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Bumblebee is tough, tender, relatable, says Rashid Irani
There’s still plenty of metal-on-metal wreckage, but finally we get a Transformers movie that is propelled by emotion too.
It’s been something of an annoyance to me that one of the most popular franchises of the last decade, the Transformers, was also one of the most vacuous.
Fortunately, Michael Bay has stepped down as director, after five mayhem-filled movies, and been replaced by Travis Knight, who has handled the sixth installment with decidedly more finesse.
It’s both prequel to and standalone origin story of the 2007 original. Set in the ’80s, it begins with an alien autobot named Bumblebee crashlanding in the San Francisco Bay area.
It’s disguised as a rusty Volkswagen Beetle, and is quickly acquired by a teenage gearhead (Hailee Steinfeld) — who must now keep the transformer’s true identity a secret. An unlikely friendship is forged as the pair team up to avert an intergalactic apocalypse. Their tough-tender rapport will likely leave even the jaded viewer misty-eyed.
Let it be said that Knight does not skimp on the metal-on-metal wreckage; a clear difference, though, is the way he relies on emotion to propel the story forward, in subtle beats reminiscent of such fantasy classics as Steven Spielberg’s ET and Brad Bird’s The Iron Giant.
As the misunderstood saviour, Steinfeld brings heart-tugging warmth to the role. There are also scene-stealing turns by Jorge Lendeborg Jr as her smitten partner and Jason Drucker as her cutesy younger brother. The voice cast includes impressive turns by Justin Theroux and Angela Bassett as the mecha villains on the trail of the metallic superhero.
An array of era-specific pop tunes (Bon Jovi, The Smiths and Tears for Fears, among others) set the tone well. Here’s hoping future iterations of Transformers will be as relatable and entertaining as Bumblebee.
