Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023) Movie Review

This time, the Autobots have to face the strongest alien that has threatened the universe since time immemorial. To fight it, the Autobots teamed up with the Maximals who had existed on earth thousands of years before they came.

Not to be left behind, Noah and Elena are involved in the struggle to save humanity, even though at first it was by accident.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is a sci-fi action film directed by Steven Caple Jr. and released by Paramount Pictures in June 2023. Based on the Beast Wars storyline , this film is a sequel to Bumblebee (2018) as well as a prequel to the five previous Michael Bay Transformers films.

Being the first film of a new trilogy plan, will this film be able to continue the success of Bumblebee in quality? Or do you follow the pattern of Michael Bay’s action-packed Transformers films ? To find out, check out the following review first before watching it.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Synopsis

• Year of Release 2023
• Genres Action , Adventure , Sci-Fi
• Director Steven Caple Jr.
• Cast ∙ Anthony Ramos ∙ Dominique Fishback ∙ Luna Lauren Velez ∙ Tobe Nwigwe ∙ Peter Cullen ∙ Ron Perlman

The Terrorcons led by the Scourge invade a planet to retrieve the key to Transwarp from the Maximals.

In order to maintain their precious object, Apelinq handed over the key to Optimus Primal, who immediately left the planet with the few remaining warriors. They witnessed Apelinq’s sacrifice from afar when the plane was flying high.

Unicron, the strongest and most evil alien in the universe, was enraged and devoured the ancient planet. He orders the Scourge to keep track of the whereabouts of the Transwarp key in various galaxies. Unicron needs it in order to enter any galaxy he wants and devour all the planets to increase his evil power.

New York, 1994. Noah has just become disillusioned when he failed to get a job as a security guard. Even though he is a former soldier who is an expert in electronics. However, because it was difficult to work in a team, he was not accepted.

Because of his anxiety to make ends meet with his mother and sister who are sick, Noah is determined to enter the world of crime with Reek. They intended to steal a car in a parking garage that had been there a long time as if no one owned it.

After successfully entering, it turns out that the car can turn on itself in response to Optimus Prime’s call to gather. The car is Mirage, one of the Autobot members. After going through a chase with the police on the highway, Mirage meets his three colleagues in an old warehouse.

Apparently there is a phenomenon of light shooting into the sky from the museum, which can only be seen by aliens. This beam comes out of a Transwarp lock, which Elena accidentally opens while she is researching an ancient eagle statue.

Not only the Autobots saw it, the Terrorcons noticed it and immediately came to earth.

The Autobots with Noah sneak into the museum to retrieve the key as the Terrorcons launch a devastating attack on the entire museum. Noah and Elena, who did their best to save the key, were forced to feel like a failure after Transwarp was captured by the Scourge.

Bumblebee dies, but the Autobots are saved by the presence of Airazor. This Maximal Warrior in the form of an eagle robot then takes them to a safe place.

Airazor explains the chronology of his existence on earth for thousands of years in order to keep the Transwarp key safe. They split the lock, but Airazor lost track of the other half of the key.

Elena, who has done research, finds the same symbol in Peru. It didn’t take long, they immediately went there before the Terrorcons noticed. The Autobots also take Bumblebee’s carcass in the hope that it can be revived with the Energon that will open with the key.

Meanwhile, Unicron is angry with the Scourge for only getting half of the lock. Annoyed, Scourge and the Terrorcons tried to track down the Autobots.

Arriving in Peru, the coordinates that were thought to be the location of the key turned out to be located under a church. To reach that place, they have to pass through a carnival that enlivens the city streets. Noah and Elena sneak into the church, while the Autobots keep watch around town.

After entering a large and deep hall, they found a temple that was thought to be where the Maximal nation’s key was kept.

But the key wasn’t there after it was opened by them, and Elena only remembered the other symbols listed on the box. They have to escape quickly because one of the Terrorcons is coming to attack.

Protected by the Autobots, Noah and Elena ran into the forest. There they meet other Maximals, including Optimus Primal, their leader. He takes his new friends to a human village that holds the Transwarp key.

Optimus Prime, who had previously been reluctant to cooperate with humans, was amazed how much Primal trusted them.

The next morning, an Airazor infected with a Scourge weapon attacks the village. The Autobots and Maximals fight it out against the Scourge and the Terrorcons.

Unfortunately, the half lock was also snatched by the Scourge who took him to the top of the volcano. He combined the two keys and opened a great portal in the sky to welcome the Unicorn.

In order to stop Airazor’s infection, Primal is forced to kill him. Now they can only stare at the failure to protect the Transwarp key.

Is there a way to stop the Unicorns from coming? Who will be the savior from this great calamity? Find the answer by watching this increasingly exciting film until the end.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts Movie Review

Strong Story Line But Cliché

The key to the success of films like Transformers is the bond between the robots and humans, as well presented in Bumblebee (2018). The backgrounds of the two human characters, Noah and Elena, are explained briefly but quite densely, so it’s easy to understand their feelings right away.

Noah, who is worried about his family life and Elena whose skills are underestimated, is a good foundation for the story of this film. In the process, the skills they have and are always underestimated by others turn out to make them the saviors of humanity from extinction, without anyone knowing.

Noah who was deemed incapable of working on the team has proven he did not leave Optimus Prime, sacrificing himself alone to destroy the Transwarp key. And Elena, who has expertise in history, successfully proved herself with the discovery of ancient temples in Peru which she published.

Not only is the human character well explored psychologically, but also the feelings of Optimus Prime who is the leader of the Autobots.

He is depicted as someone who does not want to cooperate with humans who are considered not from his class. But seeing Primal entrusting the Transwarp key to the humans, her mind started to change.

Optimus Prime always blames himself and burdens his feelings for taking the Autobots away from Cybertron and stranded on earth with no way back.

Upon seeing the Transwarp key that might be able to bring them home, Optimus struggles to get it. And he was so sad to see Bumblebee die at the hands of the Scourge.

With the support of five scriptwriters, it’s only natural that the story of this film feels solid. Dynamic at the beginning in presenting the background , rhythm and script loosened up a bit in the middle of the film in order to deepen the storytelling aspects.

The mysterious location of the key is too easy to find, possibly due to Elena’s familiarity with historical artifacts and symbols.

In addition, many scenes are inspired or like repetition from other films. One of them is when they open a large hole that contains a passage, just like the one in the Indiana Jones films .

And what’s unique, Noah even mentions their actions like Indiana Jones. Even so, the interludes of action scenes that keep banging on, even though there’s nothing new that is presented, still keep us awake.

Without the Presence of the Decepticon Nation

Unlike the previous 6 Transformers films , this time we don’t meet the Decepticons. The sworn enemy of the Autobots was set aside first to introduce the figure of Unicron, who is the strongest alien in the universe. He is described as a giant-sized robot that can sometimes change its shape into a planet.

To increase his strength, Unicron eats planets in outer space. He needs the Transwarp key so he can move galaxies quickly and devour planets in each of these galaxies.

Unicron was implicitly introduced in the film Transformers: The Last Knight (2017), but it was only in this film that he became the main antagonist and his threat felt real.

Apart from Unicron’s presence, this 2 hours and 7 minutes film also introduces another race of alien robots, namely Maximal whose planet was destroyed by Unicron. Their shape is like an animal in the form of a robot. There are gorillas, eagles, rhinos and cheetahs. They have existed on earth thousands of years before the arrival of the Autobots.

Of course, these alien robots appear in polished visual effects that are very neat. Although it’s a bit hard to see the expressions on their faces, it’s forgiven because they are robots, but their actions in battle can be watched with pleasure.

Our eyes will not get tired of seeing it and we will continue to be amazed by the increasingly exciting battles until they reach their peak.

However, in several scenes there are deficiencies which show that the compositing work is not smooth enough. One of them is in the scene when they land at Machu Picchu.

Many merge images with backgrounds that look less smooth. However, this minor weakness does not seem to interfere with the overall excitement of the film.

Regarding human culture that was influenced by extraterrestrials who came to earth, it is always interesting to explore. Various conspiracy theories have emerged in this relatively new branch of archeoastronomy.

And indeed it turns out, many ancient buildings in various parts of the world always refer to the movement of celestial bodies or the effects of outer space.

Indeed, this is not much brought up in the film Transformers: Rise of the Beasts , only briefly in a dialogue. However, we are implicitly informed that the Maximals have exchanged knowledge and mutual trust with mankind since thousands of years ago.

Although the correlation with Machu Picchu is not told, which is the starting point for the search for the lost temple, we can assume that the city is one of the results of the collaboration of human culture and alien nations. Until now, no conclusion has been found on how the Incas could build such a magnificent city on a mountaintop.

New Trilogy with New Stars

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts repeats the Transformers (2007) formula from its main character side. To start a new story, new characters and cast are needed, just as Michael Bay did when introducing Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox. These two actors were newcomer stars at that time.

And now the main role is entrusted to Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback. Even though they are relatively new, Ramos and Fishback have shown their acting talents which are recognized for their quality by critics. Anthony Ramos performed brilliantly in the film In the Heights (2021) and Dominique Fishback in the film Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) .

They showed pretty good acting performance and were able to convey their respective characters convincingly.

There is an expression full of heavy burden on Ramos and a feeling of wanting to prove himself to Fishback throughout the film. And they transmit everything to us smoothly so that we seem to be in their position.

The characters of Noah and Elena are much different from Sam and Mikaela in Transformers (2007). They are intelligent and skilled, not just good-looking like the two characters from the first trilogy.

As a result, later the development of the story will be filled with the presentation of their respective expertise in the journey of the story of the Autobot nation in the next two films.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is quite successful in continuing a new passion in the Transformers franchise which has revived since the success of the film Bumblebee (2018) .

The development of the main character is quite good and deep, it’s just that his chemistry with the Autobots still doesn’t feel close enough. Maybe in the next film, their psychological blend can be shown more.

From the visual effects, nothing new is presented. The battle between Autobot and Terrorcon is indeed exciting and epic towards the end, but it feels like all of that is just a repetition of the previous films. The storyline is too straight and made dynamic so there is no twist that we expect from it.

We can even predict Bumblebee’s resurrection at the end of the film. And to be sure, this film contains too many cliches even though we are satisfied after enjoying it. For you fans of Optimus Prime and his friends, Transformers : Rise of the Beasts is not to be missed at all.

Even though it still hasn’t reached the quality of Bumblebee (2018), this film is able to continue the breath of its franchise well. Especially with the vibe of the 1990s which was very thick with the accompaniment of hits from the rap genre which successfully created the atmosphere of the scene.

As the beginning of a new trilogy, this film has a good foundation for the next two films. Are you ready to witness the collaborative action of humans, Autobots and Maximals against Unicron’s threat? Watch this film right now, OK? Have a good time watching.