Warning: This review contains spoilers.
On Sept. 20, director Josh Cooley’s “Transformers One” was released in theaters. The movie tells the previously untold story of the rise of the Autobots and Decepticons and the conflict that leads to the fall of their home planet, Cybertron.
Focusing on Optimus Prime and Megatron before they become a respective hero and villain, the movie depicts their previous selves, Orion Pax and D-16, as two low-ranking miners who can’t transform. They embark on a quest to bring the Matrix of Leadership — the tool believed to restore Energon, the lifeblood of all Cybertonians — to Cybertron to end the shortage crisis. Instead, Orion Pax and D-16 end up unearthing dark truths about the planet’s leader, Sentinel Prime, and on their path to make things right end up losing themselves to their destinies as the respective leaders of the Autobots and Decepticons.
As a long-time fan of the franchise who has watched all the movies and “Transformers Prime” (2010-2013), I give the movie ten out of ten stars. This movie tells the origin story that “Transformers” fans have been waiting to see for nearly a decade.
Cooley does this franchise service by faithfully honoring the history of these beloved characters. The movie is action-packed and colorful — everything a “Transformers” movie should be.
Animating the movie was the best way to tell the characters’ origin story. A common critique of Michael Bay films is that they lack color and aren’t faithful to the animated designs. Seeing Starscream, Soundwave, Shockwave, Megatron and Optimus Prime resemble their comic counterparts made the story more authentic and all the more enjoyable.
I loved the vibrancy of Cybertron. From the opening shot of the city of Iacon with its metallic-outlined buildings vivid with all sorts of pastel and neon colors and futuristic, towering architecture, the sophistication of Cybertron was captivating.
The use of slow motion and brighter colors with soft mechanical sounds executed the transformation sequences brilliantly. Seeing the characters comedically figure out their abilities was just as entertaining as how quickly and skillfully they could wield said abilities. It was nice seeing each character have their moment to shine: Bumblebee using his laser knives, Elita-One’s duel with Arachnid, Megatron’s brutal execution of Sentinel Prime and Orion emerging from the Allspark well saying his iconic line, “I am Optimus Prime.”
The action in the fight scenes was exhilarating, racy and kept me on the edge of my seat. Although the movie is marketed as a children’s movie, the characters didn’t hold back on the emotional impact of their dialogue and violence/action — right on par with the rest of the franchise. I felt the same giddy joy I had as a little kid watching characters transform in all sorts of ways with weapons, blasts and lasers flying around them, especially since the film reused past projects’ iconic soundtracks.
The voice acting all around was superb. I was afraid that Chris Hemsworth wouldn’t live up to Peter Cullen, who has voiced Optimus Prime since the G1 cartoon (1984), but I found his rendition fitting for the movie. It made sense to have a younger and vibrant voice given that for most of the movie, Optimus is Orion Pax and has not earned the title of Prime.
Scarlett Johansson and Keegan-Michael Key embody Elita-One and Bumblebee well. Johansson is a talented actress and her talent bleeds through the screen. She does an excellent job capturing the strict and exasperated mannerisms and driven emotions of Elita-One. I loved how spunky and driven Johansson’s Elita-One is and how energetic Key’s Bumblebee is.
I was especially impressed with Brian Tyree Henry’s voice-acting chops as D-16/Megatron. He captures the distinction between D-16 and Megatron so well that one can almost forget that they are the same character. He successfully pulls off D-16’s quick spiral into antagonism and vengeance from being so earth-shatteringly betrayed by Sentinel Prime’s actions throughout the film.
The movie also did a phenomenal job with characterization.
Sentinel Prime was an excellent villain. I’ll admit that I expected him to be the villain because, in any other portrayal, he’s a jerk and traitor. A prime example — no pun intended — is “Transformers: Animated” (2007-2009) and “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” (2011). In “Transformers: Animated,” his villainy is shown as he puts Optimus down at any chance. In the “Transformers: Dark of the Moon,” he betrays the Autobots, killing the fan-favorite Transformer Ironhide and vows to destroy Earth and cyberform it into a new Cybertron.
Still, I did not expect the intensity of his character.
Sentinel Prime pretends to befriend Orion and D-16 but ends up lowering their statuses so underground that, had they not escaped, they would have never been found. He is then revealed to have savagely killed the thirteen Primes and is working with the number one enemy of the Cybertronian race. On top of that, he takes full control of government power and implements a policy that newly-produced Cybertronians from the well are to be taken to him. He removes their cogs in order to force them to work while previous Cybertronians are still able to transform and are considered the society’s “elite.”
He also brutally murders Alpha Trion and attempts to publicly execute Bumblebee, D-16 and the other members of the Elite Guard since they know the truth. His most evil moment has to be when he mocks the Megatronus logo D-16 wears and brands him with it — a symbol that becomes synonymous with “Decepticon.”
The movie kept surprising me with how evil Sentinel could be. In more ways than one, the movie explained how Sentinel would be the downfall of Cybertron and the rise of these fan-favorite characters.
This theme of power imbalances isn’t new to the franchise. It’s done consecutively in project after project but works well here. It provides meaningful explanations and opportunities for characters to fulfill their arcs.
The characterization of Orion and D-16 quickly depicts them as friends and as quickly as the film establishes this friendship, it just as quickly as it hints at the end of their friendship. Even as friends, they tend to disagree and embody the opposite of what fans would expect: Orion is the rash rule breaker while D-16 wants to follow protocol and call it a day. However, when it is revealed by Alpha Trion that Sentinel Prime is not the hero he claims to be on Orion Pax and D-16’s quest to find the Matrix of Leadership to end the Energon shortage crisis, the contrast between their reactions is telling and beautifully done. Orion wants to expose the injustice and rally Iacon together while D-16 can only think of the harsh ways he intends to kill Sentinel.
The depiction of the final moments of friendship between Orion Pax and D-16 is masterful and picture-perfect. You can pinpoint the exact moment Orion and D-16 respectively become Megatron and Optimus Prime and turn from friends to foes for life.
Orion throws himself in the crossfire, taking a hit D-16 intended to kill Sentinel, and is intensely damaged by it. He nearly falls into the Allspark well but is caught by D-16. When Orion pleads with D-16 to get him to see reason and mercy, D-16’s eyes harden and with a voice dripping with coldness and venom scoffs, “I’m done saving you,” and then drops Orion into the well.
This is then followed by a simultaneous parallel that pays homage to the first “Transformers.”
A damaged Orion Pax free-falls into the Allspark well until white and blue rays of light hit him, depicting him being bestowed with the Matrix of Leadership. “The Fall” by Brian Tyler plays, remixing the Autobot themes from the Bay movies and “Transformers Prime.” At the same time, D-16’s eyes are laser red, and the scene becomes harsher and darker with color as he succumbs to his rage, brutally executing Sentinel and tearing him apart limb by limb until all that is left is Megatron, cued by the Decepticon theme from the Bay movies. Hearing these nostalgic soundtracks of movies made this depiction emotional and defined this sequence as the core of the film.
As Megatron rallies the Decepticon army, shouting, “Rise,” the climax shifts to a damaged Orion Pax opening his eyes and finds himself transformed, the voiceover shifts to Alpha Trion saying, “Optimus Prime.” This scene cements how intertwined these characters have been and will always be.
The chills I got from this scene as “Battle of the Titans” and the soft, heroic tones of “I Am Optimus Prime” by Brian Tyler reminded me of the reason why I fell in love with this franchise in the first place. Everything about this movie, from its homage to past installments, nostalgia, character design and development, artistic worldbuilding and score fulfilled the “Transformers” fan within me and has quickly made the movie one of my favorite “Transformers” projects.
In short, “Transformers One” revitalizes the fandom with a fresh storyline that’s familiar enough without risking the “same old same old.”
Final Score: 10/10
