Movie Review - Transformers Rise of the Beasts [SPOILERS]

[GoktimusPrime]

I was actually quite surprised how much they channeled the 2007 Transformers film with this one, albeit in the 90s and with a lot less noisy camera work/sensory overload.

I think that's a deliberate decision on Paramount's part. The Bumblebee movie moved away from the Bayformer formula, but commercially underperformed. The Bayformers movies were commercial successes. At the end of the day, we all vote with our wallets. For my part I watched Bumblebee thrice in cinemas.

Probably a hot topic issue but I didn’t really like Optimus in this film. I get what they were going for with him being conflicted over their duty to Cybertron and to the humans, but they didn’t really stick the landing well. He was rageful and fighting purely out of vengeance, which seems to work out for him in the end, with the lessons from Primal not really actually changing anything.

Optimus Prime is supposed to start from a dark place, having been stuck on Earth for seven years and desperate to get back to Cybertron to continue the war against the Decepticons. I like how the movie started Optimus Prime from a low point so that he can grow as a character. I also liked how both Noah and Optimus Prime had parallels as the respective "big brother" characters for their respective families, which is something that helps both characters grow. Noah chooses to spare the Key to save Prime's family, while Prime destroys the Key to save Noah's.

Yes, Optimus Prime did brutally kill Scourge, but this was in the middle of combat. I personally don't object to him killing enemy combatants during a fight; that's just the awful nature of war. What I object to is when he kills opponents after the fight has ended; i.e. executing POWs - a war crime. This isn't what Prime did to Scourge though. It's not comparable with the way that he executed Demolishor in RotF or Sentinel Prime in DotM, IMHO.

[Lint]

Overall a pretty by-the-numbers action adventure. It's taking the Transformers franchise in the right direction but lacks the overall depth to be an excellent film.


Below are my brain farts:

• 90's laid on thick
• Maximals in contrast, were spread really really thin. This entire film could have been done without them with little impact to the quality or story. Disappointing.
• The abscence of the US (or otherwise) military response was incredibly refreshing
• It's Macguffin time! Is a Transformers film without a portal Macguffin even really a Transformers film? (don't answer that)
• Moody Prime felt a bit contrived and overdone.
• Scourge places way too much trust in his incredibly ineffective Frenzy/Freezer minions.
• The Terrorcons plot armour melted away way too fast. At an instant they go from nigh-invincible to cannon fodder with next to no explanation except the good guys are fighting harder now.
• Many would rejoice this, but unfortunately I feel like the attempt at actual film-making was at the expense of the outright silliness that made the Bay/Knightverse so bad it's good. This film kind of lands in no-mans land, not awful but in no way outstanding.
• Action sequences pretty well done and not at all overdone. Quite the accomplishment.
• Why Wheeljack? Exist only to deliver an unfunny political correctness gag?
• Mirage is by far the feature robot character in this film. Great to see Hasbro not leaning too hard on Bumblebee to carry the Franchise. However: go the shops to go buy a Mirage and waaaaat, he's not there? This film was delayed by a year, get your sheets together Hasbro!
• The coolest character was Apelinq. Actually no, Stratosphere! Will we get toys?

[Dimi194]

I didn't leave me with the sense of epic-ness of TF3, or the warm and fuzzies of BB, but I really enjoyed this one - I liked the variety in robot and human characters and for a McGuffin franchise, these ones felt interesting enough (although I'm not clear how Scourge built the portal thing on the volcano? Or was it already there?)

Really hope they do another one, and the GI Joe reference at the end sets up some interesting possibilities (esp if they were to redo the humans working with the bad guy transformers again).

Overall nice work 7/10 - and now I need toys of ALL OF THEM!

[GoktimusPrime]

Speaking of the MacGuffin, I've been wondering... why didn't the Maximals just destroy the TransWarp Key after arriving on Earth? If the idea was that using the Key would attract Unicron, and they wanted to get the Key away from Unicron... and the Maximals seem content to strand themselves on Earth... why not just destroy the damn thing?

[Meister]

Still having a hard time getting over having a cool/hip Porsche character with blue racing stripes and it not being Jazz…

But that aside the movie was ok, not the worst, not the best, Maximals seemed wasted (like you’d think mentioning they are from the future would prompt some further questioning). Mirage (should have been Jazz… lol ) was a good character and a refreshing break from the radio talking Bumblebee.

Biggest waste of potential was Scourge, should have played the internal battle between his own volition and Unicron’s will (similar to Megatron in the original cartoon movie), with more insight to how he became Unicron’s unwilling slave. It would have been better to have Primal and Prime fight him in the final battle (that’s how they overcome his power) and rather than kill him, they incapacitate him in the battle and in defeat (with his mask removed) Scourge begs them to kill him to free him from Unicron’s servitude, which prompts prime to show mercy and instead of killing scourge, destroys the key, however in the suction effect sucks scourge back to Unicron, so that potentially we haven’t seen the end of Scourge (or Unicron)

Anyway, like I said it was enjoyable, the GI Joe cameo at the end was intriguing, I thought it was going to be sector 7 lol

[Lint]

Biggest waste of potential was Scourge, should have played the internal battle between his own volition and Unicron’s will (similar to Megatron in the original cartoon movie), with more insight to how he became Unicron’s unwilling slave. It would have been better to have Primal and Prime fight him in the final battle (that’s how they overcome his power) and rather than kill him, they incapacitate him in the battle and in defeat (with his mask removed) Scourge begs them to kill him to free him from Unicron’s servitude, which prompts prime to show mercy and instead of killing scourge, destroys the key, however in the suction effect sucks scourge back to Unicron, so that potentially we haven’t seen the end of Scourge (or Unicron)

It's becoming clear to me that one of the directives for these live actions films is that good is good and evil is evil. This is likely a Paramount decision and done so as to not-alienate some sectors of the US market and more easily gain acceptance in international markets. Unfortunately this isn't really a good foundation for good storytelling. Personally I don't think the trade-off is worth it as the Transformers brand has so much potential and most (if not all) iterations are diminishing it's value overall.

Anyway, like I said it was enjoyable, the GI Joe cameo at the end was intriguing, I thought it was going to be sector 7 lol

I believe it was indeed Sector 7 in the test screenings.

[GoktimusPrime]

Still having a hard time getting over having a cool/hip Porsche character with blue racing stripes and it not being Jazz…

Why? Jazz has never been a Porsche in the movie universe before.

I can understand some people being unhappy with Wheeljack's design shift (although it's no better/worse than how he looked in Dark of the Moon), but given that Jazz has never been a Porsche in the movieverse, I see now issue with Mirage being one.

If we're going by the logic that the Porsche should be Jazz just because of G1, then...
* The black police car should've been Stakeout, not Barricade
* The yellow Autobot sports car should've been Sunstreaker, not Bumblebee
* The black ute should've been Trailbreaker, not Ironhide
* The fire emergency vehicle should've been Red Alert, not Ratchet
* The red fire engine should've been Inferno, not Sentinel Prime
* The F22 Raptor should've been Fearswoop, not Starscream
* The military helicopter should've been Vortex, not Blackout
* The stereo CD player should've been Blaster, not Frenzy
* The Corvette should've been Tracks, not Sideswipe
* The Autobot hatchback should've been Skids, not... no, wait, that one's actually okay. Maybe without the offensive stereotype.
...etc.

Given that the live action movie series is now 16 years, I think that the ship has truly sailed on this issue. Movieverse =/= G1, just let them be what they be.

[Tha_Phantom]

Why? Jazz has never been a Porsche in the movie universe before.

I can understand some people being unhappy with Wheeljack's design shift (although it's no better/worse than how he looked in Dark of the Moon), but given that Jazz has never been a Porsche in the movieverse, I see now issue with Mirage being one.

If we're going by the logic that the Porsche should be Jazz just because of G1, then...
* The black police car should've been Stakeout, not Barricade
* The yellow Autobot sports car should've been Sunstreaker, not Bumblebee
* The black ute should've been Trailbreaker, not Ironhide
* The fire emergency vehicle should've been Red Alert, not Ratchet
* The red fire engine should've been Inferno, not Sentinel Prime
* The F22 Raptor should've been Fearswoop, not Starscream
* The military helicopter should've been Vortex, not Blackout
* The stereo CD player should've been Blaster, not Frenzy
* The Corvette should've been Tracks, not Sideswipe
* The Autobot hatchback should've been Skids, not... no, wait, that one's actually okay. Maybe without the offensive stereotype.
...etc.

Given that the live action movie series is now 16 years, I think that the ship has truly sailed on this issue. Movieverse =/= G1, just let them be what they be.

I wasn't going to say anything, because honestly I'm utterly sick of this being brought up, but I agree with everything Gok said. Movieverse =/= G1. Let it go.

[reillyd]

I’d been ill recovering covid, so I only JUST got round to seeing the movie today. The cinema was quite packed, especially for such strong competition. (Indiana Jones, Mission Impossible, etc). So unless my screening was unrepresentative, people are still going to see it.

Arcee was very, very cool. I love her and can’t wait for a Studio Series toy. I don’t know if the regular mainline ROTB toys are going to go to a third wave, but would love to see a simpler form version as well.

I have a big questions though, which hopefully someone can solve. I had to dash to the loo at one point, so might have missed it. Night bird has an aerial form, but did she ever take a car form? I’m waiting for Wave 2 ROTB Nightbird to come out, as she looks cool, and I didn’t want to pay $79 for her at Big W in a three pack. Did I blink and miss it, or did she never take on board a car mode?

Did anyone think that they filmed a second version of the final clip, where the card handed said Sector 7 instead of G.I. Joe? Because I heard that this was a continuation of Bumblebee and not meant to be a complete reboot of Bayverse continuity, and if so then G.I. Joe were seriously derelict in their duty during Age of Extinction and the Autobot serial-killer hunt down. They seemed to be pro-Autobot in the end scene.

[GoktimusPrime]

Arcee was very, very cool. I love her and can’t wait for a Studio Series toy.

The Studio Series toy is already out, albeit a Core Class.

Night bird has an aerial form, but did she ever take a car form? I’m waiting for Wave 2 ROTB Nightbird to come out, as she looks cool, and I didn’t want to pay $79 for her at Big W in a three pack. Did I blink and miss it, or did she never take on board a car mode?

Yes, she does transform into a Nissan Skyline, and it is seen on screen.
e.g. road battle in Peru

Also, all the toys in that Big W three pack are also sold individually in other stores (e.g. Kmart).

Did anyone think that they filmed a second version of the final clip, where the card handed said Sector 7 instead of G.I. Joe?

I've heard rumours that the card said "Sector 7" in test screenings. Yet to find any credible source to back this up, so take this with a grain of salt.