Review: 'Transformers: Rise of the Beasts' faces a tough task in grabbing audience

The “Transformers” reclamation project continues with “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts.”

After “Bumblebee” helped rejuvenate a franchise that had started to get rusty and creaky under director Michael Bay’s guidance, Cleveland native Steven Caple Jr. (“Creed II,” “The Land”) returns the franchise to the screen.

While it fits perfectly into the summer season with its fantastical story of alien robots, it’s also facing some serious competition from superheroes and mermaids.

The answer to that: transforming animals teaming up with transforming robots. The dilemma that Caple and the screenwriters – Joby Harold, Darnell Metayer and Josh Peters – face in “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts,” getting two different groups to mesh in one film.

Those animals, the Maximals led by Optimus Primal (voice by Ron Perlman), had never shared the screen with the Autobots, led by Optimus Prime (voice by Peter Cullen) in the animated series each of these groups originated from in the 1980s.

The movie benefits from audiences knowing and understanding the Autobots' origins while the Maximals likely are unfamiliar to many (guilty in this corner). It’s dealt with sufficiently to get the point across and to be frank, the “Transformers” films have always been more about the action than the plot.

For the record, there is indeed a plot. Unicron, the Autobots' most prominent adversary, makes his way to Earth where he wants to do nothing more than ravage it, taking precious resources and consuming its mass. Expecting Shakespeare?

An unemployed Army veteran (Anthony Ramos) and archaeologists (Dominque Fishback) find themselves, through a series of convoluted actions, drawn into what turns out to be a battle for Earth and its survival.

Make no mistake: the action is the star here, but it's nonetheless impressive that Ramos (“Hamilton,” “In the Heights”), who’s a versatile actor, and Fishback (“Judas and the Black Messiah”), an Oscar nominee, lend their talents to the proceedings and aren’t the least bit overshadowed. If anything, their complete buy-in adds to the experience. Pete Davidson, who voices Mirage, also provides plenty of entertainment in the process.

But, does the film build on the goodwill re-established with “Bumblebee?” Some.

Caple has crafted a piece of escapism that hardcore “Transformers” fans will appreciate. It’s more down-to-earth than Bay’s efforts where every major city across the globe was fair game to be blown to smithereens. The characters are generally likable, but it certainly has its flaws, the most obvious one being a feeling of déjà vu.

But the stakes are huge in this one in that it could not only dictate the future of the “Transformers” on the screen, but that of a shared universe that’s obviously being set up.

George M. Thomas dabbles in movies and television for the Beacon Journal.

Review

Movie: “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts”

Cast: Anthony Ramos, Dominique Fishback, Pete Davidson, Ron Perlman, Peter Cullen

Directed by: Steven Caple Jr.

Running time: 2 hours 7 minutes

Rated: PG-13 (for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and language).

Grade: B-

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Review: 'Transformers: Rise of the Beasts' offers mindless fun