Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023)

 

After the rapid decline of Michael Bay's 'Transformers', fans were hoping for so much more. Sure, there are a couple of Bay's that have some entertainment value (the first one is still the best by far), but to say it didn't end on a high note nor was made by people who knew even the slightest about the franchise would be underselling it.

Imagine everyone's surprise when 'Bumblebee' turned out to be as good as it was. New director, new team and finally some people who understood what fans of the franchise wanted and needed. So hopes were high that they would continue along that path. 

Well, a little yes and a little no. See, this one can still be enjoyed by fans, but people without any affinity for the entire concept will probably think this is more of the same and not very special. 

Because this film is pretty bland most of the time, sad to say. 

After 'Bumblebee', we've skipped ahead to the 90s and through some once again rather convoluted means, two humans whose names I can't ever seem to remember get tangled up in a battle between the Autobots, the Maximals and the Terrorcons. 

Without ever having seen the G1 and 2 cartoons plus 'Beast Wars', you'll have no idea who they are. Scene points, I guess?

Anyway, the threat to stave off this time is Unicron, a massive machine that devours planets. Enter a McGuffin, chase around the globe, things go boom, the end.

Even as an avid fan of the Transformers-franchise, I can't sit here and claim this is excellent. In fact, the story and characterisations are often weak. The fact that Optimus Prime, a childhood beacon of enlightenment and justice, starts off as being openly hostile to humans really irks me to no end. The humans are once again boring as all shit, which is a constant niggle in films about giant talking robots. Was there ever any fan that gave a shit about the human characters? In the OG cartoon, you just had Spike and that was more than enough. 

Anyway...

What is expertly done, are the designs. They finally embraced what fans wanted to see and gave the robots something akin to their cartoon counterparts: Optimus is a flatnosed truck, Arcee finally pink and white (even though she's a motorcycyle now) and the Maximals truly look like their 'Beast Wars' versions (mostly). They don't get a lot of airtime, though. 

Also: the villains are rather weak and technically the Terrorcons were more like monsters instead of trucks, but what the heck. 

Bonus points for having Unicron look exactly like his cartoon counterpart, though.

So a very mixed bag this time. They absolutely nailed some things, yet fumbled the ball in many other places. Maybe if they kept the director of 'Bumblebee' on board, as that guy seemed to know full well how to treat the material in order to keep in engaging. Or maybe the studio once again wanted the story to go bigger and more bombastic, thus leading to an overdone Bay-ism that feels pretty stale at this point.

The GI Joe cliffhanger was a nice touch, though.