Bumblebee (2018)
A prequel to the first Michael Bay Transformers film from 2007 in which Optimus Prime sends robot scout B-127 to earth to establish a base where the Autobots can regroup following their trouncing at the hands of the Decepticons.
Arriving in 1987 and badly injured it becomes a 1967 yellow Volkswagen Beetle before meeting strung out teen Charlie ( Hailee Steinfeld) and the two become friends when she gives the Autobot the name Bumblebee. Meanwhile the Decepticons send two of their own to Earth, who also take human vehicle form, with the aim of killing Bumblebee.
I wasn't that keen on the original 2007 film. Even seen on Blu-ray on a larger screen after picking it up for free recently i still thought the Transformer battle scenes were a jumbled up mess and i couldn't tell who was who or what the hell was going on thanks to quickfire editing and Bay's camera in far too close to the action. I've avoided the other four sequels like the plague since. This however is a totally different deal with Bay handing directing duties over to Travis Knight.
Bumblebee is an altogether better experience, at least for me. There's a lot of character building and bonding and the script plays out so you genuinely feel for the Autobot who appears to have human expressions. Much of this bonding is helped by a great performance from Steinfeld as the troubled teen who has a fantastic wardrobe of band t-shirts from the eighties including a Motorhead one which i own currently and certainly wasn't around in the late 80's.
I was intrigued to see Steven Spielberg was an exec producer on this. It's as if the script writers decided they wanted more a Spielberg produced movie with a bit of heart such as Real Steel and Super 8 (both 2011) rather than a crash bang wallop Michael Bay film and it's all the better for it.
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