Transformers (Two-Disc Special Edition + BD Live) [Blu-ray]

This movie was a lot better than I expected, it has a lot of action and has a lot going on, so I recommend to those that like action movies. It also has the new 2010 chevy camaro and it looks cool, so check it out.

While I was never a fan of the original toys, comic books, TV series, movie or anything, I've been as swept up in the hype as anybody else has. Also I have a five year old boy, so there was really no good reason for me to avoid this film simply because it was a Michael Bay project.

I found it very good. It started quite well, with some mystery about what the hell these things were anyway, and why they were on earth. Then the character development was actually fairly okay, although uber-geek Sam Witwicky, played by Shia LaBoeuf was a bit irritating at first. Never mind, he was introduced at the same time as the shapely character played by Megan Fox, who has a very appropriate name. Everything about the film was fairly good, and at times the action scenes were such that I was thinking to myself, "hey, I'm having fun in spite of myself."

The main problem of the film was in the editing - enough to make me wonder if the Singapore release is some unpolished version and the one that will be released on the fourth of July in the U.S. will be a bit smoother... although maybe the thought that Hollywood types would give as much attention to the plot as they would to their CG and explosions is giving these people too much credit. Some action scenes between the Autobots and the Decepticons don't make sense (who hit whom, where are they attacking from, where was Optimus Prime when Megatron was doing this and that, whatever). Other plot points seem juxtaposed somewhat, so it's a bit confusing. It also seemed to be a film that couldn't make up its mind whether it wanted to be a film about people or a film about robots. The "characters" of the robot, unfortunately, aren't very fleshed out, and the scene where Optimus Prime introduces his crew seems it was taken right out of Top Secret ("this is Duchamp, Levieus, Escargot, Latrine, Deja-vu, and Chocolat Mousse"). The human characters, oddly enough, are quite adequately fleshed out, often too much so - sure Sam Witwicky's dad is nitpickety, but the scene when he's trying to find something in his room while the impatient autobots are waiting outside trying to save the world, and his fussy folks are going on about whether he did his chores or not is a bit tiresome.

One of the funny thing about the film is all of its wacky bits. There's a scene where an Autobot pisses on a police officer. The chihuaua is called "Mojo," and there's a rather surreal scene where an Autobot is scolding him - "Bad Mojo - BAD Mojo." Then there's John Torturro's over-the-top performance as a government operative, which is quite funny. Sam's parents are also quite good, despite the above-mentioned scene, as a sort of non-gangster Tony and Carmella Soprano. Jon Voigt is in the film, going through the motions as the Secretary of Defense who loses his marbles near the end. Then there's also John Robinson, who played Stacey Peralta in "Lords of Dogtown" who has a brief role - probably got paid more here than for Lords of Dogtown. There's this priceless bit in the end credits where they talk about "alien sightings," and say to the effect "oh no, we live in a democracy, our government wouldn't hold secrets like that from us." In another superfluous scene, there's this weird interchange like "hey - there are three scratch lines on this, like Freddie Kruger." "No, Freddie Kruger has four claws, Wolverine has three." The music is generally quite good too, although the re-use of that Kill Bill song was a bit weird.

I used to love Transformers as a kid and I still love them! I well remember the Autobots vs the Deceptacons. I would enjoy seeing some reruns of the original show, but for now I guess this movie will do. I was amazed at how the movie is both nostalgic and current with todays techs. I told my hubby (whose account I use at Amazon) that the Transformers rule, all the while he disagreed till we saw this movie. So for all you oldschool peeps out there, a little reminder ... " Oldschool Is Cool!" (with a little help from our tech friends)

When I first saw Transformers on DVD I didn't care so much for the story - there was just too much destruction against the good guys. For some reason I had the urge to see it again after I bought my Panasonic BD-30 player from Amazon.com. Wow! is all can say. First, the picture was better than the regular DVD and watching it on my new Panasonic 50" Plasma 85 model (also purchased from Amazon) was outstanding. This time I was in awe of the visual impact of this movie and think I understood and accepted the power of the bad robots this time. Knowing that the good guys do win out in the end did make it more enjoyable the second time. I think I purchased about 30 Blu-ray movies since buying my player when the prices finally dropped at the end of September and I would say that Transformers is one of my best five. I already own about 300 regular Dvds so buying the same movies again on Blu-ray is a major pain in my pocket book. Nevertheless, Transformers is worth buying even if you have the regular DVD. I have even watched it a third time now. I am also blown away by PoTC: Dead Man's Crest (all three are great on Blu-ray, but the 2nd one is my favorite and a must have on Blu-ray), Crank is also insane on Blu-ray (certainly not for the kids - it's a strong R - and Jason Statham is my new Steven Seagal who can also act - although I still love Seagal). Crank is intense and a perfect movie for BD. Live Free or Die Hard is also in my top 5 BD. And, finally Iron Man. I would have added the Dark Knight of course, but I don't own it yet and have only seen it in the threatre.

I enjoyed the movie thoroughly. I had bought it originally on HD but when I saw the blu-ray had lossless audio codec I had to buy it. It definitely has better quality audio than the HD version with good use of surrounds and LFE. The video quality was superb, amazing colors. A must have.