Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

Orson Welles voiced the monstrous planet-eating Unicron in The Transformers: The Movie within a week of his death in 1985. Michael Bay tried to set up Unicron at the end of Transformers: The Last Knight before his continuity was rebooted with Bumblebee. Unicron officially debuts in live-action with Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, directed by Steven Caple, Jr (Creed II), where he's voiced by Colman Domingo. The new film also brings along characters from the popular Beast Wars toys and cartoon. Let's see how it is.

Unicron opens the movie by eating the home world of the Maximals, Transformers with giant cyborg animal modes. Unicron wants their Transwarp Key, a MacGuffin that can let him go anywhere in the universe, but a few Maximals escape with it. Things don't pick up for Unicron until 1994. That's when museum intern Elena Wallace (Dominique Fishback) accidentally uncovers part of the key. Unicron's heralds, the Terrorcons, come looking for the key.

Meanwhile, electronics wiz Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos) is roped into carjacking a seemingly abandoned Porsche. That Porsche is actually the Autobot Mirage (Pete Davidson), whose leader, Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen), sees the key as their way home. Noah would rather destroy it than let it fall into Terrorcon leader Scourge's (Peter Dinklage) hands. The Autobots join the surviving Maximals, including leader Optimus Primal (Ron Perlman) and Air Razor (Michelle Yeoh), in securing the other key part. It all leads to a titanic fight.

The film's five writers make the seemingly convoluted plot coherent. We get a strong prologue that easily introduces us to the new factions. We understand who the Maximals are even if we don't get the cyborg animal modes. In fact, you'll understand them even if you've never watched Beast Wars. It quickly introduces us to Noah and Elena's stories. Noah struggles to find a job to support his family, while Elena tries to put up with her vapid boss Jillian (Sarah Stiles). We sympathize with them before they're drawn into extraterrestrial affairs. The climax sees them rush to shut down the Transwarp Key while the Transformers brawl. It's a tense scene, especially when Scourge goes after them. On a lighter note, Mirage's refusal to let Noah carjack him leads to an awkward yet exciting car chase. 

The Transformers are also strong characters. Optimus Prime's dilemma with the key is compelling. Optimus Primal and Air Razor are also compelling, but the two other Maximals, Cheetor and Rhinox, are just there. Mirage and the returning Bumblebee are likable comic relief. Scourge and Unicron are perfectly villainous thanks to some excellent voice work from Dinklage and Domingo. A few highlights from the supporting robots include Michaela Jae Rodriguez as Terrorcon Nightbird and John DiMaggio as Autobot Stratosphere.

What's new about the technicals? Mirage gets a good gag toggling through several car modes. Unicron's drones are perfectly creepy. The Maximals' animal modes are impressive creatures. Their climactic robot modes are cool as long as the camera lets us see them for longer than a few seconds. The most we see Cheetor and Rhinox is a few seconds in several sweeping shots. Still, cinematographer Enrique Chediak gives us some astounding panoramic shots of Peru and within Unicron himself. The aforementioned car chase is among the best of editors William Goldenberg and Joel Negron's work. They also balance Elena and Noah's stories rather well. Let's not forget composer Jongnic Bontemps; his score for the prologue perfectly sells us on Unicron and the Terrorcons' threats.

Rise of the Beasts moves along rather well during its 127 minutes. We're not swamped with exposition despite the major new characters coming in. We only feel the weight of its runtime at the climax. We get a compelling cast of human and robot characters to lead the way. The end gives us and Noah a major surprise. Let's hope it pays off later.