Bumblebee

Bumblebee (from Weird and Wonderful II: Fifty More Cult Films by George Hughes, available from www.freefall-productions.com)

2018 / US / 114 minutes

“They literally call themselves “Decepticons”! That doesn’t set off any red flags?”

Director: Travis Knight / Screenplay: Christina Hodson / Director of Photography: Enrique Chediak / Music: Dario Marianelli / Production: Michael Bay, Tom DeSanto, Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Mark Vahradian for Paramount Pictures / Cast: Hailee Steinfeld (Charlie), Jorge Lendeborg, Jr. (Memo), John Cena (Agent Burns), John Ortiz (Dr. Powell), Dylan O’Brien (Bumblebee), Peter Cullen (Optimus Prime), Angela Bassett (Shatter), Justin Theroux (Dropkick).

Michael Bay’s Transformers (2007) was a perfectly timed live action debut for the iconic ’80’s comic book and TV animation robots. Arriving not only at the right moment for CGI technology to properly do the concept photorealistic justice but also for the first generation of fans to introduce their own children to the characters.

   Since widely derided as an overly long and noisy toy advert, Bay’s first Transformers has a legacy not helped by the director’s four increasingly bad sequels, which turned all of the first film’s worst aspects up to eleven whilst jettisoning most of its best. But it’s important to remember that the ’07 film actually got quite a lot right.

   Bay’s masterstroke was to cast Peter Cullen as the voice of Optimus Prime. The original voice actor from the 1984 - ’87 TV series, Cullen is pretty much irreplaceable as the Autobot leader (for most ’80’s kids, Prime is the definitive fictional hero, mentor and role model we grew up with).

   Bay’s first film also has one of the all- time best sequel setup endings, with Prime delivering an inspiring closing narration about the potential of humanity as he sends out a message from Earth to the other, so far unseen Autobots still out in space: “We are here”… Then, as the closing music and the credits kick in, the Decepticons that survived the film’s last battle get up and take off into space to bring their own reinforcements. Even though you know it’s all as cynical as it gets, Cullen’s voice sells it.

   Unfortunately, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009), Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011), Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014) and Transformers: The Last Knight (2017) all doubled down on the tiresome American high school boy humour and Bay’s infamous penchant for editing every shot down to within a frame of its life to the point of near incomprehensibility, whilst also drifting further and further away from the source material.

   After the lukewarm reception of The Last Knight, Paramount decided to drastically rethink the next film, eventually deciding on a smaller- scale (read: “Less expensive”), character- driven prequel focussing on fewer Transformers. Although born out of the studio’s obvious financial manoeuvrings, the project ended up restoring the property’s heart and soul and, for many long-time fans, was the first to get the characters right since their animated days.

   Following one of the smaller Transformers, yellow reconnaissance Autobot Bumblebee, the film would also be a period piece set back in the era in which the world was first introduced to the robots in disguise. Bumblebee opens with a spectacular battle between the Autobots and Decepticons on their homeworld of Cybertron, with all of the characters involved actually recognisable from their original designs. Bumblebee then arrives on Earth, landing in California in 1987.

   Although relatively late to Hollywood’s ongoing ’80’s nostalgia party (it’s nearing it’s end now that studio executives who grew up in the ’90’s are starting to get top jobs), Bumblebee makes excellent use of the setting, especially through music. New director Travis Knight (an animator making his live action debut) also packs the film with the decade’s most extreme fashions and pop culture obsessions.

   Bumblebee meets and befriends a teenage girl, rebel outcast Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld) in unashamedly obvious ET- style (Spielberg was a co- producer) and helps her deal with the death of her father while she helps him repair his battle damage. Meanwhile, two Decepticons, Shatter and Dropkick (voiced by Angela Bassett and Justin Theroux), also arrive on Earth and trick the US military into helping them find Bumblebee (in exchange for inventing the internet).

   What results is easily the best live action Transformers film by a country mile (it even gives 1986’s animated theatrical adventure Transformers: The Movie a run for its money). Charlie is more relatable and likable in her first few minutes on screen than Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox were in all their films combined and, in addition to looking like they did in the classic cartoon, the Transformers move and fight the way they used to too.

   Unlike in Bay’s films, it’s easy to keep track of what’s going on and who’s who in the battle scenes and the Autobots and Decepticons here get to properly batter each other without too many humans getting in the way (Bumblebee’s bloodless cybernetic carnage even saw the film get the now rarely used PG certificate in the UK, rather than the pretty much default 12-A expected for such fare).

   The humour is also handled much better, especially Charlie’s interactions with Bumblebee in the garage where she introduces him to her music collection (although amusingly, Steinfeld wasn’t even born in 1987 and at first had no idea how to operate the set’s tape decks or rotary dial phones).

   The film chucks in Bon Jovi, Wang Chung and Duran Duran hits, although Bumblebee rejects a Smiths album by aggressively ejecting it. For me, the scene brought to mind an incident in the late ’80’s when my uncle’s Ford Cortina was broken into and all his tapes were nicked- with the exception of a Smiths compilation.

   But it’s the use of Simple Minds’ Don’t You Forget About Me at the ending that’s most effective. Driving off into the sunset across Golden Gate Bridge, Bumblebee draws level with a very recognisable red truck and our generation’s greatest leader delivers another awesome closing monologue. If you’re of a certain age, not many films about giant fighting robots will be quite so emotional.