TRANSFORMERS - 2 Disc Special Edition
© Dreamworks Pictures
Mania Grade: B+
Rated: PG-13
Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Jon Voight
Writer: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman
Director: Michael Bay
Distributor: Dreamworks Pictures
Original Year of Release: 2007
Extras: Commentary with Director Michael Bay, two documentaries, featurette on the Scorponok desert battle, concept gallery, trailers.
Buy it now!
Rated: PG-13
Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Jon Voight
Writer: Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman
Director: Michael Bay
Distributor: Dreamworks Pictures
Original Year of Release: 2007
Extras: Commentary with Director Michael Bay, two documentaries, featurette on the Scorponok desert battle, concept gallery, trailers.
Buy it now!
TRANSFORMERS - 2 Disc Special Edition
By: Tim JansonReview Date: Sunday, October 14, 2007
Transformers, one of the year’s biggest blockbusters , arrives on DVD on Tuesday and here at Mania.com we have you covered with a look at the two-disc special edition. Now working under the assumption that most visitors to the site have already seen the film I’ll spend an equal amount of time on the movie itself and the DVD extras.
The basic plot finds both Autobots and Decepticons on Earth, searching for the Allspark, the cube that can essentially bring mechanical objects to life and a source of great power. The Allspark had found its way to Earth and Megatron sought to claim it but crashed his ship in the arctic and was frozen in ice. He was found by explorer Captain Witwicky in the late 1800’s and the captains glasses were imprinted with the location of the Allspark. Several Decepticons (Starscream, Barricade, Frenzy, Blackout, Devastator, Bonecrusher, and Scorponok) have come in search of the cube. Blackout attacks a U.S. Military base in Qatar to hack into the military’s computer system. Captain Witwicky’s descendent Sam has just bought his first car, a rusted out ’76 Camaro that turns out to be the Autobot Bumblebee. He summons the Autobots (Optimus Prime, Jazz, Ironhide, and Ratchet) to help protect Sam and find the Allspark before the Decepticons due. Now as I hate playing spoiler, even if you have seen it, that’s the plot in a nutshell.
The two performances that standout for me are Shia LaBeouf as Sam and John Tuturro as Govt. agent Simmons. LaBeouf brings a perfect blend of innocence, vulnerability, and humor to his role. He’s one of those average kids who is not a member of the “in crowd” but who finds himself at the center of the battle between the Decepticons and Autobots. He’s natural and believable. Turturro is just a treat to watch chewing up scenery as the arrogant agent Simmons. He helps add a good does of humor to the film as well. Megan Fox’s role as Mikaela Barnes was the one that left me flat. She seemed to be there only as eye candy (which she does very well). It’s even mentioned in one of the documentaries that they were looking for the hottest 18 year-old they could find and apparently, talent was a distant second on the list.
A lot of fans were outraged when they saw their first look at the pictures before the film was released. They were upset that the Transformers didn’t look like the Transformers they knew from the TV show or the toys. I was not one of those, however. Characters from comic books or animated shows NEVER look the same in feature films. It’s a given we have to accept. What looks good in a comic simply doesn’t translate well to live action. It’s why the X-Men didn’t wear their usual costumes in the films. That colorful spandex may look good on paper but in film it looks…garish. The CGI was incredible. I liked the quick, smooth transformations of the robots and their fluidity of movement.
The robots, especially the Decepticons don’t get much in the way of character development. We don’t even see Megatron until a good two-thirds of the way through the film and Starscream gets only a couple of lines. I can’t fault Director Michael Bay too much, however. Between all the human characters and a dozen or so Transformers, that’s a lot of characters to try and develop. The one big problem with the look of the robots was that outside of Optimus and Bumblebee, most of the rest had indiscernible color schemes and it became hard to tell them apart when they were battling each other. And what happened to Starscream? I watched it a few times and still can’t figure it out. One moment he’s fighting Air Force jets and the then poof gone!
The extras on the two-disc set run a little over two hours total, not including the commentary track with Michael Bay. “Their War” (65 minutes) is an in-dept look at the Transformers themselves with comments from Bay, Steven Spielberg, and cast and crew. You’ll see how the Transformers were brought to life. Bay even jokes about the angry comments he got from Transformers fans early on but admits he took the comments to heart and made several changes the fans suggested. Bay explains why Peter Cullen, the longtime voice of Optimus Prime was kept but Frank Welker, the voice of Megatron was not (It does make sense when you see how Bay explains it) He instead used Matrix and Lord of the Rings star Hugo Weaving for the top baddie. You’ll get to see how many of the film’s stunts and special effects were done, including how they cut the moving bus in half during the freeway battle…and there was NO CGI used! This was an outstanding documentary. I actually watched it before the film and it alleviated many of the apprehensions I had.
“Our World” (48 minutes) takes a look at all of the actors in the film and how they were cast. Josh Duhamel and the rest of the actors playing military roles went through several days of basic training in the desert to prepare for their parts including the firing of weapons and flying jets. Bay got full cooperation with the U.S. military including use of airbases and weapons, not to mention several soldiers in extras roles. They were very CAREFUL to mention that the producers compensated the military for their time and equipment…lest some liberal legislator starts screaming about wasting tax dollars.
“More than meets the Eye” is a short feature (about 10 minutes) on the making of the Desert Battle scene against Scorponok. You’ll see this scene develop from storyboard, to computer animatics, to the final film version. One bit of trivia from this feature is that the soldier who is impaled by Scorponok’s tail is played by Zack Ward. Ward is best known for his role as bully Scut Farkas in the holiday classic “A Christmas Story”.
The extras are very good but a little light considering what a blockbuster this film was. I would expect that in six months time or so we’ll be seeing a special Director’s Cut with even more bonus material.
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