What happens when a good director takes over a cash-grabbing behemoth of a franchise with awful films? Well, the result should be a really good movie, and that's exactly what we get here. Here's my review for Bumblebee (2018):
12 years ago the first big budget Transformers movie was released, starring Shia LaBeouf, a scantily clad Megan Fox, and a whole lot of robots fighting robots. The movie as a whole was an excuse to sell toys and give Michael Bay a platform to live out his fever dream of bombs and boobs. Honestly, the first movie wasn't terrible, but it did launch a franchise that consistently delivered on awful scripts, aimless storytelling, bad acting from good actors (mostly), poorly edited CGI-riddled action scenes, and Michael Bay's attempt at "humor". Most importantly though, the franchise made a shit ton of money at the box office. So if aiming for the wallets was their goal, then they greatly succeeded, but the cost of all that was, well, making decent and memorable movies. Albeit, some of them were memorable, just for the wrong reasons. In 2018, the franchise decided to reboot itself with Bumblebee, the first Transformers movie without Michael Bay directing. Bumblebee was decidedly one of the fan favorites of the franchise, so it made sense to make a movie centering around the character. Travis Knight, who directed the brilliant Kubo and the Two Strings (2015), makes his live-action directorial debut. Thus the movie was already set up for success, with Bay taking a backseat and Knight in the director's chair. However, did it succeed? The answer is a resounding yes, making it by far the best movie in the franchise. Knight delivers not only a decent movie (which really shouldn't have been hard to do in the first place), but he injects key elements that were missing from the previous movies: heart, character, personality, well-written humor, and, oh yeah, an engaging story. It makes me wonder what would have happened if they had picked this kind of director over a decade ago, but then again, we have never gotten to this point and we would have never gotten this surprisingly wonderful film. To begin, the main cast is charming and captivating. Hailee Steinfeld, who is an amazing actress to begin with, was the perfect choice as the heroine Charlie Watson. I would argue that she is singlehandedly the best thing about the movie. She's so damn likable and when she emotes, you really feel for her. Every time there was a touching scene between her and Bumblebee (which there are plenty of), I could feel myself getting choked up, which I would never expect to do for a Transformers movie. She's insanely well-fleshed out and Steinfeld is able to give so much depth and dimension to her character. Jorge Lendeborg Jr. is adorable as Memo, serving as a quasi love interest for Charlie and delivering a lot of the humorous moments in the film. He's never annoying or over the top about anything and provides to be a great sidekick to Charlie and Bumblebee. John Cena rounds up the cast as Jack Burns, an agent of Sector 7 who's tasked with tracking down Bumblebee while forming an uneasy alliance with the Decepticons. If I had to make any gripes about the film, it's that there wasn't nearly enough John Cena. When he's on screen, he's great, but there's not enough of him and his character doesn't get as much development as the others as a result. The rest of the supporting cast also do fine as well, but it's Charlie's brother Otis, portrayed by Jason Drucker, who does especially great when he gets to steal the couple of scenes where he's front and center. Michael Bay could never get me to care about the characters, but Knight has not only made me care about the characters, but he's made me feel for the characters and is able to turn the movie into a beautifully character-driven piece of cinema. Bumblebee, seen as the pluckiest of all the Autobots, is given so much personality and many humanistic traits that we can relate to him in a way that we hadn't been able to in previous movies, giving us even more reason to root for him. Charlie's tragic backstory allows for the audience to connect and relate with her as she struggles to come to terms with the death of her father. She's able to fill that void with Bumblebee, who is lost and scared on a planet he doesn't know at all, and the two are able to connect with each other as they both try to find themselves through conflict and loss. It's such a lovely friendship that will have you laughing and, yes, crying, harkening back to the classic robot-human friendship of The Iron Giant. Side note: it's great to see Charlie's parents (Pamela Adlon and Stephen Schneider) in action, and when they're on screen they don't ever overstay their welcome and are pleasant enough. They have their humorous moments, but it's never irritating or irksome, and they show they truly care for Charlie and try their best. In the previous Transformers films, the action was the focal point, but the biggest problem was you couldn't see what was going on half the time (probably more than that). In Bumblebee, there are plenty of robot fighting robot scenes, but the biggest difference is that you can actually see what's happening. The editing is clean and spotless, allowing the action scenes to be slick and cool and enjoyable. It's not one tiring shaky fight scene after another. They're spaced out, allowing the audience to breath and re-occupy themselves in the story unfolding between Bumblebee and Charlie, which is honestly the best part of the whole film. The special effects are dazzling and never feel cheap or overtly fake. The design of the Autobots and the Decepticons look ultra polished and sleek, especially the new Decepticons Shatter and Dropkick. The excellent first five minutes on Cybertron includes some of the best CGI of the entire franchise. The music in this movie was a perfect soundtrack of the times: a plethora of sweet 80's tunes that will make any old Transformers fanboy (or anyone for that matter) nostalgic. There's even a small wink of brilliant meta humor in one of the song choices. Dario Marianelli's score soars and man, when there's a sentimental Charlie-Bumblebee scene, those strings reeeeally tug at those heartstrings. The humor is well executed and there were many a time where I genuinely laughed at a joke, something I've never done before in a Transformers film. There's a sense of wonder and fun that was clearly absent from the previous Transformers movies, and Bumblebee delivers on both of those. Sure, there were some teenage angsty scenes that were maybe a little unnecessary, but aside from that and the unfair absence of John Cena, I enjoyed this movie much more than I could've imagined. If this is what I should expect from future installments, then please let Travis Knight make more Transformers movies. Please. Rating: 9.5/10
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AuthorBuster Bigelow: 30 year old lover of movies, cinema, and music. Whether you agree or disagree with my reviews, I'd love to hear what you think in the comments! Archives
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