Pop Culture Movies and More: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023)

During the early 90s, Optimus Prime and the Autobots take on their biggest challenge yet. When a new threat capable of destroying the entire planet emerges, they must team up with a powerful faction of Transformers known as the Maximals, led by Optimus Primal, to save Earth. Planet eater, Unicron, sends his Terracons and Predacons, led by the treacherous, Scourge, to obtain the Transwarp key. It is a device that can open portals in space-time, which Unicron will use to travel to as many planets as he wants for devouring. The Autobots also want the key so they can get to their home, Cybertron and will fight against the forces of evil for it. I enjoyed this new instalment in the live-action Transformers movie franchise, but it isn't part of the first 5 Bay-verse films. It follows on from the reboot story of the Bumblebee (2018) movie, where Rise of the Beasts continues the story of the Autobots residing on Earth in the year 1994 since the previous adventure, during 1987. With time having passed, the Autobots want nothing more than to get back home after having been trapped on the planet for so long, despite only intending to use it as a base to regroup. However, once the key is activated, it becomes a race to claim the device before the enemy uses it to bring about Earth, and their home's destruction. I loved seeing the Autobots again in their iconic G1 style we caught a glimpse of in the previous film. There have been some changes, especially with characters like Wheeljack, whose design has drastically changed, and I want to say for the worse, as I preferred his last look, which was more accurate and honestly perfect. Every other character looks fine and extremely cool with my favourite new addition being Mirage, who gets some of the most screen time. His ability to self-duplicate with holograms is brilliant both in terms of practicality and appearance. He is also the funniest character and delivers some great comic relief whilst remaining a helpful ally in times of need. I was so happy to see Bumblebee again after the last movie now dawning his Chevy Camaro look. I appreciate the acknowledgement of his experiences in the last feature however, I was disappointed that he wasn't in this a lot. He comes into play much heavier in the final 3rd where he steals the show with some phenomenal moments. The biggest highlight from B was his arrival to the final battle where he lept out of the plane in a sequence that had me grinning instantly. I could understand his departure since he had his own one already, but it was still a shame. I equally liked Optimus Prime's design and that we get to see him undertake quite a bit of development. His demeanour to humans is drastically different to the one we are familiar with in the early Bay movies, only caring for his people until he works with humans Noah and Elena, but also, the way the Maximals have befriended and trusted people, even with their most prized possession. Speaking of the Maximals, they make their debut in live-action pictures following their show Beast Wars: Transformers (TV Series 1996-1999), which I hadn't seen at the time of watching this. Although we don't spend much time with them (and even when we do), it is with a selective amount, with other members taking the limelight till the final battle, which they are pretty awesome in. Another returning concept was the planet killer himself, Unicron, who first appeared in The Transformers: The Movie (1986) He looked simply magnificent. His depiction felt like it was lifted straight from the film and it was a true sight to behold, but alas, he bearly made an appearance leaving me very disappointed. I absolutely adored the final 3rd of this flick, which is where it truly shines with that huge battle full of explosive action. Seeing the robots transform during their fights was insane and had beautiful special effects present. Overall, I had lots of fun with this latest Transformers outing. Knowing what the other movies entailed helped me prepare for what I was getting into, making this viewing more entertaining. I will never grow tired of seeing giant space robots duking it out. If only they would lose some of these human elements. Definitely not a bad edition to the franchise, but not one of the best.