Growing up I never got to see The Transformers: The Movie on the big screen. The only theater in Chicago that was playing it was nowhere near me and I had to wait until it came out on video to watch it. Even then I had to wait until a copy was in stock to take it home to watch it. I remember how shocking it was to see some of my favorite characters get killed off. Out of all the action sequences the one that always stuck with me is the fight between Optimus Prime and Megatron. I just felt the hatred Megatron had and hoped Prime would get the best of him but we all know how that ended.
Here we are 38 years later from the first animated movie and that fight feels so much different now. In Transformers One we get to see the friendship between Orion Pax (CHris Hemswoth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry), who would later become Optimus Prime and Megatron. The movie shows us how their close friendship slowly deteriorates into what we see in The Transformers: The Movie. Just like Professor X and Magneto, we are shown how two people who are best friends become mortal enemies due to differences in their beliefs.
The story is pretty straightforward. Orion Pax is looking for clues on how to find the legendary Matrix of Leadership to save Cybertron. Since he does not have a transformer cog, he is assigned to work in the mines with the other non-transforming robots to dig for energon. It is in these mines that he meets D-16 and they become lifelong friends. From the introduction of Orion we see that he has tried to find information before and D-16 bails him out of trouble. They both feel that there is more to their lives but since they work in the mines they know they will be seen as nothing more than mining robots.
Orion has an idea for the two to enter the Lacon 5000 to not only win it but gain prestige for the minerbots. By entering the race they get the attention of Sentinel Prime, the head of Cybertron, and their life changes drastically. The two end up learning a lot about the head of Cybertron and go on a mission to find the Matrix of leadership. On this mission they are joined by Elita-1, (Scarlett Johansson) and B-127 (Keegan-Michael Key). B-127 is the comedic element of the movie and has some great lines throughout the movie especially when he is discovering all of the new improvements to his body. “Knife hands!”
As Orion and D-16 find out the truth about what happened to the Primes, we see the rift in the friendship start to begin. Whereas Orion wants to reveal the truth and help the people of Cybertron, D-16 feels that Sentinel Prime needs to pay for what he did. D-16 feels that death is the price that should be paid, Orion feels that the punishment should not be that severe. Little by little we see how D-16’s defiance is getting the attention of those that feel the same way. It is not until D-16 goes full dark side that you know the line has been crossed and their friendship will never be the same again.
Transformers One has to be one of the best Transformers movies that has come out in a while. From the writing, to the action, and the animation, the movie looks like they did their homework to give Transformer fans something to be excited about. While stories of friends turning into enemies is something that we have seen millions of times, it is always interesting to see how they got to that point. We are given glimpses of the relationship between Optimus Prime and Megatron in the various shows, but we never get an “origin” story on how their friendship ended.
Final Thought: Transformers One is a fantastic Transformers movie that gives us a new look into the lore of Optimus Prime. The action is fantastic and moves the story along right to its final battle. The dynamic between Hemsworth’s, Orion, and Henry’s D-16 is great and heartbreaking at the same time. This is one version of the Transformers world that I would love to see expanded in future movies.
Kid-Friendly: The theme about friendships and standing up for what you believe in is great for kids to see. It is also good to see how some of these beliefs lead to rifts in friendships.
Violence: There is animated violence between the robots. Bumblebee gets a little excited cutting up people with his “knife-hands”.
TRANSFORMERS ONE is 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. In the first-ever fully CG-animated Transformers movie, TRANSFORMERS ONE features a star-studded voice cast, including Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi with Laurence Fishburne and Jon Hamm.