4.4 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
Optimus Prime discovers that his home planet, Cybertron, is now a dead planet, which he comes to find he was responsible for killing. He finds a way to bring the planet back to life, but in order to do so he needs to find an artifact, and that artifact is on Earth.
Starring: Mark Wahlberg, Anthony Hopkins, Josh Duhamel, Laura Haddock, Santiago CabreraAction | 100% |
Adventure | 82% |
Sci-Fi | 65% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 MVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.39:1, 1.90:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.39:1, 1.85:1
English: Dolby Atmos
English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
English: Dolby Digital 2.0 (224 kbps)
French (Canada): Dolby Digital 5.1
Spanish: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
Portuguese: Dolby Digital 5.1 (640 kbps)
English, English SDH, French, Portuguese, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Three-disc set (3 BDs)
UV digital copy
Blu-ray 3D
Slipcover in original pressing
Region free
Movie | 1.0 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 5.0 | |
Extras | 2.5 | |
Overall | 3.5 |
There's a book series by an author named Robert Doherty called Area 51 that this reviewer once enjoyed way back when. The first few in the series are not particularly good books by any stretch of the imagination, but they delivered serviceable entertainment centered around aliens, the shadow government, that sort of thing (it's been a really long time; details are sketchy at best). But over time, the series grew increasingly more absurd, transitioning away from its central focus and folding in a highlight reel of human history and fantasy, making the story of aliens and government cover-ups somehow linked to ancient Egypt, The Holy Grail, Excalibur, and even vampires. The series plummeted from time-killing enjoyable to unreadable. That series parallels Director Michael Bay's Transformers franchise, once fresh and exciting (even if the robots looked nothing like they did in the 80s cartoons) but that has become a bloated, convoluted mess. To make matters worse, more head-scratching, and somehow even more boring, The Last Knight has folded in the legends of King Arthur, Merlin, and Stonehenge to its tale. It's an absurd movie, so absurd it's debatable as to whether it was made so intentionally, as if Michael Bay was asking, "is anyone still paying attention?" "Does story even matter?" "Am I really just making 150-minute CGI highlight reels?" And, in true Bay and Transformers fashion, spectacle still manages to completely drown out the plot, which is borderline indecipherable and nonsensical, anyway.
Transformers: The Last Knight rolls out onto Blu-ray 3D with a satisfying 1080p transfer. The 3D qualities impress. Spacing comes organically, whether larger vistas or more intimate venues. The opening medieval battlefield springs to life with chaotic visual immersion where fireballs propel into and out of the screen, debris flies in all directions, and combatants sprawl throughout the battlefield. A shot of a rider on horseback coming down a tree-lined lane offers one of the most tangibly deep shots in the film. Present-day English landscapes spread far and wide and Cybertronian landscapes are deep and dotted with jutting protrusions that take tangible shape and distance from the camera. The end-film battlefield opens wide to reveal a scope not quite understood in 2D. More densely packed venues, like the junkyard, offer a visual appeal just as rich, only different with the increased density but the greater opportunity to view the spacing between more elements. The digitally constructed Transformers, made of countless complex parts, offer some of the most nuanced, but impressive, depth in the film. There are plenty of times when action extends beyond the screen, or at least makes an attempt to do so. Sparks leap outward. Small floating speckles during the scene when Prime meets Quintessa seem to drift beyond the screen's confines. Various weapons held outward don't exactly poke the viewer in the eye, but the sense of extra-screen protrusion is obvious. The review display did reveal mild crosstalk artifacts and the occasional burst of aliasing/jagged edges. Colors are a little less purely punchy under the 3D glasses, but Bumblebee yellow and rolling English grasses, for example, retain a satisfying level of saturation. Details hold firm, with flesh tones, terrain, rubble, and complex robotic moving parts all capable and finely defined. Black levels hold deep and flesh tones remain reflective of Bay's scorching palette. Fans should find this to be a very agreeable 3D image. Aspect ratios do shift throughout the film between various sizes, mostly around the larger format rather than a more infrequent ~2.35:1 ratio. Blu-ray.com's aspect ratio calculator measures an average of 1.90:1.
Transformers: The Last Knight's Dolby Atmos soundtrack delivers the goods. Fans expect an intense, layered, and clear listening experience from the Transformers series, and that's exactly what they get. The track really needs no review. It hits all the checklist points. Deep, robust, and robotic-pitched bass explodes with regularity, saturating the stage with an intense low end frequency. Surrounds run wild with flying debris, bullets, scuffling humans, lumbering robots, missiles, and all sorts of mayhem rushing through the listening area with precision, detail, and seamless immersion. Music is triumphantly potent, lifelike, and finely detailed throughout. The Atmos component is used with regularity. Merlin's greeting to the hidden Transformers in England, speaking into the empty engine that serves as an entrance to their makeshift hiding place, offers an intense reverberation. Haunting sounds around Cybertron linger about the top (and elsewhere). One of the best moments comes in a sequence midway through the film when the characters gather around the Round Table and Anthony Hopkins' servant robot Cogman sings and plays the organ; the sense of absolute stage saturation is amazing. The final battle delivers an onslaught of sound, most of which in some way engages the top end, often with intensity but usually in a complimentary, not discrete, manner. Dialogue is unsurprisingly clear and refined even through the chaos. If only the movie wasn't such a chore to watch; the track is amazing.
Transformers: The Last Knight contains no extras on the Blu-ray 3D disc; all supplements may instead be found on the bundled and
dedicated
second Blu-ray disc. A UV/iTunes digital copy code is included with purchase.
Transformers: The Last Knight is a big-budget embarrassment. Sure it's slick, yes it's loud, and yes, that was Merlin and King Arthur. In a Transformers movie. Whatever. This Blu-ray 3D release offers and enjoyable 3D picture as well as a rip-roaring Atmos track. All extras are presented in 2D on a dedicated disc. The UHD offers the best overall viewing experience, but those interested in supporting the fledgeling Blu-ray 3D format would be wise to pick this one up.
2017
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with Limited Edition Drawstring Bag
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with VR viewing goggles
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Theatrical & Extended Cut
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