Transformers One is the best and most entertaining Transformers movie in a long time
After seven Transformers live-action films of – I’ll say generously – varying quality, Transformers One the best film of the franchise can be damned with faint praise. But even I went to the animated Transformers One with low expectations. After all, I was in the middle of watching all five of the Michael Bay-directed Transformers movies as part of my fascination with loud Hollywood crap. The only possible direction was up.
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Director Josh Cooley’s semi-reboot of the Transformers film universe—whether it has any connection to the Transformers Bay universe is somewhat unclear—is better than the prequel premise (and the trailers) suggest. Transformers One is funny, sometimes sweet, sometimes heartbreaking, and utterly compelling in telling the origin story of friends-turned-enemies, Optimus Prime and Megatron. Thanks to its strong cast and a solid story underpinned by a classic hero’s journey, Transformers One has a spark that we have rarely seen in a Transformers flick, apart from 2018 bumblebee.
Transformers OneThe prequel setting of reveals the early friendship between young Optimus and Megatron, when they still lived on their homeworld of Cybertron and were known as Orion Pax and D-16 respectively. Naturally, they clash and become rival leaders of the Autobots and Decepticons. One manages to make this schism surprisingly credible.
Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry) are introduced in the film as cogs in a machine, low-class miners who mine the resource Energon. The two are lifelong, genuine friends who aspire to greater things, including the ability to transform, which, remarkably, not every Cybertronian possesses. Orion is the optimist, D-16 the realist. But both place their faith in Cybertron’s leader, Sentinel Prime (Jon Hamm), who is searching for the Matrix of Leadership to return the planet to its former glory while protecting the Cybertronians from alien invaders known as the Quintessons.
Pax and D-16 eventually embark on a search for a long-lost Prime, Alpha Trion (Laurence Fishburne), and are joined by bots Elita-1 (Scarlett Johansson) and B-127 (Keegan-Michael Key). The group’s journey, which is at times a rollercoaster ride, is peppered with shocking revelations about their planet and the long-dead Primes, interspersed with plenty of humor. Almost all of the jokes are genuine, including the references to the original Transformers: The Movie and even Key & Peele Sketches. Not surprisingly One relies on Key’s B-127 to provide much of the film’s comedic elements.
Transformers One is also biblical, as its producer promised, and takes narrative elements from The Ten Commandments, Ben-Hurand even The Matrix. It’s equal parts epic, kid-friendly, and occasionally pretty brutal. Evolving into Optimus Prime and Megatron, Orion and D-16 aren’t afraid to rip apart or decapitate any machine that stands in their way.
There were two things that initially put me off Transformers One before the screening: the film’s rudimentary computer-animated aesthetic and the idea that our heroes couldn’t transform, a plot point used as a visual gag in early trailers. The final product proves that both creative decisions were smart. Transformers OneThe action scenes benefit greatly from the chunky, colorful look of the characters; the kinetic, ballet-like battles are both visually spectacular And digestible – a welcome change from the mechanical chaos of the Bay Transformers saga. When Orion, D-16, Elita and B receive their transformation abilities, it is one of the most stirring moments in the film, a change in the course of their lives that ties into the overall theme of Transformers One.
Transformers OneThe Transformers origin story sets in motion a potential new film series that could be Transformers fans’ best hope given the live-action side of the franchise. The garish, incomprehensible Bay films and their mostly improved live-action prequels were rarely as comprehensive, charming and hopeful as the new animated Transformers film. These live-action projects have also set us on a course that will lead to a GI Joe/Transformers crossover film, a mashup of toy lines whose legitimacy outside of Hasbro’s boardroom is questionable.
In some ways, it feels like the franchise is just beginning (again) when we see Transformers Onepainful separation of Optimus Prime and Megatron. But if potential sequels can capture the magic and drama of this story, the Transformers cinematic universe will have changed for the better.
