I’m sure not very many people thought I’d make this ranking of the Transformers movies public because of my well documented disdain for them. Not only do most of the movies in this franchise reek of old-era CGI and burnt color correction, but they offer little intelligence to back it up. They’re popcorn movies, but only if the popcorn is salted beyond repair and comes with a 16 oz Monster Energy drink.
But perhaps my sentiment has changed just a bit since Michael Bay decided to take a step back and returned to making movies with any sort of redeeming quality. Travis Knight and Steven Caple Jr. – directors of Bumblebee and Rise of the Beasts, respectively – have instilled a sense of 80s and 90s nostalgia that pairs well with the titular toys that were conceived of around this time.
Sure, there’s still the mindless showdowns between sentient cars that don’t feel any less stale since they first appeared in 2007, and the human characters have only grown marginally more impactful in terms of might and capabilities, but the franchise has shed some of the atrocious technical elements that made them so tedious to get through. Not to mention that they’ve also managed to cut the runtimes significantly in the last two entries as well.
I don’t want to spoil my list too much before revealing it, but it’s nice to see the Transformers franchise take themselves seriously. They spent longer than two minutes finding the right cast, and they’ve lowered the stakes ever so slightly to feel resonant. I’m not sure if this franchise will ever be good, but at least it’s less bad.
Here’s how I’m thinking I’d rank the Transformers films:
7. Transformers: The Last Knight (2017)
6. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)
5. Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)
4. Transformers (2007)
3. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023)
2. Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014)
1. Bumblebee (2018)
READ MORE: Transformers, Michael Bay, Steven Caple Jr.
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