 With 'Transformers' being one of the more popular products of my generation, it genuinely surprised me when the trailer for this came along. I had to stop to think about it, and I'm not sure we've ever been delivered an honest-to-God 'Transformers' origin story; at least not on the screen. The closest I can think of might be the '80s cartoon I (sort of) grew up with, and even that is about them coming to Earth. That means that this is, surprisingly, one of the most original ideas they've had for a 'Transformers' movie, and it's a freakin' origin story!
Even to a semi-fan like myself, this genuinely grasped my curiosity for the first time via trailer since... maybe the 2007 movie. Yes, I loved 'Bumblebee,' but I still initially rolled my eyes at the concept of yet another one. Anyway, this trailer delivered some smooth CG animation, somewhat reminiscent to shows like 'Beast Wars' in style, which caught my eye. Otherwise I got curious as to the origin story they had in mind with Optmus Prime and Megatron being young friends. Finally, the simple fact that we finally had a movie that took place completely on Cybertron! In an opening scene, a Cybertronian named Orion Pax (Chris Hemsworth) sneaks into an archival facility to watch a video on the origin of the "Primes"; the first of the Cybertronians created by Primus, who's essentially a God-like Transformer whose transformation is the planet Cybertron. This gives the audience some decent back-story about old Transformers lore which, as far as I know (an I really don't) has only been seen in comic books thus far. Pax is caught and runs away, only to bump into his friend, D-16 (Brian Tyree Henry), who works with him, mining Energon, which could almost be seen as their food/fuel source. One day, Cybertron's leader, Sentinel Prime (Jon Hamm) returns from a trip to the planet's surface (did I mention this takes place mostly underground?) who organizes a race called the IACON 5000 for celebration. Pax soon drags D into the race so they can prove that they're "more than meets the eye" to Sentinel, in hopes to get out of their mining gig. However, long story short, they end up demoted, where they meet B-127 (Keegan-Michael Key) and stumble upon a distress signal coming from one of the aforementioned Primes, whom Pax convinces D and B to head to the surface to search for. Along their journey, they connect with a mining overseer named Elita-1 (Scarlett Johansson), and together, all four end up discovering hidden truths behind Cybertron, their origin, their leader, and even their very existence. This eventually prompts Pax to want to fight with his people for justice, and to restore the good of the planet. But D feels far deeper betrayal, and is a little more interested in revenge on those he once trusted with his life. Eventually, these robots would become Optimus Prime (Pax) and Megatron (D), and this is the story of how they came to be. This is a 'Transformers' movie that gets a lot of credit from yours truly. I'm sure there will be some purist fans who will find an issue or two with the storytelling here. But as only a semi-fan, this was great for me. It gives a good amount of backstory, not just to Optimus and Megatron, but to Cybertron and the Transformers in general. It's well animated, the voice acting is surprisingly good, and includes more names like Steve Buscemi (Starscream) and Laurence Fishburne (Alpha Trion), and it's a good balance of emotion between a fair amount of comedy, action and drama - yes, drama. I'm not gonna say this was anything that truly blew me away, but I really did enjoy this for what it was. 'Transformers' is forever a franchise that I like just fine, but I don't, nor have I ever, truly loved it. Therefore, I can be a bit more loose on my criticisms with this, because hell, it's just a good story, and I'm not looking for "accuracy." I think this will end up being a mixed bag for the die-hard fans, but I really do feel like this was successful in roping in those of us who are a bit more uneducated on the material. Aside from that, as it is with many 'Transformers' movies, it's just plain fun! 4/5
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