Home | Articles | Blog
Bumblebee 4k UHD

Bumblebee 4k UHD

Posted on 11 May 2019

I was 5 years old when The Transformers fought their way into my heart, and I was lucky enough to be given both an Optimus Prime and a Megatron toy for my Birthday/Christmas (ah, the joys of a Boxing Day birthday!) I still remember crawling out of bed at 4am to open the presents I suspected were waiting for me, only to be sent back for what seemed like an eternity. I still have my Optimus, over 35 years later, in excellent condition considering all his years of service. From that year onward, every Christmas as a child was a Transformers Christmas, and as an adult I still get the same warm glow on seeing these plastic combatants sitting on my shelf. 80's kids never grow old, they just spend more on their toys!

When I saw Michael Bay's initial Transformers movie, I enjoyed it for the frenetic action and for the feeling that, finally, the franchise was being taken seriously. A lot has to do with technology catching up, but the series has always been a fascinating sci-fi opus with myriad possibilities for stories and style. Sadly for me, Mr Bay lost me with the subsequent sequels, becoming more obnoxious and fractured in every possible way. I never much cared for the designs either, so have always seen the movies as something of little interest running alongside (and likely paying for) more nostalgic toy-lines.

Enter Travis Knight and his Bumblebee prequel (and now seeming reboot). Taking the series back to the 80's to cash in on the popularity the decade is currently experiencing thanks to hits like Stranger Things and IT always seemed like a good idea to me. Knight has stripped back all of Bay's excesses to concentrate on character and story, only occasionally delving into spectacle when called for (more on this later).

The movie opens with a breathtaking shot of Cybertron, the camera swooping into a fight scene with... bloody hell, recognisable robot characters interacting with each other! Familiar faces arrive on the battlefield, the facial expressions on the characters showing genuine fear (Prime's eyes in particular are wonderfully expressive). Shockwave, Starscream, Soundwave, all updated but showcasing their proper colours and design queues, dominate the screen with their arrival. Friendly Autobot faces under fire include Wheeljack, Brawn, Arcee and Cliffjumper, all in defiant retreat of the overwhelming forces - it's one hell of an opening before the film shifts to Earth and Bumblebee's story takes centre stage.

Clearly the Director had a sense of what he wanted to achieve with the film - pleasing old-school fans like myself with some fantastic design work and bringing us back on-board a franchise in decline. More than this, he manages to pepper 'Bee's story on Earth with enough adrenaline shots to keep the story moving along at a cracking pace.

Most of the heavy lifting is performed by Hailee Steinfeld (The Edge of Seventeen) as she befriends the alien visitor in a manner mastered by Executive Producer Steven Spielberg. She delivers an impressive performance, clearly struggling with the loss of her father and bringing vulnerability to the role. She's headstrong without being too bratty (though she has moments early on...) and interacting well with her co-star. For a young actress I think she has terrific range and I hope she goes on to similarly meaty roles. 

Boy sidekick Memo, portrayed by Jorge Lendeborg Jr, is a little less impressive. His moon-eyed geeky obsession with Steinfeld's Charlie isn't terribly inspiring, and despite one moment of manning up later in the film, he achieves little of any note, making me wonder why he was there at all. Ricardo Hoyos as diving jock Tripp had far more presence, even remembering Charlie as she used to dive with his sister - I kinda wish he'd been the male lead, or transferred some of that charisma onto Memo. Neither are served particularly well by the script, but it's Steinfeld's movie and her performance is strong enough that such sideline characters are thankfully eclipsed in favour of the more emotional connection between girl and robot.

And let's not forget John Cena - he's no stranger to military roles thanks to WWE film projects such as The Marine, and here he makes a suitably buff jarhead for the film. His features are pure 80's action hero so he suits the film to a T. I'm a big fan of Cena personally and I'm thrilled to see him get what could be a decent break into Hollywood acting on the tail of the wonderful David Bautista (Grax in Guardians of the Galaxy).

Due to the scaled back nature of the story, there's more room for the villains, and we get three splendid menaces to enjoy - Blitzwing (in a Starscream cosplay!) makes an early entrance, but the real stars are Dropkick and Shatter as triple-changers hunting down Bee127 with lethal efficiency. Angela Bassett (Black Panther, Contact) as Shatter purrs her way through some delicious lines, while thug-in-tow Dropkick (Justin Theroux, cousin of Louis) has some great one-liners peppered throughout the film. While neither have much of a back-story, they're entertaining and engaging in the way all film-villains should be.

Direction was almost uniformly excellent, with some nicely-framed transformation scenes, clear battles (finally!) and some lovely sweeping camerawork offset by close-ups showcasing the characters emotional struggles. Knight clearly understands how to convey emotion (he was behind the excellent Kubo and the Two Strings) and injects a surprising amount of heart into a series famed for vacuous and excessive violence. When action is required, he sets up some fantastic fight scenes, my particular favourite being an homage to the original 80's cartoon intro, wherein Bumblebee is thrown off his enemy, lands in car mode, arcing around at speed to launch himself at his opponent (a move performed by Jazz in the cartoon). Little moments like this really spoke to me as a fan, and were very much appreciated.

There are a few gripes as is customary - the birthday gift from her stepfather of a book about smiling more seemed a bit on-the-nose (and to be fair she'd been completely anti-social toward her family up to this point), but at least Uncle Hank was on hand to provide probably the only real positive male influence. All credit to Len Cariou as Hank for making his gesture of gifting Charlie a broken down Bumblebee a genuinely moving one. I wish he'd been in the film a little more, he shone in every scene.

For the most parts the nods to 80's culture were well done (the salute being met with the Breakfast Club air-fist worked on two levels, both to convey the era and to provide an even more subtle nod to Judd Nelson, voice actor for Hot Rod in the animated movie), the use of The Touch by the awesome Stan Bush during another scene and even the fun use of product placement all worked for me, but at times it seemed overly reliant on period music to convey the mood where an original score might have been more appropriate. 

On 4K the film looks stunning. Colours and skin-tones are detailed and even, with pin-sharp freeze-frames aided by Dolby Vision to really make the scenes pop. The Dolby Atmos has impressive resonance, and it really feels like cinema has come home with this disc. I made the jump to 4K for precisely this kind of experience, and Bumblebee makes an impressive argument for anyone trying to justify the upgrade. The Blu Ray disc included is fine, but lacks the brighter colours and crisper whites that excel in things like headlights and explosions. Blacks are nice and inky on my LG C8 55" OLED, but nowhere does the picture pop more than on Cybertron itself. Running like a demo-reel for UHD, every pinprick of light and rendered detail looks superb, and it's the ultimate way to enjoy the film.

All of the special features are relegated to the Blu Ray disc, and features a number of featurettes (Bringing Bumblebee to the big screen, Sector 7 Archive, A close look at the renders of the Transformers on Cybertron and 9 deleted scenes).

Overall, I felt this was the shot in the arm that the series needed. Bumblebee might be the lowest grossing film to date, but the pared-back budget means it's still turning a profit for the studio. Being more faithful to the source has certainly ensured that older fans will champion the film, and the kinder, gentler message will mean they're more likely to share it with the next generation. I'm not sure I want to see Prime rip out any more spines thank you.

Bumblebee will doubtless age far better than it's forebears, and I hope the next film follows this new direction. 

Follow A.I. on Twitter and Like us on Facebook to get all the latest site updates

Also Happening:

Gundam SEED Freedom Review
posted on 26 Mar 2024
Metallic Rouge First Thoughts
posted on 27 Feb 2024
Delicious in Dungeon First Thoughts
posted on 15 Feb 2024
Bang Brave Bang Bravern! First Thoughts
posted on 06 Feb 2024
The AI translation fascination
posted on 08 Jan 2024
Pluto First Thoughts
posted on 10 Nov 2023
Correcting clickbait articles comparing She Hulk and One Piece salaries
posted on 18 Sep 2023