Transformers has been part of my life since that fateful day in September 1984 and still is nearly forty years later. I was excited when they came to life in 2007 with the first live action movie. My childhood was reawakened. Now, that time has come again for me to relive the excitement I felt when I was first introduced to this amazing world created by Hasbro. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is a dream come true for fans across two generations.
So, let’s go over what we already know. The Maximals, the descendants of the Autobots, team up with their Cybertronian ancestors to stop the Terrocons from bringing Unicron to Earth. This is not the first time that the Maximals and Autobots appear together. In Beast Wars: Transformers series in the 90s, it was later revealed that the Maximals had crash landed on a prehistoric Earth after the ARK, the ship that carried the Autobots led by Optimus Prime from their war-torn world of Cybertron, has crashed years prior. We have already seen in the trailers that Optimus Primal tells Optimus Prime that they had been on Earth for millions of years (if the timeline is accurate, 4 million years to be precise), suggesting that they were there during their conflict with the Deceptions in the original series, possibly tying it to the film. This meet up would also be depicted in the third and final season of Transformers: War for Cybertron Trilogy series that is streaming on Netflix.
Arcee and Wheeljack battle the minions of Unicron.
The designs of the characters are more spot-on than in the Michael Bay directed Transformers movies. I love that the Autobots and Maximals retain their familiar looks many of us remember growing up in the 80s and 90s. Optimus Prime looks like ‘Optimus Prime! He has his recognizable truck mode; the smokestacks are on his shoulders like they should be and even his transformation is exactly the way it should be. I really liked what was done with Arcee and Mirage. Arcee’s design closely resembles who she appeared in the original animated series with her pink/white color scheme and keeping her motorcycle alt mode we have seen before, most notably in “Transformers: Prime.” Mirage is sort of an ‘apology letter’ to us fans who were upset when the first live film killed Jazz right off the bat by giving Mirage his original Porche 911 as his vehicle mode instead of the Formula-1 race car the character was known for. This is a nice call back to something familiar. Some fans may not like this, but let’s keep in mind that the Transformers characters have gone through multiple changes depending upon continuity. Nevertheless, Mirage still does as his namesake implies. I guess it’s safe to say that Bumblebee will not be returning to his Volkswagen form anytime soon (aside from the comics) and his Camaro form is here to stay. Since it was first introduced in the 2007 film, Bee’s alt mode has appeared in other Transformers’ series including “Transformers: Prime,” “Transformers: Robots in Disguise (2015)” and “Transformers: Rescue Bots.” Although, he did have something similar to his original design in 2008’s “Transformers: Animated.”
The Maximals and Autobots have encountered each other a few times before. The most recent meeting is in “Transformers: War for Cybertron – Kingdom.”
For the most part, Optimus Primal and his crew look the same as they did in the Beast Wars series, but also appear to be amalgam to their ‘Transmetal’ forms minus Airazor whose design remains largely unchanged. While I do like this, I am a little on the fence about their robot forms. Cheetor’s color scheme runs through to his robot mode while Primal and Rhinox colors are a bit lacking. In every depiction of them, Rhinox is green and grey while Primal is red and blue with white trim similar to Optimus Prime. Even so, they are still identifiable. Remember what I said about characters’ appearances changing depending upon continuity? Well, many of us 80s babies recall how Scourge looked in the original series with the bat-like wings and the ‘Fu Manchu’ moustache. That’s gone. His new look is like a combo of his original and his appearance in “Transformers: Robots in Disguise” where he resembled Optimus Prime. This form is used in his vehicle mode as well.
Unicron has one of the most memorable introductions in Transformers history. “Rise of the Beasts” made sure to pay homage to the “Chaos Bringer’s” arrival in the 1986 movie.
Now, on to the big bot himself – the Chaos Bringer, Unicron. When he appeared on screen, I immediately recalled his entrance in the opening of the 1986 animated movie. He came to the Maximals’ world, and he came hungry. The giant Transformer wastes not time devouring their world and he has his sights set on Earth. This one of many times that Unicron has targeted the Milky Way’s tiny blue planet. The first time many long-time fans will recall of this incident was in the original cartoon when Starscream was hired by Unicron to help him use Cybertron as a new body. Design wise, the Chaos Bringer looks thousands of times better than what we were given in “Transformers: The Last Knight.” Plus, his original theme was used in the film!
The exosuit makes a return in a Transformers movie for the first time since Spike wore it in the 1986 film (left). Noah (right) dons the suit in “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.” Bumblebee is ever present in both instances.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts moves at a steady pace given its short run time when compared to the previous Bay-directed films. On screen presence is shared equally with all the characters including the main human characters. Unlike the previous entries (minus Bumblebee) where the human characters were just there, the humans – Elena and Noah – prove useful and help the Autobots and Maximals in their mutual goals. This assistance is taken a step further with Noah donning an exosuit to assist in the film’s climatic battle. Plus, it didn’t feel like a military style movie, this felt like a Transformers movie where the focus is on the Transformers characters themselves. The humans were there to assist, and I like that it was kept that way. While the film played on other mythos within the franchise, I felt that is drew heavy inspiration from both “Transformers: The Movie” with Unicron memorable introduction and Noah using the exosuit, and “Transformers: Prime” with Optimus Prime being reluctant of involving humans in their ongoing war and their climatic battle against Unicron’s forces is reminiscent of a similar battle that occurred in “Transformers: Prime Beast Hunters – Predacons Rising.” Speaking of the final battle, it was a joy to see all our favorites going at it on the big screen and it is clear. You can see nearly every detail, everything that is happening. Yes, there were some parts in the CGI animation that could have been cleaner, but overall, it was beautifully crafted.
Scourge appears as the main antagonist in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. His current design (right) appears to be a combo of his original design in Transformers The Movie (center) and in Transformers: Robot in Disguise (left).
One of the most iconic moments in Transformers history when the Beast Wars and G1 universes collide. Beast Wars Megatron prepares to rewrite history by destroying Optimus Prime.
Rise of the Beasts is an action-packed blast for fans of the franchise young and old with good pacing that moves smoothly and makes use of previous incarnations and mythos with an ending that is both shocking and unexpectedly expected.
