Transformers (2-Disc Special Edition) (DVD)

Well, here it is, the DVD fanboys have been waiting for. After taking in $315 million at the domestic box-office Transformers comes to DVD earlier than I am sure many expected as a Christmas release may have meant even more money, either way, it's here. I have never been quiet about the fact that I didn't particularly enjoy the film itself outside of being impressed by the special effects. There are far too many people in this story and just not enough robot ass-kicking. Plus, the hand-to-hand robot combat just isn't interesting to me. So, in taking a look at this DVD I have pushed my opinion of the movie itself aside and decided to evaluate it based on the features alone, since the movie doesn't have to be great for me to enjoy a little making of goodness. However, before I do that I will say that I actually enjoyed watching this movie a little more in the comfort of my own home than I did in the theater, but I still think my "C+" review is pretty much spot on.

The Transformers DVD comes equipped with two discs packed full of features and I hope I get a chance to take a look at the HD DVD edition as well since I really want to take a look at the HD exclusive features. For now though all we have is the DVD so let's dig in.

The first disc includes the feature film as well as an audio commentary by director Michael Bay. I already said I enjoyed the movie at home a little more, but I certainly have to give props to the audio track on this DVD, it lights up your surround sound system, and watching it in my HD DVD player on the plasma was damn impressive, particularly during the opening sequence and as I watched Starscream pick apart the F-22s during the final battle sequence. Unfortunately I was extremely unimpressed with Michael Bay's commentary. I have honestly never heard anyone kiss their own ass as much as this guy does. Most often directors leave it to other people to talk them up and banter on about their directorial style. The cast and crew do that on disc two, but Bay gives you a primer with this commentary.

Get ready to hear Bay brag about owning a plane, about how Live Free or Die Hard moved release dates because of Transformers and how Bay gambled his fee on the movie knowing he wouldn't get paid if the movie failed. Here are a few choice quotes:

• "I gamble on big ass movies, that's what I do."
• "I'm not very good at taking no for an answer... heh heh heh".
• "Here we are at Edwards Air Force Base where they're actually going into real F-22s, unlike Die Hard where they had to use fake F-22s. Cuz, I don't know, they just don't have the juice. We got real stuff. That's cuz I've got the number to the Pen-tagon..."

Seriously, he comes off as such an arrogant ass during this thing I am happy I only have to watch his movies and will never have to sit in a room with him. The only thing you may be interested in hearing in the commentary, when he isn't talking about himself or his relationship with the Department of Defense, are a few choice words about Transformers 2 saying how he will want to "focus more on the [robots'] faces," have more characters like the Frenzy character, how he isn't sure if screenwriters Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci will return for the next movie "because they don't know if there is any magic left" and how he wants to "take it to a whole other visual level." It isn't a lot, but you can tell he is already thinking about the sequel.

Fortunately, the second disc is far better feature-wise as it contains three separate sections; "Our World," "Their War" and "More Than Meets The Eye".

The "Our World" section isn't really all that exciting and certainly not as good as the rather impressive "Their War" section. "Our World" is focused more on the casting and pre-production of the film including training, story, sets and so forth. "Their War" is more about "Transformer" lore, how they figured out what robots to use, what cars to use and even show a female robot named Arcee she would have transformed into a motorcycle, and she almost made it into the final film. You will learn why they left Megatron to transform into an alien jet instead of an Earth based item and that Optimus is made up of 10,108 individual pieces inside the computer. After watching "Their War" you will be shocked they kept the budget to $150 million, but they even discuss that and the large role GMC played in keeping costs down.

The final section is "More Than Meets The Eye" and here you get a look at how they created the Skorponok attack in the desert from the script, to storyboard to execution. It is pretty cool and a good capper after hearing already a little bit about how it was made in the previous features. This section also includes a 2 minute montage of concept art and trailers. Each section includes a little Easter Egg if you can find it showing the casting of the dog Mojo, a deleted scene involving a woman's dress being ripped off by a robot Xbox and a deleted scene that would have shown Megatron throwing Michael Bay from a car.

All-in-all I am still pretty wishy-washy on Transformers. I never thought it was completely terrible like I do Spider-Man 3, it just wasn't what I expected. There was far too much comedy and too much dealing with the people. If they do make a Transformers 2 I hope they amp up the robot battles and push the human stories to the side. As for this 2-Disc DVD, I think fans will be impressed and have a lot of fun with the special features. If you have any questions as to why they did this and why they did that, most of them will be answered and you will also see that online chatter did influence the way some of the film looked, including the face of Megatron. Fans should definitely enjoy this set.