Bumblebee – 5 out of 5
I’m just going to throw this out there…the Transformers movies are not good. I will admit that, despite its major problems, the first film does have some cool elements to it and it is neat to see the cartoon characters get the live-action treatment. Hell, I’ll even admit that some of the 4th film is okay but the 2nd and 3rdfilms are awful and due to Michael Bay’s track record of racist stereotypes, oversexualized women in the stories, and frat boy-esque humor it really made the franchise so hard to watch that I never bothered to check out The Last Knight…or did I? These films are such a mess that it’s hard to tell one from the other and I may have seen it and only remember it as the earlier films since Bay never seemed to learn his lesson when making the features. When the spinoff/reboot Bumblebee was announced I wasn’t too invested. Since the films were so bad I had my doubts that one focusing entirely on one Transformer could be any good but after the initial reviews came out and were giving it high praise I changed my mind. So, I sat down and checked out Bumblebee and, I can’t believe it, but this is an amazing Transformers film!
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| "For the last time, Bumblebee, I'm not buying you beer. We are Autobots and not bound by the laws of man. You can buy the booze yourself." |
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| The Decepticons saw him and he's mad. |
On the Transformers planet of Cybertron, a civil war is being fought by the Autobots and the Decepticons. With the war on the verge of being lost, Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen), leader of the Autobots, sends B-127 (voiced by Dylan O’Brien) to Earth as a scout. On Earth, the small Transformer is attacked by Colonel Jack Burns (John Cena) and is left without a voice by a Decepticon who followed. Attempting to hide, B-127 takes the form of a Volkswagen Beetle and is purchased by a young woman named Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld). As Charlie learns the secret of the Beetle and renames the Transformer Bumblebee, two Decepticons; Shatter (Angela Bassett) and Dropkick (Justin Theroux) arrive on Earth and lie to a secret government organization called Sector 7 in order to use their satellites to inform their cohorts on Cybertron that the Autobots plan on fleeing to Earth. Now it’s up to Charlie and Bumblebee to stop them and make sure the Autobots arrived safely.
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| "This Sunday at King of the Ring, Cena, I'm taking you down in our cage match!" |
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| So, the cure to the sexism in fandom is cartoon accurate Transformers? |
Since no fandom is free from toxic male fans, Bumblebee came out to overaggressive dudes upset that the film was going to have a female lead—because in their fragile minds, only strong men with penises have what it takes to hang with fictional robot aliens. However, they all suddenly changed their minds when the one trailer was released and showed that the transformers would all have designs that look nearly identical to the old cartoon series. Suddenly that’s all that mattered to them. While I am hesitant to agree with the shittier parts of any fandom, I am with them on how cool it was seeing the Transformers look like this; however, the design of the robots in disguise was never the real issue I had with the films. The real issue I had I already outlined at the beginning so fixing these mistakes were far more important than making sure Soundwave looks like the old toy I had. Bumblebee accomplished this element and basically took everything that is wrong with the junk Bay made and did the exact opposite and that’s honestly what makes this film better than all the combined Bay features and even went beyond that.
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| I admire Soundwave's commitment to obsolete media but how did he find out about cassettes on Cybertron? |
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| The cast has Pamela Adlon in it so it's a win. She was Bobby Hill, for crying out loud! |
The humor in this one has a quality that I’m hesitant to call wholesome because that might make it sound cheesy but this film is never going for the low hanging fruit like Bay’s films—so you don’t have to see testicles on a Transformer. The performances are absolutely terrific and Hailee Steinfeld makes an infinitely more appealing lead star than what we’ve seen in the past. She’s more dynamic, interesting and isn’t constantly screaming in a stuttering cadence—nor is she seen as a sexual object exclusively but rather as a person. The action is exciting and easy to digest. Sure, the action was cool in the other films but it was really hard to figure out what was happening some times. Finally, the film actually has heart to it and isn’t just a two hour long diesel fueled male fantasy. The journey of Charlie and Bumblebee is sweet, humorous and fun. Charlie even has a love interest in the form of Memo (played by Jorge Lendeborg Jr.) and their relationship is cute and amusing and never feels gross like that statutory rape-y element in Age of Extinction.
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| Awkward courtship...the only courtship I know. |
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| Two Transformers fighting in a rock 'em, sock 'em way. |
I don’t want to exclusively compare what director Travis Knight helmed to what Bay did with the Transformers but it is hard not to because the tones of these properties are night and day. That being said, Bumblebee exists terrifically on its own and whether or not this is the restart to the franchise (reports about it being an official reboot have been spotty at best from what I’ve found) then it is a great start because this movie hits something that the property desperately needed to be and that is fun. From start to finish the film is just a blast and is exactly what a summer, big budget blockbuster needs to be. The characters are interesting, the action is of the edge-of-your-seat variety, the special effects are great and it balances heart and humor seamlessly.
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| Trading Michael Bay for Travis Knight as director means we get hugs, not Transformer balls and racism. UPGRADE! |
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| The film even had a female antagonist. Boy, the shitty fanboys must have been really conflicted with this one. |
I watched Transformers as a kid and loved the toys but it was one of those properties that I grew out of and had little desire to remain attached to. I will admit to enjoying the first film (well, every scene without a human in it, anyway) because it was cool to see technology advanced enough to make believable Transformers on screen but as the series progressed the harder they became to watch. Bumblebee was a pleasant surprised and a vast improvement on how the other films were presented. It was done so well and was so entertaining that it actually makes me excited to see what comes next…hopefully a future in the franchise that is continuing to be minus a Michael Bay.
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