Animated Transformers One Introduces Optimus Prime and Megatron for the First Time
A lot of people are going to enjoy Transformers One. It’s beautifully animated, has a top-notch vocal cast, features a small cache of exemplarily executed set pieces, and inventively plays into the lore found in the popular 1980s animated television series and all seven of the live-action Transformers adventures. Yes, a lot of people are going to have a grand time watching Transformers One. Sadly, I am not one of them.
The film is an origin story for the two most iconic characters in the Transformers universe: Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots, and Megatron, the despotic wannabe ruler of the Decepticons. Here, however, they are two Cybertron mining robots tirelessly working to dig up Energon for their planet’s continued survival. Orion Pax (voiced by Chris Hemsworth) is the more optimistically outgoing of the pair, while his best friend D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry) is more contentedly down to earth.
Through a series of unimaginable events, the duo end up on their planet’s surface with a map to the fabled Mantle of Leadership, a lost artifact their gregarious and charismatic leader Sentinel Prime (Jon Hamm) has been fruitlessly trying to find for generations. They are joined on their impromptu adventure by Elita-1 (Scarlett Johansson) and B-127 (Keegan-Michael Key), the disparate foursome on the verge of making a shocking discovery that will rock Cybertron to its cybernetic core.
I enjoyed the opening section of the film. From the way Orion Pax and D-16 are first introduced, to the first time we see the friends in the Cybertron mines under Elita-1’s forceful direction, to a dynamic race through the city’s skies that’s like some wild combination of a never-before-seen Mario Kart track mingled with something right out of Lana and Lilly Wachowski’s Speed Racer, director Josh Cooley (Toy Story 4) and his talented team of animators pull out all the stops. There’s always something happening. There’s even more to be impressed by.
My issues began to develop around the second or third time the proceedings were stopped cold for a laborious dollop of exposition. Why can only precious few on Cybertron transform when in the past everyone used to be able to? Why is Sentinel the only Prime? What’s the big deal with the Mantle of Leadership? Who are the invading interstellar creatures who want Cyberton’s precious resources for themselves? Why is there a hidden army of Transformer fighters living in seclusion on the surface of the planet? Who is Alpha Trion (Laurence Fishburne), and why is their knowledge of Cybertron’s past the key to its future salvation?
It goes on and on. There’s a never-ending onslaught of narrative sludge that keeps stalling the film’s forward momentum. Here’s a flashback. Now another. One more for good measure. Let’s have a fourth (just because we can). I found all of this frustrating, and right around the fifth or sixth time it happened, I think I embarrassingly let out an audible sigh which made my discontent known to everyone sitting close to me. Whoops. My bad.
If all of this weren’t unfortunate enough on its own, the entire climax goes in the opposite direction. The ending is annoyingly rushed. The surge of events that put D-16 and Orion Pax on opposite sides of the good and evil coin flew by in the blink of an eye. While they finally do become the characters everyone has known for decades, the way it happens falls obnoxiously flat. I didn’t care, and not even a perfectly cast Steve Buscemi shrieking around the screen as Starscream was enough for the picture to get back into my good graces.
One element I did love? Henry’s vocal performance as D-16. The Causeway Academy Award-nominee refuses to stop by, have some fun in the recording booth, and pick up a quick paycheck. Instead, he’s going all-out. He brings levels of pathos and pain to his portrayal of the psychologically devastated Transformer that hits home with unexpected authority. The section where D-16 discovers the unimaginable breadth and scope of the lie he’s been told since the second he went online is particularly stunning, Henry’s building fury heartbreakingly palpable.
All of that said, based on the reaction of my promo audience, I do believe I’ll be in the minority as far as my feelings toward Transformers One are concerned. Many of the people in the theater hooted and hollered throughout, and the younger viewers seemed particularly enthralled by all that was going on. I even saw one child stand up and cheer during the moment when Optimus Prime makes his first heroic appearance.
That’s great, and I’m happy for everyone who had a good time. I just wish I would have, too.
Film Rating: 2 (out of 4)
