Bumblebee

Decent, by the numbers, popcorn movie. Better than the other live action Transformers movie, but still not very good. Best parts were the fight scenes, especially on Cybertron. Otherwise, it was average, 5/10.

Strong contender for best live-action Transformers movie ever made, but Christ, what a low fuckin' bar that is. The fact it isn't the clear and absolute winner is a devastating criticism.

Final rating:½ - Had a lot that appealed to me, didnt quite work as a whole.

So I thought that "Herbie" had it tough! Well his traumas look like tea with the Queen compared to poor old "Bumblebee"! He actually starts off life with the much less friendly moniker of "B-127" when he is sent to Earth to set things up amidst what looks like the end of the war between the his "Autobots" and the "Decepticons" on their home planet of "Cybertron". He lands slap bang in the middle of some top secret American military testing that handily looks at all things extra-terrestrial and that's when we encounter the menacing "Burns" (John Cena) who deduces that our yellow Meccano is not natural and that it must be hunted down and captured or destroyed. As if that we're not enough, "Blitzwing" is also on the planet and they have a duel...

'Bumblebee' is a decent attempt at a reset of sorts for this franchise, but unfortunately I found it to be a bit boring. There admittedly isn't much to whine about, though alternatively nothing overtly positive springs to my mind about it either. It is still one of the better from the series.

Hailee Steinfeld and John Cena are the two that are most noteworthy on the cast, across both the human and robot actors. Steinfeld does good and is a well chosen lead, Cena feels a little off from his usual schtick but is perfectly OK. None of the voice cast stand out to be honest, despite the presence of Angela Bassett.

The titular character is an interesting decision to give a spin-off (prequel) film to, I can't say he stood out to me in the pr...