One thing right away: the author of this article has great respect for what Michael Bay has created with the “Transformers” saga. The films are still the perfect demo material to push your home cinema to its limits – and the audio commentary is some of the most exciting around. However, the movies themselves haven’t quite been able to keep up with the looks since “Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen”. One of the reasons for this: the exorbitant maturities.
At first glance, the fact that riots are placed above characters in the blockbusters is not too bad. Sometimes that’s just the thing. But when stories, some of which are not only pretty silly but incredibly thin, are stretched to two and a half to three hours, it can quickly get to the point. The ones who suffer are the moviegoers, who feel that every minute is getting longer and longer, and at some point they just impatiently move on their butts. Exactly that could be spared us with the latest part of the series: As has now been revealed, the term “Transformers 7: Rise of the Beasts“ (Theatrical release: June 8, 2023) only 117 minutes, i.e. one hour and 57 minutes…
…that’s 27 minutes less than Michael Bay’s shortest “Transformers” movie (Part 1 at 144 minutes) and a full 49 minutes shorter than its longest (Part 4 at 166 minutes). To stay under two hours? Bay never did, not even remotely.
Only the Travis Knight-directed spin-off “Bumblebee” was even shorter, running just 114 minutes. And that is exactly what gives hope. Because the offshoot set in the ’80s proves that sometimes less is more – and for us, it’s clearly one of the best ‘Transformers’ movies! So maybe there really is a really entertaining sci-fi bash in the house this time around, as Bay has never managed without length and slack, at least in the last 15 years.
Here’s what to expect in Transformers 7: Rise of the Beasts
Directed by “Creed II” creator Steven Caple Jr., it returns to the brutal roots of the soon-to-be eight-part CGI orgy of destruction. Set in 1994 Brooklyn, Noah (Anthony Ramos, “A Star Is Born”) and Elena (Dominique Fishback, “Judas And The Black Messiah”) find themselves drawn into a feud between alien robots, this time involving not only the good Autobots as well as the pesky Decepticons. The Predicons, Maximals and Terrorcons are also involved in the conflict in which Optimus Prime will become the great leader of his kind…
Traditionally, you can expect a lot of prominent dubbing voices for the robo aliens in the original version. They include “Everything Everywhere All At Once” lead actress Michelle Yeoh as Airazor, “Game Of Thrones” star Peter Dinklage as Scourge, Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime (as in previous installments), comedian Pete Davidson (“Bodies Bodies Bodies “) as Mirage and “Hellboy” Ron Perlman as Optimus Primal.
To get in the mood: Stream the “Transformers” saga
If you don’t know the previous films or perhaps have already forgotten what they were about – after all, the predecessors are already a few years old – you can currently simply stream the “Transformers” saga. The first five films in the series are currently available not only on WOW and Paramount+, but also on Netflix. You can currently find “Bumblebee” on Joyn and on various streaming channels on Amazon Prime Video.