BEAST WARS

THE MAMMOTH MACHINES ROLL OUT ONCE MORE IN TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS

- BRYAN CAIRNS

THERE’S MORE TO TRANSFORMERS: Rise Of The Beasts than meets the eye. Based on the ’80s cartoons, the seventh instalment in the movie franchise promises to deliver all the explosions, bombastic action and giant robots that audiences have come to expect. But, despite its epic scope and scale, Rise Of The Beasts also provides more character-driven arcs for not only the humans, but the leader of the Autobots himself, Optimus Prime.

“Something I really wanted to bring into this was a lot of heart, with a lot of culture and a lot of us,” director Steven Caple Jr tells SFX. “I felt like the Transformers, especially the Autobots and these new factions, they emote like they never have before in any other movie. I wanted to dive deeper into Optimus Prime and the layers behind him. We know Prime is this very noble character. He is for all mankind. In this film, he doesn’t start out that way. We see the growth of him.”

“Getting under the skin of one of the Transformers was so satisfying,” elaborates executive producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura. “That was another thing we were trying to figure out how to do. We had many conversations about the Beasts over the years. Hasbro, in particular, was pushing for us to do the Beasts. We were not resistant to it, but how do you do the Beasts? What’s great about the Autobots is they can turn into cars, so how does a gorilla hide in the city?”

Rise Of The Beasts unfolds in 1994, following the events of 2018’s Bumblebee. For several years, Optimus Prime and the Autobots have marshalled their strength, awaiting the perfect moment to reclaim their home world from the invading Decepticons. The problem? The robots-in-disguise are stuck on Earth.