Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts Review: 4 Ups & 6 Downs

2. The Dull Human Characters

Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback are certainly likeable actors and well-cast in the roles of human leads Noah and Elena, but they're sadly given desperately little to work with here.

Transformers has had a franchise-long problem with boring human characters the audience doesn't care about, and though Bumblebee actually managed to solve that with its likeable lead Charlie, Rise of the Beasts reverts back to generic audience inserts whose names you won't ever be compelled to remember.

Because Hollywood vastly overestimates how much the general audience needs Human Interest in its blockbusters, of course Noah is saddled with a melodramatic backstory involving his sick younger brother, Chris (Dean Scott Vazquez), who is being denied medical coverage due to the family's financial situation.

It's certainly a relevant predicament for current times, but does it add anything to a Transformers movie? Absolutely not.

Meanwhile museum intern Elena spends most of her screen time examining artefacts and solving generic puzzles, while we're given scarcely little insight into who she is as a person.