Written by: Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman
Directed by: Michael Bay
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Jon Voight, Rachel Taylor, Peter Cullen, Hugo Weaving, etc.
My all time favorite movie of 2007 hit DVD on Tuesday. Yes fans, Transformers have finally made it to live action and the DVD is pretty amazing, much like the movie itself. Now before I start this review, this is for the two disc DVD set. There are various different sets out there at different stores with many various special features (Transforming DVD Case, Transformers Beginnings Bonus Disc, etc.) to choose from.
The story of the movie itself is pretty straightforward. The powerful allspark has ventured to Earth. The allspark is the source on unlimited power and both the valiant Autobots and the maniacal Decepticons are seeking this energy source for their own purposes. The allspark is basically kind of like an updated source of energon or maybe even a pumped up version of the matrix from the 80’s animated series.
The allspark landed on Earth many years ago, and is now hidden in a secret military base monitored by the government. The movie begins with an attack on a military base by a Decepticon soldier. This leads to the military becoming aware of these strange beings arriving on Earth, and Frenzy, another Decepticon warrior is assigned to find information about the allspark. This scene comes into play later as the President and his crew flies aboard Air Force One. This sets up all the military involvement in the film along with the computer analysis experts Maggie and Glenn. I don’t want to talk much about the humans and military in this review though, because I’m more into the Transformers themselves. So that’s as far into the military stuff in this movie I want to mention for now. Anyways, the story is basically about Sam Witwicky.
Sam is a high school student who is about to buy his first car. Little does Sam know, the car he ends up with is the heroic Autobot soldier Bumblebee. Sam is in possession of a pair of his grandfather’s glasses.
The glasses have the encoded location of where the allspark resides on Earth. Sam’s grandfather came in contact on an icing expedition years ago which led him to come face to face with a dormant and frozen Megatron. Megatron scanned the glasses belonging to Sam’s grandfather with the location of where the allspark is hiding on Earth. Sam eventually begins to befriend Mikaela who becomes involved in this entire adventure. Sam and Mikaela eventually find out Bumblebee is a robotic alien who is trying to find Sam’s glasses and protect them from further Decepticon attacks. Bumblebee summons Optimus Prime and his fellow Autobots by shooting a signal into the stars.
When the Autobots arrive on Earth, they take the form of various vehicles and explain to Sam that they need his grandfather’s glasses. Optimus describes what the allspark is, who Megatron is, and how there are already Decepticon forces on Earth. The entire group goes to Sam’s house to find the glasses, but the military has to get involved once again.
The sector seven main agent eventually takes Sam and Mikalea into custody, and Bumblebee is also taken prisoner. Optimus and crew decide not to intervene in freeing Bumblebee right away and vows that they will protect the humans no matter what. Later on, the government becomes involved with sector seven and everyone realizes that Sam has been in contact with the Autobots and realizes what is going on. Sam and everyone is taken to a secret location where the frozen body of Megatron resides. They also reveal they have the allspark and are keeping it hidden at the Hoover Dam. But like all action movies, hell quickly breaks loose. Megatron is unfrozen, the Decepticons rally and the Autobots roll out. The military and the Autobots do their best to defend the city and humans from a massive Decepticon attack. Sam is given the allspark after it is shrunk down by Bumblebee and he has to make his way to a nearby rooftop. This is a great moment in the movie where all the Autobots and Decepticons fight one another, with the military doing their best to help. Mikaela even hooks the injured Bumblebee up to a tow truck and drives him around, letting him continue to battle despite being blown apart earlier in the film. The real treat of this scene comes in a certain line of dialogue delivered by Optimus Prime, “By the end of this day Megatron, One Shall Stand and One Shall Fall!”
Sam continues to make his way to the rooftop to hand the allspark over to the military in a helicopter.
Megatron is still after Sam, finally confronting the boy on the rooftop. Sam stands strong, refusing to give in to Megatron’s demands. Optimus comes and saves Sam, and Optimus finally tells Sam to shove the allspark into his chest. This will kill Optimus, but it will keep the allspark from falling into Megatron’s hands. Sam realizes that if he kills Prime he will only break the hearts of millions of Transfans once again, so he shoves the allspark into Megatron’s chest. With their leader down, the other Decepticons run away or are defeated/destroyed. By movies end, Sam and Mikaela are about to do it on Bumblebee in vehicle mode with the other Autobots watching. Optimus broadcasts a message to the stars telling his fellow Autobots to come to Earth and help them protect their newly adopted world. This leaves the door open for a sequel, and do any of you other fans really think Megatron won’t be back? All they did was dropping him into the ocean, he can totally come back!
Thoughts/Comments:
The DVD itself is OK. The packaging is very plain. On one side is a picture of Optimus, the other side has a picture of Megatron. But the background is white and not very cool looking. The single disc DVD has a much better cover in my opinion. On disc one, the movie is available for play and there is commentary by Michael Bay. Disc two has three different selections. The first selection is called “Their World” and it has four featurettes about the humans involved in the film. They talk about how the military was involved and how Bay loves the military. There is another feature talking about how they cast Sam, Mikaela, and other human characters in the film. They talk to Steven Speilberg about his love for TF and why he wanted to make this movie. This stuff is OK, but I’m really more interested in the robots.
The next part of the DVD is called “Their War” and features lots of stuff about the Transformers themselves. The best featurette is called Rise of the Robots and talks about the G1 cartoon, how it originated in Japan, how the producers and stars loved TF in their younger days (Shia even mentions the original 1986 animated movie! They even play the theme song to the movie as he talks about it!) and they even show Peter Cullen doing some voice work for the film.
The next part deals with the Autobots and the vehicles used for their earth forms in the movie. Sadly, they don’t mention Cullen or interview him for this segment. The next featurette is about the Decepticons and it is pretty much like the Autobot one in showing which military vehicles were used to bring the cons to life in the film. The final featurette is about the allspark and other elements used in brining the robots to life.
The last part of the second disc is called more than meets the eye, and it is really just showing how they filmed the Scorponok desert attack scene. There is some cool concept art shown, and also a few trailers for the film. The bonus disc is cool, but I wish there was a bit more about the history of the Transformers cartoon in here. I wish they talked to Peter Cullen more, and a music video or two would have been nice.
Also, Wal-Mart sold the single version of the film with a bonus disc called Transformers: Beginnings that was narrated by Peter Cullen. I bought the double disc set and it didn’t have this feature on it. This feels like a kick in the pants to TF fans who wanted all the bonus stuff with their film.
In the end, I give the film an A+. It really was incredible both story wise and computer animation wise. Having Peter Cullen and nods to old TF fans was just icing on the cake. The DVD set however was a bit of a let down, earning it a B-. I’m sure there will probably be an extended DVD set come out later on before the TF sequel hits in 2009 though. So anyways, go buy this movie! You will be glad you did!
