Transformers One Review
Transformers One muddles through a slow first half hour, only to absolutely kick off in the back half with an edge-of-your-seat hero and villain origin story that is way better than it has any right to be.
Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry) stumble across the location of a mysterious power source; one that would help their planet return to the former glory of the lost Primes. They journey to the surface of their planet with Elita-1 (Scarlette Johansson) and B-127 (Keegan-Michael Key), intent on finding the matrix and returning it to Sentinel Prime (Jon Hamm), but in doing so they discover their world, and everything they have been told, is not what it seems.
Directed by Josh Cooley, Transformers One is a beautifully animated and engaging film that has plenty to love for both adults and kids alike.
The first thirty minutes are perhaps a bit slow, and there are plenty of little story threads that threw up red flags (nothing would have been worse than this becoming a movie about Orion and D trying to win a race to prove their worth), but once the group of heroes head to the surface, things tick up for the better.
In the end, it’s the way that D-16’s journey is told - from protective friend of Orion to sworn enemy Megatron - that really hits hard, and the last thirty minutes as both Megatron and Optimus Prime emerge as the characters we know, from these origins of Orion and D, are really really strong. The animation style kicks up a gear (Megatron’s glowing latent red eyes are cool as hell), the score absolutely slaps, and all of those great hero moments are there.
The voice cast is uniformly great, and the movie is funny without leaning too heavily into jokes.
Ultimately, it’s a really impressive turn for a franchise that felt over and done with, and for a movie that didn’t feel like it needed to exist. What a welcome relief to leave the cinema being grateful it does.
