When Transformers: The Movie arrived in the late 80s, it was something to behold. It was Orson Welles’ last performance, as he voiced over the vicious and uncaring planet devourer Unicron. It featured the death of a beloved character, which broke the hearts of thousands of fans. It also featured the first time the word ‘sh*t’ had been uttered by a main character in the series, a word that was later taken out of the VHS home video release, and then put back in for the DVD/Blu-ray release. It was many things but mostly it was the best Transformers movie to date and should have been the blueprint for the live-action films…which it wasn’t.
Since then, and since Michael Bay’s contribution to the Transformer universe, one that kept missing the mark, the series has been pretty much on the decline.
Now, that said, I do have to give Bumblebee some mad props, as it was the most accurate live-action version of the Transformers that gave a strong nod to the animated series (especially that opening scene), and it was a sincere and entertaining film. I think by the time it hit the series had run its course, so no one appreciated Travis Knight’s efforts, and those of his cast and crew.
This long-winded introduction aside, I think Paramount finally found the recipe to ensure the future of the Transformers has longevity to it. Recently, Transformers One arrived on Blu-ray/4K and brought with it a strong story and some entertaining, yet compelling characters that would be the future leaders of the Autobots and Decepticons. All it took was good writing and direction to make this happen.
So, let’s roll out with this review.
Official Synopsis
Transformers One is the untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron. Better known as sworn enemies, they were once friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever.
This film surprised me from beginning to end, as my preconceived notions of it, due to the limited marketing, was that it was a whacky buddy comedy with no substance. While I do enjoy comedy in a serious series, I felt like that was the wrong way to take this, if this was the direction that Paramount took it. That’s what I assumed, and nothing could have proved me wrong other than to watch the film and decide for myself.
As the old saying goes, you should never assume. Also, the Paramount folks need to discuss this with their marketing team because I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who came up with this wrong assumption. Once I saw the film, my perspective changed.
The film revolves around the origins of Optimus Prime and Megatron. It considers who they were before they battled each other to the death in Transformers: The Movie. It shows how they grew into the heroes and villains they would eventually become. I had no idea that this was the reason for this film and even further had a lesser idea that it could be done so well.
The film begins with showing a clear division between robots on their home planet. There are Primes, who are larger and more powerful robots containing matrix hearts that help Primes and future Primes ascend to greatness with the right push from their leader, Sentinel Prime. To put it bluntly, they are the privileged and upper-class Transformers.
On the flip side to the Primes, underlings don’t have the power nor the resources to reach a Prime level, so they’re just worker bees mining for resources for the bigger bees, such is the case with Orion Pax (future Optimus) and D-16 (future Megatron). They spend their days working in energy mines and avoiding pissing off their bosses, who can send them to even worse jobs.
Establishing that division and world right out of the gate instantly puts more depth into the origins of the robots in disguise. The first part of act one is dedicated to showing that division, as the lesser bots are constantly pushed down, while the perceived better bots are lifted upwards. The original cartoon only established a good versus evil scenario, where you were either on the good or bad side, but neither side showed how they got to where they did and why. Having a ‘why’ helps to shape the Transformers’ universe a bit more and gives rhyme to its reason for being, which is what the point of this movie ended up being. A worthy reason.
Back to the story, our two fateful leads are drawn closer together because of their class status and predicament, the story shifts to an obsessive Orion Pax needing and wanting to find more about his purpose in life, one that is beyond the energy mining that he does daily. Eventually, he stumbles upon small clues that point him toward something hidden which ignites Pax’s quest to challenge the accepted lifestyle that has been shoved down his and D-16’s throats all their life. The first spark erupts during an annual Prime racing event where the winner is allowed to become a Prime Transformer. Orion enters the race, with a reluctant D-16, and shows the world residents that maybe the lower-tier robots are more than meets the eye.
This catalyst moment takes all that was built up in the first act of the film and has you cheering Pax and D-16 on to prove the bigger robots wrong. Of course, the race doesn’t go the way they would like, but it does convince D-16 that maybe Pax is right about their status in life and that there is more than just what they’re doing on a day-to-day basis.
From this moment of realization, the movie begins to lay down a real sense of oppressive and suppressiveness from the Primes, which launches the two would-be heroes on an adventure to discover exactly what went wrong to have both sides of their planet’s classes so separated and fixed in their ways. I think this part of the film magnifies how desperate the pair are to be something more than what they are told they should be. That sentiment alone sets up the rest of the film’s journey and makes it feel worthwhile. Even if there are bits of comedy here and there, the goal and the stakes of the journey are defined and meaningful.
As Orion and D-16, and some fellow Transformers they picked up, slowly go outside their city limits into the cyber wilderness and follow clues that Pax picked up earlier in the story, what they end up finding is a bit more history about the Primes and a sad site that sends the story to a new level of ‘what the heck’. This part of the story is so powerful that it changes the entire tone of the movie and unravels the foundation of the class structure that was previously established.
I will stop the review there. As an enormous and critical fan of the Transformers movies and series, when the story arrived at this robot-life-changing moment, it locked down how good this movie was destined to be. It made me care about the lives of these robots and made me secretly cheer for them to upend the system that had actively kept them pinned to the floor. It was just that good.
Additionally, I also realized that the comedy inserted into the story helped tame the serious and relevant subject matter that was being addressed. There’s nothing quite as heavy as having a privileged part of society do their best to convince the other half that they’re not worth a darn. This is what was being addressed in the story and if the comedy weren’t there then it would have been too much for a younger audience to take in. But Cooley and his crew managed to balance out the laughs with the pleas for righteousness and justice, and this film turned into one built for all audiences and expectations.
While I still don’t agree with the film’s marketing, as I think it leaned too heavily on a younger crowd, what was released turned out to be a beautiful piece of art that fits nicely next to the original animated film from the 80s. I sincerely hope Paramount makes another film like this with Cooley and crew at the helm. They did an amazing job and created a wonderful story. It added more to the scope of the Transformers universe than I could have expected. It was a damn good journey.
Special Features
- In The Beginning — Witness the origin story of OPTIMUS PRIME (ORION PAX) and MEGATRON (D-16) and the evolution of their relationship from brothers-in-arms to sworn enemies. Filmmakers discuss the vision for the film and how it was brought to life.
- World Building on CYBERTRON — Hear from director Josh Cooley, the production design team, and the visual effects team about rendering the colorful world of CYBERTRON in a way that fans have never seen before.
- Together As One — Meet the A-list voice cast for each of the TRANSFORMERS: Chris Hemsworth (ORION PAX/OPTIMUS PRIME), Brian Tyree Henry (D-16/MEGATRON), Scarlett Johansson (ELITA-1), and more!
- The Iacon 5000 — Behold the most epic TRANSFORMERS race ever as competitors vie for the ultimate prize! Go behind the scenes with the filmmakers as they break down this breathtaking action sequence.
- The Battle For CYBERTRON — Cast and filmmakers take you through the film’s epic climax as OPTIMUS PRIME and MEGATRON battle for CYBERTRON’s future.
Conclusion
Director Josh Cooley, cast, and crew knew what they were doing, as Transformers One was a pleasant surprise. The film proves that there is more story to tell in the Transformers universe and hopefully Paramount will keep telling them with this same blueprint of success.
