The untold origin story of Optimus Prime and Megatron, better known as sworn enemies, but once were friends bonded like brothers who changed the fate of Cybertron forever.
“Transformers: One” reminded me once more of the universality behind not judging a book by its cover. The trailers did not do this any services at all but the end result was probably one of the most surprising movies to come out of this entire year.
A lot of that praise can be heralded at Josh Cooley’s poised and zealous direction; very frisky and flexible without being in your face about it, he threads the needle of bridging past and present together with a engineer mindset fused with a child’s imagination.
A fine bridge was constructed between the animation’s quasi-realistic live-action renderings and its emotively cartoonish flourishes; I don’t know if the feature would’ve benefited from a more exaggerated style but as is, it’s more easy on the eyes than I expected. While nothing truly bombastic pops off the surface, the retro-futuristic vibe of the original cartoons is refreshed and livened here with this nostalgic synthy vaporwave ‘80s aesthetic that does feel like a love letter to the series’s beginnings and constant evolution. Plus, the actual worldbuilding here gives us the best sense of depth, scope and scale of Cybertron we’ve seen ironically since the War for Cybertron series.
Presentation-wise, the massive expansion of Cybertronian lore enriches many foreground and background details alike, all of the camerawork flows in and out seamlessly like a crashing wave, editing is exceptionally timed with sufficient, manageable pacing, action sequences, while short, are ripe with enough fluid motion to sport a frenetic yet grisly style and its tone does something the recent Transformers films (outside of Bumblebee) haven’t completely grasped yet: a decent tightrope between comedy and drama that actually feels consistent.
Voice acting is pretty well done despite concerns about the casting choices. Admittedly, they don’t feel natural at first but they grow on you the longer the film progresses and the dialogue they’re given is just sturdy enough to feel natural. Character-wise, only the main four get the most complexity but everyone else is two-dimensional enough to be memorable.
Story-wise, this should be well-trodden territory considering most fans and audiences in general are aware of the conflict destined to befall the people of Cybertron but the manner in which “how” that happens leaves open many opportunities to play around with the specifics without being strict to the bone. And they do take advantage of that from the word-go, resulting in a predictable but straightforward adventure that doesn’t sacrifice momentum, warmth or sensitivity for superficiality. What’s shown here is a visible parable somewhere between a slave revolt film and a labor versus management metaphor sandwiched between a friends-to-enemy narrative that thankfully isn’t burdened in performing a simple task. There’s tragic weight in the inevitable to come and it bears the brunt of it all with nary a smudge in its paint job.
Despite the film precluding any narrative invention or surprise of being aware of its own rote blueprints, even sticking us with a delightfully scummy antagonist that might rival Homelander for Asshole of the Year, I appreciate them weaving this mythos into a character driven adventure that barely gives you enough space to breathe and take everything in. Again, it’s not how you get to the destination but the journey you experience getting there: character arcs get built up and fulfilled, more lore is either added to or twisted around that gives us just as many questions as answers and it also doesn’t overstay its welcome coming in just over 90 minutes…..though part of me wishes it could’ve been longer.
With all that being said, the main driving force between Optimus and Megatron’s rift….I had issues with. The conflict that set them on the path to develop their idealistic visions and philosophies as leaders was very well done and it hits all the beats it needs to feel satisfactory. But even with all that build-up, its execution puzzles me for one key reason: it still didn’t feel like enough time. The bare minimum felt etched in to solidify their budding differences but the actual turn itself felt rather abrupt. It’s not abrupt enough to where it rips you out of the moment completely but it still feels like you missed something crucial happen.
That bit bites at me more than us barely getting to see the surface or some of the comedic moments not clicking.
One of the few genuine sparks amongst a sea of sputtering cogs that resemble most of the live-action Transformers franchise, this was so refreshing and reinvigorating. While it does play its cards safe, it takes its lore, characters and narrative seriously, actually rewarding the audience for getting themselves invested and I’m annoyed it took me this long to see for myself.
