High-Octane
Summary
Transformers One is a breath of fresh air with a fantastic voice cast and an action-packed finale. This is definitely aimed at a younger audience for the first half and I do miss Peter Cullen as Optimus, but this is still far more entertaining than I was expecting and well worth checking out if you’re a Transformers fan.
Plot: The untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but who once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever.
Review: The trailers for Transformers One made it look very much like a kid’s film with too much humour and something just felt off to me. I find with so many movies today they suffer from the MCU effect where any time something dramatic happens someone has to say something funny which takes away any threat or sense of stakes. Although Transformers One does have a few moments like that, as the drama builds up towards the finale it gets far more serious and it ends up becoming one of the best Transformers movies to date.
The 1986 classic will always be number 1 for me mostly due to sheer childhood trauma, but this is way up there. The first half of the film I thought was mostly lighthearted with plenty of jokes as expected but not much in the way of action. The jokes were actually pretty funny as we got genuine laughs while also developing the characters who would become Optimus Prime and Megatron. I like seeing their early friendship and how it eventually goes very wrong.
Chris Hemsworth voices Orion Pax (soon to be Optimus Prime) with Brian Tyree Henry voicing Megatron. The supporting cast is impressive too including Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Jon Hamm, Steve Buscemi and Laurence Fishburne. I’ll always associate Peter Cullen with Optimus Prime, so it’s hard to get used to another voice, but Chris Hemsworth does an admirable job considering the huge shoes he has to fill.
The script is sharp and although this is mostly aimed at a younger audience the final half hour is action packed with robot beatdowns and explosions galore. Unlike the Michael Bay films, it also doesn’t overstay its welcome coming in just over 90 minutes. In that time, we get a decent story, funny dialogue and an explosive finale that should please the majority of Transformers fans.
Overall, Transformers One is one of the better movies and a welcome reboot which deserves to be a bigger success. The second half really ups the action and the story gets quite intense considering this is mostly a “kid’s” movie.