First Take: Bumblebee- no explosions, no problem.

SYNOPSIS:

On the run in the year of 1987, Bumblebee finds refuge in a junkyard in a small Californian beach town. Charlie, on the cusp of turning 18 and trying to find her place in the world, discovers Bumblebee, battle-scarred and broken.

After 11 years of explosion induced Bayhem and some pretty mediocre adaptations, Paramount decided to give the Transformers franchise a reboot of sorts- and they began with a simple little prequel. With a new director, a new screenwriter, and a proper vintage 1980s feel, they did the impossible: turn around a really damn enjoyable film.

Travis Knight simply works wonders directing his first live-action film (he is best known for working with Laika on 2016′s Kubo and the Two Strings), and coming in at a neat 1 hour 53 minutes, the pacing of the film is near faultless- however, while this film is directed well, the script from Christina Hodson does have some minor faults, some dialogue is a little clunky at times, but there is a lot of great humour in there to make this film an enjoyable watch. It is shot brilliantly by Enrique Chediak (who actually replaced Matthew Libatique, I wonder what he had to shoot in this film’s place), Dario Marianelli turns in a good score, and before I forget, the soundtrack is just 1980s gold.

Performance wise, Hailee Steinfeld really kills it in this film, acting next to an entirely CGI character is difficult, but somehow she is able to pull it off and make her character feel believable- working alongside her is John Cena (playing a bad guy for a change), Jorge Lendenborg Jr, John Ortiz and many others- including the voices of Dylan O’Brien, Angela Bassett, Justin Theroux, and Transformers stalwart Peter Cullen returning once again as Optimus Prime very briefly. This film just felt right, and even with a script that has minor problems, it’s a marked improvement on the Transformers films we’ve had up to this point.

THE VERDICT

All things considered, Bumblebee is a refreshing take on the Transformers films- not only is it entertaining, but the prospect of a Michael Bay-free future is enough to sell me on the sequel to this prequel. Understandably this film will be buried by Mary Poppins Returns, but it will be a success regardless.

RATING: 4/5