Better than it has any right to be. This was mostly enjoyable from start to finish with some surprises that truly got me excited. The Transformers franchise feels like it may finally be back on track.

I haven’t been much into this series. I loved the first film from 2007 when I was much younger, but the quality of the continued Bay films truly made me burned out by the fifth film that I truly despised. While 2018’s Bumblebee was an improvement, I still could care less about being excited about this franchise going forward. What actually got me excited about this entry was the fact that it took place in 1994 – the year that I was born. I truly got excited by the idea that this was going to take place in a time that would be considered a period piece. When I went to go see this in theaters, I still didn’t think I would enjoy this as the reclined seats that my friend and I sat in were broken and it felt like the AC broke in a theater that was nearly full. I am putting this into context as this movie was so entertaining that it made these mishaps almost worth it.

Once we got past all of the set up is where the film becomes its strongest. The set up for Anthony Ramos’ character goes on longer than it should. At times, I had to remind myself that I was still watching a Transformers film. After this set up is when it gets really exciting. The action was very exciting. The car chase scenes actually looked better than some of the previous Fast & Furious entries, which says something. The humor from Pete Davidson was also some of the funniest that I have seen from this franchise. While the action is entertaining, the climax and ending brought the goods. The climax had so many crowd-pleasing moments that brought accepting applauses from the theater. The fact that they actually pull it off made me so happy to be there and experience it with a crowd full of strangers. And that ending? It actually genuinely surprised me.

Initially, I was going to go with a 4/5. The film’s climax and ending is really something else. I was willing to bring the score up for this; however, as time went on, I still felt like the film’s flaws bring this down to a 3.5/5. The film’s beginning with the transformers can be seen as confusing. It didn’t bother me, but it more so made me question why I should care in the first place. The human story isn’t bad here. I especially feel like the make the human story warranted this time around. It’s how they choose to utilize the humans into the story can be questionable at times, especially within Dominique Fishback’s character who’s sole purpose was to explain all of the complicated stuff to the audience. While Anthony’s Ramos’ writing stuck the landing, I couldn’t help but to think why these films haven’t just focused on the Transformers themselves excluding any humans at this point.

Also, for what the title and trailer suggests, the film really doesn’t focus much on the newer set of characters. Don’t get me wrong – it was nice to see Optimus Prime in a bigger role again and appear to be more vulnerable. I do believe the focus on the newer Transformers was underutilized. The effects in these scenes weren’t nearly as strong as the other effects either, making it certainly more noticeable.

Overall, I believe this will go down as one of 2023’s surprising hits. Not only was I entertained between the humor and action, but this actually made me excited for the future of this franchise, which is something that I haven’t felt since the first film. Even with the film’s flaws, I prefer this sort of direction for the franchise. As long as they continue to have fresh & new voices to tell these stories, I believe they will continue to be good again.

VERDICT: 3.5/5 (Pretty Good)