The "Transformers" series of live-action movies that started in 2007 have obviously been made worse and worse by the previous director Michael Bay in recent years. He has an almost perverted fascination with filling the screen with explosives. If it is said that he has only begun to show signs and converge in films on escape, war, and historical themes such as "Break in Death Island" and "Pearl Harbor". , That Transformers series is simply born for him. The screen is full of all kinds of booms, robots rubbing sparks and scuffles, the protagonist rushes for a while while chasing the car, the American soldiers screams and fires, four or five copies not only make passers-by and audience aesthetic fatigue, even fans are scared away. few. The global box office and word-of-mouth continue to decline, so pause the main line, starting with the popular character Bumblebee and telling side stories seems to be exactly what is needed at this time.
The beginning of the movie is a fighting paragraph with a background introduction. It clarifies when the story begins. It turns out that this is the prequel to the entire series: before the Transformers came to Earth, the planet Cybertron had a deceptive event. The tragic war with Autobot. When Autobot was at risk, he sent a loyal and brave Hornet (he did not have the name Hornet at this time, called B-127) to the earth in 1987, intending to lurch in this new place and wait for the arrival of Autobot to establish a new base. . B-127 crashed to the earth and almost caused casualties. Fortunately, it was shocking and unsafe. It did not leave the soldiers with the impression of a mob; but I did not expect the two bad guys to chase after the fierce fight because the Hornet refused to say Qingtian The falling of the column destroyed the vocal function. He was seriously injured and could only disguise as a car and continue to wait on the earth for the arrival of the Autobots.
Yes, the Bumblebee, which has always used a combination of radio frequency bands to replace the talking function, used to be able to talk. It can be heard from the language style that he is like a young soldier, decisive and swift, facing the command of Optimus Prime, he is on call, and can also deal with it flexibly in battle, it can be said that he is in the main line. Isn't the personality that likes tricks a little different? What was he like before?
(At this point, I suddenly remembered that Bumblebee between the first and second installments seemed to have briefly restored the ability to speak. Forget it, just assume that this paragraph does not exist... In short, he used radio instead of language for most of the movie. of)
This time, the important responsibility of the director is Travis Knight, animator and boss of Leica Studio. He directed the cartoon "Legend of Magic Strings" for the first time, and he also participated in the production of "Legend of Magic Strings" as the chief animator before. "Ghost Mother", "Box Monster", "Psychic Boy Norman" and other stop-motion animations with very recognizable picture styles. He can be said to be experienced in animation movies. This time he is the first to shoot live + CG. Suffer. To sum up the previous works, his style tends to be somewhat gloomy fairy tales. The protagonists are all lonely and out-of-fit children, but they take on important tasks to fight evil, and at the same time they grow up-this preference Maybe it has something to do with the director's own experience. He is actually the heir of Nike, with a net worth of hundreds of billions, but he chose to make cartoons. After much struggle, more or less reflected in the work. These children's growth-themed movies don't seem to have much in common with the Transformers series. I want to find out how this series will develop. As a result, the fighting paragraphs at the beginning of the film are very proficient and smooth, and Knight has easily transformed into a Hollywood blockbuster director as if he has changed himself. People can't help but sigh that young filmmakers have a strong adaptability...
Unexpectedly, after this fighting episode, "Bumblebee" has completely become a subject of teenage growth that Knight is familiar with. The protagonist Charlie is an 18-year-old student girl. She has just lost her father not long ago, and she can't get out of her grief, let alone. Accepting the fact that his mother has found a new husband, he feels unhappy every day like a hedgehog holding a ball. No one can approach him. He is a rebellious young man. Because she can only ride a scooter to work at the hot dog stand in the amusement park every day, what she hopes most is to get her own car on her 18th birthday, but as expected, she talks with her mother, stepfather, and younger brother. Charlie was disappointed all day. She is very confused about the future.
But on her birthday, Charlie found B-127 disguised as a Volkswagen Beetle, hiding in the scrap corner of the garage, and drove it home. Bumblebee, who has been lurking for a long time, also seemed to feel uncomfortable. Once he got to Charlie's garage, he couldn't help transforming immediately, as if to say: I found you!
Some time ago I happened to watch Brad Bird’s classic animation "Steel Giant", plus one of the executive producers of "Bumblebee" is Spielberg, this is indeed too easy to think of "ET Alien" and "Steel Giant", especially the latter. The same is the setting of the Cold War background-"The alien civilization has fallen to the United States, we would rather destroy it than give it to the Soviets!"-has become the best explanation for the reckless and rude behavior of mankind, and successfully investigated The Li family is connected with Robot Wars. After all, if only the robots just came to the earth to fight and ran away, there would not be as much trouble as the American soldiers. But "Steel Giant" was filmed in that era. The impact of the Cold War was obviously more deeply rooted in everyone’s life, not just talking about information. At that time, Americans actually lived in the fear of missiles and war, and everyone was at risk. , Everyone around the kind neighbors can be spies, "Iron Giant", a super-powerful but pure-hearted alien robot seems out of place. He is a superhero, more like a child, the final goal of the film is "you have super abilities, it is up to you to be a good person or a bad person", it is more like using innocence to war madmen in a chaotic world. Declaration of justice.
And Bumblebee is not a superhero. Although he has outstanding fighting ability, he will eventually return to Autobot and restore her identity as a fighter. Charlie is not a superhero. She has no intention of saving the world, but only hopes that her family will restore harmony and find it back. The love between the lost family members. But it is not appropriate to say that Bumblebee is Charlie's pet. They are more like friends who met by chance and grew up together. So the movie simplifies the contradiction between the robots to the greatest extent. All things can be summarized in one sentence. The Decepticons want to send a message to inform the headquarters that the earth is a new battlefield, and the Hornet came forward to stop it, and Charlie also helped.
Under a simple story, the director has more time to shape the character itself, which is what the original series lacks most: the protagonist under the lens of Michael Bay is always thin, and should be running and shouting. Shout; the image of the protagonist’s girlfriend is even more difficult to describe. Remember the first time Megan Fox appeared on the screen and the camera was aimed at her hip?
Having said that, I have to praise the heroine Hailee Steinfeld alone. The first time I saw her acting in a movie was the Coen Brothers' "Thunder in the Earth". Her strong, forbearing and somewhat stubborn image of a girl seeking revenge for her father is unforgettable. A few years later, I still remember her fierce eyes and With two marijuana braids, this movie also earned her an Oscar nomination and one step into the ranks of top child stars. Later, whether she starred in a large-scale science fiction film, a popular youth film, or a record, participated in "Perfect Pitch", Dusu Development is good. For example, Chloe Moretz, who is similar to her age, has only begun to further polish her acting skills in the past two years; there are many Elle Fanning films, but it seems that she is always limited by her too sweet appearance. Hailey seems to have a natural stubbornness and maturity. She can play a young and mature girl with a heavy burden on her back, or she can play a heartless American girl. The plasticity of the appearance and the more important acting guarantee. , Her ability to control the role allows people to see more possibilities in the future.
And the director naturally saw these characteristics of her, and left a lot of screen time to her without reservation. In the morning, she wore her messy hair, brushed her teeth with headphones, imitated the action of knocking on a drum, and followed the music. She came to the living room and found that her mother and stepfather hadn’t cooked breakfast, so she rolled her eyes and secretly cursed this damn. One day, while secretly facing the photo of his father and himself, he felt sad. She is facing the pain that a child of this age should not bear, she has extraordinary talents and strong qualities, but there is no one who can inspire these qualities to make her realize the meaning of her existence-the previous role Is the father.
So the emergence of Bumblebee allowed her not only to own a new car, but to find herself again. The moving foothold of the movie is not that the earth is saved again and the Autobot won again, but the moment when the two people grow up separately: Charlie puts on a new radio by Charlie, and has his own new voice, like a She speaks like a baby; Charlie went from being afraid of remembering the happy past with her father to having the courage to take a leap. At that moment, she not only helped her friends, but also helped herself. It may be painful to lock the heart, but it is also a simple decision. Sometimes it takes a miracle like Bumblebee to unlock the locked heart. How lucky Charlie is.
Needless to say, the bumblebee in the film is even more cute after various funny passages, like a naughty and clever trick-or-treating kid. He not only surprises frequently in language learning, but he is also curious about the world around him. He who broke into Charlie's house by mistake caused him to smash the house into a garbage dump because of his clumsiness. After being blamed, he shrank into a ball and made people laugh. The movie deliberately gave a lot of shots to Bumblebee's blue shiny eyes, full of innocence and loyalty. Who wouldn't want to reach out and hug him?
In the movie, there are a variety of popular music and movies from the 80s. The Smiths will naturally be cueed many times, although the bumblebee popped the tape out as soon as he listened to it. Haha; Do you think it’s a bit too much? But then I thought about it, isn't the Bumblebee speaking like this, he should have heard more than anyone else. In addition, director Knight’s favorite movie should be "Breakfast Club", right? This youth film is no less classic than the godfather to American audiences born in the 70s and 80s. Many people recite every line in it back-to-back. Doesn’t it, even Bumblebee has a grievance for the last shot? With a wave, what a chic departure! The classics will never go out of style. After watching "Bumblebee", my first thought was to revisit the breakfast club.
If there is any dissatisfaction with the movie, it is probably the end. Although there is a small surprise that can be foreseen, Bumblebee and Charlie have finally joined forces to save the earth, and they are about to embark on their own different life trajectories. It is really too unsatisfactory. Director Knight, do you really plan to make another one? I haven't seen enough~
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WX: Rice Cinema
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