Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023) Review
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023)
The latest instalment in the Transformers franchise is almost the definition of one step forward and two steps back. As the franchise moves further from the over-commercialised gaze of Michael Bay, there is a sense that this franchise is moving towards its intended, and more appropriate, family-friendly persona but it's still a long way from becoming one of the premier tentpoles of the summer blockbuster season with lacklustre writing that gets worse for every minute of screentime.
A sequel to 2018's hugely enjoyable Bumblebee, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is the start of an intended trilogy of films bridging the gap between the subtle prequel and bombastic sequels. Set in 1994, we’ve moved past 80’s nostalgia and landed squarely in 90’s territory with posters of The Power Rangers and the chunky Nintendo Game Boy reminding us all that the 90’s are now old-chic. The Transformers are now in hiding with no way of getting home but the ‘robots in disguise’ are brought back into the open when a mysterious key is discovered with the power to take them back to Cybertron. With the evil Terracons also on the tail of the alien device, it's not long before goodies and baddies collide with universe shattering stakes at play.
Ignoring everything that made the 2018 prequel great, Rise of the Beasts takes a little from column a and smashes it with a big, stupid dose of column Bay. Rather than the subtle storytelling of a little girl's grief, it’s replaced with the all-too-familiar big robots taking bigger chunks out of bigger robots, with little regard for creating any connection between the events on screen and the audience in their seats. It’s a classic example of excess filmmaking, not quite knowing when to hold back or take a breath to dig into any character development and relying on sheer spectacle to distract you from its flaws.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023)
Take our main human characters for example; in order for them to work in a film where they are essentially ants under a microscope, you need them to have a core drive, a reason to keep fighting. Rise of the Beasts begins by creating flecks of a character arc but ultimately gives up at about the halfway point. Ignorantly ignoring anything that gets you behind the main characters, the film shamelessly throws spectacle and an outdated reliance on the magical macguffin at you in the hopes you might forget that the writers didn’t have the skill to weave smaller human problems with the much bigger universe destroying problems of the mechanical behemoths fighting overhead.
It’s this utter lack of respect for its main characters that makes you feel sorry for the film’s leads, Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback. They are trying so hard to make us care, but it falls by the wayside as both actors are woefully underused, with Ramos ultimately being a vehicle for the inevitable mid-credit twist and Fishback one for the film's exposition. It’s a shame given the calibre of both artists and it hurts the film by underusing them more than if they hadn’t been in it at all.
Your enjoyment will most likely come down to where you sit on the Transformers scale of fun. If you’re a fan of the Michael Bay films, then you’ll most likely find something to enjoy, perhaps even more so, as the action is big and the spectacle even bigger. It’s true to say things are a little calmer in execution compared to its predecessors, and its chaos more structured - in some cases brazenly borrowing moments from Marvels playbook - but it certainly doesn’t scale anything down, a fact that most fans of the long-running franchise will no doubt be thankful to hear.
If however, like me, you’re more a fan of the smaller scale Bumblebee movie, you might be left wanting a little more. Spectacle is played out in the hopes of distracting you from the glaring issues it has at its core and it ultimately feels cold to the touch. There’s nothing really new or exciting here and unfortunately, by the time the credits roll, there’s little left than a pile of nuts and bolts.
