The seventh entry in the toy-turned-movie franchise that began in 2007 (including the most recent “Bumblebee”), “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” reaches into the past in more ways than one, offering a simple-minded strain of giant-robot combat. Much in need of a script tune-up, it’s a less-than-meets-the-eye summer-movie machine, and not a particularly well-oiled one.
The main wrinkle – beyond the introduction of animal-shaped Transformers known as Maximals – involves setting the action in 1994, although other than the well-chosen musical soundtrack and a fleeting glimpse of the O.J. Simpson trial, the audience might be hard-pressed to notice it. READ MORE
