Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

Optimus Prime and the Autobots are back on the big screen as they're teaming up with their ancestral heroes to stop an ancient threat from destroying the world.

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is the latest installment of the Transformers movie universe where it thrusts moviegoers back to the 90s in an epic globetrotting battle between good and evil. In this movie, Optimus Prime and the Autobots are joining forces with the Maximals, a legendary faction of heroes led by Optimus Primal. The Maximals debuted in the Beast Wars cartoon a long time ago and with two heroic factions teaming up against an ancient menace, it's a dream team worth dreaming about.

With Prime and Bumblebee looking retro in this movie, this movie welcomes fresh additions to the Autobot faction such as the motorbike Autobot named Arcee and a 993-spec Porsche 911 Autobot named Mirage. Yes, there's a Porsche in the film because 2023 is the year of the Porsche, this is why a 993-spec 911 earned a starring role in this Transformers adventure. As they team up with Primal, Cheetor, and the other Maximals, they're up against a renegade faction plotting to destroy the universe; the Terrorcons consisting of Scourge, Terrorcon Freezer, Nightbird, and Battletrap.

It's been a long time coming for fans of the Transformers franchise as they've got their wish to see Autobots and Maximals, well some of them, teaming up on the big screen, and this dream team is worthy of a conversation after watching the whole film. 

With a high-octane blend of action, suspense, drama, and a few laughs in store, this epic rollercoaster ride is knife edge from start to finish and this is going to be one of the must-watch films of the summer, well, it's classified superhero flick because the Autobots and Maximals were really superheroes in the Transformers multiverse and although creepy when you look at them for a long time, they sure know how to act like superheroes in this newest adventure. Let's hope for more like them in their future adventures.

This is Transformers like no other and Rise of the Beasts truly is a blowout for the fans of the franchise. In other words...SMASHING.

Bumblebee (movie)

Autobot Bumblebee is hands down one of the coolest Transformers in ages. In fact, he's so popular, he actually got his own movie about his beginnings and fans are in for a sweet treat because for the first time since the TV show, Bumblebee's back to being an old VW Beetle, which is good news for nostalgic fans many. Time to join the buzz.

Bumblebee

Set in the late 1980's, the story of Bumblebee begins as a young woman named Charlie, played by Hailee Steinfeld, who wants to live free by her own rules until she encountered an old yellow VW Beetle lying in dormant in a junkyard and what she learned that this is not just a Beetle. It's an Autobot named Bumblebee, a wounded warrior from another world. This is where the true bond between man and machine begins.

While Transformers fans are heavily delighted about Bumblebee's classic look just like in the Transformers TV series because of him being a VW Beetle like the original show, the storyline is downright touching and while there are intense moments where our favorite Autobout springs into action, there are some moments that will make us cry because of the connection the two characters made. That connection between man and machine is what makes this film very special. Emotional, rather.

Combining action thriller moments just like every Transformers films with the emotion of a family film about friendship and bond, Bumblebee is one of the must-watch films in the Christmas season and there's so much to buzz about it.

My rating: 3.9 out of 5.

Transformers: The Last Knight

Summer is already here and what better way to kick off summer by witnessing the ultimate Transformers experience in the cinemas and with The Last Knight, the Transformers adventure has come full circle as the so-called "final" installment of the Transformers films, directed by Michael Bay, promises to be the most explosive send-off to the Transformers films to date.

Transformers: The Last Knight

Picking up after the events of Age of Extinction three years ago, The Last Knight is a much darker installment where we get to see Optimus Prime transformed into a powerful enemy bent on destroying the world while the war between humans and Transformers are enraging like wildfire. With Prime aligned with darkness, Cade Yeager (played by Mark Wahlberg) and Autobot Bumblebee joined forces with a university professor (played by John Anthony Hopkins) to unlock the hidden truth of the Transformers defending Earth, thus this is the only key to end the battle once and for all.

While this film features a much darker storytelling where Prime became a villain while the main character races against time in the UK in search for answers to end the war, The Last Knight is a real kicker in the summer blockbuster season because while this was billed to be the "final chapter" of the Transformers movie saga, it promises heroic car chases, metal-shredding robot action, and explosions you'd always get from a Michael Bay-directed movie. 

In addition, The Last Knight welcomes some of the new and returning favorites. We get to see the rebirth of Decepticon Barricade in the form of the sixth-generation Ford Mustang, the new Bumblebee in the form of the sixth-gen Chevrolet Camaro, oh, there are new additions such as Drift (which is a Mercedes-AMG GT R), Hot Rod (which is a Lamborghini Centenario), Hound (which is based on the MB Unimog), the merciless Combaticon leader Onslaught, and so much more. These metallic beasts in this film are sure know how to upset this year's car-related films such as The Fate of the Furious and Cars 3 in so many ways and in a big way, it overshadows the human cast of characters by a long shot.

Although some of the machines never trace back to its cartoon roots, much like Bumblebee which is always stuck as a Camaro when the first film emerged ten years ago, its dynamism is what keep these metal monsters in this film alive and kicking and until the endgame reaches, you can really tell why we really love the Transformers back in our youth and this whole "More Than Meets The Eye" really is MORE Than Meets The Eye.

It seems a shame then that with The Last Knight, we're going to wave goodbye to the epic war of the machines for the planet Earth that was very exciting from start to finish but also very pointless. However, the people of Paramount thinks that while Michael Bay coined The Last Knight as his final film, there will be more for the Transformers franchise as a Bumblebee spinoff movie will come very soon as well as another one just to keep it alive for future generations. Now that is the future we're looking forward to for our love of Transformers.

My rating: 4 out of 5

Transformers: Age of Extinction

We all love enjoying the Transformers franchise from the range of toys made by Hasbro, the cartoons, and the movies since the first one in 2007 but for the fourth Transformers movie, called Age of Extinction, is this really the best Transformers experience we ever had? Let's see...

The latest installment sees a new male protagonist, played by actor Mark Wahlberg, as well as a new storyline that is way different from the previous installments. In this movie after the Autobots saved the world from the brink of destruction, humanity cleans up the remains from the war torn Earth. Wahlberg plays the role of a mechanic where he and his daughter discovered a deadly conspiracy that will wipe out the Transformers while an ancient powerful opposition has been awakened to bring Earth down to its knees. With the Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, joined forces with their new human allies, the war between good and evil has been blurred and the Autobots are ready to expect the unexpected.

Yes, this is now a plethora of automotive mayhem because there are numerous cars featured in the film including the Pagani Huayra, the Lamborghini Aventador, the Chevrolet Sonic, the Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, the new Chevrolet Corvette Stingray, and so much more. Bumblebee, as a Chevy Camaro, gets two versions; one as a first generation and the other one is a latest fifth-generation facelift which doesn't look so right after its previous installments. Those new machines really edged out the luster from the human casts which also includes Stanley Tucci, Kelsey Grammer, Nicola Peltz, Jack Reynor, Li Bingbing, T. J. Miller, Han Geng and many others.

Now I know the cast is now way different from the previous ones but the storyline never felt so good, in true Michael Bay fashion, as the battle for Earth's survival spans across the globe made this installment one of the most thrilling Transformers experience yet to offer this Summer. It really turns skeptics into believers and it will leave them hanging for more. Has our faith in Michael Bay restored? Yes...but only just.

Although Age of Extinction maybe a departure to the Transformers movies we know but this movie never fails to impress us...if the producers were very careful about making this movie feature a million dollars worth of cars. It's quite of an overload if you asked.

My rating: 3.9 out of 5