The Best Bumblebee Scene In Rise Of The Beasts Was Pure Transformers Magic
"Transformers" is a tricky thing to talk about. Your average moviegoer tends to enjoy the movies (at least up until 2017's "The Last Knight"), but people who use words like "cinema" and "art" when talking about movies kind of hate them. Things got better when Michael Bay finally vacated the director's chair, with 2018's "Bumblebee" ranking as easily the most acclaimed entry in the multi-billion-dollar franchise to date. Last year's "Transformers: Rise of the Beasts" tried to keep that new magic going and did so with mixed results. But there is at least one scene in the film that stands a cut above the rest, reminding us of what this franchise can be in its best moments.
It is perhaps not surprising that arguably the best moment in director Steven Caple Jr.'s "Rise of the Beasts" involves Bumblebee. Everyone's favorite little yellow Autobot has been the secret sauce in this franchise dating back to the 2007 film that started it all; even Bay understood that. That's why he was the first (and only) character to get a spin-off, and why he got to have the big hero moment in the latest entry with a grin-worthy, action-heavy, kick-ass return to the battlefield that represents what "Transformers" can and should be on the big screen.
For those who may need a refresher, Bumblebee is killed by Scourge relatively early on in the film. Naturally, the brass at Hasbro and Paramount Pictures weren't going to allow that death to stick, so he was revived during the film's climactic battle by an Energon surge. With the help of Stratosphere, Bee is then dropped into the battle from the skies above, taking out enemies with precision and style, just when his friends need him most. Cue the rapturous applause from the audience.
Bumblebee to the rescue
It's not just nice that Bumblebee comes back to save the day, and it's not just that we get to watch him blow stuff up good. (For the record, he does blow stuff up real good.) But it's the style that Caple Jr. brings to the sequence, making it pop rather than feel like a hollow resurrection dictated by corporate overlords. It's also, in my humble opinion, one of the best needle drops in recent memory, with LL Cool J's "Mama Said Knock You Out" ushering our hero out of the plane and onto the battlefield. It's a perfect music cue, particularly given that the film is set during the '90s. Chef's kiss.
I can only speak to my own experience here, but this moment gave me actual goosebumps. I am and always have been a blockbuster junkie. 2007's "Transformers" was an important movie for me, and one I'll defend to the death to this day. But I was right there with so many of you when "Age of Extinction" and "The Last Knight" bit off more than they could chew. More than that, I am now a man closer to 40 than he is to 30. It's easy to lose that childlike sense of wonder that I, as a kid fresh out of high school, was able to have in '07. This moment brought me right back to that fateful summer and satisfied the popcorn movie junkie in my heart. I can only hope I'm not alone in that.
There's also the notion of what the Transformers, as characters, represent. Optimus Prime and the Autobots are inherently optimistic characters. Despite all their species has endured, there is goodness in them. There always exists hope. There is an unshakable moral compass. Bumblebee is the best of them, and that moment was heroically optimistic. That's "Transformers."
I tried to make the case for this as one of the 50 best movie moments of 2023 on today's episode of the /Film Daily podcast, which you can listen to below: