We finally had the chance to check out the recently released Transformers One to see what it lent to the overall saga.
*note: minor spoilers for Transformers One in this review
I need to start out by saying that I owe the creators of Transformers One an apology. I must admit that when I heard that this film was an origin story for Optimus Prime and Megatron set entirely on Cybertron, I rolled my eyes a little bit. Origin stories are not my favorite type of film, especially for a property as well known as Transformers.
Then I heard that the film would see Optimus and Megatron, originally Orion Pax and D-16, working on Cybertron as friends. This seemed…unlikely, and I went into the film with more than a bit of apprehension. If the past few Transformers films have taught me anything, it’s that I shouldn’t ever get my hopes too high.
And then I actually saw the film…and I was so wrong about all of it. Transformers One is the best Transformers film I’ve seen in years. It’s well-written, well-designed, and it gives many fans what they’ve craved for years: a glimpse of Cybertron more or less in its prime.
Transformers One
Director: Josh Cooley
Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key
Release Date: September 20, 2024
In Transformers One, things are less than ideal for the inhabitants of Cybertron. The Matrix of Leadership has long been missing, and without it energon is in short supply, forcing the bulk of the population to mine for it in order to keep the population going. Sentinel Prime is the leader of Cybertron when the story opens, and he is idolized by everyone, especially two mining bots named Orion Pax and D-16 (the future Megatron). Wanting to find the Matrix of Leadership to help Sentinel Prime restore the planet to glory, Orion and D-16 end up on an adventure to the surface…where they find a whole lot more than they bargained for.
I truly did not believe that any film could make me believe that the leader of the Autobots and the leader of the Decepticons were ever friends, but Transformers One did all that and more. Not only is it very easy to accept that the two bots were friends, almost like brothers actually, it makes the origins of the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons all the more tragic.
It’s hard to say which story arc is more compelling: watching Orion Pax evolve into Optimus Prime or watching D-16’s slow descent into Megatron. I would almost argue that the latter is slightly more compelling because the film makes D-16 so likable, that you find yourself begging for the robot to listen to his friends and not go down this path, even though viewers with any knowledge of the franchise know this is impossible. That doesn’t make the moment of the final turn into Megatron hurt any less.
Then there’s Cybertron itself. As I said earlier, the visuals throughout this film are gorgeous. Anyone who’s ever wanted a proper look at the Transformers’ home planet will not be disappointed. And it’s not just the city that looks gorgeous; the surface of Cybertron is amazing too. This might be the first time we’ve ever had a close up look at the surface level of the planet and it is, well, pretty much what you’d expect the surface of a machine planet to look like. Except it’s so much more than that: Cybertron has an entire ecosystem apart from the Transformers, and I give full credit to the animators for devising lifeforms that look like they fit on Cybertron without getting weird.
Going back to the story, I also need to briefly mention the film’s antagonists. While the film’s primary antagonist is perfectly written, the film also does a superb job in setting up the overall antagonists of this setting: The Quintessons. I’m not familiar with them but apparently they’ve been part of the greater Transformers lore for years. It will be interesting to see what role they play in future installments, they were absolutely being set up to be a major threat.
Transformers One absolutely needs to be seen in theaters, it’s a great entry into the overall Transformers story and I’m beyond excited to see what comes next.
