Transformers - 4K Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Transformers (#1)


Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:


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Movie
As with Warner Brothers and the Harry Potter films, Paramount has decided to go back and give us all 4 of the original Transformers movies on 4K, to match The Last Knight that recently came out. I’m never one to complain about 4K UHD content, so I was happy to request these and luckily all 4 are here and available for review in the next week.

10 years ago when Transformers came to theaters (I can’t believe it’s been a decade already) I wasn’t watching the films with a critical eye. I hadn’t started as a reviewer just yet, so I went into the theaters expecting a Michael Bay film with lots of robots and explosions. Something which was delivered in spades. If you’ve read my reviews on some of the later sequels, most you will already know that I was NOT impressed with how the series turned out, especially with the series low of Transformers: The Last Knight, however I may surprise you all by stating that I really do like 2007’s Transformers. The movie seemed to get enough of it right to please most fans, and while the lifetime Transformers animated nerd in me quibbles with characters and plot lines, the action movie fan in me is more than satisfied with the first outing.

While some people may not remember the great Format war of 2007-2008, those of us who fought that courageous fight remember the evil forces of Paramount withheld the film as an HD-DVD exclusive for over a year. Being one of the coveted titles of the war, the Blu-ray forces patiently waited until the dark empire of Microsoft finally ceded and let Blu-ray fans finally see it in all the HD glory (unless you were one of us traitors who owned BOTH HD-DVD and Blu-ray equipment). The film was fun, but it became legendary as a demo disc that home theater fans would use to show off to all our friends just WHY we made the leap from 480p to 1080p (and I know for a fact that I swayed more than a few people with the HD-DVD and Blu-ray of this film to come to the High Def side). I would play and replay the Ironhide rocket flip scene over and over as a subwoofer stress test, not to mention have people drooling over the (at the time) fantastic CGI.

Sam WitWhicky (Shia LaBeouf) is nothing more than your average nerdy high schooler. He wants a smoking hot girl (Mikaela, played by Megan Fox), a great ride, and a little respect at school (well, the last one he certainly won’t be getting). He thinks he may have a chance at Mikaela when he gets a seemingly beaten down yellow Camaro from a skeezy used car salesman (the late Bernie Mac), as it seems to “transform” overnight into a glossy auto. However, things get a bit dicey when Sam gets attacked by a police cruiser who suddenly transformers into a giant robot and his own Camaro does the same. It seems that Sam’s poor car is actually an autobot. A sentient robotic race who can transform into different things, and they are fighting a war against the terrible decipticons (the cop car who attacked him).

Sam is the center of their war, as he has some family artifacts in his possession that actually come from his great great grandfather. A man who knows the location of the All-Spark, a device that both sides of the transforming robots need to survive. Using those tools as a map, Sam, Mikaela (who gets unwittingly pulled into his crisis thanks to Bumblebee) and the rest of the Autobots race against time to find out the location of the All-Spark before the evil Megatron (Hugo Weaving) and his army of decepticons usurp the role of leader of the Transformers from Optimus Prime

I think that the last couple of sequels have sort of soured the success of the 2007 film for many people (myself included). Back in 2007 everyone was all raving about Transformers as it bridged the gap between CGI and live action in a way that hadn’t been truly realized before. It was the Pirates of the Caribbean of its time. A box office smash hit, and fans everywhere loved it, with some minor detractions from longtime followers of the comics. The movie was nowhere near perfect, but it was pure FUN. Michael Bay did what Michael Bay does best, and that is provide larger than life action with lots of explosions and LOTS of high octane entertainment.

The only real “problems” with the film was how much artistic license Bay took with the characters. Especially with adding so many human elements back into the story when fans were begging for a non stop movie about the Autobots and the decepticons. It’s a problem that has plagued the entire franchise (and only gotten worse actually), but one that wasn’t THAT big of a deal, as Michael Bay really got the tone and excitement right for a whole generation. The movie was just a BLAST and still is 10 years later. I get just as childlike and giddy when Blackout transforms at the military installation, or when Bumblebee and Barricade go toe to toe right in front of Sam and Mikaela. Out of ALL 5 Transformers films, the 2007 freshman franchise movie still holds up the best.




Rating:

Rated PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action violence, brief sexual humor, and language




Video:

Transformers was shot on 35mm film (for the most part) and finished in 2K back for the 2007 Blu-ray, and I see no references to a 4K remaster, so I’m assuming Paramount is using that master for these 4K UHD discs. While I would have loved a full 4K master to come from, the master used is still quite stunning in upconverted 4K. The real winner here though is the use of HDR, as Bay’s use of color with the CGI is nothing short of legendary, so the bump up from Blu-ray to 4K is WELL worth the price of admission. The Blu-ray was always seen as a demo disc (although some of that luster has faded with more modern looking encodes from later films in Blu-ray’s life cycle), this uptick to 4K is amazing looking. There is a more distinct texture and detail level to the Transformers’ metallic CGI “skin”, and the bronzed coloring that Bay employed as his color grading shines even brighter in the sunlight. Battles between the two warring factions still holds up today, and the colors literally pop at every corner. I would say that this is the “worst” of the 4 films being released on 4K this week, but only in matters of VERY small degrees, as the 35mm film doesn’t look as glossy as later all digital sequels. That and I can’t even detract a half star, as the 4 films show much more similarities than they do differences in quality of encodes (which is a HUGE complement as #1 looks about as good as a film shot almost a decade later in the same format).






Audio:

Now here comes the fun part. Transformers was known for its incredible 5.1 Dolby TrueHD track, but ALL three of the original 3 films that were released in 5.1 (or 7.1 for Dark of the Moon) are getting a full Dolby Atmos upgrade. The 5.1 Dolby track was very good, and still IS very good to this day, but the Atmos mix is pure ear candy. The track is immersive and kinetic, with autobots and decepticons blasting each other left and right, but the film uses some really cool object based tweaks to make it just sound like sonic bliss. The rumble of overhead helicopter rotors thud with pinpoint accuracy, and the sounds of debris falling make use of those top speakers quite nicely. The track has always been a bass heavy experience, and that hasn’t changed in the least bit, as there are more glass breaking LFE moments than you can shake a stick at. The Ironhide rocket flip is devastating, and you get a solid impact to the chest when Blackout transforms and sets off that EMP. Transformers was always one of my go to track before later encodes took over, but this Atmos mix brings it back to the forefront as demo disc material all over again.





Extras:

• Audio Commentary by Michael Bay (4K UHD Disc)
• Transformers HUD
• Our World
- The Story Sparks
- Human Allies
- I Fight Giant Robots
- Battleground
• Their World
- Rise of the Robots
- Autobots Roll Out
- Decepticons Strike
- Inside the AllSpark
- Transformers Tech Inspector
• More Than Meets The Eye
- From Script to Sand: The Skorponok Desert Attack
- Concepts
- Trailers

Final Score: ​

For all of the ill will that Bay has given us fans with later Transformers films, it all started back here in 2007, and the original will always be a fun popcorn movie to watch with friends. The movie got enough things right to be fun, and Bay’s childlike obsession with making things go boom makes for a wildly kinetic sci-fi/action film that has managed to hold up really well to this day. The 4K UHD upgrade is worth every penny, with the ONLY complaint that I can muster is that all the extras are on the Blu-ray (except for the audio commentary with Bay, which was transferred over to the 4K disc) and there’s nothing “new” there. Other than that small quibble, this is a quality 4K UHD disc that proves that catalog titles can be REALLY well done going from 1080p to 2160p. Recommended.





Technical Specifications:

Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel
Directed by: Michael Bay
Written by: Robert Orci, Alex Kurtzman
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1 HEVC
Audio: English: Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 Core), English DD 5.1, English DD 2.0, French, Spanish, Portuguese DD 5.1
Studio: Paramount
Rated: PG-13
Runtime: 144 minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: December 5th, 2017

Recommendation: Fun Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review.

 

[Jon Liu]

I agree, this is by far the best of the franchise so far. So glad to hear that these are all a worthy upgrade. I ended up ordered all four of these on UHD (yay for double dipping), so I am looking forward to starting the journey again on Wednesday when I receive them!