Transformers One (2024)
★★★½
This review may contain spoilers.
First Impression Notes.
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overall this thing is pretty good, a lot to like here especially that tone man was it so nice to have a story with some weight and some consequences it really felt like our characters went on a journey and change which was a nice change of pace, the animation is great, the story is pretty great and it has some good score work along with some good cinematography work, check it out if you are interested for sure.
the story and tone are where this thing really works for me, tonally this movie knows what it is and aims to be what it is, a goofy kids movie, but it also goes a bit deeper with it's story allowing for the more serious toned moments to be that, serious toned moments, which is great, I mean Megatron literally kills and threatens a few people, which is cool that it takes it that far, usually we wouldn't see that kind of stuff so that was a nice change of pace.
a couple other story beats that I liked about the film.
- I could be wrong about this one but I think that D-16 and Orion Pax ended up with parts from the original Optimus Prime, D-16 with the cogg and Pax with the leadership thing that is going to create for interesting parallel's movie forward, if I am wrong ignore this note.
- liked that we didn't see how they became friends until the very end and that there friendship was formed on a you watch my back, I'll watch yours, the ending line where he says "I am done saving you" has that much more weight to it because how much do you think D-16 feels like Pax hasn't had his back but that he has had Pax's back since the beginning I mean we hear this complaint during the opening but Pax doesn't give it much thought, just a distraction in the sticker.
- I liked that we saw that D-16 was driven by rage before he is told about the betrayal, when he finds out what had happened to OG Optimus Prime.
- I liked that the thing that we see that defines there friendship ultimately becomes a symbol for how it ended, and how it is going to be defined going forward, that this thing that was once innocent has been tainted by the lingering sense of betrayal that both character feel towards each other.
- I like that film knows that you know what is going to happen and so it makes you care about these characters so that way when the betrayal happens it has been setup.
the animation is gorgeous and very well done, there is a flashback that is told through dust / particles that looks so freaking cool -- to mention it all the particle effects in the movie are really Steller, I think and this is a crazy theory but Alpha Trion was animated on a different frame rate, his character model was moving a bit slower but intentionally and not like he was just animated differently he felt off a little bit, again I might be crazy for that one.
the acting from Chris Hemsworth and Brian Tyree Henry is so great, like you really feel the chemistry and bond that these two have in theaters, did they record in the same room, because it feels like they did at times, it's very nice, but I really liked Scarlett Johansson, the subtilties in her voice acting here are really great.
the cinematography is very nice it gets better and better throughout the film and then when we get to the third act it is actually pretty Steller, every shot feels purposeful and like if it was filmed in another way it would feel out of place -- the racing scene was shot really well, the moon shot while they are on the train, everything on the surface was shot in this big wide open vast shots to show how much a difference this world is to our characters than the normal world they are use to.
the score is pretty nice, it works well within the film, but there is one track in particular called "The Fall" that has this flute / synthesizer that works so well for me, combined with the imaginary on the screen at the time my god is it a gorgeous piece of film making.
gonna watch this again when I can on digital, hope it holds up!!
