Transformers One Review

“You still mad at me?”
“I am less mad at you.”

Transformers One is the most coherent and canny entry of the long running Transformers film franchise in a while. The other Transformers movies are about an ancient and ongoing war between factions of sentient, giant robots called Decepticons and Autobots; Transformers One is about the origins of that war. It is the first full-length animated feature in the series since The Transformers: The Movie was released in 1986 and traumatized a generation of children. The 3D cut is sharp and luminous. The CGI rendering style is a pleasant blend of high detail with simple designs that hearken back to those used in the ’84-’87 cartoon that is foundation of the franchise (which is based on a Hasbro/Takara toy line). Transformers One manages to thread the needle of the continuing nostalgia wave. Though the film is replete with callbacks and Easter eggs, it is fun. The plot is a timeless tale of friendship. The dialogue is nimble, the voice-actors are game and the action sequences are intense, visceral and well-choreographed.  Transformers One has a lot of heart for a movie about giant robots.

Produced by Michael Bay and directed by Josh Cooley from a screenplay by Andrew Barrer, Eric Pearsons and Gabriel Ferrari, Transformers One is a 2024 Paramount Pictures release. Chris Hemsworth leads an ensemble cast including Brian Tyree Henry, Jon Hamm, Scarlett Johansson, Steve Buscemi, Vanessa Liguori, Keegan-Michael Key and Laurence Fishburne.

“They are one. You are one. All are one.”

Times are hard on the distant planet of Cybertron. It is a rough and unequal world of anthropomorphic self-aware robots, where a minority of the machines can transform into more mobile shapes and the rest, the vast majority, are “Cogless” and cannot. The once-plentiful supply of the essential resource Energon has waned and the Cogless inhabitants are forced to plumb the depths of the planet, mining for this vital material.

It has been fifty cycles since a race of aliens called the Quintessons attacked Cybertron. The machines’ leaders, the Primes, went to war. Only one returned to the Capitol, Iacon City, deep beneath the surface. Sentinel Prime (Hamm) told the inhabitants he and his fellow Primes drove off the invaders, but at a terrible cost: the rest of his colleagues were destroyed and their most important artifact, the Matrix of Leadership, was lost. As the sole, remaining Prime, Sentinel takes command, ruling from his seat in Iacon City and adopting a “Bread and Circuses” style of management.

An ambitious and adventurous Cogless troublemaker named Orion Pax (Hemsworth) is determined to find the Matrix, hoping to prove the value of the Cogless to the transformers like Sentinel Prime and attain better treatment for his fellow miners. He dragoons his best friend D-16 (Henry) into his scheme. Dee is moodier than the more optimistic Orion and has a sports fan’s fixation of the missing Primes, especially his favorite, Megatronus Prime. Pax gets Dee onboard with the offer of a holographic sticker of Megatronus’ face which Dee accepts and adheres to the external housing of his upper left limb with pride.

On his next shift, Orion breaks protocol during an emergency trying to save lives, getting his dedicated, talented and exacting shift foreman Elita-1 (Johansson) fired despite her best efforts. Later, after Dee and Orion rub the wrong robot the wrong way, the Cogless pair find themselves detained ten levels beneath what they thought was Iacon’s deepest basement. There they meet B-127 (Key), a lonely Cogless condemned to sort through trash who has lost track of how long he’s been in the bowels of Iacon City, looking for recyclable parts. Circumstance provides the trio with a hologram map of the forbidden surface that has the location of the Matrix of Leadership marked on it. Orion has an idea as to how to get to the surface. Bee has had a long time to think of how to get out of the incinerator room but no incentive. Spurred on by his newly acquired friends, Bee guides them up the chute.

Orion leads the trio to a railhead where cargo is loaded on trains. Pax plans for the party to sneak on board and then reroute the ride to the surface, but they are spotted by Elite-1, who is a new hire for the railroad. Hoping for a quick promotion, she chases them only to find herself trapped with the group once the train leaves the station.

Will Elite-1 be fired again for failing to stop the trio?  Can the group survive the hidden horrors of the forbidden surface? Can the alternately volatile and dour Dee learn to control his emotions? Can Orion find the Matrix of Leadership and bring better standards to the Cogless? Can Bee stop talking, even just for a second? Please see Transformers One and find out.

“Are you kidding? This is the greatest day of my life: I get to work for the government!”

Transformers One is artfully directed by Josh Cooley, who has created a warm and intimate film telling the story of how a war begins and how a friendship ends. The scars left on certain characters from the manipulative effects of propaganda are ably explored throughout the film as the group discovers terrible truths and learns that all the Cogless’ lives are built around serving lies.

Some things are a little reductive. Autobots are called Autobots because they are Autonomous Robots. Decepticons are Decepticons because they vow to never fall for a deception again. Myriad lines of dialogue were Easter eggs that are direct callbacks to lines from either the G-1 show or the 1986 film. This reviewer can’t figure out why Orion and Elite have names but Dee and Bee don’t. Though Transformers One is a kids’ movie, its combat scenes are ABSURDLY violent. Apparently, you can do anything to a humanoid robot in a movie and it won’t get you an R or even a PG-13 rating. Characters lose limbs, are stabbed, shot, gutted, blasted, branded, beheaded, and torn in half on screen. Children completely lost it in the theatres when Optimus Prime and other beloved G-1 characters were killed in the picture back in 1986 (to make way for new product). 38 years later, the action-level ante has been raised appreciably. Today’s kids must be a more jaded youth. Go figure.

The workaday robot designs are great, as are the considerably more complicated-looking vehicle modes. Airachnid’s futuristic helicopter form is a standout. The Quintesson’s ships are creepy spider-dragons and the creatures themselves resemble armored space-crabs. The surface of Cybertron is a breathlessly beautiful show-stopper. The introduction of famous Decepticon villains like Shockwave, Starscream and Soundwave as heroic defenders of Iacon known as the Home Guard is a great twist. This reviewer DID laugh at the “dogs playing poker” joke. The way one character takes a cog and takes power while another is given it resonates perfectly with their character arcs. There is some satisfying social commentary and critique in Cooley’s handling of the Cogless’ plight.

Transformers One is an excellent entry in the oeuvre and is deserving of follow-up. It feels like the perfect spring-point for sequels and a good way to wipe the whiteboard clean after the increasingly bizarre, convoluted, rabbit- hole plots of the live-action films. Conversely, new animated fare could continue concurrently with further, future live-action films, letting Hasbro hedge their bets and run multiple revenue streams simultaneously. If your kid likes robots or you like nostalgia (and robots) or just a good buddy flick, bring the family and don’t miss Transformers One.

Transformers One is in theatres September 20^th.