‘Transformers: Rise of the Beast’ review: Less bombastic, more relatable sequel shows there’s still life in the machine

Anthony Ramos and Dominic Fishback, plus old Transformers and some wild new Transformers, equals the kind of fun you can’t hate, minus Michael Bay’s overkill.

The early “Transformers” movies, in fact almost all “Transformers” movies, had two elements at once. It’s chops in a factory showroom, where cars, trucks, and bikes are turned inside out, gutted like a garbage compactor exploded and shattered, and finally reassembled into towering robots. It was a magic exhibition like a shop. The spectacle of giant shape-shifting droids has always felt more enjoyable to me than many critics. But of course, the “Transformers” movie was also an unbridled stack of pure Michael Bay-ness, a child diversion on processed steroids. The lots were scattered all over the place, but somehow never mattered. The movie was too long. The sight of endlessly clashing giants made me yearn for the human nuances of the “Godzilla” movie.

When Bumblebee (2018) came out and Michael Bay finally quit directing the film, it became clear that the Transformers movie didn’t have to be so over the top at Mighty Entertainment’s behest. –just in case you haven’t yet–. They could have been more relaxed and conveyed the hustle and bustle of robots like machines of destruction. ‘Transformers: Rise of the Beast’ isn’t quite as stylish as ‘Bumblebee’, but how a ‘Transformers’ movie can deliver escapist junk food entertainment without the headache of synthetic sugar This is an example showing

The movie was directed by Steven Caple Jr., who made Creed II, the most mediocre of the Creed franchises, and he made Birth of the Beast a somber and down-to-earth film. When I say that I performed it in the way I got it, I think so. It is meant as a (moderate) compliment. This movie invites you into that world. Set in his hip-hop-influenced 1994, the relatable human story works well, and the script, which is actually followed by outbursts of dialogue, makes the robot as a character more real to me than usual. I felt it. do. But they are still Transformers.

At some point, the whole movie sees as a competition between at least four giants, even though two of them are good guys, saying “What are you going to do?” I realized that I can. Of course, there’s also our old friend, Autobot leader Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen). He transforms from a cool red cargo liner semi-truck and gives orders in a noble, Stentrian-like, perhaps Shakespearean-like voice. There’s Optimus Primal (yes, Primal, his nickname is named after Prime), the gorilla robot leader of the Maximals, the wild animal transformers introduced into the franchise in this film. (As a character and Hasbro toy, Maximals dates back to his 1996 animated television series Transformers update.) Although it has a low range, it has a warmer and more casual character.

Scourge, the central villain and leader of a terrorist conspiracy, is a fascist superhuman voiced by Peter Dinklage in an earth-shattering, dark and spooky tone. And then there’s the Scourge boss, Unicron. Unicron is a metallic outer space evil ring with pincers large enough to envelop an entire planet. Voiced by Colman Domingo, it has a terrifying dark majesty that seems to grind the bottom of the ocean.

One of the best decisions Caple made was not to continue to welcome these people. The foreground human story is a must and often boring part of any Transformers movie, going back to Shia LaBeouf zooming like crazy in the first few episodes. But Noah Diaz, played by Anthony Ramos in In the Heights and the Broadway original Hamilton, is a veteran from Brooklyn who’s trying (and failing) to get a job as a security guard. ). Caring for his 11-year-old brother (Dean Scott Vazquez) with sickle cell anemia, he keeps us on Noah’s side. Ramos reminds us of the goofy jokes and emotional nervous men that a young John Leguizamo once played. Especially that Noah goes against his good sense and participates in a heist, and that the silver Porsche he’s trying to steal is Mirage, a kind-hearted fellow trickster voiced by Pete Davidson, the Autobots. This is especially true when it becomes clear that

This plot happens to mirror that of the upcoming Indiana Jones movie (the movie is so aware of the similarities that it tries to soften it with an Indy joke). , revolves around a space-time conduit called the Transwarp Key. split into two. Half of it was found among the antiquities being studied by museum researcher Elena Wallace (Dominic Fishback), whose boss prefers to take credit for her research. Elena and Noah bond after their youth in Bushwick, and join forces to help the Autobots find the other half of the key in the Aztec wilderness of Peru.

Filmed in Iceland alongside photogenic ruins, the Peruvian section gives the film a nice backdrop of vibrant, open greenery for the upcoming robot showdown. If Scourge hooked a metal claw on the key, Unicron would use it to destroy the Earth. Optimus wants the key that will allow the Autobots to return to their home planet of Cybertron. And what about the Maximals? They stand by to provide the series with the novelty it needs, and they do, but I’m not sure the animal robots will be as compelling to viewers as the monster trucks. I’d expect the box office to double Grand Rules, not the home run Bay’s overkill once brought. That being said, Michelle Yeoh makes a brave presence as Airazol, a glowing falcon whose devotion to the cause takes surprising turns.

Several of the main characters in “Rise of the Beasts” face death, which turns the film into an allegory of loyalty and sacrifice. I’m not saying this is Rutger Hauer dying in the rain in Blade Runner, but this is still the rare Transformers movie that turns heavy metal characters into emotional figures. Combat is a clashing spectacle of ripped coils and gears, staged as if Optimus, Scourge, and the others were knights or gladiators. With Wu-Tang, Biggie, and his use of LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out” in one strategic moment, it makes me wonder how these movies managed without hip-hop. Although hyperbole is built into the content, let’s just say that the “Transformers” movie has transformed. They are no longer disliked pleasures.