Movies

New Releases • A-D • E-H • I-P • Q-Z • Articles • Festivals • Interviews • Dark Knight • Indiana Jones • MCU

Enjoy the trailer for Transformers: One, the first ever to be launched into space
Trailer: Paramount Pictures

Transformers: One
Directed by Josh Cooley
Rated PG
Morphed 20 September 2024
#TransformersOne

After a weak start, One transforms itself with a surprisingly strong conclusion.

First Transformers

Setting aside all the gloss of Michael Bay’s hyper, action-packed (and at times mildly offensive) blockbusters that eventually deformed into hard-to-watch cinematic gibberish, Transformers: One takes it all back to the very beginning. Not the beginning as to when the Transformers arrived on Earth; Bay already tackled that storyline.

No. In this case, it can truly be said before LaBeouf and Fox (and Wahlberg), there were Hemsworth and Johansson (and Henry). Transformers: One is an animated feature with Chris Hemsworth tackling the voice of Orion Pax, while Scarlett Johansson voices Ariel and Brian Tyree Henry voices D-16.

Those character names aren’t the familiar ones mainstream audiences are used to and that’s part of the point and part of the fun of One. It’s not a spoiler to say Orion Pax becomes Optimus Prime (whose voice has for decades been associated with Peter Cullen) and Elita-1 becomes Ariel. D-16? He'll be Megatron. It’s the sole focus of One: to go back and explain the origins of Cybertron, Autobots and Decepticons.

But that beginning gets off to a rough start. There’s a lot of digital monologuing with talk about Primus, who transformed himself into the planet Cybertron.

And there’s also a lightweight, PG-friendly storyline surrounding a high-performance Autobots race that Orion Pax and his bestie, D-16, want to enter. From a cynical view, it all seems to be nothing more than a big-screen commercial for a whole bunch of new toys. While some of the early humor is entertaining, it still feels like something that might be better suited for a direct-to-streaming release.

Not so fast, puny, non-transforming humans.

Matrix of Leadership

Ultimately, that race storyline is merely the catalyst to something much bigger and much, much more interesting.

As it turns out, even in Cybertron, there’s a caste system, a social and economic structure which finds the two way outside of the Autobots’ league. There’s one key difference that separates them from the players: Orion Pax and D-16 are cogless mining bots. "Cogless" means they have no mechanism to transform. They can’t compete.

Another major player in all this is Sentinel Prime (Jon Hamm), who’s been spending a consider amount of time and resources on the surface of Cybertron (with the vast majority of civilization now residing below the surface as fallout from a devastating conflict ages ago; a back story to this back story). Sentinel Prime’s on a quest to find the Matrix of Leadership.

The citizens of Cybertron are wowed by Sentinel Prime’s leadership and charmed by his humility.

And this is where things start to get interesting.

Sentinel Prime wants to make the energy flow again, to restore Cybertron to its former brilliance. To do that, he needs to find the Matrix of Leadership. The Matrix will bring balance back to Cybertron – and with it, a whole lot of stuff that reeks of Star Wars.

Then themes start to slide in. Mighty good themes that rise far above those juvenile, Saturday morning cartoon vibes of the movie’s setup. Friends and enemies are basic, elementary concepts in this type of material, with freedom and autonomy representing something on the order of high school social studies.

Transformers: One elevates the material further. A central theme revolves around the need for each ‘bot (whether it be a simple mining bot, an elite Autobot or – applying it to reality – human being) to choose their own path in life. Don’t let the world dictate how you live; instead, plot your own course. And "own" it. Solid. There’s even a great line, the kind that's intended to send a tingle up and down the spine: "Prove you are more than meets the eye."

Another is quite surprising for this environment and wholly timely. It’s about deceptive leadership. Therein is a mighty, morphing and powerful plot twist.

Break Some Protocols!

What follows is a story of good and evil, truth and deception. The birth of the Decepticons plays out a lot like Anakin Skywalker’s conversion to the Dark Side.

Much like all the machinations of the Matrix of Leadership and the Force, there are some interesting moves behind the scenes. Most notably, Transformers: One is directed by Josh Cooley, who directed the exceptional sequel Toy Story 4, which received the Oscar for Best Animated Feature. He’s jumped ship from Pixar to Paramount Animation, but that’s not to say Paramount has its own animation arm.

No. On Transformers: One, the lead animation studio is actually Industrial Light & Magic (ILM). That in itself is not surprising, given this animation work isn’t all that far removed from all the CGI effects ILM has done on the live-action Transformers movies.

But all kinds of gears could get ground down to the core thinking about the history of Pixar and ILM and Disney and how this movie came to be (at Paramount, of course).

Regardless, it’s an interesting animation style. It’s relatively soft in the opening scenes (further fueling that direct-to-home shade). But even the animation transforms as the characters grow and, well, start to shine. More details emerge. The designs become more intricate.

And the trio of screenwriters (Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari and Eric Pearson) cross the streams with titles like Ant-Man and the Wasp and Black Widow in their collective catalog.

As the (at times manic) action unfolds and the humor teeters into the adult realm (particularly an unnecessary "almost" middle finger), Transformers: One finds its own course and lands with a powerful third act that goes dark, in start contrast to the light first act. The result is a surprisingly sharp opening salvo in what is no doubt intended to be a whole new series of big screen adventures.

And, of course, a whole bunch of new toys.

• Originally published at MovieHabit.com.