Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

Set a few years after 2018's Bumblebee, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts takes inspiration from Beast Wars as it has Optimus Prime and the Autobots teaming up with the Maximals to take on the Terrorcons in their attempt to help bring Unicron and devour Earth. The first of the mainline films to not be directed by Michael Bay, though he still serves as a producer, Steven Caple Jr.'s work is less frenetic and manages to feel smoother without too many large explosions in the action scenes. As for the writing, it still relies on the previous entries's use of globetrotting MacGuffins hidden under well known monuments. It's not terrible, especially with better character development for the human characters that help the Autobots, but it has gotten very tiring on relying on the same plot every time. The human characters, mainly played by Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback, are more well defined and don't feel too cartoonish compared to the Bay directed ones. Their chemistry between the Autobots work really well thanks to their performances and the vocal performances of Pete Davidson, Ron Perlman, and Peter Cullen once again reprising Optimus. There's a positivity to be had with the action scenes thanks to how clear it is with the cinematography and not being overly edited to death with constant cuts, but since you're so used to it coming from the previous films you almost miss it due to the camera not moving as much. Being set in 1994, you of course get highly memorable songs appropriate for the period, though too many are used from one scene to another. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts improves from the other Bay Transformers films, but comparing to Bumblebee it is sadly rather lacking. Over all: 78%

2023 top list so far:

1. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse

2. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

3. Air

4. Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves

5. Creed III

6. John Wick: Chapter 4

7. Scream VI

8. M3GAN

9. Cocaine Bear

10. Knock at the Cabin

11. The Super Mario Bros. Movie

12. Renfield

13. Fast X

14. The Little Mermaid 2023

15. Shazam! Fury of the Gods

16. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

17. Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania