Review of Bumblebee (2018) by James R — 22 Dec 2018

I had a lot of fun with this one. A sort of prequel/soft reboot of the Transformer franchise (which has gotten quite a bit stale). Bumblebee is a smaller story focused on said protagonist set in the summer of 1987.

From Director Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings (2016)) we have a much more refreshing take on the Transformers property. Gone is Michael Bay (who directed all the previous films and just helped produce this one) and gone are some of the over the top action sequences instead Bumblee focuses on the story and characters which was a no show in the last 4 films (the first one is still ok).

Anywho, this film opens with Cybertron being lost and the Autobots lead by Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) holding off the evil Decepticons while his team blast off to try and find a new home to regroup.

Young Bumblebee (Dylan O'Brien) ends up in Earth, but after a fight with Blitzwing (David Sobolov) Bumblebee's memory cores are damaged and Blitzwing rips his voice modulator out. We then follow Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld) a young lady about to turn 18.

Charlie is a bit of a loner and has no friends. Since the death of her father she's holed herself away from everyone including her own immediate family. Needing a car badly she discovers Bumblebee (disguised as a VW Bug) and brings it home from the junkyard after the owner gives it to her for her birthday.

Charlie is a bit of a mechanical wiz and gets the car running which in turn Bumblebee transforms and reveals himself to Charlie. Unable to speak and having no memory Bumblebee and Charlie begin a friendship with each of them discovering who they truly are.

Meanwhile (last part here I swear sorry about the huge synopsis) two Decepticons Shatter (Angela Bassett) and Dropkick (Justin Theroux) arrive on Earth seeking Bumblebee. The two Decepticons trick the US military into assisting them which leads to some truly devastating results.

The movie also features John Cena as Agent Burns and Jorge Lendeborg Jr. as Charlie's new found friend Memo. So overall, solid film. It has a perfect blend of action, drama and some comedy. The movie is a bit slower paced compared to the previous five films because it doesn't feature as much action (which is a good thing here trust me) and instead when action does happen it works well in the amount the film presents to the viewer.

Hailee Steinfeld is fantastic as well. She's incredibly likeable and she brings a lot of emotion to her role and it's believable. The 80's setting was also great too here. We get some Generation 1 Transformer references and the mix of the setting and music from the 80's is a real treat.

My two gripes is probably John Cena as Agent Burns didn't do anything for me. He's kinda the reminder of Michael Bay Transformers stuff to me where he's just a bit too over the top and I didn't understand his motivation.

He's such a neutral character and could have been left out completely. Also I will say the friendship of Memo and Charlie is ok, but it's the start of a romance and truthfully it sort of works, but takes away from the main plot, although it doesn't really happen too much.

Other than that I would say that anyone who is on the fence on these movies because you're either burned out from the previous films, or so I would say definitely give this one a look!