Review of Bumblebee (2018) by Pauloreviews — 05 Mar 2019

So I wasn't even planning on seeing this one, as "Transformers: Age of Extinction" left an extremely bad taste in my mouth, but since I was invited to watch this film and the reviews were mostly positive, I thought to myself: "Uh, maybe it'll be fun". And it is, but it's also not a particularly engaging movie, unfortunately. I'm not a Transformers fan. I didn't bother to watch the 1986 animated feature. Quite honestly, I never liked the idea of seeing talking robots in the big screen as it feels as though it's just a long toy commercial. No substance or anything. Plus, the Michael Bay movies only made matters worse, as those movies are incomprehensible, pointless and borderline offensive.

With that being said, I still went into the theater expecting to see a good film. It wasn't directed by Bay, so it oughta be good. Good? No. Decent? Yes. I don't want to say I didn't have fun watching this movie. It certainly was entertaining for the most part. But it wasn't quite the game-changer it could have been. Mostly because of its unoriginal premise, some of the acting performances and cheesy plot elements. Now, the plot isn't exactly the most imaginative of all. Like critics and moviegoers have said, this film largely feels like an E.T. ripoff. This seems like something that would bring my score down a notch, but I honestly feel that although this movie was clichéd in some places, I think the characters' dynamic mostly made it up for it. There was solid chemistry between Charlie and Bumblebee and in fact, it might be the best thing this movie has to offer. Besides that, we have action sequences and while they are not especially memorable, I'm glad I can praise them simply because how much it differs from Bay's nonsensical directing style. There are no shaky cameras, no annoying lens flare or quick cuts. No disgusting yellowish color palette. The framing and shot composition are not extraordinary, but they are an improvement over the last 5 Transformers films' cinematography. While this movie boasts a more appealing look, it struggles a lot with narrative aspects. Without getting into spoiler-territory, the movie can sometimes make you question how and why things are happening. The military scenes are dumb and bear a resemblance to similar scenes in previous movies. Frankly, I couldn't take John Cena's character seriously and I feel like he was just there to provide another reason for people to see this movie. Another point that dragged me down was the humor. Maybe it's just me, but it seems that a lot of big blockbuster movies are trying very hard to make their audience laugh their asses off. I say this because the humorous scenes of the movie weren't exactly humorous, in my opinion. That happened because the jokes were very forced and poorly thought-out. Worse than that, they were unoriginal. Best case scenario, I chuckled a little bit. Worst case scenario, I cringed very hard. Another minor issue I had with the film is the main character's internal conflict (Charlie). Nothing wrong with the message itself, it's just that the writers could have found a better, more subtle way to show how Charlie goes from "being scared **** of diving into the pool" to "splash!".

This movie is not bad. But for anyone who's looking for a substantial experience, you should lower your expectations.

6/10.