Directed by: Michael Bay
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Josh Duhamel
MPAA Rating: PG-13
Distributed by: Paramount Home Entertainment
Running Time: 154 minutes
Film: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Extras: 5 out of 5 stars
The “Transformers” series has really turned into a love it or hate it series. Fans have been doing nothing but fighting Michael Bay after the very over-producing and story lacking “Revenge of the Fallen”. “Dark of the Moon” definitely makes up for some the mistakes of the film prior but also presents a few new issues of its own. The major issue is that film needs to be a least 30 minutes shorter. When I originally saw this film in 3D IMAX, I wasn’t completely in love with the film at first. After letting it sit a while and especially watching it at home, I had a chance to really enjoy it a lot more.
The Blu-ray presentation on this release is absolutely fantastic. This honestly has to be THE most action packed Blu-ray in my library and also the best use of a Blu-ray to date. This film’s audio track also shines boasting Paramount’s Dolby TrueHD 7.1, easily one of the best I have ever heard on Blu-ray…and almost blew up my surround sound. The 3D on the Blu-ray really works well with the film since it was actually filmed in native 3D. There are no cheap tricks used in this film with the effect. I actually enjoyed the 3D quite more at home then in the theaters and thought it was a lot more focused. The story, well, that’s a another story but by this time in the series I think we have come to understand that these are movies about robots and visual effects.
Let’s discuss the other details of the release besides the 3D Blu-ray. This set also includes a Blu-ray disc of the film in 2D, as well as DVD disc. I am a big fan of the new digital copy service called, Ultraviolet. If you haven’t took advantage of this amazing digital streaming service, this is the film to start with.
The special features on this release are out of control and jam packed. The biggest feature on the release is “Above and Beyond: Exploring Dark of the Moon” is a super extensive five-part documentary that runs about two hours. The really dive deep into the development of the film ranging from the design to location filming to the stunts to the amazing post-production. The next feature “Uncharted Territory: NASA’s Future Then and Now” runs about 30 minutes and focuses on exactly what its title suggests, no surprise here. “Deconstructing Chicago: Multi-Angle Sequences” is a visual effects featurette that is split in two parts. The first is called “Previsualizations”, which allows you to view the visual effects raw with optional commentary by Director Michael Bay and Previsualization Supervisor Steve Yamamoto. The second part is called “Visual Effects” which breaks down the VFX shots and also includes optional commentary by Visual Effects Supervisors Scott Farrar and Matthew Butler. Both these features are able to be viewed individually or side-by-side with the final shots. “The Art of Cybertron” is a collection of still focusing on the world of the alien robots. “The Dark of the Moon Archive” is another production feature focusing on the 3D, the Moscow World Premiere and the stunt performers. “The Sound of ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon'” is focused on the film’s sound engineering, which scores the film two Oscar nominations in Sound Mixing and Editing. Lastly there is a collection of teasers/trailers and other promotional material in “The Matrix of Marketing”. Overall amazing extras for an amazing release.
