Nearly five years after the debut of the Film, Bumblebee, we are witnessing a fresh reboot for the Transformers film franchise. The reboot follows on the heels of the previous installments that had been directed by Michael Bay. I watched the movie at the Cinemark Century theater in Olympia.
With Bumblebee being at the front, we witnessed some good storytelling for the live-action film. I wasn’t expecting a movie like this, I was thinking that it would be an attempt of Michael Bay to reclaim his style from the first film. However, upon closer inspection, it seems that he’s no longer in the director’s chair.
At the same time, just like in the previous film, there was solid improvement in the visuals for the Transformers movie, as well as a good cast of voice actors with some new faces, such as the legendary veteran Peter Cullen voicing Optimus Prime once again.
Will this film make it or become scrap? All the same, time to jump in. Calling all transformers, transform and roll out!
The Movie Opens in the far future where the Maximals are under attack by Unicron and the Terrorcons. The Maximal remnants have to take the Transwarp Key to the past – far from Unicron’s clutches, but not before the giant transformer consumed the planet.
The characters Bumblebee, Noah, a former soldier, and Elena, a museum intern, get dragged into their adventure when Elena uncovers the Transwarp key. They get wrapped up into a series of events with the Autobots, which resulted in being dragged into a conflict with the Terrorcons for the control of the Transwarp Key. And the Autobots allied with the Maximals to prevent the emergence of Unicron. The ultimate battle for the Transwarp key has begun.
I like that the camera pans to all of the technology on Noah’s desk, indicating that he is very technologically savvy. There is also a camera shot showing a bond between Noah and his brother regarding the bonds between the two brothers working together. There is a nice view of the sky of both New York and the Peruvian City, along what appears to be an Incan remnant settlement.
In my opinion, the visuals for the Transformers designs have greatly improved compared to the films directed by Michael Bay, especially comparing the Visuals for Arcee from Revenge of the Fallen when compared with the current movie. Even returning voice actors, such as Peter Cullen, are a welcoming addition to present a sense of nostalgia. At the same time, the action, as well as the alternate timeline for the Maximals, might also bring about some manner of interest for the film in addition to the action. Even Unicron’s design happens to be very intimidating, along with the voice actor portraying him.
I also find Elena to be an interestingly quirky character, especially when she started out as a museum intern , acting as a coffee person to the rest of the museum staff to someone playing a major role involving the Transwarp key. Also, the couple of jump scares from the Terrorcons keep the audience engaged with chase scenes involving Noah and Elena. The battle scenes kept the audience seated for all of the adrenaline.
For starters, we have seen the entire world-saving situation as if the plot has been recycled from the Michael Bay films, especially in the final battle scene. I have noticed a major repetitive nature starting with Revenge of the Fallen along with Transformers the Last Knight, where the planet is at its last legs while being saved at the very last minute. At the same time, the war-like final scene has also been used once too often.
In addition to that, I felt that this Transformers film felt hollow, with the Autobots unable to battle against the Decepticons. That goes double for Maximals without Predacons to battle against to the point that the film also felt rather hollow. Not to mention the battle sequences and the timing in the film also felt rather borrowed from older films Directed by Bay.
I also find that the sudden addition of G.I. Joe introduced to the film was an attempt at a crossover that feels rather unwelcome, as I felt that this crossover film would ultimately fail after the Snake Eyes disaster in both box office and critical reception. It would be best that both of the two universes should remain separate.
I would say this is a very hard one to pinpoint whether the film passed or failed. However, I did detect traces of Michael Bay’s creative habits that might result in the film quality’s degradation, including crazy action and all the explosions during the museum fight and the final battle. Despite a good set of returning voice actors to voice the transformers, including David Sobolov, Ron Perlman, Liza Koshy and John Dimaggio. Needless to say the quality of the film has decreased after the outstanding performance from Bumblebee.
It is a very hard call to make but I am giving the film 6.7 out of 10 stars due to a similar but repetitive pattern in the storyline from Bay’s previous Transformers films. If I have to make an honest decision between the crossover and a better sequel, I will take my chances with the sequel. Even though I like the fresh take on Transformers live-action film since the film Bumblebee, I would strongly feel that it could’ve been better if they didn’t rely on Michael Bay for storytelling or otherwise.
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