‘Bumblebee’ Review - Refreshing Robot Reboot

To prepare myself for Travis Knight’s attempt at an adventure into the much loved Hasbro Universe I spent the majority of my downtime this holiday re-watching all 12 hours and 45 minutes of the Michael Bay blockbusters... time I will sadly not be getting back any time soon. Fortunately I am pleased to report that ‘Bumblebee’ was an excellent revisit to the world of the robots in disguise, free from the amateur plot holes and (for the most part) wooden acting of its predecessors.

I assume that most of you reading this will be aware that ‘Bumblebee’ is set in the years prior to the explosive Decepticon plots a young Shia LeBeouf repeatedly found himself entangled with. The film opens rather unsurprisingly with scenes from the raging battle on Cybertron, and it is here that we are given our first glimpses of the new look Autobots. Fans of the 80s and 90s cartoons will be welcoming of this new re-brand, as the film takes us away from the ‘realistic’ looking metals in favour of a more colourful appearance. Optimus in particular appears much more reminiscent of his lighter hearted predecessors, which sets the tone nicely for the rest of the film.

It is safe to say that ‘Bumblebee’ is not a blockbuster action film in the same way the Bay films are. Instead we are given what could almost be considered a traditional adventure film, with the high pace action packed sequences being limited to three or four occasions, and never on the city-wide scale of the previous films. The picture simply feels more realistic than its predecessors. We are introduced to everyone’s favourite yellow Camaro not as an emotionally devoid killing machine but as a sentient being who feels great fear and sadness much the way a human would. This combined with an excellent performance from Hailee Steinfeld (which we will come onto) succeeds in taking the audience down a new and unexpected road for the Transformers franchise, one that nicely balances the thrill and excitement of giant robots battling each other with heartfelt emotion and genuine struggle.

Both Hailee Steinfeld (Charlie) and Jorge Lendeborg Jr (Memo) deserve high praise for their performances in this film. The pair are tasked with portraying emotionally younger characters than that of Sam Witwicky, and struggle as much with the emotional frustrations of family life and peer group pressures as they do with protecting the innocence of their alien ally. Steinfeld produces some particularly strong performances in the sadder moments of the films, whilst Lendeborg Jr provides a steady flow of awkward teenage humour to keep the tone from getting too dark. At times it did feel that Steinfeld came close to reprising her 'Pitch Perfect' character but given her relatively recent rise into the showbiz world she can probably be forgiven.

The one disappointment for me was the casting and performance of John Cena. As a WWE fan in my youth I was excited for the mainstream appearance of yet another superstar on the silver screen. Honestly Cena has a long way to go if he dreams of emulating the recent successes of Dwayne Johnson and Dave Bautista however. The producers made it easy for Cena by casting him in the role of the hard-nosed no-nonsense military general hell bent of catching our alien protagonist, however he struggles throughout the film to act convincingly and his style is too akin to his exaggerated performances in and around the wrestling ring, for my liking at least.

I am sure there are some of you out there that are big fans of the sheer scale and grandeur of the Bay films but for me this is a refreshing adventure into the Transformers universe. The film sets aside its predecessors' need to showcase the end of the world and instead takes a focused yet light hearted look at the impact on a family alien contact could have. There was hardly any suggestion or truly after-credits sequence that would indicate a sequel is on the cards, however the success of this film will make it truly difficult for Paramount to resist the idea of continuing the reboot. Well worth a watch!