Movie Reviews
Movie Review: 'Transformers One' – RedCarpetCrash.com
Transformers One beautifully tells a classic origin story between two legendary characters in the Transformers universe, Orion Pax and D-16, and their early friendship on their planet, Cybertron. If you somehow don’t know these names or the promoted premise, avoid the advertising and let it be a nice surprise, though you will probably guess before the reveal. The dramatic story buildup, the twists and betrayals, and the character revelations combined with the animation were all so good that I at one point had a tear or two rolling down my face, though there is plenty of action and comedy as well. Even without Peter Cullen voicing Optimus, this was One of the best Transformers movies I have ever seen.
Unlike the live-action Transformers of the last two decades, Transformers One is set entirely on their home planet, Cybertron, with no humans to take focus away from the Transformers (while this was not necessarily a bad thing in those movies, it is a nice change of pace). At first, our main protagonists do not have the ability to transform effectively making them lower-class citizens who are relocated to working long hours mining for Energon (their primary source of energy). Orion Pax has dreams of being more and his best friend D-16 joins Orion on his adventures, whether he likes it or not. After brief highs and lows, the pair venture out of the city, along with former/coworkers/reluctant allies B-127 and Elita, to the largely desolate planet looking for a lost artifact, but what they find changes their relationship, their status, and the fate of the whole planet.
The world-building story is amazing. If you have never seen anything Transformers-related, you will have no problem watching this movie. There are easter eggs and nods to the franchise, however there is enough exposition to be able to enjoy this as a stand-alone film, while at the same time it is not so much information that it feels too dense or overwhelming. A few plot points are predictable, even more so if you know the characters and/or have seen other movies (not just other Transformer movies). Nonetheless, this character-driven story is excellent and well told by the voice actors and animators.
Speaking of the voice actors, they were all good choices to play their respective characters. Chris Hemsworth plays Orion and Brian Tyree Henry plays D-16. Side note: Henry is the only main actor’s voice I didn’t recognize, but after looking at his filmography, I should have (he has been in two Godzilla/Kong films, The Eternals, and the Spiderverse movies). I immediately recognized Laurence Fishburne, and it made me happy that he got to say “The Matrix” quite a few times (not the same Matrix, obviously, but it was still fun to hear). For the second movie in a row (following The Killer’s Game), there is an MCU reunion since Scarlett Johansson plays Elita. And Keegan-Michael Key is hilarious as B-127.
Okay, enough stargazing. Overall, I really enjoyed this movie and would highly recommend it to all audiences of all ages. It is fun, thrilling, funny, and emotionally engaging. Even if you know where the story is headed (which is highly likely given the premise and promotion), the story is so well told that it still packs an emotional punch once it reaches its climax.
