Bumblebee (Chilly Tee aka Travis Knight)

[Henry Gale]

IMDb / Wiki

[Irish]

love the poll options. youtube link is inspired.

[Henry Gale]

love the poll options. youtube link is inspired.

I felt I had to honour the franchise and its storied history!

But okay, this movie, it's pretty good! Maybe not in a way that if it were the first of these Transformers movie to be made that it would've changed the world (or, at least major studios' view of the marketplace) that Bay's 2007 movie actually did for better or worse (but definitely worse), and maybe it wouldn't have even done very well, but in knowing the past eleven years of the same sort of abrasive, bloated, hollow, though ultimately still undeniably technically excellent attempts at telling stories this world, Bumblebee comes in stark contrast to all that to feel like a unique breath of fresh air in just telling a simple human story while only employing the action fireworks and kitschy mythology when it needs to instead of the other way around. Despite its simplicity, it feels like a major step forward for these movies despite how much it reaches back for inspiration in so many other "kid discovers and befriends an alien creature / machine" movies that came before it or even before this millennium.

I guess when you have a director like Bay you get a certain type of adolescent naivety and urge of instant gratification and objectification of every and all things that you can simply chalk up to that of delving into his (aggressively straight, often quite toxic) male psyche, but that still had resonance with kids and teenagers because honestly when you're young and there's a Transformers movie, what choice do you have, or even know to care to? But the fact that this is the first of these stories to ever make a true commitment to a female protagonist while also being written by a woman (Christina Hodson, with Steinfeld's Edge of Seventeen writer/director Kelly Fremon Craig doing script work too, though in that weird WGA ruling space where she's credited on recent posters' credits but not in the actual movie's end titles) definitely helps establish a very different sort of wide-eyed teenage emotion that has a sweeter energy to it, but beyond that, Travis Knight just knows how to boil what needs to matter in terms of very precise (if almost transparently calculated) character development and storytelling regardless of the gender and worldview of any character. Sure, his design of action and use of visual geography aren't as gripping or inventive as what Bay can do in his sleep, but Knight's work has more power to it simply because he finds a way to easily make you connected to the characters at the center of it all. It's simultaneously the most kid-friendly and mature of these movies by a mile.

So the simple question is if you should see this, especially now, at a time of year when in the blockbuster space you have something that's as much of an inventive, transgressive delight as Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse and in the arthouse / awards season world you have maybe the best film of the year in If Beale Street Could Talk finally opening, and assuming it's not playing near you, Roma is waiting for you at home. The answer is probably not, especially if you didn't find much to like in any of the previous films this tangentially connects to. But if, like me, you find a surreal pleasure in watching Bay's bravura buffets of bafflement, then you likely already have a curiosity about this and enjoy it. Though I can say that if you don't have that specific interest, you'll still find yourself watching the best Transformers movie to date, as much as that isn't necessarily a high bar. But hopefully this can help that bar to only be raised higher, since they'll likely keep making these when our children's children have children.

[Stay Puft]

I won't lie... I thought it was sort of mediocre while I was watching it but three days later I think I love it and I want to watch it again.

[Morris Schæffer]

I won't lie... I thought it was sort of mediocre while I was watching it but three days later I think I love it and I want to watch it again.

I wish that would ever happen to me. Then perhaps I could love, rather than merely like, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse by the time Christmas rolls along.

[Mal]

Touches of E.T., Harry and the Hendersons, and other 80s classics you'll recognize. Steinfeld brings a lot of humanity to the film - she has a great ease onscreen as Charlie, and her playing off Bumblebee is delightful. Good casting all around. The military stuff is a little dry- John Cena is a bit stilted and some of the dialogue is hammy- but I think even the action bot moments are almost done better here than other Transformers films. Worth seeing in a theater.

[Peng]

First time back in Transformers world after suffering through Revenge of the Fallen and swearing Bay’s playground off altogether (me having fever at the time and too tired to turn it off may contribute to my feeling of it being one of the worst films I have ever watched, but I digress). First scene of robot mayhem and convolutedly nonsensical myth almost triggers a Pavlovian repulsion, but Travis Knight’s fluid clarity in his direction and action soon assures confidence. I’m reminded of when Brad Bird did his first live-action film with Ghost Protocol and brings the feeling of exhilaration from animation background with him.

Bumblebee’s extremely generic script doesn’t afford Knight the same platform to consistently show off his skill as Bird, but this still remarkable all the same how he finally instills into this word genuine thrills and even some sense of wonder; even a simple scene of an injured robot stumbling into the muddy riverbank and fall against the water’s edge feels so casually impressive in its seamlessness. Also, isn’t it weird how more exciting the actions scenes are when we have basic spatial coherence, or how (slightly) more involving the derivative story beats become when we have a legitimate actor with real star charisma like Hailee Steinfeld as the lead? 6.5/10

[Skitch]

I love Transformers. I was the perfect age when the mania hit in the 80s, I've always loved everything around them. I love Travis Knights other films. He does amazing work.

That said, its disappointing that arguably the best made Transformers film only get about a 3 star score from me. All the things I hate about prequels are here. We have to spend half the movie re-explaining Transformers to the human characters, re-establish that humans and robots can relate, re-establish who's good and who's bad (complete with misinterpretation of whos who so good guys are treated awful)...it would be a homerun if it was the first film. This should have been the first film. Plus, we know where it's going to end. 5 movies (12+ screen hours) in...I think there couldve been a faster way to move it along.

I know this is more a fault of the concept of prequels in general and not Knights fault per se. Maybe I'll be more favorable in the future.

[Morris Schæffer]

Agreed. Plus, I'm not even sure this has some of the best action of the franchise. For sure, Bay's movies have some incoherent, super silly, overwrought and entirely unengaging action scenes, but between his 5 movies and this one, I'd still say there are a few in those movies which are more creative, epic and thrilling than in Bumblebee. Perhaps it's no longer possible for me to be awed by Transformers doing their thing, or maybe it's because the action in Bumblebee is smaller scale that I found it merely 'good enough'. Sure, it's a new start and will probably built to something huuuge in the next movies, but again I can think of a few set pieces in Bay's movies which thrilled me more on a purely eye candy level. I guess the 2018 movie has more genuine heart and emotion so that counts for something too.

[Dukefrukem]

I'm the first nay? This was barely better than the worst Bay Transformers. Cena's lines felt forced. Nothing is organic. Best part was the intro with Cybertron. The rest is junk. At least the transformers looked like transformers instead of gray heaps of metal this time through.

[megladon8]

This was surprisingly fantastic. Like, really really really good.