Reviewing Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

Long-time fans of the series and the movie franchise will be happy to see the newest Transformers movie when they see Transformers, Rise of the Beasts. There's a lot to unpack in this, and it's all pretty freaking awesome.

The movie opens on another world as henchmen of the planet/god Unicron are looking for the Transwarp Key. With the Transwarp key Unicron can transport his way from galaxy to galaxy, eating planets to keep himself fueled, and dominate the entire universe.

Maximus Primal and his group leave their world in the middle of a battle with Unicron's head henchman, Scourge, and head into the universe to find a place to hide the key. That brings us to Earth, 1994.

Heading up the human contingent of heroes is Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos), a down-on-his-luck ex-soldier trying to help his mom and his ailing younger brother. He'll do anything to help and when getting a job doesn't work he accepts an offer from a seedy neighborhood guy, Reek, who wants to bring him into the world of boosting cars. Needing to make some money to help keep his brothers' medical treatment going Noah goes along for what's about to become a crazy ride.

Noah's first heist is on a silver and blue Porshe, with a familiar insignia on the front of the hood.

Noah ends up in a car chase with the NYPD and his new, soon-to-be-friend, Mirage, quickly loses the cops and meets up with Optimus Prime and the rest of the auto-bot contingent on Earth. As the dreaded key has been located by an intern at the museum, Prime knows they have to get the key if they're ever to get back to Cybertron.

The intern, Elena Wallace (Dominique Fishback), gets a middle-of-the-night visit from Noah who gets roped into a heist for the second time in one night. As Noah and Mirage infiltrate the museum to retrieve the key, Unicron's team of evil alien robots arrive and start blasting up the place.

On the run with only the auto-bots as backup, Noah and Elena head off to Peru to find the key in an ancient temple beneath the city.

"This is some Indiana Jones shit," Noah tells Elena as they find a passage into the bowels of the city. Again, the dark powers of Unicron are hot on their tail and stir up a chase as Elena and Noah follow tunnels leading into the jungle, the auto-bots and Scourge and the henchmen hot on their tails.

After one horrendous battle at the museum that lays up a fan-favorite auto-bot, Prime and his team find they aren't alone as the beasts rise, and we're introduced to Airrazor (Michelle Yeoh), Rhinox (David Sobolov), Cheetor (Tongayi Chirisa), and Optimus Primal (Ron Perlman).

Heading into the mountains of Peru, we learn about the maximal's time on Earth, and how they've been working with the humans in Peru to protect both the key and the people in the area.

If Unicron's forces get the key, they'll bring Unicron to Earth and it's game over. Noah would destroy the key and stop the disaster before it gets that far, but Prime convinces him they don't have to choose between saving Earth and the auto-bots making it back to their beloved Cybertron.

It's an amazing movie with some great special effects. People that grew up on Transformers and were let down by the last installment of the franchise, the one before Bumblebee, will be excited to see what they've done with this installment.

In the end, fans are treated to a teaser of things to come. Noah returns to his life, still looking for a job. When he goes for an interview, he's met by Burke. During the interview, Noah fakes that he just came back from a "Job" working internationally that was "work, work, work."

"That's too bad, I hear the food in Peru is great."

Noah realizes this isn't a standard job interview, and Agent Burke tells him theirs a war and he wants Noah on his team, but one way or the other, his brother's medical care will be taken care of.

"You saved the world kid, but I think you should think about it," says Agent Burke, pushing a business card across the table.

As Burke gets up and opens a secret entry to a facility, Noah looks at the back of the card and reads it aloud. He sees what he's being recruited for, and we're given a teaser of things to come.

"GI JOE," says Noah.

This was the best Transformers movie, probably since the first one. The nostalgic pop as a fan was incredible, especially remembering the old GI Joe and Transformers crossovers from the comics. Seeing Unicron done in a way that was believable and a spectacle of special effects work was...insane is the best word. One can only imagine what's next and what's to come in the future of this obviously being redone franchise.