Running time: 127 minutes
Starring: Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback, Dean Scott Vazquez, Peter Cullen, Ron Pearlman, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Yeoh
Directed by: Steven Caple Jr.
The story: A long lost and well protected artefact may hold the key to allowing the stranded Autobots to finally return home, but they’re not the only ones seeking it…
The verdict: Rise of the Beasts marks the seventh instalment in the Transformers’ franchise and so it would be fair to say that at this point - you’re either a Transformers fan or you’re not. Whilst this instalment is definitely better than some of the previous films, if giant robot aliens aren’t your thing then they’re just not your thing. However if, like me, giant robot aliens are very much your thing then strap in because Rise of the Beasts is great!
As with Bumblebee (which coincidentally was also great) this film sees a different director take the reins from Michael Bay. Whilst Bay is still producing the Transformers’ films, this change in direction is a really positive one and I thought Caple Jr. did a good job of giving the film a bit more of an identity.
The characters are great. There are some old favourites and some fantastic new additions, and I really warmed to all of them. The omission of a romantic interest was a very welcome change and allowed the story to stay on track without diverting to lovey-dovey interludes.
One thing that the Transformers’ films have always excelled at are big action sequences and Rise of the Beasts is no different. Overall the film was really well paced and the running time flew by.
If I had to be really picky then my only real issue was that there was a reasonable amount of exposition. However, when said exposition involves words such as ‘Unicron’ and ‘Transwarp Key,’ and is about planet eating gods and beast-robots - well who can really fuss about that?
Rise of the Beasts was entertaining, engaging and funny. It had a great soundtrack and great characters and was bags of fun. It also ends with an exciting tease. It surpassed my expectations.
The rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Comments
Post a Comment