With big-bad planet-devouring Unicron on the hunt for a Transwarp Key to rule the universe, which somehow ends up in the hands of a museum trainee via a mysterious ancient artefact in 1994 New York, it attracts the attention of the Autobots and the latest round of metal mayhem ensues. Also thrown into the mix is a young down-at-luck ex-soldier (nicely played by Anthony Ramos) with a sick younger brother plus the Maximals (the mechanical animals from the film's opening skirmish hiding conveniently on Earth). This franchise finally presents a cast led by non-white actors (and the classic R&B/hip-hop tracks on the soundtrack give it a different feel), but the female characters are still underwritten, and the bizarre Maximals - which were the focus of the trailers - only really make notable showing in the final act. As ever with this series, the visual effects are shiny, detailed, impressive and seamlessly integrated, and this film seems to take on board the lessons learned from the success of Bumblebee by keeping the story relatively tight and focussed (even if the lack of humans on-screen may be the result of early post-pandemic production). The shift to picturesque Peru is visually pleasing after the familiar city-bound first act, and the big set pieces at the end of each act are still spectacular (and here relatively easy to follow!), but unnecessary padding is evident. Rise Of The Beasts is just about an improvement on the last couple of wayward entries, and it does deliver a very unexpected franchise-linking final shot.
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