The Spark has never been stronger in the Transformers live action franchise and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is an awesome, refreshing addition to the live action lineage, now spanning seven films, as well as a fairly solid introduction to the Beast Wars mythos.
Get ready for an exhilarating globetrotting adventure! Set during 1994, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is a highly anticipated film that brings back the beloved Autobots, as well as introducing two new groups of Transformers known as the Maximals – led by Optimus Primal, whom a few of you may remember from the early ’90s series Transformers: Beast Wars – and the Terrorcons – led by Scourge. Directed by Steven Caple Jr. and featuring a star-studded cast including Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback, this action packed movie captivates audiences with jaw dropping visuals and cinematography.
As the battle for Cybertron rages on, the Autobots and Maximals must join forces to defend the planet against the planet eating threat of Unicron and his Terracon emissaries. With stunning visuals, explosive action sequences, and a gripping storyline, the film is awesome and features a truly surprising ending that will blow fans’ minds and make them wonder what is coming next.
Missing Maximals?
To start this off, the film is not without its flaws. The main flaw is a serious lack of Maximals. While this is definitely more of a personal gripe, I feel it plays into the overall impact of the story a little bit. I will begin with my personal views because I think many will share them. First off, where is Rattrap? He’s one of the original members of the Beast Wars team – Optimus Primal, Rhinox, Cheetor, and Rattrap. While Airazor is great, especially with Michelle Yeoh voicing the character, Rattrap being absent from the film is a bit of a missed opportunity.
In terms of screentime, it’s almost 85% Autobots to 15% other Transformers. Michelle Yeoh and Ron Perlman were definitely clever casting choices. Perlman especially was a good parallel to the legendary Peter Cullen’s Optimus Prime. However, if it had been Garry Chalk voicing Optimus Primal, it would be the ultimate nostalgia bait. Anyway, other than Perlman and Yeoh, I can’t tell the difference between Rhinox and Cheetor’s voices simply because they barely get something like two lines each. David Sobolov voiced Depth Charge in the original Beast Wars series so it was cool to have someone from the original cast back at the very least.
Later on in the film, other characters show up that have some similarities to other Beast Wars characters, like Battletrap for example, and there could have been a story element that would have made perfect sense for the missing Rattrap to turn into Battletrap via some sort of corruption by Scourge, or even Unicron. That ,and the mention of other Maximals, would have worked together perfectly and added some much needed nostalgia for old school fans. The film didn’t need a whole lot more Beast Wars added in but just a few more to fill in the gaps would have taken Rise of the Beasts from good to great, in my opinion.
Bumblebee is still leading the franchise with his heart
This film is a direct sequel to Bumblebee, which was released all the way back in 2018, and carries the spirit of that film, despite being a lot more like the previous films in the franchise. Rise of the Beasts was bold to make a special object and have the Autobots duke it out with some evil entity over said special object. The plot of the majority of these Transformers movies is that humans have or know about the special object, and they team up with the Autobots to get/protect the object. Then the bad guys get the object and there’s a huge fight to prevent the worst case scenario of what the special object can bring or do.
It’s almost impossible to tell which of the first five films are being described here. Four out of five of them follow that plot to a tee. Well, this film does the same thing. However, it does feel different, or at least different enough to separate this film and make that formula better. I am not necessarily against a franchise using a formula over and over, as most franchises tend to follow their own, however it has to feel unique enough that it doesn’t feel lazy, uninspired or just plain repetitive. Rise of the Beasts walked that line and found a way to refresh this formula by infusing the heart, care and coherence previously established by Bumblebee.
Till All Are One!
Even with the Maximals not being as prominent as they should have been, Transformers: Rise of the Beast is still one of the better live action Transformers films. The franchise has never felt more cohesive, and I genuinely don’t remember being this excited for even more Robots in Disguise action since the first film released way back in 2007. With epic visuals, a great story, an amazing cast, and a mind-blowing ending, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is set to be a fan favourite of the live action franchise, and I can’t wait to see what Hasbro do next.
What did you think of the film? Are you excited to see who the Autobots go up against next? Let us know in the comments below!
