TL;DR – By taking the series back to the basics, they found the core of what makes Transformers so compelling.

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid and post-credit scene.

Disclosure – I was invited to a press screening of this film.

Transformers One Review –

If there has been one modern series that I have had such a mixed experience with, it is Transformers. For every Bumblebee, we get a Dark of the Moon and more. But thanks to those cartoons of my youth, including Beast Wars, I still have a deep fondness for the series and always turn up to see if this is the film where they nail it. Today, we are shifting things up with a new animated film that goes all the way back to the start, to a time when there were no Autobots and Decepticons.  

So, to set the scene, a long time ago, on a planet far, far, away, we are introduced to two miners deep in the depths of Cybertron. For millenniums, Energon ran freely on the planet. Still, after a disastrous battle with the killed all the Primes bar Sentinel Prime (Jon Hamm), and the Matrix of Leadership was lost, the wells dried up, and now nearly everyone has to delve into the dangerous mines to keep the city of Iocon running. While Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) is just a miner who does not even have a cog to let them transform, he dreams of finding the Matrix of Leadership and saving the city. This gets him in trouble quite a bit, and he often needs to get bailed out by his best friend, D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry). But when the pair get banished to the basement depths of the city, they stumble across an old beacon being unknowingly kept by B-127 (Keegan-Michael Key). They have a choice: do nothing or risk going onto the dangerous surface and changing their lives forever.     

Visually, this is a stunning film, especially once we get to the surface. The design of all the robots were all speaking in the same visual language that we are used to, while using their own visual fair. Anyone watching will know who Orion Pax, D-16, and B-127 will end up being, but you also get to know about where they are in the world right now. Cybertron has always been depicted as some kind of Ecumenopolis in everything I have watched so far. So, it was interesting to see it reimagined as a post-apocalyptic space being reclaimed by the type of plants and animals left. The design of Iocon City was also a delight, and the race through the city was one of the highlights of the film. While I loved the visuals, I will say that the action scenes do get a bit choppy in places, which does become hard to follow at times.

Narratively, I don’t think there are any surprises here. From the moment you first meet Sentinel Prime, you will know how that story is going to play out. However, the meat of the film is not in the narrative but in the characters. You know where the film will end, but you don’t know what will get our characters from best friends to enemies. On that front, I think the film did an excellent job of showing how that relationship broke down as Orion Pax & D-16 headed in different directions. They are very much leaning into Magneto v Charles as representations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. that X-Men luxuriates in. But it never gets into the depth of what they are hinting at.

While it was a bit disappointing, it never got into the depth that I had hoped; the voice acting made up for that gap. Chris Hemsworth & Brian Tyree Henry make an extraordinary double act. You follow them at every step, and you feel entirely that the relationship grows and fails. Keegan-Michael Key finally gives Bee a voice that captures that frantic energy but still gives him a unique perspective. I liked Scarlett Johansson as Elita, who is just over everyone’s rubbish. But I have to say that the best casting of the entire film was Steve Buscemi as Starscream, because the second you heard that, you knew it was a fantastic idea.  

In the end, do we recommend Transformers One? Yes, we would. This has been one of the stronger outings for the Transformers in an age. The characters brought more to the world than I expected, and I was captivated by the whole story. If you liked Transformers One, we would recommend to you Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem.

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

Have you watched Transformers One?, let us know what you thought in the comments below, feel free to share this review on any of the social medias and you can follow us Here. Check out all our past reviews and articles Here, and have a happy day. 


Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Transformers One
Directed by – Josh Cooley
Screenplay by – Eric Pearson, Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari
Story by – Andrew Barrer & Gabriel Ferrari
Based on – Transformers by Hasbro
Music by – Brian Tyler
Cinematography by – Christopher Batty
Edited by – Lynn Hobson
Production/Distribution Companies – Paramount Animation, Hasbro Entertainment, New Republic Pictures, Di Bonaventura Pictures, Bayhem Films & Paramount Pictures
Starring – Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne & Jon Hamm with Isaac C. Singleton Jr., Vanessa Liguori, Jason Konopisos-Alvarez, Jinny Chung, Jon Bailey & Evan Michael Lee
Rating – Australia: PG; Canada: na; Germany: na; New Zealand: PG; United Kingdom: PG; United States: PG