This year has been a wonderful year for film. “Inside Out 2” topped “The Lion King” in highest grossing animated films, “Deadpool and Wolverine” made over a billion worldwide, “Alien: Romulus,” is a return to form for the horror franchise after a seven year gap, and “Wicked: Part one” showed that musical adaptations can be good and do well.  

Movies have shown that the strikes last year have not slowed down the momentum on the medium. However, there is a movie this year that was severely underappreciated: “Transformers: One.”

“Transformers: One” is a prequel to the entire Transformers franchise, telling the story of Optimus Prime before he became the leader of the Autobots and before the war with the Decepticons. He starts off as Orion Pax, a simple miner, trying to save his planet from an energy deficit. He is joined by D-16, his best friend, who will eventually become Megatron.

They venture their planet to find the Matrix of leadership, the key to solving the energy crisis. Along their way they make revelations that change the entire way they perceive their society.

As to not spoil the film, I will leave the rest of the plot rather vague as its narrative beats are part of what makes the film so strong. The other part is the characters.

Orion Pax as the lead protagonist is incredibly strong and has the makings of a hero. When audiences first meet him, he is impulsive, deceptive, and physically non-imposing in relation to his foes. He clearly wants to be the main character but he fits more into the background. 

Contrast that with D-16, who is far more accepting of his role in the society they live in. He is a worker through and through and he is perfectly fine with that. Their chemistry is the backbone of the film, seeing them bounce off each other with the incredible comedic timing this film has makes the latter half of the film all the more heartbreaking.

As a prequel, it is already known how this story will end and “Transformers: One” uses that to its advantage. Seeing D-16 transform into Megatron over the course of the film is so interesting. Same with Orion Pax turning into Optimus Prime. Their transformations into the characters that are more well known, makes the story significantly stronger.

This movie also looks incredible. The animation is fluid and the faces are expressive. While there is not much in terms of set pieces, the character work makes up for that in spades. Each robot looks and moves so unique so it is impossible to mix any of them up.

“Transformer: One” is accessible to new fans as well. I have always had a passing knowledge of Transformers. I might have seen one other film but it never left a big impact on me to be curious enough about this world to see more. “Transformers: One” works as that entry point. It explains and details everything so that a newcomer does not get lost but also is not repetitive or overly simplistic so audiences are not being talked down to. It works in showing you what this world has to offer while still making you curious as to what comes next.

So with all these positives, why am I saying it is the most underrated film of this year? Simple, it bombed. With a budget of $147 million, it only made $129 million back. It is one of the biggest box office bombs of this year and it does not deserve that title.

Why did it bomb? The answer to that is also simple: its marketing was horrendous.  From the very first trailer, this movie was in trouble. From bad jokes to poor music choice, the film was made to look like a generic kids film, which is severely underselling what this movie truly is.

This film deserves a second chance, it deserves a sequel, it deserves a watch by you. View “Transformers: One” on digital services and streaming on Paramount Plus.