Thousands of years ago, the planet of the Beastformers was attacked by the galactic conqueror Unicron. The Titan destroyed the transformers’ home, but they managed to escape and take with them the Key of Transportation - a powerful artifact that allows you to travel throughout the universe. In 1994, the relic is discovered on Earth by scientist Elena Wallace (Dominique Fishback) and former soldier Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos). The couple is accompanied by the Autobots: they want to complete the mission quietly and fly home as soon as possible. But Unicron learns the location of the Key of Transportation. The villain sends entire squads to search for the item.
Still from the movie “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts”
“Transformers” returns to the screens after a five-year break. As a new vector for the franchise, the authors choose not the cozy nostalgic flair of “Bumblebee,” and not even Michael Bay’s advertising aesthetics with explosions, convulsive editing, and sexual objectification of women. The style of “Rise of the Beasts” initially resembles Marvel’s “Black Panther” rather than a mindless blockbuster with colorful metal aliens. Instead of the Linkin Park soundtrack, there’s 1990s hip-hop; instead of the pumped-up white Mark Wahlberg and models, there are young black actors.
Still from the movie “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts”
Even ideologically, “Rise of the Beasts” fits into the context of the BLM wave. Archaeologist Elena Wallace is a qualified specialist forced to curry favor with a white, bossy superior. Retired soldier Noah is a simple guy who sacrifices everything for his family. No one hires the man, even though he is knowledgeable in technology and is even ready for the position of security guard. The authors rhyme the fate of the main characters with the history of the Autobots: they also feel like strangers, looking for a home and trying to break through in a cruel world.
However, after half an hour, all the social relevance disappears somewhere. The movie transforms from a topical manifesto into an ordinary action movie about team building and faith in comrades. Even the presence of robot animals doesn’t save it: they appear in the final third of the film and look even more faded than the new team of Autobots. Michael Bay would surely have turned the project into a wild techno-safari with rhinos and cheetahs fighting against anthropomorphic robots to the last nut. But indie director Steven Caple Jr., unfortunately, possesses neither the audacity nor the self-confidence of the Hollywood explosion enthusiast.
Still from the movie “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts”
Most of the film is action against the backdrop of desolate scenery. Here, the transformers fight in the middle of Peruvian meadows, plowing the soil with shots from cannons and falls from heights. And here, the Autobots chase enemies along the highway: the only danger is sharp turns. But even if the heroes can’t handle the controls, they fall onto the neighboring highway and continue moving. The canonical “Transformers” also didn’t always surprise with the selection of settings - just remember the scene in the desert from “Revenge of the Fallen” - but the artists and screenwriters were always coming up with something unusual: either robot scorpions flying out of the ground like bullets, or US Army planes appearing out of nowhere.
“Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” on the contrary, goes the path of least resistance. The robots are increasingly reminiscent not so much of photorealistic 3D models of cars, but of animated toys. But what’s worse, the plot is exaggerated to the extreme: if in the previous parts the conflict started with a civil war, then in the soft reboot we are shown a clash of good with unconditional evil. The once contradictory, but at the same time entertaining series has completely gone through its life cycle and has finally turned into an advertisement for toys for children - only this time without vision and spectacle.