Based on the high-energy trailer alone, Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts is expected to be one of the biggest action movies of the summer. The forthcoming film is angling to merge the franchise’s beloved automotive characters along with a ton of fresh new blood. Apparently the soundtrack is doing the same.
Grammy Award-nominated rapper Tobe Nwigwe, critically acclaimed hip-hop titan Nas, and Jacob Banks join forces on the film’s featured track, “On My Soul.” Produced by Nwigwe’s collective, The Good Stewards, the song skillfully embodies the climactic essence of the movie. With the song’s instrumental ebbs and flows, the musicians put a show lyrically as they playfully try to one-up each other.
Outside of his musical contributions to the film’s soundtrack, Nwigwe will also appear in the movie. During an appearance on Sway In The Morning, he shared how he landed the onscreen role.
“One of [the director Stephen Caple Jr.’s] best friends was a fan of [my] music. And his best friend — as they were getting ready to start shooting the movie — passed [on the role], and he had Paramount Studios reach out to me to try to play the best friend’s role in Transformers. They kind of emulated who his best friend is in real life,” he said.
Listen to the full track above.
Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts is set to hit theaters on June 9.
There’s plenty to check out this New Music Friday (May 19), though hip-hop heads, in particular, may be interested in a collaborative effort from Grammy-nominated artist Tobe Nwigwe and legendary lyricist Nas. The duo came together along with Jacob Banks to share the lead single from the forthcoming Transformers: Rise of the Beasts film, and certainly didn’t disappoint. While Tobe starts off strong on the chorus and first verse, the singer lends his talents to the bridge, crooning out, “Bring me the smoke and I’ll build you a fire / To burn my desire, burn my desire.”
Afterward, it’s Nas’ turn to shine. “Don’t slander all the banter / Just one answer, I’m an animal,” he begins the song’s second verse. “I’m just one man, outstandin’ though / Part wolf, part king, part Hannibal,” the New Yorker’s rhymes continue. To close out “On My Soul,” all three creatives come together on a final chorus, showing off their respective talents and generating buzz for what else is to come from the soundtrack.
Tobe Nwigwe, Nas, and Jacob Banks Team Up For “On My Soul”
While speaking with The Hollywood Reporter in April, director Steven Caple Jr. hinted that some other noteworthy names will appear as well. “We have A Tribe Called Quest, we have Wu-Tang [Clan],” he revealed, also hinting at Nas’ appearance by saying, “We have a legacy artist who’s blessing us with a new track for our film, and I’m so excited about that. … He’s from the ‘90s, but I would say that he’s arguably one of the top three rappers to ever live.”
Stream “On My Soul” from the Transformers: Rise of the Beasts soundtrack on YouTube above, or add it to your playlist on Spotify/Apple Music. Who contributed your favourite part to the collaboration, Tobe Nwigwe, Nas, or Jacob Banks? Let us know in the comments, and tap back in with HNHH later this weekend for more release recommendations.
The latest of the Transformers movies, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, is slated for a June 9 release. An animated origin story for the toys is set to be released in 2024 as an origin story on Cybertron. That will make eight films in the franchise and with its pattern of box office success, there will likely be more on the way. Critical reception aside, these movies are generally pretty profitable. Here are all of the films currently released, ranked.
6. Transformers: The Last Knight (2017)
Transformers: The Last Knight is likely the final story in the line of Transformers movies. A film that was marketed as the final hoorah of this storyline, it was an unfortunately disappointing effort. It’s arguably the worst movie in the entire franchise. It seems like sad way for a popular franchise to go out, truthfully.
Mark Wahlberg is undoubtedly a strong candidate for any action film. However, he’s not the fan favorite Shia LaBeouf. Between his absence and the franchise’s ongoing efforts, even the most ardent supporters of the transforming robots were left a little disappointed with the stale offering from Steve Caple Jr.
5. Transformers: Age Of Extinction (2014)
Transformers: Age Of Extinction marked the transition away from Shia LaBeouf’s Sam Witwicky to Mark Wahlberg’s Cade Yeager. Although LaBeouf chose to leave on a high, it didn’t help the declining franchise. However, there are a lot of great action sequences, and the CGI is, once again, really nice. Otherwise, there’s just not much going for the rest of the movie.
By now, fans are used to a convoluted plot and many huge action scenes with great graphics. Unfortunately, after four movies, it’s a tiring experience. Why watch this when one could rewatch the slightly better predecessors? This movie doesn’t do enough to warrant the franchise’s continuation in many critics’ eyes.
4. Transformers: Dark Of The Moon (2011)
It’s not the easiest feat to make a sequel that improves on the original, and it’s even harder to make a threequel that improves on both. Unfortunately, Michael Bay couldn’t accomplish this on Transformers: Dark Of The Moon. A few elements work, but the new love interest and the rest of the plot feel smashed together. It felt as if the franchise was running out of steam. Even an all-star cast couldn’t help. By the third film, it became clear to some viewers that that might have been a mistake to continue the franchise beyond its second film.
3. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
The sequel to Transformers was arguably not as good as its predecessor. The charm of the first one waned, and the convoluted plot drained audiences a little more. It wasn’t as much of a novelty, so the faults of the writing and story were a little more evident. While this isn’t a spectacular follow-up, it wasn’t an abomination. Many audiences might have been surprised to learn that this wouldn’t be the worst of the bunch, but it truly kept going downhill from here, which makes this film look even better by comparison.
At this point, the sight of CGI robots beating each other to death while occasionally showing a human character isn’t as overused. Eventually, it will be. But, in 2009, seeing more Optimus Prime and Megatron battles was still exciting. Peter Cullen continues to provide excellent voice acting here, though.
2. Bumblebee (2018)
Then, 2018’s Bumblebee was the first non-linear story in the Transformers movies. For the first time, the franchise brought it back to the origin story of the beloved Bumblebee. Travis Knight did an excellent job taking over the Transformers movies. This film showed audiences that there could be refreshing contributions to the expanding Transformers universe. Fortunately, this movie’s success bodes well for Transformers: Rise of the Beasts and the franchise’s future.
If the future is in the past, which it appears to be, then Bumblebee is a fantastic point to jump off from. Bumblebee has always been the most interesting character of them all, so an origin story and an exploration of him was always a good idea. Changing directorial hands was also a great idea from Hasbro.
1. Transformers (2007)
While the franchise may have generally gone downhill, its beginning was excellent. The CGI from 2007 still holds up today. While it might not have been purely intentional on Michael Bay’s part, the movie is hilarious. Shia LaBeouf’s explosive Hollywood ascent is certainly due to the success of this film. It’s just a shame the sequels couldn’t recapture the magic of the beginning of the Transformers movies.
Most of these movies were a hit at the box office, so Hasbro and everyone involved in making them wouldn’t change a thing. However, fans might want to go back and nix the franchise after this and save it as a standalone film. That would preserve the magic a little more since most everything after just tainted this film. Which of the Transformers movies is your favorite?
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts is slated to be one of the summer’s biggest movies. Headed for a June 9 release, it will likely be one of the year’s biggest blockbusters. Given the franchise’s reputation, the movie will likely be big, loud, and make a lot of money. Steven Caple Jr. (Creed II) is set to direct. Here’s what we know so far.
What We Know About The Upcoming Transformers: Rise Of The Beasts Movie
The seventh film in the Transformers franchise will be another prequel. The series began with the original Transformers in 2007, helmed by Michael Bay. It continued chronologically with the next four films before the brand returned in time for Bumblebee. Now, they’re continuing that trend.
Rise of the Beasts is set in 1994, which dates it before the original films, which were set in the present day (2007-2017). However, Bumblebee was set in 1987, making it the franchise’s earliest film. The newest offering will probably fill the gap between the two films, and Bumblebee figures to be a big part of it. It is considered a sequel to Bumblebee, which implies that the continuity established in that and the original films will remain. They have avoided a total reboot for now, and all the films remain canon. It’s unclear if the announced animated Transformers film will connect or not.
As always, this movie will feature Autobots and Decepticons fighting on Earth. This time, though, other Transformers will join the battle. The Maximals, Predacons, and Terrorcons are set to join the battle in Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. It’s unclear if Megatron, the prominent leader of the Decepticons and the antagonist of all five of Michael Bay’s films, will appear or not. Right now, it’s also not clear who will be on whose side. The trailer introduces new characters, but the plot and the full conflict have not yet been revealed.
Who Is In The New Transformers Movie?
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – APRIL 27: (L-R) Dominique Fishback and Anthony Ramos attend a photocall in support of Paramount Pictures’ “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts” at CinemaCon on April 27, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images for Paramount Pictures)
The film will feature a mix of voice acting and live actors since the Transformers will be CGI, but they interact with real people in the real world. Voice actors include Pete Davidson, Michelle Yeoh, Peter Dinklage, Ron Perlman, Cristo Fernandez, Michaela Jae Rodriguez, John DiMaggio, Liza Koshy, and more. Peter Cullen will reprise his iconic role as Optimus Prime. Additionally, Anthony Ramos (Hamilton, In the Heights, A Star is Born) will star as Noah, the film’s main protagonist. Dominique Fishback (Swarm) and Luna Lauren Velez join him. The film has more CGI characters in the vast cohort of Transformers than people thus far.
With a few exceptions, the Transformers franchise has been marred by poor critical reception. The franchise has made a lot of movies, and fans love them. However, they’ve not been well-received by Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd, Metacritic, and other critical platforms. Despite that, the cast for the upcoming entry feels good about the movie.
In fact, Fishback revealed in an interview that a shaman blessed Transformers: Rise of the Beasts. She said, “We had a shaman come in and bless the film. The shaman came — and butterflies remind me of my grandmother, and [afterwards] a butterfly stayed in the middle of set for 15 minutes. And then I got the butterfly to walk on my finger. We have videos.” She also said that she’s excited for a fresh tale in this universe, saying, “We’ve never seen the perspective of a Brooklyn kid meeting Bumblebee or Optimus Prime. I was excited to bring our version, our authenticity, our swag, and cadence and the way we speak, and how we approach things [to the film].”
Anthony Ramos Knows Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA – APRIL 27: Anthony Ramos poses for photos, promoting the upcoming film “Transformers: Rise of the Beasts”, at the Paramount Pictures presentation during CinemaCon 2023, the official convention of the National Association of Theatre Owners, at Caesars Palace on April 27, 2023 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for CinemaCon)
Anthony Ramos is equally enthusiastic. “I was excited for the new characters to come to life and people to meet them, like Mirage and Rhinox and Cheetor and Optimus Primal,” he said in an interview. “And Scourge being this new villain who I think is the biggest villain we’ve ever seen in any of these movies and now we can actually talk about Unicron. For the fans, like the people that really love Transformers, this means a lot to them — they’ve been wanting to see these characters, especially Unicron, for years. And then on top of that, you know, you got two kids from the hood, you know what I’m saying? Running around, saving the world, traveling, going from Brooklyn to Peru.”
This doesn’t always translate to a good project, but the excitement from those involved in making the film does bode well. Ramos knows his Transformers, and Steven Caple Jr. is a capable director. June 9 will ultimately tell whether they’ve come together for a good movie or not. Either way, it appears poised to make quite a bit of money like its predecessors.
