The Movie
Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a movie based on action figures. It says so on the poster, in the credits, and now on the Blu-ray box. For anyone expecting Proust, well, that's what books are for, or so I'm told.
But if you're looking for giant battling robots, then pull up a sofa and grab the remote. Just when we think we know the whole story from the previous two installments of the Transformers franchise, we discover a chapter of the heroic Autobots' history, one which led to the real (not really), top-secret reason we entered the space race to reach the moon first.
A vital piece of technology that would have been the last hope for the Autobots in their war against the tyrannical Decepticons has been located and locked away, and only now have we figured out how to make it work. But the truth about its ultimate capabilities and those who would use it remain shrouded in lies and betrayals, government and corporate conspiracies dating back to the '60s, with a stopover at Chernobyl, too.
This latest opus from hyper-director Michael Bay has its share of cartoon characters, and I don't mean the talking robots. Brave humans fight shoulder-to-fender with the shape-shifting sentient machines in scenes of spectacular urban combat, and isn't that all that moviegoers want? No? Then why did they spend a billion dollars so far just to see it?
Read Joe Lozito's review of Transformers: Dark of the Moon and judge for yourself if I'm just a pawn of the Decepticons.
The Picture
To Bay's credit, he obviously shot his thing for 3D exhibition, and although his dynamic visual style works extremely well in 2D, it absolutely whets the appetite for the upcoming Blu-ray 3D. For today, the 2.4:1 image is exceptionally strong, with precisely-rendered digital characters and distinctive colors throughout. I noted some minor noise and moiré owing to the sick levels of detail that the director and his team were able to achieve, but overall it is home theater gold.
One of the secrets is the lack of any on-disc extras, which helps Dark of the Moon maintain an AVC video bitrate in the high 20s (megabits-per-second), despite its more-than-two-and-a-half-hour running time. They don't mention this as a plus in the ads or the press release, unlike the manner in which the first, bare-bones Avatar disc was touted.
I must say that the single greatest failing of the special effects is an abysmal attempt to create a faux President John F. Kennedy. It looks far, far worse than the JFK of Forrest Gump, created 17 years ago. Maybe these shots were rushed for theaters, but why not fix this embarrassment for Blu-ray?
The Sound
All channels are so aggressively exploited here as to make my speakers and subwoofer this Blu-ray's bitch. I could feel the palpable bass thumps in the music as well as the wild, ubiquitous action, while empty brass shells and other trebly touches airily clatter all around us. Directionality is superb, as not just weapons but airborne cars whiz by us, and the left/right sides of the house are nimbly played against one another with subtle cues. The frequent explosions are routinely sharp.
In addition to the high-res Dolby TrueHD 7.1-channel default track, the disc also packs what Paramount is calling "Discrete" Dolby Digital 5.1 and "Discrete" Dolby Surround 2.0. We take this to mean that these have been remixed and remastered for optimal playback on those specific speaker setups.
The Extras
As I mentioned, there are no extras whatsoever on the Blu-ray itself, not even a BD-Live portal, in an effort to bring the movie to fans in a timely fashion while the studio also preps an elaborate "Ultimate Edition." There's no date for that announced yet, but the $10-off coupon inside the package (on the flipside for the unique Digital Copy download code) expires on June 30 of next year, so we can make certain assumptions.
Disc Two is a DVD copy of the movie.
Final Thoughts
Some folks don't care about extras, but they are looking for Optimus... er, optimal audio and video quality when they watch the latest Hollywood blockbusters at home, and this release of Transformers: Dark of the Moon surely delivers, with the added enticements of DVD and Digital Copy so that we need never be without these rockin', sockin' 'bots.
Oh, and if you just want the Blu-ray, you can get that, at a very attractive price, only at Walmart or Walmart.com.
Available at Walmart.com
Product Details
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