Review #1,465: 'Bumblebee' (2018)

By the time Transformers: The Last Knight rolled around in 2017, even the most hardcore fans of Michael Bay's Transformers franchise were getting tired of it all. The Last Knight, which was the fifth entry into the series, marked ten years of Bay's butt-numbing, explosion-heavy epics, which substituted the charm of the original 80's television show and toy line for faceless CGI constructs bashing each other to pieces, lame comedy, and an increasingly creepy attitude towards its female actors. Bay teased his departure from the franchise after three movies, but went on to make another two, and it's always been clear that the problem lay with the director's inability to engage the audience on an emotional level and refusal to deliver anything but headache-inducing action and softcore pornography. Eyebrows were raised when Paramount announced that one of its few memorable characters, Bumblebee, would receive his own spin-off. Yet they were significantly relaxed when they learned that Travis Knight, director of the acclaimed Kubo and the Two Strings, would helm the project, and not Bay.

Opening with a battle between the Autobots and Decepticons on their home planet of Cybertron, it's immediately apparent that all this universe required was a fresh pair of eyes. Yes, this sequence isn't much more than a computer-generated smackdown between huge alien robots, but at least we can tell them apart. The Autobot leader Optimus Prime (voiced as ever by Peter Cullen) is leading a resistance against their oppressive foes, but seeing his side are losing badly, Prime sends scout B-127 (Dylan O'Brien) to Earth to set up base for their eventual rendezvous. Crashing down in 1987 California, the diminutive Autobot immediately encounters a unit of government soldiers, led by Agent Jack Burns (John Cena), on a routine training exercise, and is met with open hostility. Left grievously wounded after an attack by Decepticon Blitzwing (David Sobolov), B-127 transforms into a Volkswagen Beetle to lay low while awaiting rescue. Meanwhile, teenager and amateur mechanic Charlie Watson (Hailee Steinfeld), still grieving after the death of her father years ago, finds the rusty banger and decides to repair it as a pet project, hoping to impress junkyard owner Hank (Len Cariou) in the process. But when that final piece slips into place, Charlie finds way more in the piece of junk she names Bumblebee than she was expecting.

While Bay quickly forgot about the fans who loved the cartoons, toys and comic books growing up, Knight eagerly embraces them. Rewinding the timeline back to the 1980s, Knight mixes the inevitable action set-pieces with heartfelt drama, which stems not only from Charlie's relationship with the clumsy yet adorable yellow lunk, but also from her grief and anger that her mother has already moved on. As Bumblebee stumbles around the house trying his best not to break anything, you can't help but think of E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. His prat-falls are made funnier because you have grown to love the character, and by evoking such an established 80's classic, Bumblebee engulfs you further in its pure nostalgia trip. Most importantly, there's a sense of fun and playfulness that was lost in the crotch-grabbing and flag-waving of Bay's cinematic haemorrhoids. Charlie and Bumblebee's bonding sessions are sweet and charming, and Steinfeld's performance is undoubtedly key to this. An endearing mix of awkward teenager and highly capable mechanic, Charlie wears vests and listens to The Smiths, and where Bay may have had her in hot pants leaning over a car, Charlie would much prefer to be underneath it. Her character helps paint an even clearer line between this semi-reboot and Bay's parasitic universe, and finally, I'm excited from the next Transformers film again.


Directed by: Travis Knight
Starring: Hailee Steinfeld, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., John Cena, John Ortiz, Jason Drucker, Dylan O'Brien, Angela Bassett, Justin Theroux, Peter Cullen
Country: USA/China

Rating: ****

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,304: 'The Cloverfield Paradox' (2018)

If by some miracle Julius Onah's The Cloverfield Paradox is remembered in the years to come, it won't be for its qualities as a sci-fi actioner or its position in the intriguing and mysterious Cloverfield franchise, but for its rather ingenious marketing campaign. Audiences were aware of its existence under the name God Particle, but like the previous two entries in J.J. Abrams' monster series, everything about the movie was kept under wraps. Cue the Superbowl, where production studios clamber to show their latest trailers to the largest audience in the U.S., and the film, now under the name of The Cloverfield Paradox was finally unveiled. Much to everybody's surprise, they wouldn't have to wait several months to see it in the cinemas, but it would be available to stream on Netflix straight after the game. Now, you don't even need to leave the house to see the latest blockbuster in all its glory, but could watch it in your pants while intoxicated, with Doritos crumbs dotted down your front.

As I stated earlier, this was an ingenious move, but only on one side of the deal: Abrams and Paramount. Obviously sensing an utter stinker, they managed to flog this tarted-up straight-to-DVD effort to Netflix for more than $50 million. It started strongly, but the viewing figures started to die away as audiences sobered up. Hampered with a horrible, TV-level script, a willingness to steal from far better films, and a central mystery that gets explained to us before the story has even kicked in, The Cloverfield Paradox is barely a movie but a string of cliches played out by an enormously talented cast, which includes the likes of Gugu Mbatha-Raw, David Oyelowo, Daniel Bruhl, Zhang Ziyi, John Ortiz, Aksel Hennie and annoying comic relief Chris O'Dowd, all of whose eyes look oddly glazed over. If I had paid £9 or whatever ridiculous price the cinema is these days, I would be asking for my money back. Luckily I have Netflix, so I get to watch this crap for a small monthly payment. 

Set in 2028, the Earth is experiencing a global energy crisis and the crew aboard the orbiting Cloverfield Space Station are humanity's only hope. They aim to unleash the Shepard particle accelerator, which will generate infinite energy and save our species. Some, however, believe this will open up parallel universes and alternate dimensions, allowing demons and monsters into our world, tearing a hole in reality as we know it. When things start to get freaky, we know precisely what has happened, so are forced to suffer being two steps ahead of the crew for the remainder of the film. Things liven up slightly when a mysterious passenger winds up on board, played by the radiant Elizabeth Debicki, but by this time I was tired of seeing all my predictions come true. The Cloverfield Paradox feels like a forgotten straight-to-DVD relic from the early 2000s, dusted off and re-edited to loosely tie in with Cloverfield franchise. How they convinced Netflix to cough up $50 million is beyond me. Abrams should have done the decent thing and spared us of this nonsense altogether.


Directed by: Julius Onah
Starring: Gugu Mbatha-Raw, David Oyelowo, Daniel Brühl, John Ortiz, Chris O'Dowd, Aksel Hennie, Ziyi Zhang, Elizabeth Debicki
Country: USA

Rating: *

Tom Gillespie

Review #986: 'Steve Jobs' (2015)

Since his death in 2011, the world - including those who had never heard of the turtle-neck-sporting tech genius and innovator - has come to learn that the great Steve Jobs was in fact a massive dick. Like every great man, the flaws in his personality have been forgiven or excused in favour of a 'tortured genius' label, but this has not stopped various movies and documentaries cropping up to try and paint a true-to-life picture. Danny Boyle's Steve Jobs, starring Michael Fassbender in the title role, likes to think that his humanity emerged with his advancing years, as he went about literally changing the way we live our lives.

If you're someone who proudly boasts about the lack of a Facebook profile or prefers to stare out of the window during a bus-ride as opposed to staring open-mouthed at your phone, then the tech-worship and subtle hints at the innovations Jobs would go on to create may completely pass you by. I like to think I'm one of those people, but I felt like I may as well be carrying a spear and wearing a bear-skin when the 3G disappeared from my phone the other day. The film's narrative disregards the traditional biopic formula in favour of three 30 minute-plus acts, each set just before the launch of three of Jobs most famous creations - the Apple Macintosh in 1984, the NeXT computer in 1988, and the game-changing iMac in 1998.

Throughout the years, a set of key characters mingle and/or class with Jobs. Headstrong marketing executive Joan Hoffman (Kate Winslet) tries to bring the best out of her boss, but is visibly appalled when he repeatedly denies that he is the father of Lisa (played by Makenzie Moss, Ripley Sobo and Perla Haney-Jardine at various ages), often to her face. Old friend Steve Wozniak (Seth Rogen) asks him to acknowledge the efforts of the Apple II team during his presentation, much to Jobs' disgust, but fails when Jobs is fired by Apple after the failure of the Macintosh. His boss John Sculley (Jeff Daniels) finds himself blamed for Jobs' sacking in the media when he repeatedly stuck up for him and warned him of the repercussions of failing to lower the Macintosh's price.

Fassbender, although sharing little physical resemblance to the man, is outstanding, playing Jobs with a faint (and ironic) disconnection to the world and little grasp of how he is perceived by others. Aaron Sorkin, who is on script duties, goes overtime with the fast and jargon-heavy talk, and the film is rich with his signature corridor-pacing conversations. The decision to condense his key years into three acts offers a fresh take on the usual incident-by-incident biographies, but it also means that characters are ushered into scenes unnaturally to resolve their personal conflict, with Wozniak especially reduced to a conduit for the audience. Boyle's direction is refreshingly unflashy when compared to the senses-rattling Trance (2013), and instead allows his actors and their quick-fire dialogue to breathe freely. It certainly falls short the other biopic of a technological innovator - The Social Network (2010) - but, despite its flaws, it still manages to find a soul within its obnoxious bully.

Directed by: Danny Boyle

Starring: Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen, Jeff Daniels, Michael Stuhlbarg, Katherine Waterston, John Ortiz

Country: USA/UK

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #861: 'The Drop' (2014)

Based on Dennis Lehane's short story Animal Rescue, and re-locating the action from the author's beloved Boston to the chilly streets of Brooklyn, The Drop is a disappointingly familiar film that shows a lot of promise in its build-up, but one that will most likely be best remembered for being the last screen performance of James Gandolfini. While the movie is hardly a fitting swansong to the actor's tragically short career, there is promise for future generations in the performance of lead Tom Hardy, who plays his deceptively dim bartender with an extremely subtle complexity, only hinting at the real man who lies beneath his shuffled walk and soft voice.

Formerly respected criminal 'Cousin' Marv (Gandolfini) now spends his time behind the scenes at his eponymous bar, while his actual cousin Bob (Hardy) pours the drinks and keep the regulars in high spirits. The bar is a convenient locale for local gangsters to lay their 'drops' - small amounts of cash that are locked in a safe ready for whoever is destined to collect it. When the bar is robbed by masked gunmen, the efficient Chechen mobsters who run the operation are suspicious and demand that Marv and Bob locate their money. So far, so relatively formulaic - 2012's rather disappointing Killing Them Softly covered similar ground.

The Drop is at its best when it hints at these characters' shady pasts and real character - traits these men may have embraced in their past, but have since been suppressed or subdued by new powers. The performances are magnificent all round, and special mention must go to Matthias Schoenaerts, who proves a truly menacing presence as Eric Deeds, the lonesome brute who comes into the picture after Bob finds a beaten puppy in the rubbish bin of Nadia (Noomi Rapace), Eric's former girlfriend. Bob and Nadia form a relationship, possibly out of mutual feelings of disenchantment or perhaps because they both simply care for the animal. Deeds is an intimidating and unnerving manipulator, and Schoenaerts is part of a trio of non-American actors playing American roles astonishingly well here - he's Belgian, Hardy is English, and Rapace is Swedish.

The multiple plot threats naturally lead to a suitably bloody finale, where we learn what really makes these people tick and operate with such efficiency. But for all it's stylish direction and vibrant screenplay by Lehane himself, a disappointingly cliched final scene betrays much of what came before. Up to this point, it is an interesting study of coming to terms with being the kind of man you wish you weren't. To offer salvation to a character who has just accepted this very thing is a simplistic and easy path to take, especially when the build-up is bolstered by an observant eye for detail and thick layer of cynicism, painting it's Winter greys broadly. This contradiction makes the film quite ordinary, when it could have been a compelling study of the insecurity of thugs and the circle of violence that surrounds them.


Directed by: Michaël R. Roskam
Starring: Tom Hardy, James Gandolfini, Noomi Rapace, Matthias Schoenaerts, John Ortiz
Country: USA

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie

Review #826: 'Fast & Furious' (2009)

After the massive disappointment of the two sequels to 2001's dumb but entertaining The Fast and The Furious, the franchise got itself back on track by grounding itself (I use that term loosely) and bringing back the original quarter of Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster. Tokyo Drift (2006) was mind-dumbingly dull, but the action scenes were more impressive than what came before and it teased fans of the series by bringing back Diesel for a last-minute cameo. Director Justin Lin is at the helm once again, and this fourth instalment is the best yet (at this point in the series).

Five years after fleeing Los Angeles, Dominic Toretto (Diesel) is up to his old tricks in the Dominican Republic with girlfriend Letty (Rodriguez) and Tokyo Drift's Han (Sung Kang). Sensing his presence in his new gang will only bring the law down upon them, Toretto flees to Panama, leaving Letty behind. A few months later, Toretto is brought back to America by an incident I cannot reveal with being spoilerific. He starts his own investigation, which leads him to a man named David Park (Ron Yuan). Meanwhile, F.B.I. agent Brian O'Conner (Walker) is also investigating Park, and all trails seem to lead to a mysterious drug lord named Arturo Braga.

Though the movie begins with a rather ridiculous action scene that brought flashbacks of the terrible xXx (2002), things settle down as an actual plot - the first of the series? - develops. It's simple but effective, and everything from the cinematography to the script feels cleaner and more mature. More focus is granted for the characters, and although they're relatively stoic and wafer-thin, it's nice to see them exchange words in a room rather than shouting at each other over the noise of an engine. Fans of the franchise need not to worry though, as Fast & Furious, which is in danger of being the most unimaginative title to a sequel ever, offers plenty of motor-porn, scantily-clad women and a pumping soundtrack.

Which is where the movie ultimately suffers. Although Justin Lin dims the sheen of street racing and shoots the obligatory gyrating lady parts with a less perverted and exploitative eye, the main crux of the plot still surrounds drug smuggling, a lazy McGuffin and a recycled excuse to get Brian and Toretto behind the wheel again. The action on the whole is exciting, especially the high-speed rush through an underground tunnel that crosses the Mexican-American border, and Lin manages to avoid getting lost in the mayhem. It will never be a work of high art, but there's enough here to reignite my passing interest in this glossy but fun series.


Directed by: Justin Lin
Starring: Vin Diesel, Paul Walker, Michelle Rodriguez, Jordana Brewster, John Ortiz
Country: USA/Japan

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie