I’m just the age where Transformers of any kind (the Hasbro toys, animated series, the many movies) didn’t really have much of an impact on me. As a result, familiar characters and mythology didn't mean anything to me as the films began rolling out in 2007. That being said, not having anything to compare the films to, I’ve enjoyed my experience watching each new property get released and being able to review them as purely film entities. This process has led to some unexpected surprises, giant disappointments, and unique experiences that aren’t dependent on prior knowledge beyond the previous filmed works.
Which brings us to one of the bigger surprises in my Transformers education (although if I’m being honest, I’ve liked the last two live-action movies quite a bit, Bumblebee and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts), the CG-animated feature Transformers One. This film is not only an original story showing us the beginnings of age-old rivals Optimus Prime and Megatron (spoiler alert: they started out as the best of friends) but also how both received the transforming powers that make Optimus (original name Orion Pax, voiced by Chris Hemsworth) the leader of his home planet of Cybertron and turn Megatron (original name D-16, voiced by Brian Tyree Henry) into his sworn enemy.
The two were lowly miner bots who looked up to those who could transform (with the help of something called transformation cogs—or t-cogs) with awe and envy. It's the mine Energon that's the power source that keeps all things on Cybertron running, especially the bots. The leader of all is Sentinel Prime (Jon Hamm), who was seen as a great force for good. But when Orion Pax and D-16 catch wind that Sentinel Prime’s intentions might not all be good when it comes to handing out t-cogs, they team up with bots named Elita-1 (Scarlett Johansson), the competent one, and B-127 (Keegan-Michael Key), the chatterbox and less competent one, and escape the big city. They head into some forbidden zone or another, perhaps searching for answers, or at least other, like-minded Autobots who also know or suspect the truth. VIP Steve Buscemi shows up deep in the film as Starscream, the leader of a group of rebellious bots who are willing to go against Sentinel Prime if need be, and the seeds of Optimus’ loyal group of followers is planted.
Perhaps I shouldn't be completed shocked that Transformers One turned out as well as it did, since director Josh Cooley co-wrote the screenplay for the original Inside Out and directed Toy Story 4, which took what many believed was a played-out franchise and breathed new life into it. Here, he takes the classic origin-story trope of two characters as close as family turning on each other because they see the path to equality and freedom very differently and applies it to a series whose good-guy/bad-guy lines have always been drawn in thick, black & while permanent marker. There’s actual character development, growth, story arcs, and dare I say humanity in this film about robots with morals and compassion.
And they leave room for the possibility of more films taking place on Cybertron before the events of the first live-action Transformers movie (not that we need that film acknowledged again), and I truly hope they explore such stories. There is tension, action, intrigue. laughs, and a terrific lineup of voice actors (I didn’t even mention Laurence Fishburne, but now I have), all of which has actually gotten me exited about the future of these movies for the first time ever.
The film is now playing in theaters.
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