Friends become enemies as one of pop culture’s most iconic rivalries is given an origin story in Josh Cooley’s Transformers One.

The Transformers franchise is one of cinema’s great mysteries. Michael Bay’s five-film saga was immensely profitable but widely criticised. The reboot that began with Bumblebee and continued with Transformers: Rise of the Beasts was better received but failed to bring similar returns. Transformers One returns to the animated roots of the property with an origin story detailing the genesis of one of pop culture’s most iconic rivalries.

Live action makes it challenging for the Transformers to be fully characterised due to the cost of depicting them on screen playing off humans but animation has no such constraint so a narrative can be crafted around the robots and their relationship to one another on their home planet. Having them occupy the entirety of the screen time allows for defined arcs and character development often missing from their live-action counterparts.

Transformers One chronicles the origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron’s iconic rivalry. This version of the mythology starts with the future Optimus Prime, Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and future Megatron, D-16 (Bryan Tyree Henry) as miners who can’t even transform looking to make a name for themselves and be recognised as more than the sum of their parts. Immediately this sets up Cybertron as being class-driven with those on the bottom rung of society having little to no possibility of social mobility. At the top of the ladder are the Primes, represented by Sentinel Prime (Jon Hamm) and there are several layers between the two extremes.

The class system fuels Orion Pax and D-16’s separate yet connected arcs as both have a desire to achieve something greater than their place in the social structure allows. Orion Pax is characterised as an idealist who feels that he has much more to offer and D-16 is reluctantly dragged along in the name of friendship though clearly agrees with Orion Pax that there’s more to both of them than meets the eye.

Their desire to prove themselves takes them on an adventure that reveals some uncomfortable truths about the society they belong to. This revelation affects each of them differently and propels them down the path to becoming bitter rivals. Orion Pax funnels the news through his innately optimistic viewpoint and pledges to build a fairer society free of the corruption that defined his existence whereas D-16 becomes angry and vengeful, seeking to punish those who abused their power.

Anyone with a passing knowledge of the franchise will know that Optimus Prime and Megatron are enemies and Transformers One makes the beginnings of that feud an earned tragedy. The early part of the film establishes the depth of the friendship as well as their differing viewpoints on various issues that will eventually turn sour. Despite their different names, plenty of clues as to their future are included such as Orion Pax looking like a proto version of the well-known image of Optimus Prime and D-16 being reverent to a Prime called Megatronus Prime and wearing his emblem to exemplify his fan. The film doesn’t take that foreknowledge for granted and puts the work into making the downfall of this friendship believable.

The development from brothers in arms to bitter enemies works mechanically but also comes across as somewhat rushed. It’s likely the story was conceived with the endpoint in mind and then the script worked backwards from there. This is evident in the accelerated pace of events. On one hand, it’s very sharply paced with little to no bloat to any scene meaning that the narrative moves at a swift clip but the drawback is that there’s no time to sit with a given development or moment before moving onto the next. More time to properly explore the stances of the two leads as they evolve and change would have greatly benefitted the overall experience. The material was strong but more of it was needed to really pop. As such, D-16’s shift comes across as hurried even if it is fully justified. Similarly, Orion Pax shifts from well-meaning oaf to strong and wise leader abruptly. Once again, it’s technically a natural development in the context of the narrative but nonetheless, it happens very quickly.

Of course, this is geared at younger viewers and the swift pace of storytelling really helps capture the attention but the intended audience would likely have welcomed time being spent on greater detail in places especially if it enriched the characters that are already well handled or fleshed out an aspect of the world the robots inhabit. There was a lot to explore and plenty of ways to do so in a way that is relevant to the core story being told. For example, the hero characters start the film unable to transform and later gain that ability. Once they do, there is an action sequence that forces them to learn and master their new skill and each of them finds it difficult to complete the process. By the end of the sequence, they have mastered the ability and never struggle with it again. Spending more time on that learning curve and using the need to master transformation as a way to add texture to the characters and world at the same time could have massively benefitted the film.

Transformers One boasts an all-star cast who do an excellent job in their vocal performances. Chris Hemsworth puts his own spin on Orion Pax without imitating those who played Optimus Prime before him. He’s the right blend of earnest and playful early in the film before transitioning to confident and principled the further Orion Pax progresses through his arc. Hemsworth’s delivery of the numerous inspiring speeches and righteous declarations is pitch-perfect. Bryan Tyree-Henry is similarly impressive as B-16. The subtle shifts in his vocal performance as the anger takes root and comes to define him brilliantly encapsulate his fall to darkness and contrast nicely with the unburdened worker not looking to make any waves.

Keegan-Michael Key as the future Bumblebee, B-127 is very much the comic relief and excels in that role. He’s prominently featured but never reaches the point of being annoyingly oversaturated. It’s the right amount of comedy injected into the story and his comedic persona never overpowers the storytelling. Keegan-Michael Key’s flawless comic timing means that the jokes consistently land and his performance is nuanced enough so that B-127 can be taken seriously when required.

Scarlett Johansson’s Elita-1 is the weak link in an otherwise strong roster of heroic characters. Her performance is good but the character is massively underwritten to the point that it’s obvious she exists to take on a specific role in the story and rarely ventures too far away from that. As part of the group dynamic, she fares well enough as she acts as the voice of reason to be ignored or heeded depending on the situation but there’s very little inner life. Other featured voices work well enough but rarely dazzle. Jon Hamm’s Sentinel Prime lacks the authority that the character requires and often comes across as overly goofy. Laurence Fishburne’s Alpha Trion is the standard wise old sage archetype who delivers what is required but nothing more than that. It’s a role that Laurence Fishburne could play in his sleep.

The animation is stunning. Cybertron is a living breathing world that makes sense on screen and is immensely detailed, the designs of the robots are distinct and creative while retaining that classic look and the variety of the locations prevents the film from being visually bland as there is always something new to take in. It suffers somewhat in the execution of the action sequences. In particular, the robot brawls are marred by a camera that constantly shakes in a way that obscures the action. There are many impressive set pieces such as an early race that is dynamic and exciting. More creative sequences that make use of the transformation ability would have been a stronger choice than the flat and difficult-to-follow brawls that dominate the latter half of the film. Despite the shortcomings, Transformers One is a visual feast that also delivers on characterisation.

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Verdict

An impressive visual feast with a strong central character dynamic that earns the genesis of one of pop culture’s most iconic rivalries.

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