Transformers: Rise of the Beasts hits theaters on June 9.
By Elazar Abrahams
Full disclosure: until sitting down to watch the seventh installment, Rise of the Beasts, I had never seen a Transformers movie. And after that experience, I’m not sure I’ll be rushing to catch up on the six I missed anytime soon. The new summer blockbuster is total drek, even by “turn your brain off and enjoy the punching standards.” The script is poor, the characters are thinly developed, and the story meanders with MacGuffins galore.
While devotees will be excited to see the Maximals, a group of Transformers introduced and popularized in the 90s Beast Wars toy line and cartoon, they’ll wish they could have gotten to see those characters come to life in a better flick.
The film isn’t all bad though. A lot of the performances are very enjoyable, surprisingly Pete Davidson most of all, who lends his voice to Mirage, one of the heroic Autobots stranded on Earth, forming a close connection to Anthony Ramos’ Noah. Davidson’s shtick was hilarious and added a much needed sense of levity throughout the entire two hour and fourteen minute runtime, but especially in the third act, which devolves an already barebones story into a CGI clobbering fest.
Ramos, too, continues to prove his leading man chops. He’s solid and dependable here, making the most of a meek script and the fact that his robot costars are all computer generated. Dominique Fishback plays Elena, the other human central to the action, and she starts off super promising, charming and ingenious, but doesn’t get to do much to do as Rise of the Beasts progresses. The pair have decent chemistry, enough to keep an audience’s waning interest for sure. Unfortunately, the talent on screen can only take the project so far.
Brooklynites will be pleased to know that the movie is also a nice tribute to the city’s best borough. Between this, Super Mario Bros., and Spider-Verse, it’s shaping up to be a big summer for Brooklyn at the cinema. When Noah delivers his big hero speech at the climax and declares he’s from Ocean Avenue, this native started to tear up a little, I won’t lie.
Now, despite my distaste for the film, the ending, which sets up a potential sequel, blew my mind. Not to overhype the reveal, but if I, a critic who couldn’t care less about this franchise, gasped in awe, then I can only imagine how excited the hoards of fans who grew up with Transformers will be. No spoilers!
I give Transformers: Rise of the Beasts a C-.
TV and City 