Josh Cooleycouldn’t help but crack up at an incredibly scathing assessment of his new film,Transformers One.As the latest installment in the storied franchise readies to roll out this Friday, Cooley laughed out loud at a particularly overwrought critique ofChris Hemsworthand Brian Tyree Henry’s animated adventure as Orion Pax and D-16. The rather overbearing review was penned by Mark Kennedy for the Associated Press. And as the writer makes his arguments againstTransformers One, he denounces it as not even being airworthy: not worth being an in-flight movie, apparently. Check out an excerpt from what can arguably be called a “hit piece” below (per theAP):
“Movie origin stories finally reach their nadir this week with ‘Transformers One,’ the super-violent, toy-selling vehicle that tells the tale of how Optimus Prime and Megatron went from besties to foes. Did anyone ask for this? Did Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner ask for too much money?
The computer-animated ‘Transformers One’ is out of time, a throwback to a few years ago when Hollywood mined popular IP for forgotten heroes, built overly complex worlds and then ramped up the action so that the audience just got numbed to a blur of battles.”
Transformers One
Transformers One is an animated action-adventure movie that marks the first animated feature-length film for the series in decades. The film will be a prequel to the franchise, and will tell the story of Optimus Prime and Megatron in their early years, how they met, and a closer look at the war on their home planet, Cybertron.
The writer continues to pontificate in his review as follows (below):
“But ‘Transformers One’ isn’t good enough to watch on a plane, even a trans-Pacific flight. The inflight map is better. A map isn’t a bad idea, actually: You may need some sort of guide for this one — those uninitiated to the folklore of Cybertron are flung helplessly into references to Energon, Alpha Trion, Quintessons and something called the Matrix of Leadership. You come in halfway into a conversation.”
The review, which also compares Optimus Prime (Orion Pax) and Megatron’s (D-16) origin story to that of Cain and Abel’s relationship from the Bible, clearly caught the attention of Cooley. And the director responded to Kennedy’s critique on X, formerly Twitter: “LOL! Great idea, who owns the inflight map I.P.? I’m IN.”
‘If Transformers Ever Bled, This Would Be an R-rated Movie'
The Associated Press’ review is definitely in the minority, becauseTransformers One’sCybertron-sized Rotten Tomatoes scoreis an astounding 90%, at the time of this writing, which ties director Josh Cooley’s animated adventure withBumblebeefor the franchise’s best Tomatometer rating. Nonetheless, the AP doesn’t think the film is worth seeing, and their writer even suggested the possibility of it needing an R-rating. Kennedy continues by saying (below):
“Director Josh Cooley, who co-wrote the screenplay for ‘Inside Out’ and helmed ‘Toy Story 4,’ never lets the action stop — and that’s not a compliment. The camera is constantly swiveling and the violence — assault-weapon lasers, booming cannons, light torture, martial arts crunching moves, beating a rival with their own amputated limb and ceaseless pounding — is nauseating. (‘Please stop punching me in the face’ is a joke line here.) If Transformers ever beld, this would be an R-rated movie."
Transformers One Early Reactions Roll In; Could This Be the Best Transformers Movie?
The first reactions to Transformers One tease one of the biggest surprises of the year.
Kennedy can complain all he wants, and his attempt at condemningTransformers Onewill likely only help promote the Chris Hemsworth-led adventure as word-of-mouth spreads across the internet. After all, as the cliché clearly states: “Bad press is better than no press.” And there’s zero chance Kennedy’s rant will derail the movie, at the box office, asTransformers Oneis eyeing a massive opening weekend.
Transformers Oneopens in theaters onSeptember 20.And be sure to check outMovieWeb’s more measured reviewof Josh Cooley’s film right now.
