Transformers (Blu-Ray)

...80s kids playing with their transformers toys and watching the cartoons were more or less wetting themselves when a big screen human / CGI version was in the works. Not only that but a bottomless pot of cash to spend on it and a release date for the summer 2007. Blockbuster at its best!

---Transformers History---

It would be rude of me not to touch on the history of the whole brand! Well in 1984 Japanese company Takara ...
...on. The original set of transformers designed were known as generation 1 or gen 1 which holds the most die hard fans, these characters appear in this film and apart from the slight adjustment to bring them up to date, they are easily recognisible.

---Plot---

The transformers planet, Cybertron, had been destroyed by Decepticon leader Megatron after him trying to obtain the allspark, a powerful cube of energy that could ... more

Wow. How good was this! 80s kids playing with their transformers toys and watching the cartoons were more or less wetting themselves when a big screen human / CGI version was in the works. Not only that but a bottomless pot of cash to spend on it and a release date for the summer 2007. Blockbuster at its best!

---Transformers History---

It would be rude of me not to touch on the history of the whole brand! Well in 1984 Japanese company Takara produced the toyline which was later purchased by Hasbro. The original name given by Takara was Diaclones and Micromen, this was later changed by Hasbro to what we know it today. The idea behind the toy was to shift the seperate parts of the robot and create a vehicle or device and change back again which is where 'more than meets the eye' and 'robots in disguise' came from. The toyline split the toys into 2 factions, autobots and decepticons, the general goody and badies arrangement. Optimus Prime being the leaser of the autobots and Megatron being the leader of the decepticons. An animated film was then produced a year or two later and the 'stars' of the film were then more readily available to purchase, the cartoon then continued on. The original set of transformers designed were known as generation 1 or gen 1 which holds the most die hard fans, these characters appear in this film and apart from the slight adjustment to bring them up to date, they are easily recognisible.

---Plot---

The transformers planet, Cybertron, had been destroyed by Decepticon leader Megatron after him trying to obtain the allspark, a powerful cube of energy that could give almighty power to its owner. After searching through the galaxy, megatron located it on earth. As he tried to retrieve it, he was trapped in ice in the arctic and discovered by Archibald Witwicky who unknowingly activated Megatrons navagational system and the location of the allspark is burned into Witwickys glasses. This led the decepticons and autobots to earth but by that time all spark as well as megatron had been moved to the hoover dam to be worked on by scientists to discover advanced technology.

To find the allspark and megatron Blackout, Scorponox, Frenzy, Barricade, Starscream, Devastator and Bonecrusher are the decepticons sent to retrieve. Most are original transformers but Frenzy was created to fit in with certain scenes of the film. Frenzy is a play on the original soundwave who could turn into a cassette player.

Sam Witwicky, a descendant of Archibald, is an everyday teenager trying to make money to get his first car. One of his auction items on ebay are the glasses and after Frenzy infiltrates air force one, he advises the other decepticons to his location. Autobot bumblebee is already on earth and locates Sam before the decepticons do and becomes his guardian angel, disguised as a Chevy Camaro. In the original cartoon he is a VW Beetle. As the decepticons search for Sam, Bumblebee summonds the rest of the autobots, Jazz, Ironhide, Optimus Prime and Ratchet who arrive on earth and disguise themselves as vehicles.

As the search for the glasses go on, a government agency locate Sam and his love interest Mikaela who by this time has also been introduced to the autobot/megatron war. As the group eventually make it to the hoover dam, a autobot/human assault is led by members of the forces who have previously come into contact with decepticons. Lives of both sides are lost but the allspark gets destroyed in Megatrons chest, destroying him. Megatrons body is then dropped at the bottom of the ocean but Starscream manages to escape back into space leading it up for a second installment.

Ok i could have gone into far more depth but we'd both be here for days!! Lol

---Characters---

Sam Witwicky (Shia Labeouf - Disturbia, Bobby) An everyday teenager looking to raise enough cash for his first car. Has a crush on Mikaela who seems to be way out of his league. A half geek half comedian type character.

Mikaela Banes (Megan Fox) The love interest for Sam and a debut role for Megan Fox who has risen to fame since this film

William Lennox (Josh Duhammel - Win a date with Tad Hamilton) Army Captain who is part of a special ops command team in Qatar who stumble into Scorponox and Blackout

Robert Epps (Tyrese Gibson - 2 fast 2 Furious) Another member of t he special ops command team but with more aircraft tactics knowledge

Reggie Simmons (John Turturro - The Good Shepherd, Mr Deeds) A slapstick character who is head of sector 7, a government agency looking after the allspark and megatron

Maggie Madson (Rachael Taylor - See No Evil) An aussie analyst who discovers the decepticon virus

Glen Whitmore (Anthony Anderson - Romeo Must Die) A computer hacker who is friends with Maggie

John Keller (John Voight - too many to mention) The US secretary of defence

---Voices---

Optimus Prime - Peter Cullen. A lot was made of Peter Cullen getting this job as he was the original voice behind Prime and was a slight nod to the hardcore gen 1 fans.

Bumblebee - Mark Ryan. 2 lines in the whole film due to the previous damage done to his voice box

Jazz - Darius McCrary. Unfortuntely this popular character gets killed off towards the end of the film

Ironhide - Jess Harnell. Cullen originally did the voice for this character aswell on the cartoon

Ratchet - Robert Foxworth. The medic of the group

Megatron - Hugo Weaving. Known mainly for playing Agent Smith form the Matrix. Original voice Frank Welker did audition for the role but wasnt strong enough

Starscream - Charlie Adler. Probably will be the leader for no2 so will no doubt get more airtime

Frenzy - Reno Wilson.

Barricade - Jess Harnell. The first transformer to speak to Sam

Bonecrusher - Jim Wood.

---Blu-Ray features---

Director Michael Bay audo commentary, featurettes OUR WORLD which included early art concept and love for the brand, how the actors were selected, battleground and how to fight giant robots and THEIR WAR which featured Rise of the robots, the distinction between the original hasbro production and the film's portrayal, working with chevy in designing bumblebee, military advisors on the decepticons air weaponry, all spark info. All this plus more than meets the eye feature, and the desert attack with scorponox from paper to sand, trailers and some easter eggs. Obviously not leaving out the ABSOLUTELY AMAZING picture quality that blu ray gives. The fight scenes are amazing and the colour of each transformer is just top drawer.

---Awards---

Best Film 2008 MTV Movie Awards
Jury Merit Awards for Special Effects
4 awards from the visual effects society including best single visual effects sequence
2 awards for the score

If you are a transformers fan im sure you would have watched this in the cinema already but the blu ray experience is awesome. I purposely didnt buy the normal dvd so i could get it on this format. Was totally worth the wait. Everything is just amazing. If you havent seen this yet, where have you been, you need to experience this. Get the blu ray dvd, get your friends roound, whack on the surround sound and sit back and be blown away!

Live the dream

 

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