Transformers: Two Disc DVD Set Review

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!

Spider-man 4 confirmed! Sam Raimi not so much :(

I know we are not a news source, but sometimes I hear things that just has to be brought up. I can deal with Dunst not coming back, but Raimi is almost a must for the formula to work. This was posted on IMDB:

"Spider-Man is returning for a fourth installment of the superhero franchise, but without director Sam Raimi in the director's chair. Raimi directed the first three movies and co-wrote 2007's Spider-Man 3 - but the filmmaker is stepping back to let someone else create their own vision for the web-slinging adventure. He tells MTV.com, "Right now, a writer is being sought to write the next installment. We're in the very early stages. I won't be working on the story. It'll be a brand-new writer coming in with a brand-new story - a fresh take on the Spider-Man series. We're hearing different versions right now and really enjoying the different stories. Hopefully, we'll hear one that sounds right for the fourth installment." When asked if would produce the movie, rather than direct, Raimi replies, "Yes, that's right. In this case, it's more in the writer's hands. I'm going to let the writer envision where Peter Parker would go to next."

Maybe they'll get Joel Schumacher or Brett Ratner on the project!

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer Power Cosmic DVD review

Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer Power Cosmic DVD Set
Starring: Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Michael Chiklis, Chris Evans, Julian McMahon, Doug Jones, Andre Braugher, Beau Garrett
Writers: Don Payne, Mark Frost (Inspired by Stan and Jack’s FF #48-50)
Director: Tim Story

October is a fantastic (pardon the pun) month for DVD releases! Aside from FF: Rise of the Silver Surfer, fans also get Transformers and Spider-Man 3 released on DVD in the coming weeks. To get the party started I’ve decided to review the newest FF movie, which came out this past Tuesday. Also, Stuart Immonen has nothing to do with this review! So let’s get this party started on what I found to be an awesome DVD set featuring Marvel’s first family and their cosmic ally, the Silver Surfer.

The movie is a very rigid adaptation of the classic Surfer/Galactus storyline from FF #48-50. The film starts off with Galactus destroying a world off in space and the Surfer heading towards Earth. When the Surfer arrives, strange phenomenons occur all around the globe including power outages, strange weather patterns, and even oceans turning to stone. Meanwhile, Sue and Reed are about to get married but find themselves hounded by the media due to their newfound celebrity status as super heroes. In Latveria, Dr.
Doom is awakened by the Surfer’s cosmic energy and quickly proceeds to plot his revenge on the fabled foursome. Ben is getting serious with Alicia and Johnny is still his same old self, dating models and desperate to plan Reed’s bachelor party. Reed finally agrees to proceed in making the marriage happen when things start to get bad for our heroes and our planet.

After dancing with some lovely ladies in a bar, Sue and General Hager arrive with some dire news. The general tells Reed that strange occurrences have been happening around the world and the energy source is unlike anything seen before. Reed is told to build a device to monitor these energy anomalies, but Reed is determined to get married first and keep his promise to Sue and his family.

Doom is also tracking the energy source, which leads to a confrontation with the Surfer. The Surfer is creating huge craters inside the Earth at various places around the world. This is a cool twist on the Surfer being a true herald to Galactus. Instead of just floating around doing nothing till his master arrives, the Surfer is actually creating these holes for Galactus to feed on when arriving to consume Earth. Doom naturally wants the Surfer to work with him, which leads to Doom being ignored and attacking the Surfer. The Surfer retaliates, and the energy he shoots at Doom cures him of his horrific scars and burns. Meanwhile, Reed and Sue are tying the not, and even Stan Lee can’t miss this momentous occasion. (Great cameo by Stan, very similar to the comic where he and Jack Kirby were turned away from the wedding.) But like all things in the Marvel Universe, things don’t go as planned. The Surfer shows up and fries the device that Reed built, ending in a helicopter crash ruining the wedding. Johnny flies after the Surfer in one the best sequences of the film, only to be thrown away from the surfer with little ease. Clearly, this being is extremely powerful and a true threat to the planet and team. Later, General Hager really hammers the problem out to the FF, and Johnny tries to impress Captain Frankie Raye with little to no luck. The FF agrees to help out though, despite the General’s feelings for the celebrity heroes.

Reed and Sue realize they aren’t normal and will never have a regular life to raise children. This leads to them realizing they are going to disband the team after this business with the Surfer is finished.
Johnny hears this and gets pissed, leading to more inner turmoil and strife among the team. On top of this, Johnny’s encounter with the Surfer has left him being able to trade powers with his other team mates upon the simplest touch. Things continue to go bad for the team and the planet as the Surfer continues to create craters all around Earth. The team is drifting apart and Doom is enlisted to help detain the surfer, creating only further doubt and confusion among the FF. As the Surfer is spotted in the woods, Reed and Doom’s devices are set in place and actually create a powerful pulse signal that separates the Surfer from his board. Sue almost connects with the Surfer before he is brought down by the army, giving audiences the notion that this being isn’t exactly evil. Still, if they were true comic fans they would know this anyway.

At the base, the Surfer is tortured by the army scientists. Doom is determined to experiment on the Surfer’s board, revealing his ulterior motive in helping the army out. The FF realizes that they need to help the Surfer out after Sue learns that the Surfer isn’t the destroyer and that the board is luring the destroyer to Earth. (Just call him Galactus people! This make this as comic bookish as can be. The destroyer sounds too generic!) Doom reveals his true colors by killing General Hager and claiming the Surfer’s board for his own. The FF frees the Surfer and realizes that Doom now has the board. Reed summons the Fantasticar to help catch up with Doom. The next few sequences are pure action, showing that the film makers really did an awesome job in bringing the Fantasticar to life. By this time, Sue is dying after Doom throws a spear at the Surfer and sue intervenes. The spear hits Sue’s chest, saving the Surfer. (This is very similar to how Duke saved Falcon in the animated G.I. Joe movie from 1987. At least Sue didn’t “go into a coma” though!) Now the Surfer realizes that Earth and its people are special, and it’s a good thing since Galactus has arrived.

Doom is still super powerful so Johnny takes all the powers from his team-mates and becomes the Super-Skrull, I mean super Johnny. Johnny separates Doom from the board and the Surfer and his powers are restored. The Surfer saves Sue and decides to defy Galactus. In a final effort, the Surfer is successful in sending Galactus away from Earth. Galactus does not die! I’ll mention the commentary where that was revealed in a moment. With the world safe, Reed and Sue have a fast wedding and then the team takes off to tend to an emergency elsewhere on the planet.

Now onto what makes this DVD set awesome. First, listen to the commentary by director Tim Story. Tim gives lots of juicy details about what was kept from the movie. First, Tim is a true comic fan mentioning many of the various Stan Lee and Jack Kirby stories and how they were used as inspiration. Tim also mentions Ultimate Extinction and how all the huge computers Reed had in that mini-series were used in the interior of the Baxter Building shots. Tim also mentions how General Hager was intended to be Nick Fury for this film. Marvel is developing a SHIELD movie so they couldn’t use Nick Fury. But the scene where Reed chews out General Hager came from a comic where Reed told Nick Fury to show him and his team respect. Also, the issue of Galactus was explained.

Galactus is not a storm cloud. Galactus is hidden in the cloud. He is a being behind all the smoke and was hidden on purpose. Tim did this because the proposed Silver Surfer spin-off is in the works, and he said that he wanted that movie to be where Galactus is fully seen. He felt like he owed it to the director of Silver Surfer to have that honor and it really makes a lot of sense to do it like that. Also, at the end the Surfer did not kill Galactus. Tim said that he merely sent Galactus away, and the big G could show up once again in a future FF movie. So that really makes me enjoy the film a whole lot more. It’s cool they wanted to use Nick Fury and I love that Galactus is not a cloud and the Surfer didn’t kill him.

Disc two is full of special features. There is a great documentary on how they made this film. It involves all the pre-production and production moments. Very cool insight into how this film was created. There are tons of featurettes detailing how they designed the Fantasticar, how John Ottman did the musical score for the film, and a great documentary on the Surfer’s history throughout the comics. This included interviews with Stan Lee, Ron Marz, Jim Starlin, J.M. Dematties, and other Surfer comic creators. There are theatrical trailers for this film, FF1, and X-Men 1-3. Also, there is a preview trailer for the upcoming Futurama film “Bender’s Big Score” hitting this holiday season. There are other special features on this disc but I don’t have the DVD with me right now so I am forgetting some things. Still, it’s a great set with tons of cool insight on how this film was made.

All in all, this is a fun film and a great DVD package. I’ll give the movie itself a B+ and the DVD set an A . Go get it if you are a fan of comics, the FF, or the Surfer himself. If you love Galactus like I do, be patient and wait for the upcoming Silver Surfer spin-off.