time or dialogue. There is also a recurring theme of teamwork that’s handled very organically that holds the plot together. While there is plenty of comedy in the film, with many laugh-out-loud moments, it still knows when to take itself seriously, finding that perfect balance between the two.

Unicron (Colman Domingo), whose appearance here contradicts what was established in The Last Knight, is handled spectacularly well and comes off as a genuine threat, with his relationship with Scourge (Peter Dinklage) being not too dissimilar to that of Unicron and Galvatron in the 1986 film. On that note, this film presents a far more threatening take on Scourge, with a little bit of Lockdown (both Animated and live-action) thrown in for good measure as he takes his victims’ faction symbols as personal trophies. Though this film continues the trend of Optimus Prime being more bloodthirsty compared to his animated counterparts, it feels a bit more justified here and he has his own interesting personal arc about learning to trust humans.

The visual effects are easily some of the franchise’s best, with the robots blending in very seamlessly with their environments, aided by some excellent camera work and well-done action sequences. Taking from Bumblebee, the robots designs are far more streamlined than in preceding entries, taking cues from the G1 and Beast Wars designs while still taking creative liberties to make them stand out from other interpretations and work in a live-action setting, as well as having brighter color palettes and unique silhouettes to make them more easily distinguishable at a glance. Similarly to Shatter and Dropkick in Bumblebee, the Terrorcons take a “best of both worlds” approach in their designs, borrowing a little more from the design philosophies of the earlier films while still fitting more in line with the newer design philosophies of the current models (as a fan of RID 2001, I also liked how Scourge's 2001 counterpart is acknowledged in his vehicle mode).

The Terrorcons have more complex, yet clean designs.
From left: Nightbird (Michaela Jaé Rodriguez), Scourge (Peter Dinklage), Battletrap
(David Sobolov)

Much like its predecessor, the acting is very strong and well-cast, leading to some of the best human characters in the live-action series. Noah and Elena have different strengths that give them a lot of agency in the plot as they become relevant, with each of them having their own character arcs that make them more likeable and, in some ways, relatable. The voice acting is also well-cast, with Pete Davidson’s Mirage making him easily one of the best characters in the movie (I even want to buy his future Studio Series toy), making his character dynamic with Noah a lot more believable while seemingly borrowing from the recent EarthSpark series, as well as Peter Cullen giving his usual strong performance as Optimus Prime.

Mirage (Pete Davidson) is easily one of the best characters in the movie.

Although one could easily argue that there was a missed opportunity to bring Garry Chalk back as Optimus Primal, mainly due to the aforementioned presence of Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime, Ron Perlman still does an excellent job in the role that lives up well to his Beast Wars counterpart. Peter Dinklage, whom many may recognize from Game of Thrones, proves his capability for villainous roles as Scourge, and while comparisons with Orson Welles may be inevitable, Colman Domingo has a strong presence befitting the role of Unicron.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts continues and builds on the level of quality set by Bumblebee, hopefully bringing the series out of the shadow of the first five films. While I would still recommend watching Bumblebee first, this movie stands up well on its own to where those who haven’t can still get a complete experience, and those who are familiar with the Beast Wars cartoon will find something to like as well. With the quality of the last two films and an intriguing direction set by the film’s ending, I am now more excited than ever to see what comes next.