Movie BUMBLEBEE Review: The Best Part Of Transformers In Ten Years - Photo credit: twitter.com, Edition by Amber255 via Bitlanders.com
Eleven years ago, after moving the story of Transformers to the big cinema screens and creating four more of its sequences, Michael Bay, the director having a fetish for pyrotechnic and explosion, retired from the Transformers franchise. His place was taken by talented two Oscar-nominated animator Travis Knight. The most prominent his work is the film The Cube and the Miracle Sword that was created in 2016. This film fascinated the viewers and became the most bright work in his career.
Yes, the great transformer is still listed in the plans of producers, and the new screenwriter was clearly inspired by previous films of the series, but overall the result is amazing. It is naturally stunning because people did not suspect that Transformers could be much more humane, kinder, better.
Bumblebee rises from what was left behind of the previous films and gives us a story with heart. - Alejandro Turdo, EscribiendoCine
Credit: rottentomatoes.com
I do not know if the film will collect a lot of money because there is not a trace left of its former scope and epicness, but clever Travis Knight never tried to amaze the public with yet another demonstration of military capacities. The author has made a bet on things about the existence of which Michael Bay did not suspect even. Consider this as a generous compliment.
The new film, dedicated to the brightest of the Transformers series, turned out to be a breath of fresh air in this polluted universe.
BUMBLEBEE, Official Trailer - Photo credit: Paramount via Youtube.com
The Short Story Of The Movie
The film starts with an uprising on Cybertron, the home planet of Transformers. The Decepticons interrupted almost all the Autobots. The leader of the latter, Optimus Prime, sends his faithful assistant Bumblebee to Earth to prepare a base for the arrival of his comrades.
Alas, enemies sit on the tail of the yellow robot. In a hard fight, he loses his voice module and almost dies, but at the last moment turned into an old Volkswagen Beetle. That’s how the girl Charlie, who really needs a car, finds him in a car dump. Bumblebee and his new mistress quickly become attached to each other, but Decepticons follow the traces of the Autobot. So Charlie and the transformer, whom she affectionately calls Bee, will have to deal not only with insidious robots but also with the local military, whose attention will surely attract the fights of techno aliens.
Having become a friend, Bumblebee and Charles go into an adventure that can lead to the fate of all humanity.
Movie BUMBLEBEE Review - imdb.com
The Content Of The Movie
The Transformers franchise, which has been developing for over ten years, came to the edge of the abyss a year ago with the fifth film directed by Michael Bay. Not only was the film bad in its construction, but it was also still a financial loss, so Paramount decided to reload this story. And the first new franchise project can be a solo film BUMBLEBEE. Of course, unofficially, because this film does not have much in common with already created films.
Personally, I am not a big Transformers fan since childhood, but I liked the animated film of 1986. Somehow I was very happy curious when the first part of the full-length feature film Transformers appeared in 2007. The film was so unrealistic that I went after the review and bought a ticket for the next session. I'm sorry I can't say the same about other movies that were either medium or very bad.
Transformer film series - twitter.com
It is not just special effects and explosions that are important to me, even when looking at films like Transformers. I still have to be fascinated by the stories that should involve in the world that is displayed. And the predecessor I mentioned could boast having it all. There was a bit of everything: a smooth storyline, good humor, great action, quality technical side, and talented actors. Other franchise films offered only limitless chaos.
That's why I was very skeptical when I went to watch BUMBLEBEE after the last two Transformer film series. The pessimistic attitude of the film has also been furthered by a very outrageous film advertising campaign that has not even tried to sell its product, as was the case in the past. Just from the side, it seemed that the studio was completely afraid of this film because it is clear that the era of Transformers series had passed with a financial fiasco of the fifth installment.
And, to my great surprise, BUMBLEBEE is not only a wonderful adventure movie, but it is also the second best-performing Transformer movie that can boldly align even with the animation project that appeared in 1986. Michael Bay should simply be ashamed of the fact that viewers may miss this high-quality project because of the bad reputation of his latest films.
And I call it a quality film because it is a warm, smooth, and interesting story, where the unconditional friendship between the alien and the human becomes the most important.
Transformers franchise BUMBLEBEE - photo credit
It reminds something? Yes, it recalls the cult 1982 adventure movie Alien, which, by his presentation, is very related to this director's Travis Knight project. But it shouldn't be surprising, because one of the film's producers is Steven Spielberg himself, whom we have to thank for laying the foundations for contemporary popular culture.
This film is also a great proof that the era of the 80s is reborn in cinema, music, and fashion. Therefore, as with some other movies, we can also dive into those nostalgic times when people didn't care about computers, mobile, or dry social networking, but were important friends, action levels, educating hobbies, and live communication. I'm not saying that this is not the case now, but most people are just drowned in virtual space and don't notice what's going on around them.
Talking about the storyline, it is the story of a teenager who cannot find herself and an alien who is hiding from others. This story is the key engine of the movie with two wars going on in the background: one in the home of Bumblebee on Cybertron, and the other on Earth, which the intimidating Decepticons are attacking.
Movie of Travis Knight BUMBLEBEE - Photo credit: youtube.com
So far, I can't believe that we've finally seen the war that was so often spoken by Optimus Prime in the previous series. I cannot disclose more details because it would be unfair to you. I'll just say that here we finally get answers to some very important questions that we asked ourselves when we were watching the first movie.
We can't complain about the action either. Here it is mobile enough and fully involving the viewers in the scenes shown. Episodes of battles are good, catches keep in tension, fires and explosions add to the body the required charm. In addition, there are a number of humor scenes for which we can also thank the scriptwriters and the director for deliberately inserting them between the continuous. And all that is because we could take a moment off from the hardness spreading of the screen.
A soft restart of the franchise got rid of planetary catastrophes, pretentious speeches, and American flags, flying in the background of the propaganda of militarism. And instead of giant robots, consisting of a million flickering parts, here are canonical square-round transformers.
BUMBLEBEE - the first film of the series, in which the narration, visuality, and some poetry inherent in the best examples of adventure (and not only) cinema, fitted together almost perfectly.
A film about transformers BUMBLEBEE - Photo credit: plus.google.com
The Main Heroes Of The Movie
There are the main characters in the film. The first is transformer Bumblebee, who is fascinating viewers by his brilliant performance even more than in any other Michael Bay's directed film. The second is seventeen-year-old Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld), who at first glance is very similar to a refugee robot. And the third is one of the main tape's antagonists (if it is possible to name so), Agent Burns (John Cena). He has received evidence to catch Bumblebee.
Each of them is dealing with its trusted functions in the best way. Also, all these characters are revealed from the unprecedented perspectives in the course of the film, so watching their actions is even more enjoyable. And most importantly, they are not idiots, as in the last two Transformer films.
The most part of the film is devoted to personal Charlie's problems, to her relationship with the new mechanical comrade and family. And this is good. In the tape, there was a place for dynamic battles, many chases, and frightening shootings, but the main focus of the film still is a touching and spiritual friendship between the alien robot and human.
Transformers franchise BUMBLEBEE - Photo credit: fuckingcinephiles.blogspot.com
She is a sweet, strong, but vulnerable heroine, who we sincerely sympathize. The creators managed to keep a balance in her image between fashionable feminism and the classic lady in trouble.
Charlie is not a helpless ballast in the battles of Autobots. She is a talented mechanic and makes her own contribution to the fight against the Decepticons. At the same time, she is an ordinary girl who cannot seriously oppose either giant robots or simple military men, so the desire to protect her makes Bumblebee fight even more fiercely.
The transformer itself came out charming. Animators have tried their best: on the mechanical face of a silent robot, all the emotions are read. Bumblebee is balancing between a ridiculous, naive child who was lost very far from home, a brave warrior devoted to his work, and a cold-blooded killing machine.
This explosive cocktail can hardly leave you indifferent. The heroes of the picture make you fall in love with them. Their interaction is sparkling with such chemistry that many of the screen duos embodied by live actors we believe less than the friendship of the heroine Steinfield with the creation of computer graphics.
Transformers series - Sci-fi movie BUMBLEBEE - Photo credit: games.mail.ru
The Technical Side Of The Movie
Finally, the Transformer film does not contain the special effects of the cardboard that we watched for ten years. I'm not saying they were bad, but with each new part, they haven't changed. There is another matter here. The 3D space also suited this film, so I cannot complain about the rich-looking imagery.
The music is dynamic and gives you a very funny feeling in the cinema. All about musical works like A-HA Take On Me, The Smiths Girlfriend in a Coma, Sam Cooke Unchained Melody, Sammy Hagar I Can't Drive 55, and more. After the review, I even wanted to buy the official soundtrack for this movie, because it is really driving me.
While reading the movie BUMBLEBEE review, check QUERLO CHAT: What kind of movies do you like?
The work of the camera, for which Enrique Chedak, formerly working on Flaming Horizon, 127 Hours, 28 weeks later, and other famous movies, was also the source of good emotions. The operator has made every effort to create all the action scenes so that we, spectators, could feel as if we were in the field.
The sound and image are mounted very precisely. None of these aspects of the technical side of the film was disappointing.
BUMBLEBEE: Director Travis Knight Interview - Video credit: ThinkHeroPro via Youtube.com
The Collective Work Of Actors
Talented actress and singer Hailee Steinfeld, Oscar nominee for a wonderful performance in the True Grit, has been dealing with her role just fine. With all the respect to other actors, this girl performed her role better trying to tame Bumblebee. Actress perfectly got into the role of a prickly but kind girl who recently buried her beloved father.
The biggest focus in the second rate was on John Cen, who had to play cool agent Burns. I said, he had to play? Well, John is by nature solid, it can be said that he played himself in the film. And that was really great for him.
Other actors who contributed more or less to this film were Dylan O'Brien, who recorded the main transformer of this film, Bumblebee, Peter Cullen, who has lent his voice to Optimus Prime again, John Ortiz, in the role of Dr. Powell, and Jorge Lendeborg Jr. who embodied Memo. Neat and good acting and great Dylan's work on recording Bumblebee.
Movie BUMBLEBEE - Photo credit: twitter.com
On The Final note
In summary, the film left me with a very good impression. In my opinion, this is the best Transformer film that has appeared in ten years, and one of the best 2018 fantastic film projects that allow us to experience a full range of nostalgic entertainment in the cinema. An entertainment, which Hollywood explosions guru Michael Bay didn't want to give us after the first part. I hope that if this franchise is continued it will be created without him, otherwise, we will be welcomed by another Age of extinction.
Bumblebee is an incredibly bright moment in the Transformer franchise, which was almost killed a year ago by Michael Bay. Not only does this band look like the beginning of all the history presented earlier, but also a film project that, thanks to its beautifully composed storyline, heroes, showcasing, and eye-catching special effects, creates the hottest and nostalgic emotions of the past.
BUMBLEBEE team at the premiere - Photo credit: imdb.com
Certainly, there will be intellectuals who say that Transformers should not have children's tears, but these gentlemen do not understand what the difference is between children's tears and normal human feelings: the pain of loss, the bitterness of loneliness, the new hope.
It will give you a lot of sincere emotions and do it honestly - without bad jokes and cheap squeezing of tears after all, humor and drama are not presented here for the show. Of course, the main storyline quest comes down to Transformers' favorite activities, and the story could be a little more inventive. So, it's even more surprising what Knight did with the material available. The man made a miracle, no more and no less.
Travis Knight has delivered us an amazing Bumblebee movie where we finally understand the story and see a true bond between a human and machine.
Credit: imdb.com
It is a comfortable exciting story about teenagers-outsiders and a friendly robot makes you smile, laugh, and worry exactly where it should be. It will suit both fans of the series, who will receive a careful prequel to the original films, as well as new viewers. Perhaps these are the very Transformers that we have been waiting for and deserved.
My rating: 9.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 93% ( of 100)
Critics average: 7.9/10
IMDb: 7.3/10
Enjoy watching!
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