Travis Knight’s Bumblebee might have been set in the 1980s, but it hardly drew inspiration from the decade’s back catalogue of cinematic classics. Of course, not many of them featured a coming-of-age bonding story between a teenage girl and a giant alien robot, but the period trappings did at least allow the movie to bathe in the warm glow of nostalgia while distancing itself from the modern era. However, next year’s Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is looking to channel a stone-cold classic.
The seventh installment in the main timeline unfolds in 1994, and will dive into the reasons why Optimus Prime decided to set up shop on Earth. If you were to name the best action movie from the 1990s that involves robot carnage, chances are you’d plump for James Cameron’s Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and in a new interview director Steven Caple Jr. admitted he’s of a very similar disposition.
“I think you’ll feel the sense of a journey and expedition in this film. This go-around that connects all of those to what you’re saying. Terminator 2 is classic. The heaviness of the metal, if you will, all that stuff plays into it. So I think when you’re looking at our film and looking at sort of where we’re taking it, we kind of want to bring that classic expedition, that classic journey through New York and where we go from there.”
Is Rise of the Beasts going to be as good as Terminator 2? The most likely answer is absolutely not, but if it looks to the deft balance between story and spectacle that Cameron brought to his blockbuster sequel, then it could realistically challenge Bumblebee for the title of best Transformers movie yet at the very least.
Judgement Day is packed to the brim with stunning action and cutting-edge visual effects, but never loses sight of the emotional core of the narrative, even if it doubles as a relentless chase film that refuses to pause and catch breath. It’s a high benchmark without a doubt, but the incomprehensible Michael Bay era was all sizzle with no steak, so Rise of the Beasts would be wise to move in the complete opposite direction.
