Transformers: Rise of the Beasts: Movie Review

Cast: Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback, Pete Davidson, Peter Cullen, Michelle Yeoh, Ron Perlman

Director: Steven Caple Jr

It may occasionally be pointless to rail against the Transformers franchise, a loud and noisy movie series that's defied the narrative odds to continue to roll out as many sequels as you'd never expect to see since the series live action inception back in 2007.

In this latest, which serves as a course correct in some ways, the action shifts to black America in the mid-90s where Anthony Ramos' Noah Diaz is struggling to make ends meet and keep his family going - including a sickly younger brother. Equally struggling for creative reasons, Fishback's Elena, a museum intern who's largely mocked but who sets a chain of events in motion when she uncovers the Rise of the Beasts' MacGuffin that could signal the end of the world.

As Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, RC and Mirage (wise-cracking Pete Davidson) roll into action to try and escape being trapped on Earth forever, a universe-wide struggle begins…

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts isn't as mind-thuddingly bad as some of the other entrants in this jumbled action series.

But that's to damn it with feint praise.

While the action is a lot clearer than it has ever been (apart from a godawful Avengers: Age of Ultron style CGI battle end), the script's desire to operate a stop-start mentality with its narrative proves to be detrimental to proceedings. A Lord of the Rings Sauron- style baddie doesn't much help things either, with menace only being presented by scale and little depth.

Equally, the animal versions of the Transformers, the so-labelled Maximals, feel somewhat sidelined in favour of a Mirage and Noah double act that essentially replaces the Bumblebee dynamics of prior films (and the great much under-appreciated Bumblebee spinoff from 2018).

While the human acting is earnest and has heart, largely due to Ramos' likeability and less so Fishback's being sidelined as a damsel in distress, it's no match for what is essentially just heading towards a smash and bash, rockem-sockem robots movie that even sees one robot bludgeoning another's head repeatedly with a rock - much how some sections of the audience will feel as the movie heads to its open-ended conclusion.

A dire attempt to make a connected universe with other Hasbro properties proves futile - and seems to exist to purely stoke toy sales and revival chances. But Caple Jr's clear-eyed vision of what works with Transformers thanks to concisely-executed action early on, makes this one of the better CGI entrants into the series.

However, ultimately, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts feels like yet another hollow spectacle of noise and fury; one that offers limited vicarious thrills, but creatively feels like Hollywood scriptwriters are simply getting out their toys and playing with them for the world's audiences to suffer through.