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 #1,340: 'Mute' (2018)

Shortly after he wowed cinema-going audiences with his independent debut feature Moon back in 2009, director Duncan Jones talked about his next project, a 'spiritual sequel' to his breakthrough film about a mute man searching for his lost love. Of course, this didn't exactly go to plan, as he followed Moon with the entertaining Source Code in 2011 and big-budget misfire Warcraft: The Beginning in 2016. Jones' stock had fallen, but strength of his debut meant that his next film would always invite interest. After years trying to get his idea onto the screen, Mute finally arrives on Netflix, the kind of platform that would allow Jones to follow through on his unique ideas without the pressure of having to please an audience who had just coughed up £10 to see the film.

The result is a bigger disappointment than Warcraft, mainly because his 2016 effort already had the video-game adaptation stigma attached to it so expectations were understandably reserved. Mute is strange, but not in a good way. It spends over 2 hours telling two loosely connected stories which, when they finally cross over, will no doubt inspire "is that it?" reactions for those who try to remain patient with it. The film starts with an accident involving a young boy in the water. His Amish parents refuse to have the surgery that would allow him to speak, so the boy, named Leo, grows up physically scarred and unable to speak. Unfortunately for him, the technology of the future relies heavily on voice commands, so the imposing lug (played by Alexander Skarsgard) finds it difficult to connect to other people and his surroundings, all except his girlfriend, the beautiful and blue-haired Naadirah (Seyneb Saleh).

A lot of time is spent developing their relationship as one of tenderness and genuine affection, but it is clear that Naadirah has a secret. This is the kind of the film where a character says "I love you, but you don't know me," and keeps a straight face. One night, Leo shows up at the Berlin nightclub in which they both work, only to find her missing. Fearing the worst, the hulking mute sets about uncovering the truth for himself, encountering sleazy brothels and dangerous gangsters along with way. Meanwhile, disgraced American surgeon 'Cactus' Bill (Paul Rudd) runs a black market clinic for the criminal underworld, as he waits for the arrival of forged documents that will allow him and his young daughter to leave Germany. The shifty Bill, a melting pot of anger, bitterness and shame, clearly has something to hide, and so does his creepy friend Duck (Justin Theroux). Could it be related to Naddirah's disappearance?

One of Mute's main issues is that it takes a hell of a long time to get going, taking a whole hour to reveal where it's taking you, and by which point you'll have likely lost interest. The stories of Leo's quest to find Naddirah and the illegal shenanigans of Bill and Duck feel like they belong in two completely different movies, with the tones differing so significantly that it disrupts the film's flow and atmosphere. Rudd, as a sort of evil version of his moustachioed Brian Fantana character from Anchorman, feels miscast at first before settling down and eventually stealing the film. The biggest disappointment of all is the sense of the world-building. This is a longtime passion project for Jones and the idea has likely lingered in his mind for years, but the world he has created feels shockingly hollow. It feels like a half-arsed attempt to replicate Blade Runner, but it's really put to shame by last year's sequel to Ridley Scott's 1982 masterpiece, and the visuals are so unengaging that they hinder the plot rather than moving it forward. There is a hint of a good movie buried in there somewhere, so this is precisely why I'll still go into Jones' next movie with high hopes.


Directed by: Duncan Jones
Starring: Alexander Skarsgård, Paul Rudd, Justin Theroux, Seyneb Saleh, Robert Sheehan
Country: UK/Germany

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie

Review #1,288: 'The LEGO Ninjago Movie' (2017)

It's highly unlikely that anybody was expecting 2014's The LEGO Movie and its spin-off/follow-up The LEGO Batman Movie to be quite as good as they were. The former came out of left-field and took a surprisingly anti-corporate stance in teaching its younger viewers that using their own, raw imagination to have fun will always trump sticking to the instructions, while the latter leaned on the popularity and gravelly charm of Will Arnett's vocals as well as DC's impressive roster of popular supervillains and supporting characters to create a ridiculously entertaining and eye-catching romp. The latest in LEGO's movie franchise is The LEGO Ninjago Movie, based on the popular Ninjago toy line and the various TV series, books and video games to emerge from it. Perhaps we've been spoiled, but Ninjago, with its three directors, six writers, and a noticeable lack of focus, gives the impression that this universe is already running out of steam.

The city of Ninjago is constantly under attack from the evil Lord Garmadon (Justin Theroux), a four-armed brute who lays siege to the metropolis with a variety of wild gadgets and machinery that would put James Bond to shame. Garmadon's son Lloyd (David Franco), who lives with his mother Koko (Olivia Munn), is bullied at school for being the spawn of the evil tyrant, and when his father phones him on his birthday, he quickly realises that it was an accidental butt-dial. Garmadon's efforts to conquer Ninjago are constantly thwarted by a secret gang of ninjas: Kai (Michael Pena), Jay (Kumail Nanjiani), Nya (Abbi Jacobson), Zane (Zach Woods), Cole (Fred Armisen), and the mysterious Green Ninja, who is actually Lloyd battling his own father. When he lets his emotions get the better of him, Lloyd accidentally released a giant - and live-action - cat into the city, forcing him to team up with his deadbeat dad in search of the 'Ultimate, Ultimate Weapon' to take back the city from the clutches of Meowthra.

Justin Theroux is easily the best thing in The LEGO Ninjago Movie, voicing the character with a similar growl to Arnett's Batman and getting all the best lines. He is an ego-maniacal and selfish war-lord, but his relationship with Lloyd (which he pronounces L-loyd) forms the heart of the movie. The film relies far too much on their bantering however, as the rest of the running-time fails to generate many laughs, despite the best efforts of Jackie Chan's Master Wu. Ninjago also has the handicap of being self-contained, without the blink-and-you'll-miss-em cameos from other franchises that added to the whole idea that you can do whatever the hell you want with LEGO and the results may just be wonderful. It's a noticeable step down from the two predecessors, but the message the film is trying to convey is a good one, in that violence is rarely the answer and there is always two sides to a coin. It's certainly the loudest and most action-packed of the series, so kids will no doubt take to it, but many older audience members hoping for another pleasant LEGO surprise will likely wish they'd kept this one in the box.


Directed by: Charlie Bean, Paul Fisher, Bob Logan
Voices: Dave Franco, Justin Theroux, Jackie Chan, Fred Armisen, Abbi Jacobson, Olivia Munn
Country: USA/Denmark

Rating: ***

Tom Gillespie