The Transformers Rise of the Beasts film has premiered and we now have a full breakdown of the movie. Many fans seemed apprehensive about this film, as is the case with all live action Transformers films, so this might help you see if the film is worth your while. Of course, only ready this if you want to know EVERYTHING. This includes character deaths, how they die, third act revelations, and so on. The breakdown is from Actar who saw the film in Singapore. They also give us some extra tidbits and ratings after the full summary.
Actar wrote:Alrighty!!! Here is what you guys have been waiting for. A full plot summary of Rise of the Beasts. This is based completely on my memory. I usually have a pretty good memory, but please remember that I only watched the movie once, and I was really hyped. So, please forgive me if I get some details wrong. Also remember that there is also a ton of heart, characterization, and atmosphere that comes through the dialogue, jokes, and cinematography that I cannot recreate here. That said, here we go:
At the beginning, we have an opening narration from Primal introducing Unicron as a dark god from legends. Unicron nears the Maximal homeworld and sends down Scourge and his minions in order to mine the planet for their technology before he eats it up. The technology that the Maximals have is the Transwarp Key. Scourge comes down, not in a ship alt-mode, but in a literal small ship that he steps out of. (Spotted a Predacon emblem as one of Scourge's trophies here.) We see Cheetor, Airazor, Apelinq, and Primal evacuating to their escape pod/ship. Apelinq is the leader of the Maximals and asks Primal and the others to use the Transwarp Key to escape. He decides to stay behind and fend off Scourge to buy them some time to escape. He names Primal the new leader of the Maximals. Apelinq and Scourge fight for a bit, but Scourge kinda catches Apelinq off guard and uses his giant blade thing to stab and kill him. The other Maximals escape through a transwarp portal to what is implied to be a prehistoric Earth.
We get introduced to Noah and Elena. Noah is struggling to look for a job to support his family. His brother has a blood disease (I think sickle cell disease), and they can't afford the treatment. Elena is an intern at a museum, but she's more passionate and knowledgeable about history and artifacts than the actual staff. Noah tries to apply for a job but doesn't get it because of his apparent inability to work in a team from his military days. Elena notices a bird sculpture with a Maximal symbol and bizarre markings recovered from an auction. She gets interested it in and analyzes it. While analyzing it, she breaks it, and inside is a glowing crystal thingy (the Transwarp Key) that activates and emits an energy signature that can only be seen/felt by the Autobots/Terrorcons/Maximals. At this time, Noah was desperate for cash, so he decides to take up Reek's offer to steal rich people's cars and sell them. After breaking into Mirage, Noah gets a change of heart. It is here when Optimus notices the transwarp signature and puts a call out to all the Autobots to assemble. We see Bumblebee and Arcee leap into action. Noah hears Optimus's call on the radio, and Mirage takes him along for the ride. This is where we see the police chase from the trailers.
Once at the warehouse, Noah and Mirage start to bond. When Optimus arrives, he is annoyed that Mirage has brought back a human. Arcee scans Noah's face, reads his bio, and notes that he's an ex-soldier. Note that Optimus in this early part of the movie is really jaded and grumpy. Essentially, he feels like it's his fault that the Autobots are stuck on Earth and that anything that happens to them on Earth is his responsibility. Optimus really wants to get the Transwarp Key so that they can finally go back home. They want to get the Transwarp Key from the museum, but they can't just go and reveal themselves. So Mirage volunteers Noah. Noah can sneak in and grab the Key for them. In order to convince Noah, Mirage says that he can transform into any kind of car he wants, transforming into a Lambo and an F1 racing car. Noah can sell him for cash, and Mirage can sneak off later. Optimus distrusts humans and says that humans will only prioritize their own kind, but he agrees to the plan. Bumblebee says that humans are his friends, but Optimus says that because one was kind to him doesn't mean that all will be. It is at this point that Scourge, Nightbird, and Battletrap arrive (after noticing the energy signature) and they head to the museum as well.
At the museum, Noah sneaks in on Mirage, transformed into a garbage truck, and tries to convince Elena to give him the Key because giant robots want it, but she doesn't believe him. The Terrorcons attack, and she has no choice but to believe him. Scourge unleashes two Freezers to chase them while the Autobots come in to engage the Terrorcons. Noah and Elena manage to run out of the museum and evade the Freezers. The battle outside is intense, with Scourge beating Prime rather soundly, despite Prime whipping out his axe. Scourge says, "And you call yourself a Prime. Primus will be ashamed." Nightbird blasts the humans with a bomb, and I think it is here where they drop the Transwarp Key and the Terrorcons get it. Nightbird really reminds me of Shatter in terms of her voice and mannerisms, and Battletrap even gets a line or two. Battletrap's wrecking ball can also grab onto things to add extra weight and mass to his swing, which I thought was cool. Scourge "kills" Bee and takes his Autobot emblem. Scourge is about to kill Prime too when Airazor swoops in and blasts the Terrorcons with fire. They decide to retreat because they already have the Key.
Optimus and the gang follow Airazor to figure out what's going on. Optimus is really broken up about Bee. Airazor explains that she is a Maximal, "a warrior from both your past and future" (not sure what this means... any reference to time travel in this movie is really vague and never explicit) and talks about Unicron and Scourge. Optimus knows of Unicron. Airazor notes that Scourge is infused with "dark energy" and that Unicron controls Scourge's soul. Here, it is revealed that Scourge only has half of the Key because the Maximals broke it into two to keep it safe. Airazor thinks that she is the last of the Maximals as she hasn't seen the others in a long time as they split up a long, long time ago and went into hiding. Scourge has an audience with Unicron telepathically, and Unicron tortures him because he only has half of the Key. In reality, Scourge writhes in pain while floating in the air.
Elena figures out that the other half of the Key must be in Peru because the same symbols on the bird statue were only ever recorded on a temple in Peru. The Autobots are now going to go to Peru, and Noah insists on coming along. Here, it's interesting to note that Noah wants to go not to help the Autobots, but because he wants to get the other half of the Transwarp Key to destroy it so Unicron has no hope of ever coming to Earth. However, this will doom the Autobots to remain on Earth, but Noah only wants to look out for his own, proving Optimus' original perception of humans right. Of course, Optimus himself only cares for his own kind as well. In this sense, Noah and Optimus kinda mirror each other, and this sets up the best conflict and character arc of the movie, IMHO.
They then set off to Peru on Stratosphere. In Peru, they meet up with Wheeljack, who helps track down the temple entrance with Elena's coordinates. It is at an old church. Mirage gives Noah the gauntlet gun thingy. There is a huge parade/celebration going on, and Noah and Elene take a leaf out of the Autobots' book and hide in plain sight by blending into the crowd. Arcee sits hiding in Wheeljack in robot mode, which I found rather cute. Prime and Mirage are in vehicle mode. Here, there is a ton of dialogue between them while they're in vehicle mode, which is something that I don't think ever happened in the other movies and adds a ton to the bots as Transformers characters.
They manage to get to the entrance where they solve a puzzle, and they descend into the caverns Indiana Jones style. Scourge and the Terrorcons arrive, and Scourge sends a Freezer after the humans. Once Noah and Elena reach the temple, they discover that the other half of the Transwarp Key is no longer there. It had been moved. The Freezer attacks Noah and Elena, and they run deeper into the caverns. The Autobots spring into action, and so do the Terrorcons. There is a huge battle on the road and a rematch between Prime and Scourge. Nightbird and Battletrap fight Arcee, Wheeljack, and Mirage. During this battle, Noah figures out how to use the gauntlet gun and blasts the Freezer. They then emerge out of a cave in the jungle. Airazor blasts the bridge to prevent Scourge and the other Terrorcons from following. Scourge then fires a crab needle thingy that latches onto Airazor and begins corrupting her with Scourge's essence. This allows Scourge to track her and slowly turn her evil.
Outside the cave in the jungle, this is where we get the scene from the released clip. Primal appears, and so do the other Maximals. Prime and the other Autobots jump in, and Airazor comes in to defuse the situation and introduce the other Maximals. Primal says that he's named after Optimus himself, "the legendary warrior of Cybertron," and that it's an honor to meet him. Primal and the others explain that they have the other half of the Transwarp Key. He also says that Maximals are an advanced race dedicated to the expansion of life throughout the universe, but now they're just staying on Earth to protect the life here and to protect the Transwarp Key. The Maximals lead them to a little village of humans, the descendants of the tribe of humans who have watched over the Maximals and have shared their culture with them. The Maximals reveal that the humans are in possession of the other half of the Key. Prime is surprised that the Maximals trust the humans so much. Primal tells Prime that there is "more to them than meets the eye." Then, Primal shows Optimus raw energon deposits in the valley. Prime wants to use the energon to revive Bee, but the energon is inert and cannot be activated without great power. Still, Prime lays Bee, whose body was brought there by Stratosphere, on some energon. At night, Elena tries to convince Noah to not destroy the Transwarp Key.
The next day, Elena wakes up and sees Airazor going berserk. She flies off, and Prime and Primal realize that Scourge and the other Terrorcons are coming. Noah puts on the gauntlet gun and is about to destroy the Transwarp Key, but Prime pleads with Noah. Noah struggles but finally decides to not go through with it. The Terrorcons arrive and manage to snatch the Transwarp Key while Airazor comes in and snatches up Elena. Primal jumps in to save her. Primal and Airazor fight, and Airazor regains some of her senses, enough for her to plead with Primal to do what is necessary. It's a really poignant moment as Primal kills Airazor, something he doesn't want to do because there are so few of them left.
Now, Scourge has both halves of the key. He goes to the top of a mountain/volcano and combines the two. This (or maybe Unicron's power) creates a tower for Scourge to set the Key in, and it starts to open a portal in the sky for Unicron to come in. From the walls of the tower spawn a ton of Terrorcon drones. Noah refuses to give up and says that he will not give up fighting. Prime and Primal agree to fight, but they need a plan. The only way that they can shut down the tower without destroying it and causing a huge explosion that will essentially kill them all is by entering a special access code. Elena comes in clutch again when she realizes that one half of the code was on the bird statue and the other half was in the temple. Prime realizes that they each have been fighting their own fights when they should be fighting together. He finally learns to trust Noah and Elena. The Autobots and Maximals will fight the Terrorcons while the humans will sneak in through the tiny access tunnels and go to the console in the middle of the tower to enter the code.
The big fight begins. This part is simply awesome. However, there are too many things to remember, and the sequence in my mind is a bit messed up, so I'll just mention the main parts that stood out to me. Arcee, Wheeljack, Rhinox, and Cheetor focus on taking out the drones. Prime and Primal fight Battletrap. Primal cuts off Battletrap's arm and leg, and Primal smashes Battletrap with his own wrecking ball. Prime does a "He was mine!" bit with Primal. There's a bit during the battle where we see Primal without his faceplate, but it's just a quick flash. During the battle, there's a pulse from the tower, and the energon in the valley seems to react to it. Bee starts to buzz back to life. Mirage takes on Scourge to distract him, but Mirage gets punched aside and Noah gets discovered and pulled out of the tunnel by Scourge. Elena rushes ahead to the console. Mirage knocks off Scourge's mask, and it's literally just like MCU Ultron's face. Not really a hint of Prime, so those who were theorizing that Scourge was Bayverse Prime (including myself) will be disappointed. Regardless, Mirage shields Noah from Scourge's cannon fire. It looks like Mirage is dead, but he comes back to life for just a bit before telling Noah to "take over the wheel." He transforms around Noah and becomes Noah's exosuit. Noah starts to take on Scourge but is obviously outmatched. Prime then comes in to fight Scourge together with Noah. Scourge once again overpowers Prime. Unicron appears overhead and sends in his ball drones.
All hope seems to be lost, but Stratosphere flies in overhead and Bumblebee jumps out, taking out drones and shooting Scourge, giving them a chance to recover. Nightbird flies up and grabs Bee, and Scourge shoots at Bee. Bee manages to use Nightbird as a shield. One of her wings comes off, Bee stabs her with it, she explodes, and Bee does a superhero landing as Nightbird parts rain down. All this time, Elena was running from a Freezer, trying to get to the console, and entering the access code. Even though she manages to enter it, the console gets destroyed as Scourge and Prime fight. Scourge asks Unicron to send in more reinforcements, and Unicron does. This is where the giant Scorponoks appear. Prime cuts off Scourge's arms, rips out his head/spine, and takes back Bumblebee's Autobot emblem. Now, there's no choice left but for Prime to destroy the tower/Transwarp Key and sacrifice himself. Noah and the others start to run away. Prime destroys the Transwarp Key, there's an explosion, and everything starts to get sucked back into the portal. Just as it looks like Prime is about to be pulled in, Noah grabs onto Prime's axe and the suit kinda anchors itself to the ground. But it's no use. Noah also starts to get pulled in. But that is when Primal grabs them and yanks them to the ground. (ARRIVAL TO EARTH PLAYS HERE!) This is where Prime does that breakdance transformation and Noah rides on his back from the trailers. They speed away, and the entire thing blows up. After the battle, Noah is seen taking the exosuit back on Stratosphere.
Primal says that Unicron is not dead and that Unicron is instead trapped and could return. Optimus says "Let him come." instead of the "Let them come." from the trailer. Optimus gives an "I am Optimus Prime" speech about losing the Transwarp Key but how they have gained an ally in a battle that they can only stand a chance to win together.
Noah goes and applies for another security job. He sees on a TV that Elena gets recognition for the temple discovery in Peru. He gets an interview with a guy. Guy surprises Noah by knowing about his exploits and that he saved the world. He says that they know everything. Guy promises Noah that his brother's medical fees will be taken care of because Noah saved the world. Guy asks him and his big friends to join them as "we are in the middle of an ongoing war" (the line from the TV spot) and hands him a business card. He tweaks a plaque on the wall, and it opens to reveal a base/hanger thing. Noah flips over the card, and it says G.I. Joe on the back.
In the mid-credits scene, we see Noah putting the finishing touches on a junker car made up of different parts. Surprise! It transforms into a red/silver Mirage (might have been just rusty, seen only from the back). Noah managed to restore him from the exosuit.
THE END
