My Movie Review on Bumblebee (2018) (Plus, a Bonus) · 11:06pm Aug 22nd, 2020
Yo, what's up, Kemosabes?
This is your friendly-as-ever film, TV show, and episode reporter here with another review.
Today, I'm gonna give you guys my take of the latest film in the Transformers franchise: "Bumblebee (2018)".
Here's the rundown of it:
Charlie Watson is an eighteen year old girl who has constantly shut herself away from the world and her family because of the death of her biological father.
However, Charlie's life suddenly changes when she meets B-127, an autobot from the conquered planet of Cybertron. He was sent to Earth to protect the planet and establish a base for a rebellion troupe that's fighting the villainous Decepticons, but lost his memory and ability to speak before meeting Charlie. Under her care, he is later given the name Bumblebee.
Bumblebee's mission is put into jeopardy, though, when a couple of Decepticons named Shatter and Dropkick discover his presence on Earth and hunt him down, particularly in order to force him into spilling the location of Optimus Prime, the leader of the rebellion.
Will Bumblebee be able to avoid the enemy forever? Or will Shatter and Dropkick's hunt for him be successful?
Before I get into what I think of this movie, there's something I'd like to be honest about:
I wasn't exactly crazy about the Transformers franchise. As a matter of fact, I remember catching glimpses of a show or two as a child, and one of the films directed by Michael Bay, and neither of them got me hooked.
When I saw this movie not too long ago, though...I WAS BLOWN AWAY BY IT!!!
Everything about this movie was an astonishing powerhouse.
For instance, the acting, casting, characters, and character development were incredible!
I loved that every performer onboard seemed to be having all the fun in the world portraying their characters, and the dialogue that they were accompanied with was delightful. Each character throughout the movie also had dynamic development and personality.
Out of all the human-visible cast members, it was Hailee Steinfield, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., and John Cena that I thought gave the best performances, and the characters of Charlie, Guillermo "Memo" Gutierrez, and Jack Burns were what I found to be the most fully-realized and developed of the human characters. Bumblebee himself was someone that I enjoyed every moment with, because he had this astounding purity that made him so alive and lovable. And like the human characters I mentioned, Bumblebee had wonderful development. In addition, Angela Bassett and Justin Theroux gave remarkable vocal performances as Shatter and Dropkick, and their characters not only had a lot of the best lines but were terrific villains.
The direction by Travis Knight, and the story by Christina Hodson, were wonderful as well.
Whatever the previous Transformers movies were often like in terms of direction and storytelling is something I personally don't know, but I can tell that tons of creativity and passion was put into this movie. I have noted that the concept was something that has been commonly used in other movies, but the way it was executed and done was so amazing that it hardly mattered in the slightest. Knight and Hodson's knack for humor was deeply spot-on and entertaining, the jokes revolving around Bumblebee himself being particularly hilarious. To top it all off...the film had a compelling amount of emotion and heart that helped it be far from soulless, the definite life-giver being the bond between Bumblebee and Charlie. The action scenes featuring the Autobots and Decepticons were quite engaging as well, and I couldn't help but instantly feel like I was amidst it all.
The special effects used to create the robots, the planets, and outer space were spectacular too.
When the film was featuring moments that took place on Cybertron and one of the moons of Saturn, I literally felt like I was actually at those locations. In addition, the backgrounds and surroundings of space were extremely realistic, and so were the Autobots and Decepticons.
Finally, the music by Dario Marianelli was magnificent.
When it came to making a score that was emotionally-invested to the film and characters, Marianelli didn't mess around. His work was so great that it was powerful enough to rival the works of top-dog composers like John Williams and Alan Silvestri. The incorporation of classic songs such as "Never Gonna Give You Up" were enjoyable too, and they helped add onto the feel of the year and time period the film took place in.
In conclusion, "Bumblebee (2018)" is an absolute blast to watch. It not only marks a new era and fresh start for the Transformers series, but it provides a great introduction for newcomers, offers brilliant service to long time fans, and is mighty enough to generate newfound interest in the franchise.
So, I rate "Bumblebee (2018)" five out of five stars.
To Paramount & Allspark: Even though I haven't been personally acquainted with the Transformers films that came before this one, I encourage you highly to go all-out in further differentiating all future films from the Bay-directed movies and create an all-out reboot that can begin with this newly found gem.
Before I conclude this post, I would like to show you guys this latest paint-by-number I’ve completed, which I’ve worked on from July 20 to August 20, 2020.
So, what do you guys think? Of my review? And my art piece?
I loved this movie, even when I saw it in theaters.
I've yet to see this film to make a proper critique.
I saw it too and it was pretty cool.
This is by far the best Transformers live-action film ever made.
The Transformers movies were fun on the big screen, if nothing else. Was never a big fan, but I knew plenty of people that were.
Nothing to do with this, but if you haven't seen this, I recommend it. A Paul Newman movie--and quite a departure from his usual fare--about as politically correct as a turd stuck to the mirror in an elementary school bathroom. Newman credited the filming of this movie with his greater use of profanity later in life.