Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)

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General		Extras
Category	Action	None
Rating
Year Of Production	2011
Running Time	148:04
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Michael Bay
Studio Distributor	Paramount Home Entertainment	Starring	Shia LaBeouf Josh Duhamel John Turturro Tyrese Gibson Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Patrick Dempsey Rich Hutchman
Case	Amaray-Opaque
RPI	?	Music	Steve Jablonsky

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 5.1 (448Kb/s) English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0 Hindi Dolby Digital 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	2.40:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	2.40:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	Danish English Hindi Dutch Norwegian Finnish Swedish English for the Hearing Impaired	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	Yes

     There is no doubt that the new Transformers movies have been box office gold for Michael Bay. This latest one has now hit Number 4 on the all-time worldwide gross chart taking well over $1.1 billion at the global box office, outstripping the massive success of the first two globally (#45 & #28 respectively). The real question is, does that success translate into quality? Well, to my mind this third film is the best of the series to date and an excellent action film. It is exciting, has a better story than the first two films, features some amusing moments and shows off some great special effects and action sequences.

     This time the story opens with Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) living in Washington DC with his new girlfriend, Carly (model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley) looking in vain for a job. He cannot tell potential employers about his achievements in the two previous films so is struggling to stand out from other applicants. Meanwhile, Bumblebee and the other Autobots are roaming the world, conducting missions to protect the planet. Carly works for Dylan Gould (Patrick Dempsey), who runs an extremely well-resourced car museum. It becomes known to Optimus Prime that a Cybertronian spaceship crashed on the moon in the 1960s and the space race was all about trying to get to that ship. He feels betrayed that this has been hidden from him and decides to go to the moon to retrieve its cargo which ends up being his predecessor as commander of the Autobots, Sentinel Prime and a secret weapon. Based on a recommendation from Dylan, Sam gets a job at a software company run by Bruce Brazos (John Malkovich). Of course, not everything is as it seems and soon the Autobots are in trouble, betrayed by humans and on the run from the Decepticons with Sam wrapped up in the action again. There are also appearances by Frances McDormand as a CIA agent, the very amusing Alan Tudyk as the new right hand man of ex-agent Simmons (John Turturro) and Buzz Aldrin as himself.

     One of the strengths of this film, besides the amazing effects and action sequences, is that way the story ties in events in history such as the Moon Landing and Chernobyl to the story. I thought it really worked and made for an interesting story. On the negative side, the second act was a bit too long and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is not a good enough actress for the amount of talking screen time she gets. Malkovich plays a really bizarre character that is nearly inexplicable in the way he shows up during the story. Having said that, this film is obviously about the action and there is certainly lots of that and it is state of the art. Some of the sequences towards the end of the film are truly amazing and action fans will lap it up. Even the big claim on the box "The Best Action Movie Ever!" is sort of understandable. This film will not appeal to arty film critics as evidenced by Margaret & David's reviews of it, however action fans and those who enjoy their entertainment big and full of great special effects will love this film.

     If you like this sort of film, you will love Transformers: Dark of the Moon!

Video

     The video quality is excellent for DVD. The feature is presented in a 2.40:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio. It is 16x9 enhanced.

     The picture was very clear and sharp throughout. Shadow detail was excellent. The colour is magnificent throughout, but I am sure the Blu-ray would absolutely blow its socks off.

     There were a few minor MPEG compression artefacts and a little aliasing style shimmer here and there.

     There are subtitles in Danish, English, Hindi, Dutch, Norwegian, Finnish, Swedish and English for the hearing impaired. The English subtitles were clear and easy to read.

    There was a very obvious layer change during playback.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The audio quality is excellent for DVD, one of the best I have reviewed. This disc contains an English soundtrack in Dolby Digital 5.1 (448 Kb/s) plus an English Audio Descriptive track in Dolby Digital 2.0 and a Hindi 5.1 soundtrack.

     Dialogue was very easy to understand except where it was intentionally drowned out by action sound effects.

     The music by Steve Jablonsky is very good, very suitable for the film and quite heroic.

     The surround speakers were in constant use from the start of the film, with lots of directional effects, shooting and lots of atmosphere. Excellent for DVD. The subwoofer was also used throughout for explosions, action scenes and music support.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     Nothing, Nada, Zip.

Menu

       The menu featured an intro, scenes from the film and music.

     The Region 1 DVD also seems to be a bare bones affair, as it the Blu-ray. Draw.

     The best film of the Transformers series to date.

     The video quality is excellent. The audio quality is excellent.

     No extras at all, not even an interview with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley about her character's 'motivations'.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall