Bumblebee Review: 6 Ups & 4 Downs

4. Hailee Steinfeld Slays It

Bay's Transformers films always had a problem with their human characters. More specifically, the human protagonists were always exceedingly unlikable characters. Between Shia Labeouf's Sam Witwicky in the first three films and Mark Wahlberg's Cade Yaeger in the latter two films, there wasn't an ounce of charisma on-screen. They were both unlikable, hateful, immature, man-children who actively insulted the other characters and the audience's intelligence.

By the grace of God, Bumblebee has given fans the first actual likable human protagonist in the form of Hailee Steinfeld's Charlie Watson. Charlie is very much a protagonist ripped straight from the pages of an '80s Amblin film, complete with a broken family backstory and all. She gets a solid arc over the course of the film as she meets Bumblebee and develops a relationship, but it is all thanks to Steinfeld's incredible performance that this becomes the beating heart of the film.

Steinfeld works wonders here, delivering a powerhouse performance that sells some big emotional payoffs in increasingly small amounts of time. The film is at its best when it is being unapologetically earnest and Steinfeld imbues Charlie with that exact same heart and commitment.