There's a lot going on in Bumblebee, even for longtime Transformers fans.
If your brain was left as boggled as the Autobot's memory cells after fighting Blitzwing, never
fear.
Let us un-confuse you, and break down the meaning of the end of Bumblebee.
We won't deceive you — there's spoilers ahead.
Bumblebee buzzed into theaters to bring moviegoers a new kind of Transformers film — one focused
more on characters than screen-shaking action sequences.
The origin story brings back the titular Autobot, and also introduces the spunky 18-year-old
Charlie, who discovers him in a scrapyard.
"You sound like a lil bumblebee."
Bumblebee's concluding act pushes its protagonists to be quick on their feet, bold with their
hearts, and unflinching in their choices.
All that's fairly easy for Bee, who proves willing to selflessly drown himself in a flood
if it means taking the Decepticon Shatter with him, and saving humanity.
Charlie shows her bravery by diving into the waters to rescue Bee after the waters overtake
him.
The move is more than just a rescue it also represents Charlie reconnecting with her past
as a state champion diver, an activity she'd rejected after her father's death.
But Charlie's biggest moment of courage was her personal sacrifice letting Bumblebee go
instead of keeping a watchful eye over him herself.
Not only did this demonstrate Charlie's selflessness, it also set her apart from other protagonists
in the six-movie-long Transformers series, who rarely left the sides of their Transformers.
Charlie is no action hero, nor is she a child of destiny she's just a typical teenager,
whose life doesn't really have room for cosmic-scale conflict.
But it's not like she couldn't team up with her old Bug again if she can help save the
world once, she can do it twice, right?
"Like this"
"Not bad!"
On a secluded hill overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge, Bee and Charlie share a tearful
goodbye after the final battle.
Bee prepares to head to San Francisco, while Charlie stresses her newfound need to stay
behind in Brighton Falls with her loved ones.
Bumblebee then scans a yellow 1977 Camaro, sparking some jealousy from Charlie, and then
rides onto the Golden Gate Bridge alongside a red Freightliner semi-truck.
The truck turns out to be the movie's Generation-1 version of Optimus Prime, while Bee's sweet
Chevy form is the same one he assumes from the start in 2007's Transformers.
All this seems to create a direct link between the end of Bumblebee and the start of the
first Transformers.
It's sort of a sweet moment but the more you think about the timeline of the movie series,
the less sense it makes.
"You serious?"
The Transformers movie timeline is a total mess of continuity, with every entry in the
series seeming to somehow contradict the one that came before it.
In Michael Bay's first movie, it's explained that the Autobots landed on Earth in 2007,
motivated to show up by a need to find the AllSpark — an ancient all-powerful artifact.
When Bumblebee learns that Sam Witwicky has a map that leads to the AllSpark, he contacts
Optimus Prime, who then touches down on Earth for the first time with three other Autobots.
The Bumblebee movie basically tosses that piece of lore into the trash by having Bee
meet Prime on Earth in 1987, 20 years earlier, on the Golden Gate Bridge.
The lore is further jumbled by the movie's mid-credits scene, which features Bumblebee
and Optimus Prime meeting in a forest, looking up at the sky, and spotting several Autobots
careening toward Earth to begin building their new base — something that just hasn't happened
by the time the original movie begins.
But while this change stomps all over established series canon, it also opens up room for more
prequel movies.
If the future films are as good as Bumblebee, we'll call it a fair trade.
The human antagonist of Bumblebee is Agent Jack Burns, played by none other than John
Cena.
Burns harbors a serious grudge against Bumblebee after the Autobot crash lands on Earth and
fights a destructive battle against the Decepticon Blitzwing at the base of Sector 7, the secret
agency that oversees alien activity.
The cataclysmic battle doesn't just leave Bumblebee without his voicebox — it also
gives Burns a nasty scar.
It's not difficult to see why the military man is quick to team up with the Decepticons
Shatter and Dropkick when they claim Bumblebee is an extraterrestrial criminal.
Naturally, it turns out that the Decepticons are nothing but a pair of lying robo-bullies,
who couldn't care less about humankind.
"They literally call themselves Decepticons.
That doesn’t set off any red flags?"
Burns experiences a change of heart when Bumblebee saves him from dying in a helicopter crash
during the movie's final fight.
Realizing he's misjudged the robot, Burns ultimately acknowledges Bumblebee as a soldier
and a hero, giving him a farewell salute while Bee pumps his fist in the air, Breakfast Club-style.
Burns buys Bee and Charlie time to escape before the rest of Sector 7's soldiers show
up.
It's an act of kindness that leaves Burns open to play a sympathetic, or even heroic
role in a potential future movie.
Bumblebee leaves plenty of room open for a sequel.
One mid-credits scene serves as a springboard for more Autobot adventures, while another
grants Charlie some closure and some freedom in the form of a working red convertible.
The arrangement leaves this one particular story feeling wrapped up, but the minds behind
the series haven't been shy about discussing what might come next.
Transformers series producer Lorenzo Di Bonaventura has described Bumblebee as being not a full
reboot, but rather a new direction for the franchise.
As he said to Entertainment Weekly,
"If Bee's successful, we can have a Bee 2, no doubt.
We have a good sense of where a second movie would go."
There are plenty of potential paths to choose from when thinking about the future of Transformers.
The movie could be the beginning of its own franchise, or the start of a series of spin-offs
focused on other Autobots.
If the film is successful enough, Paramount might greenlight that Optimus Prime solo movie
people have been chattering about, or put into development the Cyberton-set animated
sequel director Travis Knight has said he's keen on.
The studio could take the series years into the past or decades into future to tell all
sorts of new stories.
In the words of Di Bonaventura,
"I think we've got an abundance of choices.
It's really more about narrowing them down than anything else, and deciding which one
we think is the strongest one to go with next."
Whichever direction the Transformers franchise goes from here, we hope it keeps this new
commitment to character and quality.
After five movies' worth of sometimes nonsensical Michael Bayhem, the series has made what's
being called its best movie yet.
As long as the filmmakers keep that up, we'll be there to ride along.
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