And so we enter December where I throw out the rule book on my reviews completely and do whatever I want to. There have been quite a few good modern works of fiction of late I’d like to look at, namely when it comes to movies. Unless the last few reviews have me find something else, I’m going to be looking into some movies that deserve your attention.
I really had to wait for this one. Not only for some idiotic reason was this released in the UK a month later than the rest of the world. But it wasn’t shown at my local cinema till around a month after that. By which because the internet exists all spoilers for the major plot twists of the film had long since been spoiled. But regardless of that… OOOOH THIS WAS A GOOD FILM!
First up, this isn’t a live action film, it’s CG animation. Second it is not set on Earth, this is set on Cybertron before the war between the Autobots and Decepticons. Despite what Paramount’s stupid marketing people said (will get more on them later) this is not a prequel to the live action films (something they also tried to claim about Bumblebee and Rise of Beasts when that was clearly not true when looked at).
The film stars the Cogless Mining Bots Orion Pax and D-16 in a journey that will turn them from best friends into the legendary enemies Optimus Prime and Megatron. It will delve into discovering hidden truths that while it will save their world, will turn them against one another.
I have to say it. This one film ONE FILM! does a better origin for Megatron than ALL the prequel materials did for Darth Vader. How a robot who believed in so much, was so aghast so destroyed and enraged by the truth, would become one of the worlds most legendary villains. His transformation (pun intended), gave me the chills.
The film is not just a good, if not the best, Transformers film, it’s a solidly great film too.
It’s a crime that not enough people saw it. But then Paramount’s marketing really screwed up. Not just continually insisting it was a prequel to the crap live action films that have done so much long term damage to people’s perception of the franchise. But those trailers they did run tried to paint this as some silly adventure movie with constant Bumblebee jokes. And it wasn’t even the good jokes.
No this film is not some cartoonish silly ride. When it wants to be funny it’s funny but it’s also very tense and heartfelt. I can only hope that in years to come people continue to talk about this film and buy it on home media. This shows just how well you can tell a story with Transformers and why the franchise is so beloved by its fans.
I can’t imagine any future live action film at the poor quality of writing that has been looked on fondly now that we have an example of what the franchise can do with talent and heart behind it.
Rating: 🎞️🎞️🎞️🎞️🎞️
