- "There's a legend that precedes the dawn of our civilization: a vile god so large, so powerful, that it consumes entire planets as fuel. Few believed such a thing could be true, until the day we saw Unicron with our own eyes."
- ―Optimus Primal
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is an American science fiction action film directed by Steven Caple Jr. and is the seventh installment in the live-action Transformers series, serving as a sequel to Bumblebee. The film stars Anthony Ramos as Noah Diaz and Dominique Fishback as Elena Wallace. The film centers around Optimus Prime, and the conflict between the Autobots, Maximals and Terrorcons.
The film was released on June 9th, 2023, after being delayed from June 24th, 2022 and is the first of a new trilogy.
Synopsis
In 1994, a pair of archaeologists from Brooklyn come into an ancient conflict through a globe-trotting adventure that ties in with three factions of Transformers: the Maximals, the Predacons and the Terrorcons.
Plot
The homeworld of the Maximals, an advanced race of Cybertronians with beast modes, comes under attack from the planet-eating dark god Unicron. Apelinq, leader of the Maximals, decides to have the rest of the Maximals leave the planet with a key. Apelinq decides to stay behind and try to slow down Scourge so the others could escape. Just as the Maximals leave, Scourge arrives. He uses his gun to blast through Apelinq's shoulder. After Apelinq dies, Unicron arrives, and begins to consume the planet as the Maximals escape.
In 1994 Brooklyn, Noah Diaz tries to find a job to help his sick brother, Kris. Having found no success, his friend Reek convinces Noah to steal an expensive car from a nearby hotel. Nearby, in the museum on Ellis Island, Elena Wallace investigates a newly found falcon statue, which suddenly falls apart, revealing the Transwarp Key, and is activated. Optimus Prime sees the key's energy beam in the sky and summons the Autobots. Having been convinced to steal the car, Noah goes through with the theft and manages to break into the Porsche, which is actually the Autobot Mirage, and having been summoned by Optimus, Noah is forced to be chased throughout New York City by police, and they escape to the Autobot warehouse, where Mirage reveals himself and Noah meets the others - Bumblebee, Arcee and Optimus Prime. They eventually come up with a plan to take the Transwarp Key, and use it to go home.
Drawn by the key's signature, the Terrorcons arrive on Earth. Mirage and Noah arrive at the museum, and Noah finds Elena with the key, and cannot convince her to hand over the key, when they are suddenly attacked by the Terrorcons. The rest of the Autobots arrive to defeat the Terrorcons, but the fight goes doesn't go to plan, ending with Scourge deactivating Bumblebee and stealing the key before the Maximal Airazor arrives and drives them off. Airazor explains to the Autobots that the Maximals have been hiding on Earth for thousands of years, and split the Transwarp Key in two to keep it out of Unicron's hands. Despite the danger, Optimus Prime is insistent that the key be reassembled so the Autobots can use it to return home, while Noah secretly plots to destroy the key in order to keep his world safe.
Elena's studies allow her to deduce that the other half of the key must be located in a hidden temple in Peru, and the group heads out aboard the rattletrap cargo plane Autobot, Stratosphere. In Peru, they meet up with locally-stationed Autobot Wheeljack, who leads them to the temple, but it is soon discovered that the other half of the key is no longer there. The Terrorcons attack once again, and the battle ends with Scourge corrupting Airazor with Unicron's dark energy. Subsequently, the Autobots meet Optimus Primal and the other Maximals, who explain that they moved the second half of the key, entrusting it to a human tribe they have worked with over the millennia. Scourge's corruption overtakes Airazor, driving her mad, and Primal is forced to kill her to save Elena. In the chaos, Noah attempts to destroy the second half of the key, but is convinced not to by Optimus. It is instead stolen by Scourge, who then reassembles the two halves atop a volcano, erecting a tower and opening a portal above Earth through which Unicron will soon arrive.
Seeing where their self-serving motives have led them, Optimus Prime and Noah agree to work together to defeat the forces of evil. While the Autobots and Maximals battle the Terrorcons and Predacons, Noah and Elena sneak in close to the Transwarp Key, planning to deactivate it with an access code Elena has uncovered. In the battle, Mirage is gravely wounded by Scourge, but transforms his damaged body into a powered exo-suit for Noah so they can fight together. The energy pulse released by the key activates a dormant Energon deposit beneath the valley where Bumblebee was kept, which infuses his deactivated body with Energon and restores him to life, his revival turning the tide of the battle. Optimus Prime kills Scourge, but not before the latter damages the control console to prevent it from being shut down. Willing to sacrifice himself, Prime destroys the key and collapses the portal, but Noah and Primal are able to save him from being sucked into the imploding vortex.
In the aftermath of the conflict, the Autobots, now without means to return to Cybertron, proclaim Earth as their new home and vow to continue protecting it along with the Maximals. Elena receives recognition for discovering the temple in Peru, while Noah attends an interview for a security job, but finds he is actually being invited to join the secret military organization G.I. Joe.
In a mid-credits scene, Noah manages to repair Mirage using junk Porsche parts from Reek, who learns that the car is a Transformer.
Cast
| Autobots/Maximals | Terrorcons/Predacons | Humans | Others |
|---|---|---|---|
Autobots
Maximals
|
Terrorcons
Predacons |
|
Production
- On January 19th, 2019, it was reported a Bumblebee sequel was in development.
- On March 16th, Lorenzo di Bonaventura confirmed a script was being worked on.
- On January 28th, 2020, it was reported that two Transformers films were in development, one by Joby Harold and another by James Vanderbilt.
- On November 30th, Steven Caple Jr. was hired to direct Joby Harold's script.
- On February 5th, 2021, it was reported the film's working title was Transformers: Beast Alliance, confirming Beast Wars characters would appear in the film.
- On June 22nd, during a virtual event held by Paramount Pictures, they announced the film would be titled Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. The release date was also confirmed to be June 24th, 2022.
- On November 10th, the film was delayed to June 9th, 2023.
- On December 1st, 2022, the first trailer for the film was released. The same day, Jongnic Botemps confirmed he would produce the films score.
Casting
- On April 1st, 2021, Anthony Ramos was cast as the human lead in the film.
- On April 29th, Dominique Fishback was cast in the film, opposite of Anthony Ramos.
- On June 15th, Luna Lauren Vélez was cast in an unknown role.
- On June 22nd, Peter Cullen was confirmed to reprise his role as Optimus Prime.
- On June 28th, Ron Perlman was cast as Optimus Primal, reprising the role from Transformers: Power of the Primes.
- On July 15th, Tobe Nwigwe revealed he would appear in the film.
- On October 12, 2022, Pete Davidson and Michelle Yeoh were confirmed to voice Mirage and Airazor, respectively.
- On December 1st, Peter Dinklage, Liza Koshy, John DiMaggio, David Sobolov, Michaela Jaé Rodriguez and Cristo Fernández were all cast in the film.
- On April 6th, 2023, Tongayi Chirisa was announced to be the voice of Cheetor.
- On April 27th, 2023, Colman Domingo was announced to be the voice of Unicron. Dean Scott Vazquez was also announced to portray a currently unannounced role.
- On May 13th, 2023, Michael Kelly was revealed to be in the film via a TV spot.
- On June 6th, 2023, David Sobolov confirmed he was the voice of Apelinq.
Filming
- Principal photography began on June 7th, 2021 in Los Angeles. Filming also took place in Machu Picchu, Montreal, and Brooklyn. Filming wrapped on October 20th.
Trivia
- This is the first film in the franchise to not include any Decepticons. (Excluding Transit, who appears in a deleted scene.)
- Even though the Predacon insignia's were shown in the movie they didn't appear it could be that they were killed by Scourge.
- The only predacon did appear in the movie was Scorponok
Related Links
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts on IMDb
Videos
Trailers
TV Spots
Clips
Images
Posters
Character Posters
Bio Cards
External Links
https://news.tfw2005.com/2023/05/12/transformers-rise-of-the-beasts-official-bios-online-482884
http://www.impawards.com/2023/transformers_rise_of_the_beasts_gallery.html