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With: Chris Hemsworth, Brian Tyree Henry, Scarlett Johansson, Keegan-Michael Key, Steve Buscemi, Laurence Fishburne, Jon Hamm
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Written by: Eric Pearson, Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari, based on a story by Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari
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Directed by: Josh Cooley
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MPAA Rating: PG for sci-fi violence and animated action throughout, and language
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Running Time: 104
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Date: 09/20/2024
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Machine Learning
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
Alongside Bumblebee, this is the best Transformers movie yet made, although there's not a lot of strong competition. Transformers One tells the origin stories of Optimus Prime and Megatron, humbly introduced as best buds Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) and D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry). They are miner robots, forced to work because they are without the cogs that enable them to transform (they're branded second-class citizens). But when they head to the surface of Cybertron, along with the chatty B-127 (Keegan-Michael Key) and the bossy Elita -1 (Scarlett Johansson), they discover the truth behind the lie that ruler Sentinel Prime (Jon Hamm) is perpetuating. The emotional arc that turns our characters into the hero and the villain moves a little fast; it's not exactly deep exploration, but it works. It's also vaguely troublesome that Black performer Henry (a recent Oscar nominee for Causeway) wound up being cast as the bad guy. Those things aside, the movie is exciting and spellbindingly gorgeous, like a slick, well-tuned machine whose pieces slide and snap together with satisfying precision.
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