The Transformers return to animation
When Michele Baia movies were in the works Transformers (2007-2017) had boundless generosity towards them, which at times reached the point of excess. Not all works are the same, but we have always had a certain pleasure in seeing the director stage titanic battles between giant robots. From Transformers: The Last KnightMichael Bay unfortunately left his post. Travis Knight did a really honorable job with the friendly Hornet (2018), unlike Steven Caple Jr. whose Transformers: Rise of the Beasts (2023) turned out to be very anecdotal. It’s the same with Transformers: the beginninga prequel to the franchise that fails to even amaze its 3D animation.
Directed by Josh Cooley (Toy story 4) and written by Andrew Barrer, Gabriel Ferrari and Steve Desmond, the film transports us in the city of Iacon on Cybertronyears after a great war against the Quintessons. Following this confrontation, the Cybertronians lost the command matrix and since then devoid of energythe energy necessary for their transformations and their power. To fill the gap, miners work tirelessly. Among these there are Orion Pax and his best friend D-16. Still far from being the powerful Optimus Prime and Megatron we know, they present themselves as carefree young people (especially Orion Pax) condemned to a bleak future. To change their future, they will set off in search of the Command Matrix, accompanied by Elita-1 and B-127 (who will become Bumblebee).
An adventure against the backdrop of class struggle
Transformers: the beginning follows a fairly conventional scenario. The jokes and the clumsiness of the characters come when we expect them and the twists and turns are predictable. It doesn’t take long to understand who the real enemy is in this story and what the four heroes will have to face. One element still manages to amaze, namely the relationship between the social classes within the city of Iacon. At the top of the ladder are those who are capable of transformation. After all, those who are born without the gears of transformation and who are, for this reason, subject to the strongest and exploited in the mines by a capitalist system.
©Paramount Pictures
A condition that they accept without rebelling thanks to a thinly veiled manipulation of the masses. At least until Orion Pax and D-16 got involved two Marxists who came to save the proletarians. All this in an American blockbuster produced by the giants Hasbro and Paramount Pictures worth at least 140 million dollars? This is very ironic. After all, we cannot imagine that the average American audience (and not only) interprets or understands the film in this way.
Visually, Transformers: the beginning lack of energy
Of course, the saga Transformers has never been original in terms of plots. However, this flaw managed to be compensated by likable characters to follow (human or Autobot) and great moments of courage. An epic breath missing cruelly inside Transformers: the beginning. In principle, the animation could have allowed for visual madness. However, there is nothing memorable in the action scenes of the feature film, which are also not always very readable, and even less able to transport you.
In a different style, but equally colorful, the Chinese film The Kingdom of the Abyssto name just one, he impressed much more at this level. Here it’s not so much the art direction (more in the spirit of the 80s series Transformers: generation 1) which disappoints, but what do you do with it. An animation often slowlywithout any real pursuit of movement, and the laser blasts and explosions of the last act can’t compensate. Furthermore, the question of the audience to which it is addressed arises since the banal plot and the somewhat childish tone are ill-suited to a certain visual violence, which becomes tiring in the long run.
Transformers: the beginning by Josh Cooley, in theaters October 23, 2024. Above is the trailer.
Source: Cine Serie
Ray Ortiz is a journalist at Gossipify, known for his coverage of trending news and current events. He is committed to providing readers with accurate and unbiased reporting, and is respected for his ability to keep readers informed on the latest news and issues.
