Re: Bumblebee (2018, D: Travis Knight) - The Spoiler Filled Reviews Thread
 

As someone who grew up well before the Transformers were on TV, I went into the first one with no knowledge of what they supposed to look like. I enjoyed the first one for what it was. A little action, a little humor, a little Megan Fox playing a high school girl with glistening skin who is supposed to be a car expert yet says the fuel injected car has a carburetor. Bumblebee is the same basic approach and story. They were both enjoyable and worth an occasional re-watch. The follow up Bay films went from bad to worse. I had no idea who any of these robots were as they wrestled around and made noise like they were at an orgy. That roommate in the second one drove me up the wall. [chandler bing] Could he talk any faster?[/chandler bing]

Re: Bumblebee (2018, D: Travis Knight) - The Spoiler Filled Reviews Thread
 

Re: Bumblebee (2018, D: Travis Knight) - The Spoiler Filled Reviews Thread
 

And that was enough to hit it out of the park. We're not expecting much out of a Transformers movie. It's the very definition of a popcorn movie. Junk food. But this one actually had charm and a healthy heaping dose of nostalgia. That was enough. Think of it like a rebuilding year for a college football team. We're just happy to be in a bowl game.

And you're right about it being done before. But did any of those other movies have Optimus Prime? No.

Re: Bumblebee (2018, D: Travis Knight) - The Spoiler Filled Reviews Thread
 

Well "good & solid" is actually high praise compared to "complete and utter shit." - which the Bay movies are :)

What kind of inspiration do you expect of an action movie? <- genuine question

Re: Bumblebee (2018, D: Travis Knight) - The Spoiler Filled Reviews Thread
 

:lol: which means that much of the movie's appeal depends on how much nostalgia value you place in the entire franchise. I liked the movie (and think it's the best of the Transformers movies, for whatever that's worth) but it remains slight, charming, disposable entertainment at best.

Re: Bumblebee (2018, D: Travis Knight) - The Spoiler Filled Reviews Thread
 

The type you get from, say, The Wild Bunch, Die Hard, Seven Samurai, Aliens, T2, Hard Boiled, etc.? I'm not comparing Bumblebee to those movies, because that would be an exercise in futility. But you can find ANY film inspiring if it elevates itself beyond the limitations of its genre and strikes a the right emotional chords.

I will say I like the movie more, now that I've given it more thought and reflection, but it still reminds cheerful, well made, enjoyable (if disposable) popcorn and little else,

Re: Bumblebee (2018, D: Travis Knight) - The Spoiler Filled Reviews Thread
 

Oh it totally does for me and I know that a large part of the reason why I like it is nostalgia. I will totally admit that.

Oh yes that's exactly what it is. I think we're all in agreement on what the movie is it's just some of us hold it a little higher on the platform because we are either fans of the original cartoon or in comparison to the other terrible movies. Fans really weren't asking for that much, the bar has been set that low.

Re: Bumblebee (2018, D: Travis Knight) - The Spoiler Filled Reviews Thread
 

Watching it again and thinking about it some more I'm pretty surprised at how no one has really complained about just how short the cybertron scenes were. Watching them on youtube they really total only about 5 mins of the whole movie. But they were such well done fan service and the rest of the movie was interesting enough that you didn't really notice it.

I think a lot of the credit goes to Haliee Steinfeld and the script. It's pretty hard to hold the audiences attention when they are really there to see giant robots transform and beat each other up. Yet that's just what she did. I was just as invested in what was going on with her as what was going on with Bumblebee.

Re: Bumblebee (2018, D: Travis Knight) - The Spoiler Filled Reviews Thread
 

Finally got a chance to watch the film this morning.

I absolutely loved those scenes on Cybertron. While I initially didn't feel the lack of Transformers early on, I think that was due to the fact that the first 15-minutes of the film include that scene as well as the appearance of Blitzwing on Earth. After that, the (aptly named) Bumblebee is the star, along with a trove of humans. Waiting for more Transformers to show up, including (Decepticons) Shatter & Dropkick was a bit rough though.

As expected the film is light on Plot but I still felt it was enjoyable due to that opening scene as well as the performances from Hailee Stenfield and her interactions with Bumblebee. Didn't care about anyone else in the film.

This is completely understandable.

Shatter (Red Decepticon) didn't exist in any form in the Transformers Universe. She's a brand new character.

Dropkick (Blue Decepticon) had a G1 incarnation before but it was radically different. His current form showed up in the IDW Comics and a few of the Transformer games.

Blitzwing (who shows up early on in the film, damaging Bumblebee's voice) was in G1 but in a different form. He was originally colored Purple & Beige and could transform into a Tank or a Jet.

Re: Bumblebee (2018, D: Travis Knight) - The Spoiler Filled Reviews Thread
 

The first 5 minutes of this film are better than the entire Bay shit-verse he directed.

Re: Bumblebee (2018, D: Travis Knight) - The Spoiler Filled Reviews Thread
 

And they're the only five minutes of this movie that are any good, too.

This was nothing like Bay's films because this only had a lame story and none of the Bayhem, which isn't always a good thing but, guys, really, does anybody believe the girl-and-car story here is any more well written than whatever was in Bay's films? Sure, it kept exposition sorta light and it told a simple story but it was filled with contrivances and cliches. Steinfeld is a good actress and easy on the eyes, but none of the material she was given did her any favors. And, man, I like John Cena as a person but he just doesn't not have the right abilities to be an actor in roles this large. He has less range than The Rock. I had expected a lot more from this one given the good reviews but it's mostly fans wanking over the G-1 designs and getting a boner because Bay didn't direct.

Re: Bumblebee (2018, D: Travis Knight) - The Spoiler Filled Reviews Thread
 

recently saw it. Liked it a lot, way better than the last few (haven't even bothered to see the last one prior to Bumblebee yet)
It was nice that the decepticons were each unique and not all just generic gray

And it had the Touch. yeah that song is cheesy as hell but as someone that was a kid in the 80s and loved the original movie it was great hearing it

Re: Bumblebee (2018, D: Travis Knight) - The Spoiler Filled Reviews Thread
 

Yes. It had more heart and charm than anything that has ever been in any Bay Transformers movie. They tried to do the "boy and his car" thing with Sam and Bumblebee in the series prior to this and failed miserably. Here they nailed it.

Re: Bumblebee (2018, D: Travis Knight) - The Spoiler Filled Reviews Thread
 

Yes.

https://y.yarn.co/7cf7f33f-5619-4146...598ec_text.gif

Re: Bumblebee (2018, D: Travis Knight) - The Spoiler Filled Reviews Thread
 

:lol:

Indeed.

Re: Bumblebee (2018, D: Travis Knight) - The Spoiler Filled Reviews Thread
 

I liked this one quite a bit. The only thing I preferred Bay's movies over this one is Bay's transformers felt like they had more heft to them. The ones in Bumblebee didn't seem to have as much weight that a giant chunk of metal should have. Minor gripe, and I hope for more in the Bumblebee style.

Re: Bumblebee (2018, D: Travis Knight) - The Spoiler Filled Reviews Thread
 

The trailer was way better than the actual film. It looks like we were going to get an actual G1 accurate villain for the film (Starscream), but it turns out it's a Decepticon that only happens to look like him and he gets dispatched really early in the film. The main Decepticon villains are just some made up, disposable ones: "Dropkick" and "Shatter."

I agree with islandclaws. The relationship between Bumblebee and his human friend weren't any better than what we've seen in the Bay films. And you still had moronic caricatures for parents, the cheesy and stupid Sector 7/military angle, and a ton of unnecessary cliches. But at least we didn't get any racial stereotypes and Transformers testicles.

Re: Bumblebee (2018, D: Travis Knight) - The Spoiler Filled Reviews Thread
 

I watched this again this week, to refresh myself before watching Rise of the Beasts. I had very little memory about the last third of the film, and even now, a few days on from watching it, that 3rd act just really has made not much of an impression.

That said, there were a few things I was struck by this time. The fight scenes were really well done. They were always visual coherent, which was way better than the garbage that was always in the Bay films.

Usually, I'm fine with John Cena, but his "acting" in this one was really bad.

My son, who watched it with me, usually doesn't care about genre films at all. He was bored out of his mind when we saw Blue Beetle. But he really liked this one. He kept asking me what the next Bumblebee film was, and when he could watch it. I was struck by how much this film borrows, spiritually, from films like E.T. and Short Circuit. Maybe I should show those to him.

Re: Bumblebee (2018, D: Travis Knight) - The Spoiler Filled Reviews Thread
 

I'm trying to think what if anything you need from this to watch Rise of the Beasts... if anything this just makes Rise of the Beasts seem worse with the way the treat Bumblebee, backtrack on the G1 designs, and go back to the ensemble piece with throwaway characters instead of a movie that can focus on just a few fleshed out characters. I should watch this again.

Re: Bumblebee (2018, D: Travis Knight) - The Spoiler Filled Reviews Thread
 

While not quite reaching the level of dreck that the Bayverse Transformers achieved, I can't help but be disappointed in Rise of the Beasts after getting this stellar film. To be fair though I don't know where they could have gone from here. What made this movie so great was the (like previously mentioned) E.T. like heart between a girl and her robot. And they couldn't just make that movie again. Still. They could have kept the 80's setting. Kept the G1 robot designs and let Hailey Steinfield and John Cena still star. (Granted I'm sure they would have to pay a lot more for Hailey but it would have been worth it). John Cena would have been perfect with what they teased about in the end of Rise.

Re: Bumblebee (2018, D: Travis Knight) - The Spoiler Filled Reviews Thread
 

Yeah, despite being a producer on all of them, this was the only Spielbergian Transformers movie and that really works for it.

That, to me, is the biggest issue with the CG orgy movies, they lack any actual wonder.

Re: Bumblebee (2018, D: Travis Knight) - The Spoiler Filled Reviews Thread
 

Spielbergian. That's interesting. I feel like the Transformers movies follows closely to the Jurassic Park movies in that the first one was great and loved by a lot of people and then subsequent sequels just couldn't match up with the original. Then it was rebooted with the initial reboot kind of capturing a renewed spirit with subsequent sequels of that reboot failing again.

And I think you really kind of hit it on the head with the key difference is wonder. The first Transformers and JP was absolutely filled with wonder and amazement. That first scene with the brachiosaurus introducing many to the amazing world of JP and CGI. That first shot of Megan Fox bending over the open camaro hood Optimus transforming and seeing all the gears and pieces moving into place. Both movies were filled with that excitement of something new yet familiar. Showing us something that we all know about but in a dazzling new way.

Then come the sequels... while I think JP holds up better than Bay Trans they both loose their tarnish quickly and rely on more and more ridiculous set pieces that go over the top in terms of action but are missing the wonder that was in the first installment. Devastator's balls??? Really???

Then the reboot comes and largely brings it back to the OG and captures some of the wonder of the first movie albeit in different ways. JP through showing a functioning theme park and Bumblebee through a heartwarming girl and her robot/first car story and of course the opening scene on cybertron. The absolutely best scene in the entire franchise.