Title – Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023) 

Director – Steven Caple Jr. (Creed 2) 

Cast – Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback, Luna Lauren Velez, (voices of) Pete Davidson, Peter Dinklage, Peter Cullen 

Plot – Maximals and Autobots unit alongside humans such as Noah Diaz (Ramos) and Elena Wallace (Fishback) to fight to save Earth from a potential catastrophic threat from another planet. 

“You’ve never faced anything like this”

Review by Eddie on 26/06/2023

Forging ahead following on from 2018’s well-liked if far from adored Bumblebee solo outing, Paramount’s new era of non-Michael Bay Transformers movies makes its next step with Rise of the Beasts, a film that will do nothing to bring new fans too the table but will likely do just enough to please those long-term fans of the property that would be thankful enough that they get a film far better than The Age of Extinction and The Last Knight here. 

Directed by Creed 2’s Steven Caple Jr, Rise of the Beasts takes us back to the mid 90’s where Wu-Tang was king and Michael Jordan was God as we are introduced to our new human centrepieces in the forms of Anthony Ramos’s Noah Diaz and Dominique Fishback’s Elena Wallace and the new cinematic Transformers the Maximals, who band together with some old familiar faces to save the Earth from (you guessed it) a planet destroying entity that has carnage and chaos on his mind. 

Joining our new cast members as voice presences we also get Ron Perlman, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Yeoh and Pete Davidson and of course the legendary Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime and all performers both in human form and robotic form give enough energy and vibrancy to ensure it doesn’t feel like someone is sleep-walking their way to a pay cheque like Mark Wahlberg did in his double bill Transformers outings and while it’s now highly unlike we’ll ever get that lightning in a bottle fun and creativity we got in the original Bay Transformers from 2007 (I’m not ashamed to say I enjoyed the film on its merits), Rise of the Beasts is pleasant enough in its Blockbuster like averageness. 

Doing nothing offensively bad but also struggling to do much of note in its action beats, its character beats or its general delivery, Caple Jr.’s pedestrian like direction of Rise of the Beasts ensures much of the films early wins are slowly but surely lost across its thankfully not bum-numbing 2 hour running time that takes us from New York to Peru in a clearly expensive film that doesn’t do a lot too stand out from the crowd, as robots go toe to toe and seemingly irrelevant humans get caught up in the mix in an increasingly uninteresting story that never thrives the way the most expectant of audiences would’ve been hoping for. 

Achieving its most interesting and loaded moments in a final scene that is sure to get the pop-culture world talking and die-hard Hasbro fanatics more than a little excited, Rise of the Beasts is passable mindless entertainment but a far cry from the highs of the series best moments. 

Final Say – 

A big step up from previous Transformers titled movies but still operating in middle of the road territory, Rise of the Beasts isn’t the worst Summer blockbuster of the year but its going to do little to sway the non-converted masses who don’t see Transformers as a cinematic property worthy of their hard earned dollars. 

2 1/2 breathing exercises out of 5