Blu-ray Review: ‘Transformers: Dark of the Moon’

"Transformers: Dark of the Moon" brings the robot war mayhem from the theaters to the home video format through a Blu-ray-DVD-Digital Copy package. This action flick looks and sounds great in Blu-ray. However, this particular release is still disappointing for being such a barebones offering.

Keeping up with its trademark brand of chaos brought about by giant transforming robots, this third installment of the blockbuster series showcases more than two hours of blast-filled extravaganza. The story centers on the discovery and search for a crashed Cybertonian spacecraft in the dark side of the Moon. The Autobots race with the Decepticons to get hold of the powerful technology in it.

Visuals

As expected, director Michael Bay focuses on large-scale special effects to show off the "Transformers" movie franchise's massive scope and appeal. Shot using different film and digital cinema cameras, the final picture still seamlessly blends shots on both film and digital formats. The images look frivolously entertaining. The child-like wonderment for the movie's production values and action-packed shots is convincingly a big-budget feat. Things blow up, skyscrapers fall, and debris fly around.

This high-definition (HD) version's colors have that natural vibrancy. There is natural depth to both the foreground shots and the background locales, which often seem like the details they hold actually extend for miles. The wow factor of staging many thrilling scenes, which "Transformers" titles are known for, is very much apparent. Like in the prior movies, the skin tones yield more on the bronze side. Digital artifacts are virtually non-existent and everything looks clean, crisp, and finely detailed.

Although the praises may seem endless for this movie's reference-quality visuals, there is one crucial aspect where it falls down that same trap as its predecessors. Many computer-generated elements, especially the robots, are made and edited in a way that it seems nearly impossible to tell which one is which. It still serves like a major cheating technique to get away with having to create distinguishable shots with designs choreographed in more defined ways.

Audio

Like the visuals, this movie serves as a great demo material with its pristine and bombastic layers of audio elements. The seven-channel sound mix is filled with heavy and pulsating effects. Yet, the very aggressive track is still able to maintain precision spacing on its many naturally immersive surrounds, explosively stunning directional effects, and impeccably rich atmospherics. The speaking lines are generally clear and stable and the entertaining score works well with the sound design. The disc also features five-channel English, Spanish, French, and Portuguese mixes and an extra English stereo mix.

Supplements

This two-disc Blu-ray package contains no supplemental materials. What it merely offers is a promotional $10 coupon meant for the purchase of the movie's upcoming Blu-ray 3D release. At the very least, it supplies the film's DVD copy, along with a redemption code for a downloadable digital copy. Subtitle options are available in English, English SDH, Spanish, French, and Portuguese.

Final Thoughts

This "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Blu-ray offering proves how much of a pure adrenaline rush this movie franchise really is. What this robot flick lacks in its story, it puts into its audio-visual flair. While this release showcases such a technically awesome work, the lack of supplemental materials is still quite a letdown for the simple reason that a future release would most likely have such hefty additions already. Unless a collector doesn't mind buying more than one release, waiting for a future Blu-ray package would probably be a better idea.