If you haven’t seen Rise of the Beasts yet and want to know a little bit more about what to expect without knowing too much more about the story, I’ve got you covered. I’ve tried to keep this as spoiler free as possible. This assumes you’ve seen the most full and recent trailer for the film. References to things seen in that trailer will be made here, so please be aware if you don’t want to know anything about those things!
Initial Thoughts
So firstly, I really enjoyed the film. After being initially excited by the trailers, I had started to backpedal and wonder if this movie was going to be a step backwards from the progress that Bumblebee had made. Was it going to be more “Bayhem” style, or would it follow in Bumblebee’s footsteps as something long time fans have been waiting for? I had braced myself for some disappointments but was pleasantly surprised when I was walking out of the cinema feeling very positive about the film I’d just seen.
There’s a lot of action and fight scenes, but there’s also enough development of the human characters to like them and see them as an integral part of the movie. Speaking of the human element, I felt there was an improved human to Transformer screen-time ratio than what we’ve previously seen in the Transformers movies, which felt like a massive plus. After all-we all came to see the robots, right?!
Characters
Now, onto some of the characters we saw in the trailer. Firstly, the elephant in the room-Mirage, we all know he should have been Jazz! The perfect alt mode etc etc. But I found his character likeable and fun.
Next, for me, the one that got me most excited when the latest trailer came out – Unicron!!! Again, this was something I’d started to backpedal on after my initial excitement. He looked amazing in the trailer – but Unicron is one of the most unique and iconic characters in Transformers history. If they get this wrong it would be really disappointing. I had in mind how Hot Rod was dealt with in The Last Knight and really hoped this wouldn’t be a similar situation. I’m happy to report though that I felt very satisfied with how Unicron was portrayed in Rise of the Beasts. He is portrayed in keeping with the modern special effects that we’ve become accustomed to in these movies, but also maintained the atmosphere around him that we remember from ’86.
Some G1 purists may be put off by some of Prime’s dialogue at certain points in the movie, but this is minor, infrequent, relevant to the context and gravity of the scene, and for me doesn’t detract from the movie as a whole. I just wanted to put a warning out there for anyone who didn’t like the “give me your face” remark from Revenge of the Fallen! Prime is heroic, brave and the leader we expect him to be. This shines through more than a couple of pieces of dialogue. Plus, he looks awesome.
Now, I’ve only seen a couple of episodes of Beast Wars, so I may not be the best person to speak about the Maximals. But for what it’s worth, I enjoyed their characters in the film, the way they looked, the voice acting, and how the movie blended them in with the Autobots. Some get more screen time than others, but their inclusion in the story feels natural and enjoyable.
Music
The musical score is very good, but also songs that are used throughout the movie are great too. They effectively built nostalgia from the era in which the movie was based while also creating a relevant atmosphere around the scenes that they are shown in. The songs chosen are from a different genre than musical choices from previous movies. Given how well the songs chosen work in the situations they have been used in, I’d hope that even if someone isn’t a fan of the genre, they wouldn’t find it distracting.
Wrapping It Up
Transformers fans are passionate people. We all got into the franchise at differing times and ages and therefore have different expectations around what we look for in a Transformers movie. The saying is true that you can please some of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time. There are things in any movie from any franchise that fans will have different opinions about, but overall, I loved Rise of The Beasts and look forward to watching it again. I feel it’s keeping up the positive trajectory that Bumblebee started. I give this movie a rating of 4.5 energon cubes out of 5!
If you choose to see it too, I hope you enjoy it.
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