Bumblebee was a pretty good movie!

I just got done a screening of Bumblebee, directed by Travis Knight (Kubo and the Two Strings).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.Okay so I’m gonna be real here, I fucking hate most of the Transformers films. I really only regard 1 as being a decent/okay film. So I was expecting garbage, and it wasn’t. And it’s probably because Bay didn’t direct it.The standouts here are Hailee Steinfeld, and she proves once again just how great she is as an actress. She is great, especially because half the movie she had to talk to a CGI robot. Another standout is Bumblebee himself. The chemistry between the two is amazing and reminiscent of Iron Giant. Jorge Lendeborg Jr is also really great. I thought he was going to be an annoying, screamy character like that one dude from Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom but he was actually pretty good.This movie has a lot of heart, and that’s what make it standout from all of the other Transformers’ movies. It’s a coming of age movie with Transformers mixed into it. Hailee Steinfeld’s character has a great backstory and has an actual arc in the film that I really enjoyed.There are some negatives I had with the film. The humor was very hit or miss (I guess they never miss, huh?). Some of it reminded of Marvel where a scene should end at a certain point but they just drag it with a dumb joke. Bumblebee himself was very comical and I enjoyed it. At least it wasn’t piss and shit jokes like Michael Bay loves to include for some reason. The family that lives with Hailee Steinfeld’s character is annoying as fuck. Another negative I had with it was John Cena and the military. Like most Transformers’ movies, it’s super comical and corny, and John Cena was so fucking bad in it. His entire character was, “Look at me I’m Mr. Military man sir yes sir,” and said a bunch of shitty one liners. Also for the entire movie I legit couldn’t see him /s. The last fight scene kinda delved into Bay level of explosion porn but it was still entertaining. Another point to add is while I enjoyed the 80s nostalgia, they literally would not stop playing 80s music. I felt like I was getting attacked by it. It kind of reminded me of Suicide Squad when they played a bunch of random music that had nothing to do with the movie. When the soundtrack was used effectively it was pretty good.All in all, Bumblebee is actually pretty good. If you’re tired of Michael Bay and want a good, fun Transformers movie, this is the one for you. It’s a lot more small scale, but it focuses on the relationship with Bee and Hailee Steinfeld which the first Transformers failed to do with Shia. I would give it probably a 7/10 or a 7.5/10, I’m not sure. Also the scenes on Cybertron were fucking amazing. Feel free to ask me anything about the movie, and if you don’t want spoilers just let me know!Edit: going to sleep now so I’ll have to answer stuff in the morning via /r/movies https://ift.tt/2QKq9oU