Transformers Rise of the Beasts

[Ursus mellifera]

I liked it better in the cartoon where they didn't interact with the G1 characters in any meaningful way. I wish BW would stay out of the main book, honestly.

[Sparky Prime]

The film has been delayed...

Deadline:

This just in from Paramount: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts will no longer be opening on June 24, 2022 rather June 9, 2023.

And the new Star Trek movie they’ve been in development on won’t launch on June 9, 2023 rather Dec. 22, 2023. The pic is in development with Matt Shakman attached to direct, as we first told you.

Rise of the Beasts is directed by Steven Caple Jr. and stars Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback, Luna Lauren Valez, Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime and Ron Perlman as Optimus Primal. The pic leaves behind a weekend where Sony has the Reese Witherspoon drama production Where the Crawdads Sing and heads to a date where it will be up against an untitled Universal event film. Beasts is currently in production.

Star Trek moves to a Christmas period where Warner Bros. has their feature adaptation of the Broadway musical The Color Purple and Universal an untitled event musical film (Wicked perhaps?). Disney still has Patty Jenkins’ Star Wars Rogue Squadron on that date. Despite the director not moving forward with the film in 2022; the Mouse House hasn’t changed the pic’s release date yet.

The only news I've heard about a Star Trek movie has either been a new director being announced, or subsequently dropping off the project... As far as I know, they don't have a script or cast. Surprised to find out it even has a release date when the project has been in development hell ever since Beyond.

Rise of the Beasts, last I'd heard, had recently finished principal photography. Pushing it back a whole year seems a bit extreme, when they're currently moving to the post-production phase of development, but I guess that's just the movie biz.

[Sparky Prime]

The first teaser trailer for Rise of the Beasts has been released.

[andersonh1]

Teaser trailer looks good, though past experience tells us that means nothing when it comes to the quality of the movie, so we'll have to see. I didn't realize Peter Cullen was in this as Optimus Prime once again, so that was my favorite reveal from the trailer.

[Ursus mellifera]

I don't really like how big the BW guys are. They're dwarfing the cars.

[Sparky Prime]

I don't really like how big the BW guys are. They're dwarfing the cars.

Yeah, I have to agree. I've always preferred the idea of the Maximals being more advanced and efficient than the Autobots, thus their technology has become smaller. Not to mention, it still allowed them to use their alternative modes as disguises... if they choose an animal roughly their size at any rate. But there's no way they can blend in here... They're too big and have more of a techno-organic thing going on. There's no way they could blend in. I don't see a point to them having animal forms...

Nevertheless, I am intrigued by this movie because it features some Beast Wars characters, even if I have some qualms with their designs...

[Shockwave]

I'm interested. Some of the beasts are too big (Cheetor, Airazor) and some aren't (Primal, Rhinox? Hard to tell his scale since he wasn't next to anyone). They do look technorganic, which is an odd choice, but not enough to put me off. Interesting that Ron Pearlman is voicing Primal again. I also think it's odd that Mirage is using G1 Jazz's alt mode.

[Sparky Prime]

Some of the beasts are too big (Cheetor, Airazor) and some aren't (Primal, Rhinox? Hard to tell his scale since he wasn't next to anyone).

Primal should be roughly the size of a human as a gorilla. Instead, he's shown to be roughly the size of Optimus Prime in robot mode.

Rhinox I'd agree is hard to tell. There is a brief glimpse of him in robot mode running along with Cheetor, showing them to be roughly the same size. Doesn't give us a true gauge for his beast mode, but would indicate he's oversized as well.

I also think it's odd that Mirage is using G1 Jazz's alt mode.

Yeah, I thought it was Jazz up until the hologram scene.

[Sparky Prime]

Finally got around to watching this... It recently was added to Paramount+, which is how I watched it earlier this week.

Spoiler

Unfortunately, the plot of this film is like that of the majority of the live action Transformers movies, where the characters are all after some Macguffin which could bring about the end of the world... In this case, it's a "Transwarp Key". I was hoping, like the Bumblebee movie, they'd get away from that sort of plot device, but apparently not. Just like in the Beast Wars cartoon, Transwarp allows for travel through space and time. They don't do anything with the time travel aspect however. Airazor claims the Maximals are warriors from both the past and future, and Optimus Primal says he's named after Optimus Prime, but that's the most they do with any time travel aspects. So transwarp in this film is really nothing more than a space portal generator, like the space bridge was in DOTM. The bad guys want to use to help Unicron eat more planets. The Autobots want it to get home to Cybertron, having been stranded on Earth for 7 years.

Optimus Prime is... moodier than usual in this film. He blames himself for getting the Autobots stranded on Earth but they don't really elaborate on why exactly their plans, to use Earth as a safe haven to regroup, have apparently fallen apart. Prime has zero trust in humans, which he learns to do in this film, working along side Noah and Elena, as well as from the Maximals, who have had a relationship with humans for thousands of years apparently. I don't get why the live action writers have a tendency to make Prime a little blood thirsty, like the "Give me your face" line from ROTF. He doesn't say anything quite that bad but in this film... it comes close a couple times, which just doesn't suit the character.

The Maximals are underutilized as characters. Rhinox I don't think had a single line, unless you count groans and shouts, and Cheetor I think only had like 2 or 3 lines. Airazor never transforms, which I guess is why the toy robot mode looks more like the original version of the character than the other Maximals in this film does. Hasbro didn't have a design from the film for Airazor. The rest of the Maixmals only transform for the final battle sequence, so we really don't get a good look at them in robot mode, save for Primal. By contrast, the Autobots and Terrorcons spend the majority of the film in their robot modes.

Speaking of being underutilized, I have to comment on the fact that after the opening sequence, it takes forever for a Transformer to appear on screen again. I mean, it must have been a good 20-25 straight minutes of the film focused entirely on Noah and Elena.

There was a neat scene where Mirage demonstrates his ability to become different vehicles, briefly becoming a Lamborghini and an F-1 formula racer. I like that acknowledgement of his G1 form at least, since he's essentially stealing Jazz's alt mode in this film. But they play a little too loose with it. Mirage doesn't scan these forms, and it doesn't appear to be an illusion created by his holograms. He even becomes a garbage truck at one point, which is way larger. It's just too powerful of an ability if they can just change forms on the fly that easily with seemingly no limitations.

Bumblebee and (sorta) Mirage die, and come back to life. These films have been pretty loose with characters staying dead already, but... This film makes it feel even looser. I mean, before they needed the Allspark, or the Matrix of Leadership, some magic object capable of bringing a Transformer to life in the first place. But in this film... Bumblebee is brought back to life just because apparently enough raw energon, with a big enough catalyst, will just do that. Can't fix his voice box still, but they can bring him back to life. Mirage... He gets shot a bunch of times and then somehow changes his body into a battle suit (once again showing a lack of any limitations) for Noah, which Noah is somehow able to convert back into Mirage's body. Using human manufactured parts, no less, to fill in whatever was missing from the battle suit.

At the end, there is a scene with Noah getting a job offer from GI Joe, which Noah is apprehensive about, but they still offer to take care of all his brother's health care needs, since Noah had helped save the world. It'd be a neat shared universe set up... Except the secret hanger is practically empty, with no real tie-in to GI Joe besides the name itself.

Overall... I wouldn't say its the worst Transformers live action movie. But after Bumblebee, it is definitely a step backward.

[andersonh1]

I've watched about the first 20 minutes of it so far, and I keep wondering "when are the Transformers going to show up again?" I don't mind them trying to give their human characters some depth and background, but a long stretch without robots probably isn't the best approach to a Transformers film.