Bumblebee, directed by Travis Knight, is the sixth movie in the polarizing Transformers franchise. As a rare fan of the movies, I understand the trepidation people may have, but to me the first three films were great movies and still holds a special place in my heart (the last two however were completely horrendous and unnecessary). Needless to say, having the chance to see not just a new entry to the series, but one that is a throwback to better days earlier than anyone else made me super excited. The film takes the franchise back to the basics and feels very much like a remake of Transformers 1 but without the Michael Bay-ism that had the fan base much maligned. Gone are the lens flares, gratuitous female body shots and incomprehensible metal clanking action scenes. The new movie smartly knows the concept of addition via subtraction by streamlining everything; reducing the number of Transformers characters to four and focusing the heart of the story solely on Hailee Steinfeld and Bumblebee.
The Last Knight almost made me walked out because the movie's over the top action scenes just became a chore to watch after a while. I am proud to report this new movie does not have the same chaotic shaky cam or quick cuts explosions, instead Knight favors visibility of the combatants in shots and allowing the audience to see what is going on. Yes, you can actually tell who is who this time! By far the best and most memorable thing in Bumblebee is that opening scene in Cybertron. It was fantastic and spectacularly faithful! Everything from the look of the planet to the robot designs and the choreography of the battle perfectly captures the original animated Transformers movie. Elongate that scene into a feature length film and that might just be the Transformers movie fans have been clamoring for. I also applaud Travis Knight for finally be able to make the robots feel like living breathing creatures, unlike the previous movies where they were a penny short from being soulless CGI with spotty voiceover.
While there is a lot to like about the film, I cannot go on without mentioning some major flaws. My number one problem is this feels all way too familiar. The story is once again a kid needs a car, the kid finds the car who reveals itself to be Bumblebee and kid gets entangled with an ancient alien robot war. Transformers 1 with Shia LaBeouf is still very good movie that still holds up today, so I do not understand the need to retread the plot without a big shakeup. Hailee Steinfeld who plays Charlie is always a delight to watch as I loved her work since True Grit, but she has already played this role of the destructive, misunderstood, angsty teenager in The Edge of Seventeen before. Do we really need to see her repeat the performance again? Seeing Bumblebee as a talkative, sarcastic badass in the beginning and then seeing him cower in the corner like a child because the script demanded it was strange and jarring. I wish they had kept Bumblebee's voice as we the audience have already seen the cute and mute Bumblebee from the previous movies. This was a massive missed opportunity that could have separated itself from the first movie just a little bit more.
Thankfully no racial stereotype robots exist in the movie (still love Revenge of the Fallen), some parts of Bumblebee felt like they were lifted straight out of a Disney Channel Original Movie, in particular any scenes involving John Cena who chews the scenery while pretending he is auditioning for The Pacifier 2. The cinematography does not help the Disney Channel Original Movie argument because outside of action scenes and some gorgeous exterior shots of the San Francisco Bay, the move looked rather pedestrian and flat. The music also was not at all memorable and the iconic Transformers theme from the Bay movies is sorely noticed and missed.
Overall, Bumblebee is a step-up from Age of Extinction and The Last Knight with its simplification of plot, characters and action scenes, but its attempt of retreading Transformers 1 makes the film predictable and by-the-number. It is a still fun and enjoyable movie outside of problems I mentioned, so I would definitely recommend this to most people, even if it is just for the Cybertron scene alone.
The Last Knight almost made me walked out because the movie's over the top action scenes just became a chore to watch after a while. I am proud to report this new movie does not have the same chaotic shaky cam or quick cuts explosions, instead Knight favors visibility of the combatants in shots and allowing the audience to see what is going on. Yes, you can actually tell who is who this time! By far the best and most memorable thing in Bumblebee is that opening scene in Cybertron. It was fantastic and spectacularly faithful! Everything from the look of the planet to the robot designs and the choreography of the battle perfectly captures the original animated Transformers movie. Elongate that scene into a feature length film and that might just be the Transformers movie fans have been clamoring for. I also applaud Travis Knight for finally be able to make the robots feel like living breathing creatures, unlike the previous movies where they were a penny short from being soulless CGI with spotty voiceover.
While there is a lot to like about the film, I cannot go on without mentioning some major flaws. My number one problem is this feels all way too familiar. The story is once again a kid needs a car, the kid finds the car who reveals itself to be Bumblebee and kid gets entangled with an ancient alien robot war. Transformers 1 with Shia LaBeouf is still very good movie that still holds up today, so I do not understand the need to retread the plot without a big shakeup. Hailee Steinfeld who plays Charlie is always a delight to watch as I loved her work since True Grit, but she has already played this role of the destructive, misunderstood, angsty teenager in The Edge of Seventeen before. Do we really need to see her repeat the performance again? Seeing Bumblebee as a talkative, sarcastic badass in the beginning and then seeing him cower in the corner like a child because the script demanded it was strange and jarring. I wish they had kept Bumblebee's voice as we the audience have already seen the cute and mute Bumblebee from the previous movies. This was a massive missed opportunity that could have separated itself from the first movie just a little bit more.
Thankfully no racial stereotype robots exist in the movie (still love Revenge of the Fallen), some parts of Bumblebee felt like they were lifted straight out of a Disney Channel Original Movie, in particular any scenes involving John Cena who chews the scenery while pretending he is auditioning for The Pacifier 2. The cinematography does not help the Disney Channel Original Movie argument because outside of action scenes and some gorgeous exterior shots of the San Francisco Bay, the move looked rather pedestrian and flat. The music also was not at all memorable and the iconic Transformers theme from the Bay movies is sorely noticed and missed.
Overall, Bumblebee is a step-up from Age of Extinction and The Last Knight with its simplification of plot, characters and action scenes, but its attempt of retreading Transformers 1 makes the film predictable and by-the-number. It is a still fun and enjoyable movie outside of problems I mentioned, so I would definitely recommend this to most people, even if it is just for the Cybertron scene alone.
Tell Your Friends