Transformers One – takes us straight into the, beloved to many, Transformer-Universe. This time, followers of the films get an animation science fiction action film that brings Hasbro’s Transformers toy series to life and tells the backstory to two of its biggest heroes, Optimus Prime and Megaton.
The action and adventure filled movie directed by Josh Cooley and written by Eric Pearson with the team Andrew Barrer/Gabriel Ferrari takes place on the Transformer home planet Cybertron. The film’s four main characters are led by miner Orion Pax in a gritty underground world filled with (cog-less) obedient workers who spend their days unearthing Energon, the now scarce energy source of their planet that used to flow freely. Now it must be excavated in order for all to survive.
Sentinel Prime, who has been the leader of the planet since the demise of the rule of the original Primes (an elite group of warriors, lost in battle), and also the leader of Iacon, praises his miners for their hard work and offers diversions like the big “Iacon 500” race! But his own actions, fighting the alien enemy Quintessons, and continuing to search for the Matrix of Leadership to get the Energy source flowing freely again for all, keep everyone looking up to this leader and working harder, rooting for his success.
Only one minor, Orion Pax (Latin for “peace”) is on a secret quest, searching for the Matrix of Leadership himself. When he finds a small memory recording on a scrap metal device, it points him to the surface of his planet, a very dangerous place where all are afraid to go.
As the story begins, Orion Pax (voiced with youthful energy and hope by Chris Hemsworth) is making plans to make history. He promises his reluctant buddy D-16 (voice of Brian Tyree Henry) an adventure and makes them, the only cogless/powerless to transform racers, visible to all! What begins with an impossible task – to plunge into this race, determined to win, though he cannot transform, changes their fate. His action sends them on a 104-minute adventure!
Along for the ride are very comical fellow miner B-127 ( voice of Keegan-Michael Kay), and a fallen-from-grace supervisor, Elita-1 (voiced with spunk by Scarlett Johansson). Through circumstance, they had all ended up in Iacon’s waste management section, and the female leader is in the right place to lead them all to the planet’s surface which Orion Pax knows is the key to everyone’s freedom.
All four hitch a train ride to reach the very shiny but deathly dangerous surface of Cybertron and find the secret to their plant’s current state. So begins an action packed adventure.
Not only do the graphics capture the wonderfully bulky Action figures, and their industrial underworld of mining environment, they express, beautifully rendered in Art Deco style with shiny curved and angular (think: New York city’s Chrysler Building) surfaces, a glistening landscape bathed in orange light, the rocks like crystals growing at high speed! The four explorers are joined by a population of some silvery dear-like animals grazing on its outer layer.
The answers they all seek are found as they enter a huge dark cave. This scene takes us back to an ancient time when the 13 Primes ruled their world.
Now it is up to Orion Pax and D-16 to react to what they have learned.
The film shows us the development of the relationship between the two minors: From having taken us back to how it all began to the end, when Orion Pax has become Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots (he has been given the power to transform into a Cybertronian truck) and D-16, Orion’s best friend, now driven by revenge against the planet’s deceptive leader and others in his way. In doing so, and letting Orion Pax down, he turns nemesis to his long-time buddy. D-16 has become Megatron (who was given the power to transform into a silver Cybertronian tank), leader of the Decepticons, and must leave the new world where peace and sharing resources under Optimus Prime’s leadership is everyone’s goal.
Animation is perfect for this fun, action packed adventure for all ages. And there is ample room for many more.