Bumblebee

It is the sixth installment in the Transformers film series, serving as a spin-off and prequel to the 2007 film. The film is directed by Travis Knight and written by Christina Hodson. It stars Hailee Steinfeld, John Cena, Jorge Lendeborg Jr., John Ortiz, Jason Drucker, and Pamela Adlon, and features Dylan O’Brien (as the title character), Angela Bassett, Justin Theroux, and Peter Cullen in voice roles.

It was Knight’s first live-action film, as well as the first film in the Transformers series not to be directed by Michael Bay, who instead acted as a producer.

Principal photography on the film began on July 31, 2017, in Los Angeles and San Francisco, California. Set in 1987, Autobot Bumblebee is sent to Earth but is injured and is found and helped by a teenage girl named Charlie.

The film premiered on December 3, 2018, at the Sony Center in Berlin, and was released in the United States on December 21, by Paramount Pictures.

It received positive reviews from critics, which praised its action sequences, Steinfeld’s performance, Knight’s direction, visuals, and the 1980s setting.

Despite the film being the lowest-grossing installment of the franchise at the time, it was a box office success, grossing $468 million worldwide against a production budget between $102–135 million.

A sequel, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, was released on June 9, 2023.

Decepticon forces led by Starscream, Soundwave, and Shockwave intercept the Autobots during their evacuation, and Optimus sends Autobot scout B-127 to Earth in an escape pod to set up a base of operations while he stays behind to fend off the Decepticons.

B-127 reaches Earth and crash-lands in California in 1987, disrupting a training exercise by Sector 7, a secret government agency tasked with monitoring extraterrestrial activity on Earth.

Colonel Jack Burns presumes B-127 to be hostile and orders his men to attack the Autobot. B-127 scans a Willys MB jeep and flees to a nearby mine, where he is ambushed by the Decepticon Blitzwing.

When B-127 refuses to reveal Optimus’s whereabouts, Blitzwing tears out his voice box and damages his memory core, prompting B-127 to kill the Decepticon with one of his own missiles.

B-127 scans a nearby 1967 yellow Volkswagen Beetle before collapsing from his injuries.

Elsewhere, Charlie Watson, who is depressed by the death of her father and resentful of her mother Sally’s relationship with her new boyfriend Ronald, finds the Beetle in a local scrapyard owned by her Uncle Hank, who gives it to her as an 18th-birthday present.

When trying to start it, Charlie accidentally activates a homing signal that is detected by the Decepticons Shatter and Dropkick while they interrogate and kill Cliffjumper on one of Saturn’s moons.

The two Decepticons head to Earth, acquire human-made vehicle forms, and encounter Sector 7; pretending to be peacekeepers, they persuade the agency to help them capture B-127, despite Burns’ objections.

As Charlie attempts to fix the Beetle, it transforms into B-127, whom she befriends and names “Bumblebee”. She then unknowingly unlocks a message from Optimus urging Bumblebee to defend Earth, which restores some of his memories.

They are discovered by Charlie’s neighbor Memo, who agrees to protect their secret, while Bumblebee learns to use his radio to communicate.

While left alone one day, Bumblebee unintentionally destroys Charlie’s home and causes an energy spike that attracts Sector 7’s attention.

When Sally blames Charlie for the havoc, Charlie has an emotional breakdown and finally expresses her pain over her father’s death and leaves with Bumblebee and Memo, only to be intercepted by Sector 7 and the Decepticons.

Bumblebee is captured while Charlie and Memo are returned home. Charlie convinces her brother Otis to cover for her and Memo as they follow Burns to the Sector 7 outpost where Bumblebee is being held.

While torturing Bumblebee, Shatter and Dropkick accidentally activate a message from Optimus and learn that the Autobots are coming to Earth. Dropkick then kills Bumblebee and Dr.

Powell, but not before the latter is able to alert Burns to the truth about the Decepticons. Charlie electroshocks Bumblebee back to life, restoring his memories, and fends off Burns’ obstruction.

After evading the military with the help of Memo and her family, Charlie and Bumblebee pursue the Decepticons, who are using a radio tower at a nearby harbor to contact their allies on Cybertron.

Shatter shoots down Burns’ helicopter when he tries to intervene, but he is saved by Bumblebee. Bumblebee fights Dropkick and binds him with a chain, ripping him apart. Charlie deactivates the Decepticon beacon, only to be pursued by Shatter.

Bumblebee destroys a dam wall, triggering a flood that causes a cargo ship to crush and destroy Shatter.

Bumblebee and Charlie escape the army and later arrive on a cliff overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge, where Charlie, realizing that Bumblebee has a greater purpose, says goodbye.

Bumblebee takes on a new 1977 Chevrolet Camaro form and drives off, and Charlie reunites with her family and Memo. Bumblebee reunites with Optimus, who successfully escaped Cybertron.

He praises Bumblebee for keeping Earth safe as they watch more escape pods enter Earth’s atmosphere. Meanwhile, Charlie finishes repairing the Corvette she and her father were working on and takes it out for a drive.