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Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (Blu-ray 4K)
[Blu-ray 4K]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Paramount Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (12th October 2023). |
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The Film
 In 2017 Paramount released the fifth installment in the "Transformers" franchise with "Transformers: The Last Knight", it was the second installment to feature a new cast led by Mark Wahlberg, Paramount mounted a massive campaign considering the previous Wahlberg led film "Transformers: Age of Extinction" (2014) brought in decent numbers, although not quite as much as the previous Michael Bay trilogy led by Shia LeBeouf and Megan Fox, despite their best efforts "The Last Knight" would become the lowest earning film in the franchise and it was evident audiences were beginning to tire of these robotic monstrosities bashing each other for two hours. So, in 2018 another massive re-set was put into place, Slash Film interviewed franchise producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura stated that another big Transformers film "would be produced" and that it would be "different than the ones that we've done before." And thus the spin-off "Bumblebee" (2018) was born, garnering better reviews than the previous two legacy sequels but still underperformed at the box office. Personally speaking, aside from the very first "Transformers" (2007), "Bumblebee" is my second favorite film from this franchise. Now that that experiment is over, we're back again to the mainline series (sort of) with "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" which acts as a sequel to "Bumblebee" and a "Prequel" to the main series. According to Paramounts own marketing, "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" returns to the action and spectacle that have captured moviegoers around the world and will take audiences on a 90's globetrotting adventure with the Autobots and introduce a whole new faction of Transformers - the Maximals - to join them as allies in the existing battle for earth. This time the Transformers face the planet-eating Unicron (Colman Domingo), who attacks the homeworld of the Maximals, Unicron’s heralds led by Scourge (Peter Dinklage), they seek to obtain the Transwarp Key which can open portals through space and time intending to use it to help Unicron consume planets faster. The Maximals, led by Optimus Primal (Ron Perlman) escape their homeworld and flees to Earth with the Transwarp Key in hand. Cut to 1994, ex-military electronics expert named Noah Diaz (Anthony Ramos) down on hard times, steals a car that ends up being a transformer, meanwhile museum intern Elena Wallace (Dominique Fishback) unearths the Transwarp Key; whose energy pulse is immediately detected by Autobot leader Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) who summons the Autobots to recover the key ensnaring both Noah and Elena into the drama as Unicron descends upon Earth to recover the key and put his evil plan into place. Cue chaotic action. This film features a new director and a fresh new cast assembled here to continue the franchise in a new direction, but was it enough to bring fans back into theatres? The answer, only just. The film managed to gross more than "Bumblebee" but in the grand scheme of things this franchise's biggest battle is that of diminished returns. While the direction seems to be heading into fun and exciting corners of the "Transformers" world the overall result was just ok. This film introduces the beasts from the beloved "Beast Wars" series (1996-1999) and brings back fan favorite characters such as Optimus Prime, the overall story was uninspired. Every cliché revolving around a macguffin propelling the plot is on full display. A storyline concept we've seen a million times and nothing new is presented here. The film also suffers from weak dialogue, poor use of characters, the film is title "Rise of the Beasts" but the beasts aren't the focus enough of the film. But we're not here for story, right? We're here for the action VFX spectacle and the film certainly delivers on that front. The action scenes here just as much incoherent as the previous instalments. Chaotic and messy, however the visuals are stunning, if anything from a technical level the film overachieves, it is what we've come to expect. The VFX, photography, sound, all crank out an impressive collage. Sadly the the human cast lets this film down, Anthony Ramos) and Dominique Fishback are impossible to watch together, they have zero chemistry, zero charisma, and have little to work with... the human elements have always been the weakest parts of these films and it's astounding that after seven films the filmmakers haven't learned. They both come across as annoying, poorly written, and about as 2D as you can get. I can't believe I actually miss writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, who have committed their fair share of transformers crimes, but come across as infinitely better than five, yes FIVE screenwriters credited on this film! Honestly, what could have I really expected? All goodwill (and it's not exactly a lot) earned from "Bumblebee" was immediately trampled on with "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts", to be fair I actually expected a lot more from director Steven Caple Jr. who previously directed "Creed II" (2018) and seemed like a capable choice. But here we are. If it weren't for the outstanding technical aspects of the film (and the fact I have to review the film) I would have switch it off a lot sooner.
Video
Presented in the film's original theatrical ratio of 2.39:1 widescreen, mastered in 4K UHD 2160p 24/fps encoded using HEVC compression and can be viewed with HDR10+ or Dolby Vision. As expected the film looks incredible in 4K, while it seems "darker" in tone than previous instalments, this transfer handles the dark incredibly well. Highlighting the depth and maintaining decent texture. Colors pop, skin tones look good, detail is sharp, the transfer is crisp and clean. Certainly reference quality. No complaints here.
Audio
Boating six audio options, you can view the film with English Dolby Atmos, French (Parisian) Dolby Atmos, French (Canadian) Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, Spanish (Castilian) Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, Spanish (Latin) Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, and an English Audio Descriptive Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its English Atmos track, and just like the picture, the sound is equally impressive. The sound designers threw practically everything at this track. Boasting clean dialogue, broad range and depth aided by a complex mix of effects and surround activity. This will put your home theatre through the ringer and it's expected for these films. Happily the audio delivers a bombastic, immersive, and overall satisfying atmosphere, something the film itself failed to do. Optional subtitles are included in Danish, Dutch, English, English HoH, Finnish, French (Canadian), French (Parisian), Norwegian Spanish (Castilian), Spanish (Latin), and Swedish.
Extras
Paramount has included a collection of nine featurettes and a collection of extended and deleted scenes, below is a closer look. "Human Affairs" featurette (7:32) takes a look at the new cast of the film as they are interviewed about their experience working on this film. "Life in the 90s" featurette (6:14) takes a closer look at the film's 90's period. "Heroes" featurette (10:12) takes a closer look at the transformers features in this film. "Villains" featurette (8:36) takes a closer look at the new villains our heroes have to battle. "The Chase" featurette (5:35) takes a closer look at one of the chase scenes from the film and how the filmmakers achieved it with a combination of practical stunt driving and visual effects. "The Battle of Ellis Island" featurette (7:07) takes a closer look at this action sequence. "Into the Jungle" featurette (10:20) takes a closer look at the new Autobots featured in the film and on the jungle sequences. "The Switchback Attack" featurette (7:11) takes a closer look at one of the biggest and most complex action sequence in the film. "The Final Conflict" featurette (10:46) takes a look at the film's climactic sequence. Extended/Deleted Scenes (13:45) seven scenes are included here including an alternate opening and ending. Nothing too noteworthy here, it's easy to see why these scenes were dropped or shortened. A digital code for the film is also included.
Packaging
Packaged in a standard black 4K amaray keep case housed in a cardboard slip-case.
Overall
Unless you're an enormous fan of the franchise, don't bother.
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