Review by Philip Boyce
The Film: Transformers One is the untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but once were friends, bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever. In the first-ever fully CG-animated Transformers movie, Transformers One features a star-studded voice cast, including Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, and Steve Buscemi, with Laurence Fishburne, and Jon Hamm.
The Review: Transformers One succeeds in the two things a franchise entry should achieve: please existing fans and appeal to a wider audience. This film is jam-packed with plot points, character moments and Easter eggs pulled from decades of various Transformers lore, but never to the detriment of the film itself. You don’t need to know anything at all about Transformers to come away grinning from ear-to-ear.
I remember my jaw dropping decades ago watching a VHS of the cartoon episode “War Dawn”, as young robot Orion Pax became none other than Optimus Prime. That’s the starting point for Transformers One, as well as equally defining moments for those around him, most notably D-17 or, as we’d come to know him, Megatron.
Straight from the off, the scale of the imagery took my breath away; it’s just as awe-inspiring to look at as any of the live-action movies. Cybertron looks glorious! In such an intricately detailed world some of the early action scenes can be a little hard on your eyes as you try to make out the finer details, but they’re meant to be chaotic (especially the brilliantly funny race scene). It’s an intense introduction to a whole new world. As it should be.
In the second half these scenes are more structured, as the characters’ mission becomes the main focus, each battle driving the plot and the characters forward. There isn’t a minute of wasted screen time. The imagination on show is simply incredible and does the history of this franchise proud. So it certainly looks the part, but the main element that sucked me in was having well defined, three-dimensional characters.
They feel real in a way that I wasn’t expecting, in no small part thanks to Chris Hemsworth as Orion Pax and Brian Tyree Henry as D-16. Starting out as jovial, youthful spirits, as things progress so do their performances in subtle ways, culminating in the climactic, truly tragic scenes. We all know where they’ll end up, so the fact the finale is still as powerful as it is speaks volumes. We’re left in no doubt as to the legacy they’ll forge. Scarlett Johansson as Elita-1 also brings a surprising amount of comedy, the three of them and Keegan-Michael Key as B-127 (Bumblebee) bouncing off each other very naturally, adding a great deal of realism to their relationships and a ton of laugh-out-loud moments.
Orion’s hare-brained schemes lead them from one disaster to the next until, finally, they stumble upon the location of the Creation Matrix, the lost relic of the Quintesson war. Sentinel Prime has been searching for it as a means to restore the flow of energon and save their species, so Orion and D decide they’ll be the ones to find it.
Sentinel is a main character in the third, and in my opinion, the best, of the live-action movies, so I came away a little disappointed that this apparently wasn’t the prequel to those films that I thought it was. But, after a bit of research, I’ve found out that according to the producers (the same team as the live-action series) this is indeed that prequel.
Having just finished an epic real time read through of Marvel UK’s original comic, I’m used to supposedly finished storylines and character arcs resurfacing in original ways, and with this film taking place millions of years ago anything could happen in that time. However, even as a film in its own right, it’s still fantastic, the perfect update of the Transformers stories I grew up with. Indeed, it could easily be described as a love letter to fans of a certain vintage. Some of the plot points and background details even originated in prose stories in our UK annuals way back when!
I inwardly whooped at throwaway lines, the inclusion of so many favourite minor characters, a fun reference to a key song from the original animated flick, and even the occasional character pose that all harked back to something I’d seen or read over the past four decades. Its release here coincided with the UK comic’s 40th anniversary and as the first of a proposed trilogy, it left this fan excited and clamouring for more. But will there be more?
Transformers One has broken even at the box office but isn’t a smash hit. Yet. We must remember two things here. Firstly, we’re in a different time now, when home streaming/purchasing is just as important as the box office, and secondly, Transformers isn’t just movies. As long as the films, comics and cartoons keep driving those toy sales then the toy company owners will keep green lighting.
In conclusion, if this review has sounded fawning that’s because Transformers One deserves a love letter in return.
Philip Boyce
• Transformers One is in cinemas now | Official UK Site: transformersmovie.co.uk
• Bookmark Philip’s brilliant OiNK blog, which includes plenty of Transformers goodness, now at oink.blog – including his epic real-time readthrough of the Marvel UK comics
• Check out Transformers One-related merchandise on AmazonUK (Affiliate Link)
- About the Author
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One of many guest posts for downthetubes.
Categories: Features, Film, Other Worlds, Reviews
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