DAVID ADAMS watches the latest ‘Transformers’ film…
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (AU-M/UK-12A/US-PG-13)
In a word: Playful
Bumblebee and the new Cheetor in ‘Transformers: Rise of the Beasts’.
The Transformers are back and, following up from 2018’s Bumblebee, it’s again in a prequel to the original 2007 Tranformers movie.
Autobot favourites such as Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen) and Bumblebee return (along with some new characters) there’s no sign of the evil Decepticons. Instead, we’re quickly introduced to the Maximals, a race of animal transformers who are involved in an epic struggle against the planet-eating evil god, Unicron, and his minions, the Terracons, led by Scourge (voiced by Peter Dinklage).
“Directed by Stephen Caple, Jr (with Michael Bay among the producers), this is a loud, flashy – and rather violent – big-screen film which reprises the considerable use of CGI the Transformers franchise has become known for. There’s plenty of humour and allusions for fans of the previous films but it works well-enough for those for whom this is a first dip into the Transformers world.”
The film centres of human protagonists Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos), who’s struggling to make ends meet in the tough streets of New York, particularly given his young brother Kris’s (played by Dean Scott Vazquez) medical needs, and Elena Wallace (Dominique Fishback), an intern at a natural history museum on the city’s Ellis Island who longs to be taken seriously as an archaeologist.
Noah encounters the Autobots as they gather to fight Scourge and his companions when he happens to be stealing a car which is actually the autobot Mirage (Pete Davidson). He agrees to help steal an artefact – the Transwarp Key, which the Autobots believe will help them return to their home world but which the Terracons want to use to destroy Earth – and it’s at the museum that he meets up with Elena on the start of what becomes a mission to save the world which leads them quickly to Peru.
Directed by Stephen Caple Jr (with Michael Bay among the producers), this is a loud, flashy – and rather violent – big-screen film which reprises the considerable use of CGI the Transformers franchise has become known for. There’s plenty of humour and allusions for fans of the previous films but it works well-enough for those for whom this is a first dip into the Transformers world.
There’ll be no surprises for those who have seen the previous films and the rather convoluted plot is pretty much about driving forward the action scenes (although the humans, particularly Noah, do add a little weight with pathios-evoking back-stories). But you know what you’re in for with a Transformers‘ film and this doesn’t disappoint or go beyond those expectations with, as one has come to expect, the introduction of a host of new characters such as Optimal Primal (Ron Perlman) and Airazor (Michelle Yeoh).
Hang around for the link to another rather famous toy – pointing to new possibilities for the franchise – at the end.
