I still remember how much I winced and cringed as enduring what followed after Michael Bay’s “Transformers” (2007). While the first film was fairly watchable, all of the next four sequels were utterly atrocious in many aspects thanks to Bay’s grossly brainless maximalism, and I must confess that “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” (2009) actually drove me to drink at least four hard cocktails right after the screening because, my late mentor/friend Roger Ebert said at that time, it was inarguably “a horrible experience of unbearable length.” At least, we were consoled by “Bumblebee” (2018) not long after “Transformers: The Last Knight” (2017) came as a sort of the final insult, but that was a bit too late although the movie itself was a considerable improvement compared to its predecessors.

Naturally, I felt instant dread when I came upon the trailer of “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” a few months ago, and I did not expect much with growing fear and concern as walking into the screening room in this early morning. What do you know, the film itself turns out to be not so bad even though still retaining a number of main weak points of the franchise, and it actually entertained and surprised me enough for recommendation.

In my opinion, the main reason why the movie works better than expected is providing more drama and substance to the story and characters in comparison. Yes, again, the two main human characters in the film, respectively played by Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback, are frequently required to run here and there amid lots of bangs and crashes made by those big alien robots, but, surprise, the movie actually takes some time to develop these characters before eventually bombarding us with lots of sound and fury as demanded by its story formula. As a result, we come to care about their personal dramas as willingly following their bumpy adventures with those big alien robots, and it looks like the filmmakers behind the film did learn from what made “Bumblebee” relatively more memorable compared to other Transformers flicks.

In case of the alien robot characters in the story, I already gave up distinguishing one alien robot from another before watching the movie itself due to my previous predicaments with Bay’s Transformers movies, but they actually show a bit of extra personality this time. Although the villain alien robots of the story are pretty monotonous as usual, some of those good alien robots working along with Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen as usual) are fairly distinctive on the whole, and I must tell you that Michelle Yeoh, another Oscar winner to be added to the franchise after Frances McDormand and Anthony Hopkins, maintains her dignity intact despite the mandatory metallization of her recognizable voice.

In addition, several action sequences in the film are relatively more effective compared to whatever we had to endure as watching “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen” and the following three sequels. Under the good direction of director Steven Caple Jr., who previously directed “Creed II” (2018), each of these action sequences in the film is packed with enough fun and thrill without getting us confused at all, and even the expected big climactic part, which is unfolded in a certain famous spot in South America, works better than expected even when it is drenched in lots of CGI on the screen.

On the other hand, the movie occasionally did some silly comic stuffs mainly via the alien robot character voiced by Pete Davidson. I did roll my eyes during these broad comic moments, but, folks, I have been able to forgive and tolerate a lot of things after suffering that annoying robot dog humping on Megan Fox’s leg in “Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen”, and I think many of you will agree with me.

I was also surprised by how Ramos and Fishback’s earnest efforts could still engage me even when the movie pulled all the stops for more action and, yes, robots. I personally thought these two wonderful performers were too good and talented to appear in the film (Just watch “In the Heights” (2021) and “Judas and the Black Messiah” (2021), and you will see what I mean), but they actually did more than whatever is required by their respective paychecks from the movie, and it certainly helps that their characters come to function as more active parts of the story than we thought at first. While Fishback brings some wit and pluck to her character, Ramos does not lose any sense of fun at all when his character later happens to be tasked with something not so far from what Robert Downey Jr. did for more than 10 years in those Marvel Cinematic Universe products.

In conclusion, “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” is not as bad as I feared, and that was a big relief for me to say the least. I will probably not remember much of it around the time when they release another Transformers movie, but I must not deny that I was entertained enough during my viewing, though I will probably be on the side of minority opinion this time. After all, it is more engaging and less cumbersome than “Fast X” (2023), and I am actually a bit interested in what may come next instead of dreading about that.

So, I will now do some calculation on my final rating. I gave “Transformers” 2.5 stars while giving “Bumblebee” 3 stars, and “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” lies somewhere between them. Mainly because I liked it more than I predicted, I give “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” an extra half star, but I think you may just rent or skip it instead, and I will respect your choice anyway.