Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

[Black Valkyrie]

 

It was good, at least better than the previous ones. 

 

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, CoryHolmes said:

That's high praise for a Transformers film.  That one was actually good and worthy of multiple theatre-viewings.  I stopped watching after DotM.

Yeah, I don't want to get anyone's hopes up.  I should have elaborated more but I was on my phone.

Pros: Even though I can't stand Pete Davidson, and his character in the movie isn't much like G1 Jazz or G1 Mirage, he was actually pretty funny.  Arcee was also great, and voiced by Susan Blu.  I liked Michelle Yeoh as Airazor, and she had a decent amount of screen time.  Scourge was a pretty menacing villain. Optimus Primal was the kind of character you'd expect a guy named Optimus to be.  There's a scene with Bumblebee that put a smile on my face, and a scene very late that hints at a possible Hasbro cinematic universe.  The overall plot was easy enough to follow without giant leaps of logic and continuity errors that seemed to plague the four films between Transformers and Bumblebee.

Cons: The story starts off really slow, as they first spend way too much time showing, in detail what one human's family situation is and why he needs money but is having trouble getting a job, only to shift to another human character for a bit.  After the intro scene, you're seriously looking at like a half hour before you see any Transformers again.  When you do, Optimus is kind of an out-of-character jerk for most of the movie, while Bee gets pretty minimal screen time.  That said, Bee's time on screen is massive compared to Rhinox and Cheetor.  And for all of her screen time Airazor doesn't even transform into robot mode.  Wheeljack turns up halfway through the movie, and he's just awful.  Nightbird and Battletrap were potentially cool villains, but they're not really developed, as the Terrorcons seem content to use little Frenzy-looking dudes to do most of their business.

All-in-all, Beast Wars fans are going to get a kick out of seeing some of their childhood heroes on the big screen, just like we did with Prime and Bumblebee back in 2007.  Like the '07 movie, it's a mostly-entertaining popcorn flick, with too much human crap and underdeveloped Transformers.  It's pretty and has lots of explosions.  It manages to not be trash like most of the Transformers movies, but lacks the heart that Bumblebee had.  

 

[Old_Nash_II]

9 hours ago, sh9000 said:

Do you mean this thing?

  Hide contents

 

Yep

Spoiler

If they use IDW comics as a reference, M.A.S.K. was originally crated by reverse engineering using Blitzwing body.

One time, in the movies, they have body of Shatter and Dropkick (2 triple-chargers), they can use it to make the vehicles.

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by Old_Nash_II

[TangledThorns]

10 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

Cons: The story starts off really slow, as they first spend way too much time showing, in detail what one human's family situation is and why he needs money but is having trouble getting a job, only to shift to another human character for a bit.  After the intro scene, you're seriously looking at like a half hour before you see any Transformers again.

 

 

This sums up the problem with every live action Transformers film. Does anybody really care about the human characters?? Human characters are supposed to be side-kicks, in the background or inconsequential in Transformers.

I think I'll skip this new film just watch the 1986 animated movie instead.

 

Edited June 12, 2023 by TangledThorns

[mikeszekely]

1 hour ago, TangledThorns said:

This sums up the problem with every live action Transformers film. Does anybody really care about the human characters?? Human characters are supposed to be side-kicks, in the background or inconsequential in Transformers.

I think I'll skip this new film just watch the 1986 animated movie instead.

 

I liked Charlie. But yeah, on that note I rewatched Bumblebee with my daughter, and I'm watching that beginning scene in Cybertron and thinking "This is awesome! Why can't they just do THIS, but feature-length?"

My understanding is that today is less about having a human character for audiences to relate to and more about CGI robots being expensive to animate.

[derex3592]

5 hours ago, TangledThorns said:

I think I'll skip this new film just watch the 1986 animated movie instead.

 

NEVER a bad idea!!!! 

[tekering]

12 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

My understanding is that today is less about having a human character for audiences to relate to and more about CGI robots being expensive to animate.

CGI robots that can believably co-exist with live-action actors, sure... MUCH too expensive.

However, if Transformers: Prime is any indication, a fully-CGI film with big-name actors doing voices could be made for a fraction of the cost of a live-action film...

...and, if Transformers: Prime is any indication, it would likely be a helluva lot better than anything from the Bayverse. 🙄

Heck, just imagine if Netflix had used the budget of their War For Cybertron trilogy to make a feature-film instead; they could've afforded real writers, professional voice actors, and more than just a small handful of character models.  For a ten million-dollar investment, they could've make fifty million off the Transformers name alone... and sold a whole lot more toys than a streaming series could ever hope to do (regardless of the quality of the film).

[mikeszekely]

2 hours ago, tekering said:

However, if Transformers: Prime is any indication, a fully-CGI film with big-name actors doing voices could be made for a fraction of the cost of a live-action film...

...and, if Transformers: Prime is any indication, it would likely be a helluva lot better than anything from the Bayverse. 🙄

Heck, just imagine if Netflix had used the budget of their War For Cybertron trilogy to make a feature-film instead; they could've afforded real writers, professional voice actors, and more than just a small handful of character models.

So... Transformers One?

[tekering]

2 hours ago, mikeszekely said:

So... Transformers One?

Well, yeah... except with Peter Cullen, and not set in the Bayverse. 😅

[TangledThorns]

I'm 100% certain they use human characters a lot because that is what their focus groups tell them to. Ugh.

 

[kajnrig]

Against my better judgement, I chose to go see this Sunday night. I guess I was hoping against hope that, with the ounce of pathos that Bumblebee managed to inject into the movies, this one would continue the trend. Alas...

I don't know why these movies always have the worst writing. The game of script rough draft hot potato always turns these movies into exactly the same flavorless paste no matter how much changes between movies. It's almost impressive. Once again, Optimus is a psychopath; once again, Bumblebee is a mute communicating through radio quips god I wish they would do away with that; once again, everyone else gets at most a paragraph of dialogue; and once again, it's because they're sidelined in favor of introducing Human Protagonist Du Jour. (In its defense, this time the creators almost manage to make a half-decent thematic connection between him and Optimus. Points for trying?)

The Transformers feel like little more than plot devices in their own movie. I know people have been shouting this since the very first movie, but it bears repeating: These movies need to just excise the human element altogether. Heck, if need be, this would have been the perfect opportunity to borrow more than just the character names from Beast Wars and set the story around having to protect a fledgling human civilization. They could/should have borrowed even more than that from Beast Wars, but at the very least they'd be explicitly aping one of the best story arcs of the show.

Blargh. Bumblebee suckered me into giving this franchise another chance, and they managed to siphon another cool $10ish out of me for it. Fool me once, etc.

[Thom]

Compared to the Bayformer movies it is much, much better! Compared to Bumblebee however and it is a step behind. Bumblebee still l holds second place in the whole pantheon of Transformer movies with the animated 1985 one still in the prime slot!
That being said,

Spoiler

I was entertained for about two hours and didn't feel fleeced. The human characters were alright and just about on par from past movies (excepting 2018 Bumblebee, of course!) It's always great seeing Optimus is his OG COE configuration, and though I understand the criticism about him, we have to keep in mind this is way before the Bayformer movies (please please PLEASE let them just reboot from here on out!!!) and the only one to have real contact with humans is Bumblebee. As explained in the movie, he's doubting his decision to leave Cybertron and that feeds into his dialog.

Loved Arcee and wished they gave her more time! Really liked Airazor as well, though sad to see her die. and Primal was great. The bad guys, unfortunately, that's where they really fell a bit short. Scourge was the only one who seemed more than two dimensional, his henchmen were that in the full sense as in they were just there to be bad and there were far too many misc little evil robots, which seems to be a bad carryover from the first Bayformer movie. And Unicron was wasted.

Don't do Unicron if you can't do him with the same justice as he was done in Transformers '85! It's like he was just an echo from the previous movies with Cybertron always appearing right above Earth. I did like that I think I heard his '85 theme threaded in there when he appeared in the beginning.

Overall, I liked it but I was not blown away by it. There are a lot of funny (IMO) dialog moments and the action was good at least until the last battle,

Spoiler

where it seemed like the enemy army was fighting themselves, seeing as there were too few of the good guys for them to be fighting!

And that tie-in!!

Spoiler

When he was talking with the guy at the end, I was sure they were pulling him into Sector Seven, (and dam am I so tired of S7!!) but I was so happy that it was GI JOE!! I did not expect that and am really hoping that franchise will be getting a much-needed reboot!

For a third one we need to have an OG style Megatron and Starscream, though Mega can be a tank rather than a handgun.

 

 

Edited June 13, 2023 by Thom

[Tking22]

I took my cousin's kid and I really liked it, he absolutely loved it, but he's 12 so of course. I grew up with Beast Wars as my first Transformers series so I really enjoyed it. I too would love to see a better, more faithful looking Megatron in a sequel, agreed on the tank mode, and maybe to be cheeky and do a slight homage some kind of third gun platform mode that other bots can jump on and use his giant cannon, not quite a shrinking handgun but it could be cool. 

[sh9000]

HISHE Megatron wants a movie.

 

[M'Kyuun]

On 6/13/2023 at 6:06 AM, tekering said:

Well, yeah... except with Peter Cullen, and not set in the Bayverse. 😅

Transformers One is set in the Bayverse? Well, there goes any hope I had of it's even being tolerable. 😒

[sh9000]

Deleted alternate opening.

[sh9000]

Honest Trailer.

[TangledThorns]

Heh, just saw Rise of the Beasts is on Paramount+. I'll check it out later next month after I return from my trip to New Zealand.

[Hikuro]

I was just thinking of restarting my paramount account cause...there's actually stuff I'd watch off of it. Buuuuut I'm still a bit bitter on rise of the beasts. 

[Old_Nash_II]

https://sffgazette.com/sci_fi/movies/transformers-rise-of-the-beasts-exclusive-interview-with-producer-lorenzo-di-bonaventura---spoilers-a5684#gs.3mrx7d

Interview with Lorenzo do Bonaventura to site Sci-fi & Fantasy Gazette.

Talking about RofB, Bay movies and G.I. Joes X TF 

Edited July 27, 2023 by Old_Nash_II

[Keith]

I'm watching Transformers Rise Of The Beasts 'cus it's free on Paramount+ right now. All I can think about midway through is how this is literally the frakking plot.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/xp4vbs

[sh9000]

HISHE.

[Thom]

Unfortunately, the best decisions often lead to the shortest stories.

[Bolt]

Lol. I think live action Transformers just went back to it's roots , a long time ago. Selling toys to kids.  The older age group isn't even on the white board, IMO. And the 3rd party companies that pick up a license to sell the more expensive versions and figures know that collectors are gonna do what collectors do , (and buy , buy, buy..) regardless of how crappy the latest film was. 

[TangledThorns]

I forgot how forgettable Rise of the Beasts was. Ugh.

Anyways, if I had Hollywood money I'd make a scene for scene live (mostly) action remake of the original 1986 animated film.

 

[Thom]

10 hours ago, TangledThorns said:

I forgot how forgettable Rise of the Beasts was. Ugh.

Anyways, if I had Hollywood money I'd make a scene for scene live (mostly) action remake of the original 1986 animated film.

 

I could love you!

 

 

(in a totally platonic, friend/friend, man-bros way.😉)

[sh9000]

Next is the crossover.