Bumblebee

This movie actually makes me a little bit angry. This is the 6th Transformer movie in a long line of unmistakable dumpster fire films (minus the first one that gets a weird special pass with most people, myself included) and the conventional wisdom would say that this movie was going to be terrible. In fact, most people didn't see this movie because apparently fool me once Shame on me, Fool me 5 times shame on you Michael Bay. But then I watch this movie on a plane, not giving it any money that I assumed it didn't deserve, and it turns out being a heart felt entertaining film.

Bumblebee is a prequel to the previous Transformers films and shows the journey taken by the second most iconic autobot in the series, Bumblebee as he goes to Earth and awaits the arrival of his comrades. While there, he loses his memory, meets a young girl (played by Hailee Steinfeld in San Francisco, and essentially you have a little bit of a girl and her robot story, very reminiscent of the Iron Giant.

,And dammit, this movie charmed the pants off me.

I literally told a friend a few days ago that I saw this movie and really enjoyed it and he did not believe me. I don't think people saw this movie because it was a Transformers movie and those have a history of being terrible. But this one surprised the hell out of me.

The movie has a unique start because it starts on Cybertron and it focuses on the actual war between Autobots and the Decepticon. Now I've heard that this is kind of what people were looking for in a Transformers movie, centered on the robots more, but I just saw this as a big CGI explosion fest (though not a very big one because this movie was only produced by Michael Bay this time). If you watched the first five minutes, you'd probably think we're right back on the same track we were with the other films.

But then they get to Earth and we get some characters we really enjoy the crap out of.

First and foremost, Hailee Steinfeld's character Charlie is just a really compelling character. She's smart but she's an outcast. She's got a loving family, but she's still dealing with a tragedy. And the relationship between her and Bumblebee is actually really amazing for a movie about talking robots that had Nazi's and King Arthur in the last film.

Charlie is surrounded by a good supporting cast in her family and her new friend Memo (played by Jorge Lendeborg Jr.) And this is what sets this movie apart from the Shia La Beouf films or the Mark Wahlberg films. While I think there are moments from the La Beouf films, the issue isn't that these movies focus on the humans and not the robots, it's that they used to focus on unrealistic, and more importantly unrelateable humans.

Sam Witwicky started as a relateable loser just trying to get the girl and gets brought on an intergalactic cosmic adventure. But eventually he becomes the chosen one, people start asking why Megan Fox stays with him, and he becomes less and less relateable.

And Cade Yeager... I mean... c'mon his name is the first indication.

But not only is his name ridiculous, not only does he end up being an action hero, far past our expectations trying to stay on par with the transformers, he's also an Inventor from Texas with a Boston accent that looks like Mark Wahlberg... c'mon.

I'm not saying all protagonists need to be teenage girls, but in a franchise where you have to connect human characters with intergalactic robot aliens that can transform into cars and shoot lasers from their hands, you have to play to each ones strengths.

This movie does that far better than any of the previous films by a long shot. But on top of that, it reduced the amount of Transformers on screen so when one of them does something cool, it's not reduced by another CGI blob getting their shot at doing something cool. Not counting the opening scene, there are probably about 3 or 4 Transformers in this entire film and that is a perfect amount. It heightens the amount we care about Bumblebee and gives him time to shine, while at the same time heightening the impact of the Decepticon looking for him (voiced by Angela Bassett and Justin Theroux by the way).

And don't worry, if you need some kind of bad ass moment from the humans, this movie has you covered with...

But seriously though, John Cena might be one of the most inspired choices to join a Transformers film ever. Now this is going to sound contradictory because I was just talking about how Hailee Steinfeld's character is relateable and this series has to play up the strengths of the humans and the Transformers.

But here's the catch with that. This movie is just self aware enough to know that this is a movie about talking giant robots fighting each other. We can't take it too seriously for it to not be diagetic.

So let's throw in the epitome of modern action hero to give it a little bit of self awareness and let the audience know that they know what this is.

It's similar to the steps that were taken by the Fast and Furious Franchise after the 4th one. Those movies take all the action hero actors and smashes them together like they're your action figures at home. While at the same time, they maintain the "Family First" mentality that grounds it and keeps it from just being another Expendables movie.

The same thing needs to be done with the Transformers franchise. They need to understand what they are, embrace it, but also keep that heart and giving us a reason to come back, and again, it goes back to the relationship between Charlie and Bumblebee.

But I also think it has to do with the fact that this movie wasn't made by Michael Bay. It was made by Travis Knight, and you may not know who that is. I still don't really know who he is. And it doesn't even have to be the Kubo and the Two Strings guy again, it can be anyone, just not Michael Bay. We've seen his take on The Transformers Franchise, give someone else a shot at it.

But that won't happen because this movie didn't do as well as the other films so they're gonna think that the franchise is dead and that makes me sad.

I actually remember what happens in this movie. I have seen the first Transformers movie, and I've seen Age of Extinction. I barely remember the first one and I don't remember anything from Age of Extinction except the scene where the girl and the guy explain to Mark Wahlberg how statutory rape is okay in Texas for some reason... because that was fucked up.

Travis Knight showed us that these movies don't have to be 2 and a half hour explosion CGI fests where you can't see shit and the Robots talk jive for no reason, they can be heart felt and still maintain that bad ass nature. There are a lot of cool fights scenes in this movie. But those will pass from our memory, the parts that you'll remember will be the great relationship between Charlie and Bumblebee, a nostalgic 80's environment, and John Cena realizing his true potential as the most stereotypical Army action hero a movie can provide.

But those are my thoughts on Bumblebee. What did you think? Best Transformers movie ever? I think so. Comment and Discuss below! You can also send me your thoughts on Twitter @MovieSymposium as well as send me your requests for films I should review in the future. If you follow me on Twitter, you can get updates on future movie news and reviews coming out of this blog.

Thanks for reading!