Bumblebee

Ten Second Review: A surprisingly good addition to the Transformers series with Steinfeld being a refreshing human hero in what would appear a stale format.

The newest transformers film sees the story refocus around it’s most popular Autobot (although maybe Bumblebee and Optimus Prime share that position). It also sees Hailee Steinfeld come in to play Bumblebee’s first human contact.

With Bumblebee being ordered by Optimus Prime to flee their home planet and set up a base for their rebellion on Earth, we are catapulted back before the first film in the franchise. He arrives in a 1987 version of Earth complete with an orgy of evidence that it is indeed the 80s. From the music to the tech to the outfits, the film has clearly studied up on what Urban Outfitters tells us the 80s looked like. After a less than conspicuous landing, that just so happened to interupt an army training exercise, Bumblebee is hiding as a yellow VW Beetle. Our new protagonist, Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld), finds him in the corner of a junkyard and manages to restart him but the war he was fleeing is coming to find him. When the two Decepticons arrive they will scour the globe (convieniently all loccted in America) to find Bumblebee and make sure his rebeliion ends.

Call me crazy but I actually really enjoyed Bumblebee. After a littany of almost unwatchable Transformers films, this felt like a fresh take on a bloated and boring franchise. Don’t get me wrong, it’s two teams of robots beating each other up, but it feels like a better story and a better made film. The limiting of the narrative to a very specific story that it didn’t stray from, the ignoring of this immense mythos that stands behind it, and the sweet tone of the comedy really made for an enjoyable watch.

While this focus certainly helped the film, I think its charm comes from its actors. Hailee Steinfeld plays a very genuine young heroine and is accompanied by an endearing sidekick in Jorge Lendeborg jr. They bounce off each other nicely and are very enjoyable to watch. John Cena leans into the campy over-comedic army-guy role well and provides a levity that fits well in the film. To be honest John Cena feels like a very honest fit for the film. He’s almost like a Mark Wahlberg who’s not pretending to be a serious actor and instead has understood that he is strong in the light comedy relief role so sticks to it. 

Maybe the bar was super low because of the recent Transformers instalments, maybe I was really in the mood for a mindless action film or maybe it was genuinely a good film. Whatever the reason, I think Bumblebee is a great watch for almost all the family. It won’t challenge you but it’s a good enough ride that you won’t be unhappy while watching it.