486: Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (Expanded)

[00:00:00] [SPEAKER_00]: 193. Let's get to the last film in the Transformers franchise to date, which is

[00:00:07] [SPEAKER_00]: Transformers Rise of the Beasts, which I did review early on in the year but I

[00:00:12] [SPEAKER_00]: figured I'd give it a revisit. And anyways, it is directed by Stephen

[00:00:19] [SPEAKER_00]: Capel Jr. who also directed Creed 2. Stars Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback,

[00:00:25] [SPEAKER_00]: Luna Lauren Velez, Dean Scott Vasquez, not a lot of other big names. And the

[00:00:33] [SPEAKER_00]: synopsis is during the 90s, a new faction of Transformers, the Maximals,

[00:00:38] [SPEAKER_00]: joined the Autobots as allies in the battle for Earth.

[00:00:43] [SPEAKER_00]: So this one is completely separate from the Michael Bay films and from Bumblebee

[00:00:48] [SPEAKER_00]: and doesn't have any correlation to Transformers 1 either as far as I know.

[00:00:52] [SPEAKER_00]: So it's in its own little franchise, I guess in some ways is a reboot after

[00:00:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Bumblebee. And I don't know, I just there's something about this movie. I

[00:01:05] [SPEAKER_00]: know it got fairly mixed reviews when it came out. Some people really liked

[00:01:09] [SPEAKER_00]: it. Some people said it was like the best one since the first one that I

[00:01:13] [SPEAKER_00]: read but at least on letterbox it's a little down the middle. I think flat

[00:01:20] [SPEAKER_00]: out, even with all the crap about the Michael Bay ones that I don't like and

[00:01:26] [SPEAKER_00]: how there are some really low lows of these seven films right now, this one

[00:01:32] [SPEAKER_00]: is my least favorite. And it's not offensively like there's no Michael

[00:01:37] [SPEAKER_00]: Bay-isms in this or something that caused me to get super turned off by

[00:01:42] [SPEAKER_00]: it. The biggest problem, and I can say that Michael Bay doesn't really do this

[00:01:47] [SPEAKER_00]: to his strength, his benefit. The worst thing you can do in a movie like this to

[00:01:53] [SPEAKER_00]: me is bore the audience and I found this movie to be so boring.

[00:01:59] [SPEAKER_00]: Like I don't care if it's goofy. I don't care if they introduce a new

[00:02:02] [SPEAKER_00]: set of characters which I like the main guy Anthony Ramos. He's a good

[00:02:05] [SPEAKER_00]: actor for sure. I've seen him in other things but like I was just

[00:02:11] [SPEAKER_00]: struggling to stay awake. It's not even that long but I feel like I was

[00:02:14] [SPEAKER_00]: really phasing out all the time trying to care and just almost never really

[00:02:19] [SPEAKER_00]: was. Story-wise it's pretty cut and dry, nothing crazy. I do like the

[00:02:25] [SPEAKER_00]: introduction of the Maximals. I like the gorilla, transformer, the birds,

[00:02:29] [SPEAKER_00]: like robot birds. But at least Michael Bay went so far exaggerated over

[00:02:37] [SPEAKER_00]: the top with his characters that in one way or the other they're

[00:02:40] [SPEAKER_00]: memorable like Hound or some of the other transformer characters in that.

[00:02:45] [SPEAKER_00]: And I definitely don't have a problem with those actors that are in this

[00:02:49] [SPEAKER_00]: like Pete Davidson, Peter Dinklage. I think everybody, I love everybody in it

[00:02:53] [SPEAKER_00]: but there's just nothing to those characters. The personalities are so

[00:02:58] [SPEAKER_00]: toned down and quote-unquote normal that they're really just uninteresting.

[00:03:02] [SPEAKER_00]: Like you don't really learn anything about them. They're not that funny.

[00:03:04] [SPEAKER_00]: They're not that memorable or impactful. They're just kind of there to me.

[00:03:11] [SPEAKER_00]: That's a big problem. The human characters could not tell you a single

[00:03:14] [SPEAKER_00]: thing about them. I appreciate that they're trying to give something with

[00:03:18] [SPEAKER_00]: this troubled son trying to help his family, you know, his siblings. I get

[00:03:21] [SPEAKER_00]: that. I can appreciate that but it's so threadbare and really did not get

[00:03:26] [SPEAKER_00]: a lot from it. Visually really bland like Creed 2, which this

[00:03:33] [SPEAKER_00]: director did, I like Creed 2 for sure. So nothing against him as an

[00:03:37] [SPEAKER_00]: overall director but I think that he was not the right person to do this

[00:03:42] [SPEAKER_00]: movie especially since it's the first one really laying the groundwork for

[00:03:46] [SPEAKER_00]: the rest of this franchise, whatever it's going to be. So from the

[00:03:51] [SPEAKER_00]: production creativity standpoint, not much to write home about.

[00:03:57] [SPEAKER_00]: Talking some specific scenes though, I do like the death of Bumblebee.

[00:04:02] [SPEAKER_00]: I thought that was effective. Probably the only and it was only the

[00:04:06] [SPEAKER_00]: beginning portion of the sequence in Peru. I thought that was good where

[00:04:09] [SPEAKER_00]: like the robot birds come in and there's that sequence on the highway.

[00:04:13] [SPEAKER_00]: That was, I think, my favorite part of the movie in terms of just being

[00:04:16] [SPEAKER_00]: engaged. But after that, the third act really becomes underwhelming,

[00:04:22] [SPEAKER_00]: so vanilla, very predictable I think. And yeah, it was just ready for it

[00:04:26] [SPEAKER_00]: to be over honestly. Like I know some people, you know again, it's not

[00:04:29] [SPEAKER_00]: like offensively bad. I just feel like it's offensive to me in how

[00:04:33] [SPEAKER_00]: inoffensive it is. Like there's just nothing but I haven't been so,

[00:04:39] [SPEAKER_00]: I don't know if disappointment is the right word because I'm not some

[00:04:41] [SPEAKER_00]: big Transformers fan but really, really I guess let down to a certain

[00:04:46] [SPEAKER_00]: degree in where this franchise seems to be going. So that's why I'm

[00:04:50] [SPEAKER_00]: hopeful for Transformers 1. And then because really I don't have a

[00:04:55] [SPEAKER_00]: lot of other things to say about it. You know, it all kind of runs

[00:04:58] [SPEAKER_00]: together for me is pretty forgettable. But the only other thing that even

[00:05:01] [SPEAKER_00]: puts the cherry on top for why I don't like this movie and for why

[00:05:05] [SPEAKER_00]: I hate where a lot of franchises that have been struggling are heading

[00:05:11] [SPEAKER_00]: is, and this won't spoil it just in case you haven't seen it. It's

[00:05:14] [SPEAKER_00]: not going to ruin the movie at all. It's just a little teaser at

[00:05:17] [SPEAKER_00]: the end. The cringe connection to G.I. Joe where now it's going

[00:05:24] [SPEAKER_00]: to be a Transformers G.I. Joe mashup. And I have nothing against

[00:05:29] [SPEAKER_00]: G.I. Joe. I like being in that world. I don't hate the movies that

[00:05:33] [SPEAKER_00]: have been made. I'm not against them making more. But I didn't know

[00:05:36] [SPEAKER_00]: that going into this movie that that's what they were seemingly

[00:05:39] [SPEAKER_00]: trying to plan. I hate that. It just feels so much like a cash

[00:05:43] [SPEAKER_00]: grab. We're out of ideas and let's just bring in this other

[00:05:49] [SPEAKER_00]: famous IP into this franchise to give it some new life. And I

[00:05:53] [SPEAKER_00]: was definitely done at that point. Thank God that was the end

[00:05:56] [SPEAKER_00]: of the movie because that really left a sour taste in my mouth.

[00:06:00] [SPEAKER_00]: And now I'm not really looking forward to the other movies in

[00:06:03] [SPEAKER_00]: whatever way they're going to do that. So I could be proven

[00:06:08] [SPEAKER_00]: wrong. I would love to be proven wrong. Maybe it's going

[00:06:10] [SPEAKER_00]: to be amazing, possibly. But I really, really doubt it. Would

[00:06:16] [SPEAKER_00]: not recommend it. Let me know your thoughts in the

[00:06:18] [SPEAKER_00]: comments if you feel differently or if you feel the

[00:06:20] [SPEAKER_00]: same way. So that is a light one and a half out of five.