By: Kimberly Grant
Like Fast & the Furious, just when you think you’ve seen the last of the franchise, Transformers manages to come up with a new film.
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will be in theaters on June 9.
You’ve Seen It Before
Like previous Transformers films, Rise of the Beasts has the same tropes that fans have come to love. Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen) stars in the film as the ultimate Autobot that everyone looks up to. He faces a formidable foe in Scourge (voiced by Game of Thrones actor Peter Dinklage). Scourge is an evil Terracon who serves Unicron; which audiences learned is an evil presence that made Earth its home in Transformers: The Last Knight. In this film, Scourge is Unicron’s minion and after a trans warp key that will allow Unicron to portal to any planet he wants to eat. Yes, you read that correctly.
Pretty standard bad guy stuff. The screenplay was written by Joby Harold, Darnell Metayer, Josh Peters, Erich Hoeber, and Jon Hoeber (based on the story by Joby Harold). I always say that when there are that many screenwriters for one film, it’s not a good sign. Too many writers on a movie script spoils the plot.
The film has a new director in Steven Caple, Jr., who also directed Creed II. This man of color is a great director. Unfortunately, his film suffers from too many writers. So, the film is good, but not great. Again, that’s not on Caple, Jr. It’s on the fact that the film is set in 1994, before the first Transformers movie starring Shia LeBoeuf as Sam Witwicky. Like Bumblebee before it, Rise of the Beasts is out of sequence from the rest of the films.
What’s New?
There are some refreshing changes to the franchise. First, is a new director, which would account for why this film isn’t a total dud. Next, is our human stars. Anthony Ramos gets into the driver’s seat as Army veteran Noah Diaz, whose looking for a job so he can help his mother and brother. Like other Transformers movies before it, the male lead is hard up for cash.
Speaking of his brother, Kris (Dean Scott Vazquez) is all kinds of cute and tough. He is a welcome addition to the franchise and I hope to see more of him. Likewise for Noah’s mother Breanna played by Luna Lauren Velez. Even though Michael Bay executive produced the film, there is a noticeable change in color to the characters in the film.
Speaking of color, there’s now a black female lead in Dominique Fishback who plays archaeologist Elena Wallace. Fishback is not the typical love interest in this film and it’s refreshing. She looks like a normal woman and she has the brains to make her interesting. And, for plot’s sake, she ends up conquering a fear in the film. Again, this is refreshing in the Transformers franchise when the female character is usually just some hot arm candy that needs to be protected from the bad robots.
Other actors of color include Tobe Nwigwe who plays Reek, Noah’s friend and literal partner in crime. Michelle Yeoh voices a cheetah-like maximal (A.K.A. higher-end Autobot) named Airazor. Liza Koshy voices a female, ass-kicking Autobot named Arcee. Ted Lasso star Cristo Fernandez voices Wheeljack, a Latin Autobot. Last, but not least, is Pete Davidson bringing his comedic stylings to Mirage, an Autobot who becomes Noah’s best friend.
It’s nice to see people of color voicing the Autobots and having prominent roles in the film that aren’t about them being sexualized.
It’s Not Necessarily Bad
To be fair, Rise of the Beasts is not the best film in the franchise, but it’s still a good film. Watch it to crack up at Pete Davidson. Watch it to see people of color go on an adventure without touching all over each other. Watch it to see a Transformers film that actually passes the Bechdel Test. Just watch it.
If you like what you just read, you can read more of my reviews in my Entertainment Blog section.
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