Transformers – HD-DVD Review

Tags: DreamWorks, Megan Fox, Michael Bay, Peter Cullen, Shia LaBeouf, Steven Spielberg, Transformers

has an average rating of 7.5 on IMDb
1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 30gb disc
Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 @1.5Mbps
are “more than meets the eye!”
–
– 2007
– 144 minutes
– DreamWorks (Paramount)

Buy it for $27.95 @ Amazon.com

— Review written by: Brendan Surpless & Justin Sluss —

The Movie Itself is one that originally made you wonder how that director Michael Bay (known for the horrible “Armageddon“) would helm the feature length film based on the classic animated television series “Transformers?” Well, imagine the shock wave felt around the world when “Transformers” was finally released and, most importantly, that it was a good, no scratch that, a great film. Has the world gone topsy-turvy? “Optimus Prime” (voiced by Peter Cullen who has done the voice for the past roughly 20 years now) speaks to us via voice-over informing us about the battle between the Autobots (good) and the Decepticons (evil). Cybertron (one of the Autobots) has been defeated by Megatron (one of the Decepticons) in a quest for the AllSpark (the AllSpark, essentially, is the force with which mechanical and electronic objects are given life). Megatron, after finding out the AllSpark is on Earth, crash lands in the Arctic. While exploring the Arctic, Captain Archibald WitWicky discovers Megatron and activates Megatron’s navigational system. In the blast of the activation, the location of the AllSpark is imprinted on the eyeglasses of WitWicky. Sector 7, a secret government operation, locates the AllSpark and the Hoover Dam is built around the AllSpark (due to the massive energy the object can yield the Dam was determined to be the only place that could hold its energy in).

We soon flash-forward to present day and are introduced to “Sam Witwicky” (played by Shia LaBeouf). Sam is your average 11th grader who simply wants his first car to be something special simply so he can gain the attention of his crush “Mikaela Banes (played by the gorgeous Megan Fox). Upon receiving his first car (a Camaro), Sam soon realizes that this Camaro isn’t your normal car when the car, after leaving Sam’s house by itself, transformers into Autobot Bumblebee. Sam finds out, after being nearly destroyed by “Barricade” (Deception), that the Autobots are here for the eyeglasses (which Sam tried to sell on eBay of all places). This is where the film turns from a nicely paced film into a rocking roller coaster of a great time when these two forces battle each other in the hopes of gaining this “AllSpark.”

If any of you have sat down and watched ANY Michael Bay film (Bad Boys II, Pearl Harbor, The Island), you should come to the realization that any person has come to. Michael Bay, akin to George Lucas’ ability to tell a story, is great at directing a film built around action. Every action sequence packs that boom and blast of the punches and steps of these gigantic beings adding to a greater sense of reality. And let’s not stop here without mentioning the effects. The fluid transformation of these metal giants looks and feels so real that its obvious that Bay spent numerous days perfecting each little effect. However, as great as Bay is at building his films around action, I must admit his suffers a similar downfall that Lucas does in that his dialogue sequences are well, for lack of a better term, crap.

I’d be too kind a critic to allow a few of the film’s minor faults to go unnoticed. Dialogue, as per the typical Bay film, is horrendous. “You eyeballin’ my piece Fitty Cent?” Sam is told by a cop. Are we serious here? I know Bay is trying to appeal to the common crowd, but come on now. And we have the obvious cliché love story between Sam and Mikaela, but their comments just were so blah. Sam is the typical “nerd” in the film, but just never seems to come off as that “nerd” character. What exactly about him defines him as a “nerd?” Mikaela, as gorgeous as she is in the film, again seems like the too typical Hollywood sex symbol. It just seems like Hollywood (whether they try to bill older actors with younger or similarly aged actors together) just can’t understand what romance is about.

Still, if you can overcome the corny, clichéd dialogue sequences, we’d be complete liars if we tried to label this film as something of a negative. I’ll fully admit that I was downright terrified that Bay was directing this film. But his ability to remain, for the most part, faithful to the original product while bringing a greater sense of amazement and awe to these robots, is a greater positive than any small negative.

Video Quality on this release is 1080p in AVC MPEG-4 on a 30 gigabyte Dual-Layered HD DVD. Honestly straight up this is a flawless transfer with only a small amount of film grain present throughout. This is by far definitely superior to the DVD release. I had the chance to actually get to watch it a few times before this Review on DVD and I’ll say the difference is easily like “night and day.” So much more detail you’d never see on the DVD. The overall color palette is perfect and so are flesh tones. Speaking of flesh, 2 words “MEGAN FOX.” She alone is worth seeing in High Definition just herself. WOW! Speaking of WOW! let me say that the first glimpse we get of the new Chevy Camaro is sure to make any male’s (or female’s) jaw to drop for at least a few seconds. I’ve personally wanted one ever since they first showed the prototype to this car but I’ll say after seeing this I want one EVEN MORE!

The CG special effects with the robots look absolutely amazing in High Definition. In fact the transformations of the robots plagued the DVD release with tons of pixilation and artifacts. Well I can safely say to you that is not the case on this HD DVD release. This transformation process is truly something to behold. “TOTAL EYE CANDY” can be found here in all ways as I’ve discussed.

I had a very hard time finding any real pixilation or artifacts worth complaining about in the video transfer even though I’m sure Peter M. Bracke will surely find that and many other things he finds wrong but that’s beside the point. I will say my only real point that I didn’t think the video was consistent can be found in a few darker scenes where it seems like they purposely have added some film grain to set the feel of the cinematography. Overall Paramount (DreamWorks) has done a perfect video transfer of this film. It IS worth all the hype and then some.

Audio Quality on this release is in Dolby Digital Plus 5.1 surround. Sure it’s a shame this film didn’t get a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 mix as well like “A Mighty Heart” which Paramount is releasing on the same day but honestly it still really rocks and gets the job done, let me explain why. First off from the beginning of the film with the narration “Optimus Prime” (voiced by Peter Cullen) does to the end his voice absolutely stands out more than any noise or explosion. Speaking of which explosions, gunfire, robot footsteps and just generally all the sound effects feel very lifelike with an amazing rear channel presence. The bass is absolutely thumping but not in a bad way. The Dialogue is perfectly driven and mixed throughout the course of the film.

I think the musical score and Soundtrack to the film are great. The choice of songs “Bumblebee” plays trying to help “Sam” get lucky sound great in a 5.1 mix. Also the Smashing Pumpkins song “Doomsday Clock” is really used at a perfect point of the film. Overall I think this audio mix is pretty damn impressive but at the same time it would have been nice to have both Dolby Digital Plus & Dolby TrueHD. Either way this gets the job done and is sure to wake the neighbors, after all it IS a Michael Bay film.

Bonus Materials

Disc 1 Bonus Materials:
• Audio Commentary by Director Michael Bay
• Heads Up Display (H.U.D.) Picture-in-Picture video commentary with text trivia tracks. This includes an equal blend of both video commentary and text facts. This feels in ways like a combination of Warner’s “In-Movie-Experience” and Starz “Trivia Fast Facts.” Also unlike “IME” this doesn’t really feel like it’s being overly used. In fact at times honestly you’ll forget this is even on when you hit a dead space. This actually is a good thing as it gives you time to compute all the information being thrown at you. In the video commentary aspect of things we get tons of “behind the scenes” footage, Interviews with Director Michael Bay, Steven Spielberg and the cast. On the text side of things you’ll be displayed facts not only obviously about the Hasbro “Transformers” toys but also facts about Michael Bay and more. Overall I have to say that Paramount is definitely making a step in the right direction with these bonus materials.
• Web-Enabled Features with Transformers Intelligence Mode includes “Transformation Mode,” “Health Meter,” “Weapon Mode,” “Robot Bio,” “In Scene Indicator,” “Text Ticker” and last “GPS.” This feature allows you to download new bonus content to your HD DVD Player via an Ethernet port (or WiFi antenna on XBOX 360).
Disc 2 Bonus Materials:

Are presented in AVC MPEG-4 High Def video /w Dolby Digital Plus 2.0 stereo sound

• “Our World
The Story Sparks (8 minutes)
Human Allies (13 minutes)
I Fight Giant Robots (14 minutes)
Battleground (13 minutes)
• “Their World“
Rise of the Robots (13 minutes)
Autobots Roll Out (20 minutes)
Decepticons Strike (14 minutes)
Inside the Allspark (17 minutes)
• “Transformers Tech Inspector” is an interactive feature that lets you view high def CG models of the “Transformers.” These rotate in a full 360 degree view and really seem 3D as a result. This is very impressive and sure to please the hardcore fans.
• “From Script to Sand: The Skorponok Desert” (9 minutes)
• “Concepts” (2 minutes)
• “Trailers“
Teaser Trailer 1 (1 minute)
Theatrical Trailer 2 (2 minutes)
Theatrical Trailer 4 (2 minutes)