The Plot: Cybertron is in a state of flux. Its leader Sentinel Prime (Jon Hamm) encourages his miner bots to scour out every last bit of energon to keep the planet going. Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and his loyal buddy D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry) don’t have the ability to transform and long for a more interesting life. They’re soon thrust on an adventure to the surface of the planet to seek out the Matrix of Leadership, a device that could unlock the future for all bots. They’re joined by Elita-1 (Scarlett Johansson) and B-127 (Keegan Michael-Key). However, the quartet will soon discover that all is not what it seems…
The Verdict: Where to with the Transformers film franchise? It’s still ticking away since Michael Bay blasted it back onto cinema screens in 2007 with his high-tech upgrade. Many sequels followed – often bloated, chaotic and reducing itself to pixels bashing each other to even smaller pixels. The buzzy Bumblebee was a breath of fresh air, but last year’s Rise Of The Beasts threatened a franchise link-up with the arguably lesser Hasbro toy line of G.I. Joe. Change is certainly afoot in the Transformers HQ, but that hasn’t materialised just yet. For now, the latest offering is the first Transformers animated movie since 1986 – Transformers One. While that initially sounds like a possible act of franchise desperation in turning to animation when a more obvious route is available, it actually makes sense for the style and theme of this film. Optimism among the Primes is the key here.
Transformers One is entirely set on, in and through Cybertron with nary a pesky human in sight. No need for a cardboard audience surrogate to buddy up with the main bots here. They’re not quite autobots yet – just regular Joes pulling their day shift in the mines looking for energon, which is where we find Orion Pax and D-16 – the characters that will respectively come to be known as Optimus Prime and Megatron. This is an origin story for the duo, along with some other familiar bots thrown in for good measure. At its core, the script by Eric Pearson, Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari is a buddy adventure film in which the two friends work together to solve a significant problem threatening the future of Cybertron. Knowing what comes between them later on makes it all the more intriguing. The script plays neatly into that emerging, clashing dynamic, making it a surprisingly character-driven film with more than a touch of an Obi-Wan / Anakin vibe to their friendship. Not bad for a film that makes a human connection to essentially metal characters.
It would have been easy to just play it straight and not over-complicate things. Instead, Toy Story 4 director Josh Cooley shows a deft animated hand in weaving together the core relationship with a detailed backstory involving earlier planetary conflict that has left this world in an uncertain state. The distinctive, rumbling voice work by Laurence Fishburne as old warrior Alpha Trion during these sequences is particularly weighty, raising the stakes for a potential revolution. Like any Transformer, there are a lot of moving parts here but they mostly move together in sync. The first act is a bit clunky as the characters (and the audience) find their feet in this animated adventure, with some knockabout humour hinting that it might be more of a comedy (admittedly, a Transformers film trait but it works well). When the story shifts to the surface of Cybertron in the second act, the plot thickens and thereby allows for the film to more visually pop off the screen.
While the animation by Industrial Light And Magic is just that, it does have some smooth, photo-real aspects to it too. Had this been shot traditionally, it would be very expensive and have a huge mountain to climb at the box office. Given the Cybertron setting, the animation plays out convincingly enough to look visually appealing and come across as a 21st Century upgrade to the 1980s animated movie and cartoon series. There’s a hint of nostalgia, this being the kind of popcorn-munching Saturday morning entertainment that will appeal to middle-aged parents who grew up with Transformers and are introducing their children to it. Transformers One more than meets the eye and marks itself out as one of the better films in the series. It zips by too, keeping itself to a reasonable running time. More please.
Rating: 3.5 / 5
Review by Gareth O’Connor
In short: More than meets the eye
Directed by Josh Cooley.
Starring Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Jon Hamm, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi.