Til All Are One | The Post-Racial Utopia of Beastwars
TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS Review
By the mid-1990s, the Transformers needed revitalization. The franchise had kicked off in 1984 with Hasbro’s line of toys featuring the newly famous robots in disguise. The action figures were supported by a television series which ran in syndication from 1984 to 1987. And what a three years it was! The Autobots and Decepticons had a good run, but ten years into their franchise they needed a boost. Enter the BEAST WARS, a show - and coordinating line of transforming toys - ready to breathe new life into the franchise.
Flash forward thirty years, and the Beast Wars (or at least their more virtuous members, the Maximals) are back to once again breathe new life into this dying franchise. And while my nineties-kid millennial-ass was delighted to see Optimus Primal, Rhinox, Cheetor, and Airazor, the work of the two human leads (Anthony Ramos and Dominique Fishback) and director Steven Capel Jr. elevate the film a step above the standard Summer Hollywood Blockbuster.
The Transformers franchise has always been hopelessly optimistic. Say what you will about Michael Bay, but the man’s no nihilist. Is he disgusted by the modern men who, he thinks, lack the gumption of their Westward Expanding ancestors? Perhaps. But he genuinely believes in the things he puts in his movies. And Michael Bay believes in freedom. In fact, Optimus Prime’s sincere belief that “Freedom is the right of all sentient beings,” seems to be what attracted Bay to the TRANSFORMERS in the first place.
But in TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS, director Steven Capel Jr. (CREED II, THE LAND) shifts that optimism from a background message to the main thrust of the narrative. Fundamentally, RISE OF THE BEASTS is a movie about overcoming impossible odds by destroying the artificial barriers that separate us. It’s a movie about intersectionality. It’s a movie that uses the language of Malcom X, Angela Davis, James Baldwin, and Fred Hampton to talk about the plight of giant robot alien cars. And in so doing, it exposes a lot of Americans to sophisticated ideas about human rights for the first time.
In the Transformers mythos, the phrase “Til all are one,” is not a vague platitude like “May the Force be with you,” or “Live long and prosper.” It’s a specific promise. Even the most casual observer will know that in the Transformers universe, the different giant robots are divided up into different groups. In this article alone we’ve already discussed The Transformers, The Decepticons, and The Maximals. There’s also The Predacons (the evil enemy of the Maximals) and the villains of RISE OF THE BEASTS, The Terracons. But the divisions among these clans is an entirely arbitrary one. The time when all are one is the future the Transformers dream of, when all robots will take off their insignias and live life in utopia as one species.
But for the villainous Scourge, a Darth Vader style middle-manager bad guy who is working for his much scarier boss, there is only one way the different robo-races can be equal: under his boot. The opening scene of the movie show him defeating one of the Maximals, removing his insignia, and placing it on his armor - another token of his cruelty. Scourge depends on the divides that The Time When All Are One would bring down.
The film’s human characters are also suffering froim the artificial divides that keep their species apart from itself. Noah, played by Anthony Ramos (IN THE HEIGHTS, HAMILTON) is a veteran of the Gulf War, trying to find a job as a security guard in 1994 Brooklyn. Meanwhile, just up the road, Elena Wallace, portrayed by Dominique Fishback (SWARM, JUDAS AND THE BLACK MESSIAH) is struggling to get the recognition she deserves for her work as an archeologist at a museum in the city. But when the future of the entire world is at risk, the two hero’s rise to the challenge and fight alongside the Transformers to defeat the Terracons and save the Universe.
What’s infinitely more interesting is how they save the Universe. At multiple points throughout the movie, Optimus Prime makes it clear that he does not trust humans. In fact, his demeanor is so far from the Prime we came to know in the Bay films that there were times when I wondered if this movie took place in a different universe. But it turns out that the reason is something much less common in films these days: character development.
Optimus and the Transformers are trapped on Earth, refugees from an intergalactic war. Everything he knows about humans is that they are hostile towards anything they aren’t used to. He encourages his people to hide from and distrust humans. But over the course of the movie, he’s forced to finally reckon with the fact that his people’s future is intrinsically linked to the future of the humans. And despite the fact that he is suspicious of them, he eventually learns to trust humans, and learns that we can all pull harder when we’re all on the same team.
At the climax of the film, when it is imperative that Prime trust the humans and the Maximals, his namesake Optimus Primal reminds him that “Til all is one” is not a one way commitment. The giant robot ape reminds his hero that “[Prime’s] sacrifice will be [Primal’s] oath.” Despite the different agendas, beliefs, and worldview of the two galaxy hoping bio-bots, they were happy to carry on each other’s legacy. The importance of brotherhood among the different factions becomes essential. As is, not incidentally, the post-racial alliance that will be necessary to throw off the shackles of modern capitalism.
If there’s a tragedy to the Transformers, it’s that they are robots in disguise. Optimus Prime lives his life convinced that his people will suffer and die unless they’re able to blend into the humans world. They have to pass as cars, because they cannot live as Transformers. Capel Jr. understand that, and the result is the best TRANSFORMERS movies since the the original. The film dials up that substance without sacrificing any of the action. Ultimately, it’s a breath of fresh air. Much like the Maximals were when the originally turned up on the scene in our universe’s 1994.