Robert Jefferson

First, I'd like to recognize Bay's Transformers 1 for being a landmark cinematic achievement that I enjoyed four times over in the theater despite its flaws. We can say what we like, but Bay breathed life into the 80s cartoon in a way which was unimaginable to us, the ones who grew up watching it. Bumblebee takes Transformers in the right direction, which is away from Bay's convoluted vision, whatever that was, by attempting to infuse the franchise with heart; however, Bee was far too light and plain-Jane for my taste. Many have compared it to ET, and I think they're right; but therein lies the problem: Bumblebee jettisons the grit of Bay's Transformers completely as if grit cannot coexist with a moving story, which is wrongheaded. Transformers was never an ET story; it's war, and no genre balances heart and gritty action than does a good war flick. Related to its lightness is the silliness of its more serious aspects: I mean the main character's family conflict and especially the military and government involvement. The former was reminiscent of the Whitwicki family silliness of Bay's Transformers and the latter was a product of unconvincing actors and uninformed scenarios. John Cena was the most disappointing in this regard as I never was convinced that he was a full-bird colonel. He simply did not portray the poise, maturity, intellect, and military bearing of an experienced veteran of his rank. The other military decision makers and their scenarios seemed to have been an adolescent vision of how the military and government works at the highest levels. This silliness, I believe, was a huge distraction and an incessant reminder that what I was watching was not at all real. In the end, I support this movie for its franchise direction, but for the next one, I'd like to see Knight and team take it up a few notches by combining Bay's grit with heart and replacing silliness with groundedness. The closer it gets to a war film, in my opinion, the better.