Transformers: Rise of The Beasts, directed by Steven Caple Jr. and with Anthony Ramos and Dominque Fishback, is the seventh chapter of the famous saga, in Italian cinemas on June 7, 2023.

Directed by Steven Caple Jr, in Italian cinemas from 7 June 2023 for Eagle Pictures, Transformers – Rise of The Beasts sees double, indeed triple. The seventh chapter of the saga is based on the toy line of the same name, the sequel to Bumblebee (2018), and the prequel to the first film. Protagonists (in the flesh) Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback, are surrounded, it is appropriate to say, by a patrol of gigantic, metallic beasts; robotic movements but a very human heart. 

The eternal match between the two factions, Autobots (good) and Decepticons (bad) becomes more complicated and deepens because the film takes care to introduce a new line of Transformers, or rather, a new generation. They are called Maximals. Which side are they on?

The plot of Transformers – Rise of The Beasts, at least in part, takes its cue from the TV series Rumbles of Thunder and Skies of Fire for Biocombat (1995), originally a toy line distributed by Hasbro between 1995 and 2000. Extreme coherence, it is precisely the 90s that form the backdrop to the story of the film. The story bounces between the United States and Peru, on the trail of a mystery that has very ancient roots.

Transformers: Rise of The Beasts Movie Story:

Unicron, the dark god, has very bad intentions. He wants to make the universe one giant barbecue and to do that he needs the Transwarp Key; he allows you to move at will in space, in defiance of any law of physics. The key is buried on Earth because it is here that the Maximals, after having seen their home devoured by flames, have found shelter, solemnly promising to preserve life on our planet at any cost, if necessary by cooperating with humans. 

In fact, they do this too. The boss is called Optimus Primal (originally the voice is by Ron Perlman) and together with him there is a good team among which the agile movements and lucid wisdom of Airazor (Michelle Yeoh), who has the shape of a falcon, stand out pilgrim. But these are the background, the present time of Transformers: Rise of The Beasts is 1994.

1994, Brooklyn. Noah (Anthony Ramos) is an ex-military and electronics whiz desperate for a job. When he can’t find it, he decides to heed a friend’s bad advice and embraces the big business of car theft. To set the film in motion, the interweaving of two curious facts is necessary. Noah steals the wrong car, an Autobot named Mirage (Pete Davidson), disguised as a Porsche and very tongue-tied. 

Then there is the need for Elena (Dominque Fishback), who is an intern at a museum on Ellis Island and has an impressive wealth of archaeological knowledge, to accidentally activate one-half of the key. The Maximals were wise and for safety, they divided it into two parts and buried it in two different places. 

Too bad, however, that the portion of the key found in New York is enough to solicit unwelcome attention. Everyone notices the key. It begins with the Autobots present on Earth in addition to Mirage, including Bumblebee and the great Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen). Unfortunately, the Terrorcorns are also interested in it.

The Terrorcorns are a faction of Decepticons, led by Scourge (Peter Dinklage) and accompany the terrible Predacons. They, the key, try to deliver it to Unicron, unlike the Autobots who would like to use it to go home. The Maximals are pushing for no one to get hold of it; the protection of the status quo is fundamental, in their view, to preserve life on Earth. 

Noah and Elena, after an initial moment of total dismay, decide to take a stand because the stakes are too high. We must not be discouraged by the confusion of these lines: Transformers – Rise of The Beasts is cinema in its most primordial and noisy form. Shock, exaggerated violence, emotionality. 

The film has a restful narrative linearity, which can be summarized as follows: having collected the first half of the key, Noah and Elena travel to Peru to recover the missing half. They side with the good guys, the Autobots, and the Maximals, ostensibly to help the first ones go home. In truth, Noah’s intentions are more complex. The rest shouldn’t be spoiled. Sure, the knots will untie loudly.

Transformers: Rise of The Beasts Movie Analysis:

And Michael Bay? And Steven Spielberg? There are both, they artistically supervise the success of the product, but only as producers. The transition of the saga from the hands of the explosive Bay to a new generation of filmmakers, the process that did not begin with Transformers: Rise of The Beasts, has greatly affected the saga. 

In part by changing something of its unmistakable essence – adolescent heart and testosterone-filled spirit – the passing of the baton has allowed the saga to recover a more calibrated and human vision. The fundamental is that the creatures resemble humans, not the other way around. Steven Caple Jr.’s film manages to find a sentimental and narrative thread that brings together the aspirations and desires of all the characters, metallic or not. The truth is simple. Whether you are an Autobot, a Maximal, or a human, the priority is one. Protect your family.

This applies to Noah, who has a younger brother (Dean Scott Vazquez) who is sick and who fights symbolically for him. It applies to Optimus Prime, the older brother of the Autobots on Earth who invested with the sacred duty to bring everyone home, safe and sound. Transformers – Rise of The Beasts does not try to water down diversity, it is committed to enhancing it by seeking harmony among dissonances. 

An Autobot, a Maximal and a human being have different points of view, different ways of expressing their inner selves, and different desires. Yet, during the battle, the many small families in the film must find a way, recognizing the specialty of each one’s contribution, to become one big family.

Shareable morals returned in an elementary and not entirely gratifying way. Transformers: Rise of The Beasts sacrifices any hint of depth in favor of action. In its own way, a lesson in humility and a sense of proportion, with a bitter aftertaste in the mouth. Beyond the infantile pleasure (in the most positive sense of the term) of accompanying, up to the final explosion, a very heterogeneous audience of giant robots who beat each other up in a very spectacular way, the schematic nature of the narrative architecture and a certain flatness in the definition of psychologies tell something else. 

In other words, they make us regret the shrewd strength of a direction, even of a writing, capable, in full compliance with the conventions and needs of an ultra-commercial cinema, of complicating things. And to show traces of thickness and ambiguity between one explosion and another.

Transformers: Rise of The Beasts: conclusion and Evaluation

Anthony Ramos’ electricity goes well with the magnetism of the excellent Dominique Fishback, keep an eye on her. The Transformers human interaction is more than satisfactory, the New York-Machu Picchu-New York world tour adds a further note of exoticism. Transformers – Rise of The Beasts is the competent, if not particularly original, seventh chapter of a saga that must be taken in the right direction. 

That is to say, the instinctive amazement of the child or adult who rejuvenates for a moment in the face of adventure in its purest form: morality cut with an axe, spectacular action, feeling. To ask for more from the film would be too much. Let’s enjoy the explosions and all this metal.