Transformers Limited Edition Steelbook 6-Movie Collection

Often derided as fast-food movies, popular but unhealthy and not worthy of serious cinema-loving people, director Michael Bay’s Transformers movies are better than their reputation suggests, but they also earn some of that derision. Large, loud, unsubtle, and guilty of throwing everything at the screen in hopes enough sticks to make sense and have it be entertaining was increasingly the approach. But, amongst all the noise and flash are quality cinematic accomplishments; spectacular visual effects, splendid sound designs, strong costume work, often sightly cinematography, expressive camera work at times, and invested performances. However, those positives aren’t always enough to forgive the thick plotting, style over substance, and exhaustive and explosive action sequences that seem to pop up before a character’s had a chance to even think about undergoing growth. But being Bay movies does make the series an easy target. While his grasp of the language of cinematic art may be problematic, his command of massive productions is astonishing, and these films can be more entertaining than not if you’re willing to go for the ride.

I am thankful I can enjoy movies like Transformers along with serious cinema old and new. They happily sit in my collection next to films like 2001: A Space Odyssey and most of Kubrick’s other classics, about every movie Clint Eastwood, Christopher Nolan, and Martine Scorsese ever made, a slew of Buster Keaton and other silent classics, Akira Kurosawa films from the 50s through the 80s, celebrated films from around the globe and then shelves upon shelves of Criterion releases. It’s good to enjoy such a full spectrum of cinematic offerings, and to have the Transformers films ready to watch with my son when he’s ready.

The Production: 4/5

Transformers – 4/5

“Before time began, there was the Cube. We know not where it comes from, only that it holds the power to create worlds and fill them with life. That is how our race was born. For a time, we lived in harmony. But like all great power, some wanted it for good, others for evil. And so began the war. A war that ravaged our planet until it was consumed by death, and the Cube was lost to the far reaches of space. We scattered across the galaxy, hoping to find it and rebuild our home. Searching every star, every world. And just when all hope seemed lost, message of a new discovery drew us to an unknown planet called… Earth.”

The battle between Autobots and Decepticons, Cybertronian races of mechanical creatures able to transform into earth vehicles, are about to resurrect their war on earth. The heroic Autobots need the help of a human boy, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), who has formed a friendship with his first car, a yellow Chevy Camaro formed by his Autobot protector, Bumblebee. If the evil Decepticons win, it could mean the end for Sam, his family, and everyone else on the planet.

Michael Bay’s first Transformers film is, if you let it, a good time at the movies. Explosive and well staged action sequences, likeable cast, playful in its adventure but serious in its world building, it’s an entertaining ride that builds to a crowd-pleasing conclusion. Making a film out of Hasbro’s Transformers toys was already a success in the 1980s with the animated Transformers: The Movie. That film was loved (despite the controversial death depicted) so some risk associated with making a live action film existed. Fortunately, securing Peter Cullen, the remarkably distinctive voice of the heroic leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime, went a long way to assuaging those concerns. Then, once the world saw the incredibly sophisticated visual effects on display for the Transformers, as they transition between vehicle and original form, the excitement was palpable. The box office returns, and positive critical and audience response showed just how fans old and new had been won over.

With Steven Spielberg as producer and Michael Bay (known for Bad Boys I and II, Armageddon, The Rock, The Island and Pearl Harbor) directing, the pedigree for this kind of action-centric moviemaking was set. Bay, tonally, enjoys spectacle with an undercurrent of humor and some heart. His film, The Rock, is his best production displaying those instincts, but they work well in Transformers as it tells a story of a boy and his car, his special car, and larger-than-life action adventure unfolding around them. Casting Shia LaBeouf as the boy, Sam Witwicky, was a stroke of genius. The loser boy, with overbearing but deeply loving parents, LaBeouf’s Sam is manic, awkward, instantly likeable, and able to express the emotion of a meaningful or mighty moment with a natural sense. As his unlikely love interest, Megan Fox was cast as Mikaela Banes. She’s commanding, grounded, and cinematically stunning, something Bay focuses on so intently it does her and her character a disservice (and it’s even worse in the sequel). But Fox still manages to rise above that male gaze problem. The rest of cast, from the military personnel (Josh Duhamel as Captain Lennox, Tyrese Gibson as USAF Tech Sergeant Epps), the student tech whizzes (Rachael Taylor as Maggie Madsen and Anthony Anderson as Glen Whitmann) are good. John Turturro’s leader of Sector 7, Agent Simmons, is wildly over the top, something Bay clearly enjoyed pushing, and Turturro fully embraces that mania. We also have Jon Voight as Defense Secretary John Keller. He has the weakest parts of the script to work with, and he plays it so big and simple that he doesn’t quite resonate. Finally for the live cast, Kevin Dunn and Julie White as Sam’s parents, Ron and Judy, are a hoot.

Then we have the voice cast. Peter Cullen is exemplary as Optimus Prime, a role he was born to play and is magnificent to hear. Mark Ryan gives us Bumblebee (though most of what Bumblebee ‘says’ are quotes from film, television, and song). Darius McCrary gives us Jazz, Robert Foxworth as Ratchet, Jess Harnell as Ironhide, Hugo Weaving as Megatron (taking over the role from Frank Welker), Charlie Adler as Starscream, Reno Wilson as Frenzy, and Jim Wood as Bonecrusher. A particularly good voice cast.

Transformers has heart, humor, and an endless parade of special and visual effects work, and the film really would live or die by how well the visual effects worked. This film, as of this review (2023) is 16 years old and the visual effects work is still stunning. The hyper complex transformations the Autobots and Decepticons go through is an impressive leap in the effectiveness, scale, and possibilities of VFX work. There are multiple high-powered, visual effects-heavy, and impressive action sequences. Transformers starts with a very impressive sequence, the kind that most movies would have been happy to have as their finale, but director Bay and writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and John Rogers keep upping the ante until we get to a thrilling and exciting sequence in the streets and buildings of a major city. Even the sequence in and around the Hoover Dam feels large and impressive.

For all of Bay’s faults, he’s an expert at production scale, complex action narrative, and pushing the complexity of visual effects as a component of the film’s storytelling. The film and the Bay directed sequels are busy, loud, and frenetic, and they can be exhausting. But there is an earnest drive for heart, emotion, and hit and miss humor. 2007’s Transformers is the leanest and most pure of the Bay directed Transformers films and holds up nicely today.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen – 2.5/5

“For the last two years, an advanced team of new Autobots has taken refuge here under my command. Together, we form an alliance with the humans: a secret but brave squad of soldiers, a classified strike team called NEST. We hunt for what remains of our Decepticon foes, hiding in different countries around the globe.”

Sam Witwicky is looking for normalcy in his life. Despite his heroics in partnership with the Autobots in defeating the Decepticons, he just wants to be a typical teenager and head to college. But a chance encounter with a shard from the AllSpark, thought destroyed in the battle with Megatron and the Decepticons, imprints strange symbols in Sam’s brain. Those symbols will make Sam a primary target of the evil Cybertronians as they look to prepare the earth for the resurrection of The Fallen. Sam, and those he loves are now in danger, hunted, and the only chance humanity has for survival.

For the first sequel, Revenge of the Fallen writers Roberto Orci, Alex Kurtzman, and new to the writing team, Ehren Kruger, built their plot by inventing a backstory for the mechanical creature’s existence on our planet (the first of many.) This origin story looks good on screen, but creates a busy plot for the film, one that’s more than you want for this kind of entertainment. The idea is sound enough, but when you need a couple of extended expository moments unloaded by a new character at the end of the second act to get across, you’re at a disadvantage. What results of the plot and the story is a film loaded with multiple moving parts (pardon the pun), a cavalcade of characters old a new, and story side streets, to the point it becomes overstuffed. Add in a pair of new Autobots that stretch taste and lazy stereotyping, and the balance has swung to the negative.

As expected, the action staging in this first sequel is quite something. Bay’s penchant for spectacle, chaos, and spark and debris-filled sequences is in full swing. While he will reach what I consider his peak in the third film and the extended Chicago sequence, there’s enough to admire in his Egypt-set denouement to recognize his skills in this area.

The core cast from the first film returns, though the student tech whizzes, Maggie Madsen played by Rachael Taylor and Anthony Anderson’s Glen Whitmann, as well as Jon Voight’s Defense Secretary John Keller are missing. Shia LaBeouf is once again particularly good as Sam Witwicky, still manic but showing more maturity. Megan Fox’s Mikaela Banes character is painted into a character corner here. She’s appallingly oversexualized, exceeding the male gaze quotient that poked its ugly head her way in the first film. That she is still able to hold her own while relegated to window dressing at times is something. The core military personnel, Josh Duhamel as Captain Lennox, and Tyrese Gibson as USAF Tech Sergeant Epps, return as well, opening the film with the fun China sequences and helping save the day at the end. John Turturro’s Simmons character makes another appearance, still larger than life and filled with the same mania he gave in the first film. New to the cast, tagging along with Sam, Mikaela, and Simmons as they race to save the day, is Ramón Rodríguez as Sam’s new college roommate, and conspiracy website runner, Leo Spitz. He’s comic relief and does well with what he’s given, though less would have been more.

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is rife with Bay and his screenwriters’ excesses and falls into the trap of going for cheaper laughs and noisier action. The film’s faults didn’t seem to hurt the box office. It outgrossed the original by about $100MM, and the faults didn’t hurt the franchise as the next film, which was far better, was the first of the series to cross $1B at the global box office.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon – 3.5/5

“We were once a peaceful race of intelligent mechanical beings. But then came the war, between the Autobots that fought for freedom and the Decepticons that dreamt of tyranny. Over matched and outnumbered, our defeat was all but certain. But in the war’s final days one Autobot ship escaped the battle, it was carrying a secret cargo which would have changed our planet’s fate. A desperate mission, our final hope. A hope that vanished.”

The film begins in the 1960’s with an event that presents itself as the real reason Kennedy made his famous speech about the US getting to the moon within the decade. The greatest achievement of the Space Program, Man’s first step on our moon, is explored swiftly and we witness the discovery made there before we jump to present day and find Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) is in his post-college days. Sam is looking for work, dating a gorgeous lady, Carley Spencer (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley), and back to a normal life following his life-threatening adventures with the Autobots as they fought to protect earth from the Decepticons. But the secret buried on the dark side of the moon promises to place Sam and the rest of humanity in their greatest danger yet. That secret, a crashed Cybertronian spacecraft carrying what is believed to be the key to resolving the now ages long conflict between the two Cybertron races, could be the savior of the Autobots – or their downfall.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is massive entertainment. Improving its caliber both in terms of story, structure, and characters from the much-derided Revenge of the Fallen. It provides visual and visceral spectacle that’s perfectly suited for the summer popcorn-movie going experiences. Everything gets a nudge in the right direction here, though it is still saddled with a few shortcomings.

But let’s start with the good.

Shia LaBeouf is still likeable; still capable, and still able to project the underdog charm that was a characteristic of his early roles in Constantine, I, Robot, and his lead work in Disturbia. He’s the guy we relate to amongst the gargantuan transforming robots and city-wide destruction and carnage. We experience events through his eyes, and it matters that he’s good at reacting to such extraordinary stuff with manic and mesmerizing expressions.

Megan Fox’s Mikaela’s replacement, Carley, is a much better character, or rather, a better written one. It also matters she isn’t over sexualized as Fox was. It matters that she’s strong and intelligent, and though the ‘love-triangle’ element of her plotline (with Patrick Dempsey who plays her boss) is weak, she pulls it off very nicely.

The action spectacle is enormous. Complaints from the second installment (echoed in comments by director Michael Bay himself) were- and I am paraphrasing here – the locations of the major action were too inconsequential – too abstract for audiences to get into. That was the least of the film’s problems in my eyes, but it’s remedied here nevertheless by setting the trilogy’s largest and longest action set-pieces in the beautiful windy city of Chicago; landmarks we recognize, genuine opportunities for the peril of humanity and the perfect staging area for humanity to work out a little payback. The final act is an onslaught of superb action, of both practical and visual effects, and exceedingly crowd pleasing.

The visual effects are of such increased complexity and vivid detail here that one wonders just how many artists and technicians it took to create them (and how many hours it took farms of computers to render). Fans of visual and special effects (who don’t mind serviceable stories) will be enamored by what is presented here; the writhing snake-like Shockwave tearing up the earth and buildings, the building cut in half as our protagonists race through (down and across) the falling section to escape, or the arrival above our planet of something massive and extraordinary (I won’t say what) are a treat for the eyes (and with the superb sound mix, for the ears as well). Even the brief sequence that opens the film – an expanded look at the conflict on Cybertron that echoes the final ‘into the death star’ sequence from Return of the Jedi, is exhilarating.

Finally, Leonard Nimoy’s presence in this film (voicing a major character) is a real treat. There is even a nod to his Spock role that will please Star Trek fans. The twist involving his character may not be a surprise, but it is a good one.

Here, however, is not so good.

Each film in the series to this point offers up the origins of the Autobots and Decepticons on Earth, and they’re all slightly different. So, while it aims to up the ante, there’s enough to create a continuity headache for even the most casual viewer. By the third film it had already become incongruous, and, in the series, they’ll be even more backstory stuff we’re asked to buy.

The film is also long (a trait of Michael Bay films), but the story and the fun we have watching it could easily have been safe (if not improved) by generous cuts. Bay has a hard time letting anything go. I can understand that as I have made short films and struggled to cut out something that time and energy was put into making, but Bay more than any other filmmaker at this point would have done well to learn more discipline in telling his stories. His post-Transformers films, Underground 6 and Ambulance, are examples of why he desperately needs to learn restraint and focus.

The familiar faces from the previous films all return, including Tyrese Gibson as Epps, John Turturro as the frantic Simmons, Josh Duhamel as Lennox, and Kevin Dunn and Julie White as Sam’s parents. Added to the mix is some impressive talent; John Malkovich chews the scenery as the peculiar Bruce Bazos, Frances McDormand as Secretary of Defense Mearing is a stone cold meanie, Patrick Dempsey as Dylan, Alan Tudyk as an unlikely bodyguard, and the ubiquitous Ken Jeong as Jerry Wang (in a role that had the theater in guffaws).

Structurally, the story upon which the set pieces are all strung is sounder than Revenge of the Fallen. It all makes more sense; it is less mystical, more practical, and though there are story offshoots and flourishes that aren’t entirely necessary, it is overall much more straightforward.

Transformers: Age of Extinction – 3/5

“How many more of my kind must be sacrificed, to atone for YOUR mistakes?”

When you start big, it can be hard to go bigger. Transformers threw so much into the first film, with more so in the second and third movies that make up the first trilogy, that by the time we get to the fourth film in this franchise, it must have seemed daunting to try and go bigger than the enormity of Dark of the Moon’s climactic showdown in Chicago. Clearly though, given the global box office receipts, the new cast, and the addition of the Dinobots (dinosaur transformers that fight, fly, and fire-breath – depending upon their ‘species,’) was the right mix of new, different, and bigger. But overall, this fourth Transformers film seems like it’s running low on creative gas. What’s on offer is big, loud, explosive, and yes, can be fun, but it is wearing thin.

Following the devastation in Chicago, and the Decepticon plot to rebuild Cybertron using the earth’s resources and humans as slaves, the Autobots have become an enemy of the world. Hunted down, many Autobots have been destroyed and the remaining seek to hide in the shadows. It has been years since Chicago, and the shadowy CIA figure, Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammar) is in league with a mysterious, powerful sect of transformers who themselves seek to hunt down Optimus Prime for reasons they do not share.

In the tranquility of rural Texas, Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) a money-poor inventor buys a run-down truck for scrap but soon realizes that what he has is a transformer–but not just any transformer, Optimus Prime himself–heavily damaged and in need of help. Yeager, along with his daughter Tessa (Nicola Peltz) and work colleague (T.J. Miller) set about to help Prime repair and rebuild. And then the Autobot hit squad, under the direction of Attinger, arrive to take Prime down. Escaping with their lives, with a little help from Tessa’s boyfriend, Optimus and the Yeager family are on the run. Meeting up with the small band of surviving Autobots, they hatch a plan to bring down the transformer death squad, expose Attinger for his malevolent deeds, and save humanity from a threat it does not know it faces.

Once again, the plot for the Transformers movie requires a modest tweak to the backstory of how earth and the Transformer technology relate, this time a visit in earths distant past, during the time of the dinosaurs, sees a visit from the advanced species that appear to have caused the end of the dinosaurs. The seeds of this story being sewn so far back allow the present-day action to have anchor and meaning (though it again muddies the waters for the backstory arcs established in the previous films.) Setting that aside, the plotting is clearly opening new avenues for the series to explore.

Director Michael Bay, the underappreciated director of the enormously successful Transformers films, has matured his filmmaking a little. Age of Extinction overall is more patient in its narrative, though still stuffed to the brim, and spends a good deal more time on trying to get beneath the surface of the characters that fill in the gaps between the hulking presence of the Autobots and the transformers they fight. Bay also allows a smaller scale fight to take place among the grander scale carnage and does very well constructing that action. There’s still some roughness around some of the edges, and a heavier editor hand would have allowed the narrative to be more streamlined, but overall, this is a film made with considerable technical skill and a project of such scale that it’s hard not to be impressed with how it all came together.

Mark Wahlberg is a fine cast addition to Bay’s monstrously successful Transformers franchise. Though critical appreciation has waned with each installment, global box office receipts have enjoyed a rise (though Age of Extinction suffered a drop on the domestic front.) Age of Extinction faced a moderate challenge. Securing a hit at the box office wasn’t at risk but securing the right-sized hit, with enough momentum to sustain the series continuation, was by no means guaranteed. The risk, of course, was twofold. First, by the time the fourth installment of any franchise hits the screens, fatigue is a distinct concern. The novelty, freshness, and originality are under considerable strain, and audiences’ desire for what the franchise is offering is more easily lured by other tent poles and franchises in the making. The second major hurdle was the replacement of the entire human cast. Sure, the Autobots and Decepticons are a key draw, but the human cast, led by Shia LaBeouf in the original trilogy, were beloved in their roles (with new faces added into the mix with each installment.) Mark Wahlberg, a likeable and mostly bankable star, seems like a good choice to take the lead. Cast as the young beauty this time around, as Yeager’s daughter Tessa, is Nicola Peltz., and she’s good. Her secret boyfriend, Shane, is played by Jack Reynor. He’s likeable, handsome, and isn’t propped up as a dose of heroic masculinity – quite the opposite at times, and Reynor plays him well enough. Stanley Tucci gets to throw caution to the wind (yet again in his career) and play Joshua Joyce, the innovator and head of a company exploiting transformer technology for the U.S. government. Kelsey Grammar sternly plays the dirty and duplicitous Attinger. He’s effective in the role and certainly lends weight to the characters. And as his lead ops assassin, James Savoy, is Titus Welliver, a smoldering presence. The new cast favors the desire to send the franchise in a new direction (though not as new as expected,) and given the hurdles faced inviting the audience to care about so many new faces, the film does well.

Peter Cullen’s voicing of Optimus Prime continues to be a resonating dose of heroism and bravado, lending a poetic weight and might to the beloved character. And of the new Autobots on offer, John Goodman’s Hound, the shell (like a cigar) chewing military pro is standout, with detailed visual effects bringing his overweight machine to life. Ken Watanabe does a fine job with Drift, a sword-wielding, honorable surviving member of the Autobot clan. Other fine voice actors include John DiMaggio as Crosshairs, Mark Ryan as Lockdown, Robert Foxworth as Ratchet, Frank Weller as Galvatron, and Reno Wilson as Brains.

Age of Extinction has things that work in its favor, hindered at times by Bay’s signature filmmaking flaws. On the positive side, the action is spectacular, and the peril genuine according to the logic of the film. The new cast is refreshing and mostly likeable, and visually–from the visual effects to the cinematography–Age of Extinction is a thing of action-film beauty. Where it all stutters is in the stuffing. A film crammed with far too much – action, plot, notions, ideas, details – that focus starts to drift. In a film that introduces an entirely new human cast and a number of new transformers, far too much time is dedicated to resetting history and running down tangents, many of which appear to be favored by the director and his sensibility (and sense of humor) at the expense of clarity, or of the now.

Transformers: The Last Knight – 2.5/5

“There is a way to heal your world. My power of creation, the staff, was stolen from me by my twelve Guardian Knights. They betrayed me, and hid it on Earth… gave it to your precious humans. The staff is the only way to bring life back to Cybertron. You are going to find it for me. Do you seek redemption, Prime? Do you?”

Optimus Prime has left earth to find the ‘maker’ of the transformer race. Left behind are the Autobots and Decepticons who are considered enemies of the planet and hunted by a special military unit, the Transformers Reaction Force (led by Santos, played by Santiago Cabrera). Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg), a fugitive sympathizer to the mechanical race, spends his time rescuing Autobots and retreating to his sprawling junkyard home. But earth is once again threatened when Prime is turned ‘evil’ by his maker, a dominating transformer called Quintessa, and tasked with retrieving a special staff that will restore Cybertron and destroy earth. The staff was given to Merlin, the once-thought mythological magician at King Arthur’s side, by Cybertronian Knights who betrayed Quintessa and fled to our planet. The race is on to find the staff before Quintessa can use it to destroy our world.

Michael Bay often gets a bad rap, sometimes by me, but he can maneuver the enormity of an epic film production with admirable confidence. He successfully builds a sense of scale in these films, with battles of epic proportions and sequences that occasionally achieve excellence. But as the Transformers series progressed, he hadn’t grown beyond the abilities and techniques he showed at the start of this franchise. He continued to rely upon his signature styles without adding any noticeably new ideas to the mix. The story and settings may change, and he’s embraced the advancement of technology, and allowed composer Steve Jablonsky to evolve the music (with the score for The Last Knight being a relative departure), but he hasn’t found new directorial ground to cover. A filmmaker like James Cameron has a signature style, as does Fincher, Spielberg, and a host of others. But while Bay demonstrates a wonderful grasp of big productions (often at the expense of the film’s internal logic), he hasn’t added any new ‘tricks’ as it were, no new arrows in his quiver. And the films he makes need him to do so.

Mark Wahlberg returns as Cade Yeager, but he isn’t asked to do much in this film, besides being someone we can follow through the plotline. He shares a nice moment or two with newcomer, Isabela Moner (Isabella), and does okay playing off Jerrod Carmichael (who is a very funny comedian but doesn’t make much of an impact here as Jimmy). Laura Haddock is new to the cast and holds her own as Oxford Professor Vivian Wembley, someone with a deeper connection to what’s going on than merely a dismissive awareness of Arthurian legend. Josh Duhamel rejoins the cast as William Lennox, Stanley Tucci appears again in an altogether different role than the one he held in Age of Extinction, and John Turturro pops up for good measure again as well. The voice cast are familiar as well, with Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime, John Goodman and Ken Watanabe returning as Hound and Drift. The new voice cast includes Gemma Chan as the evil Quintessa, Downton Abbey’s Jim Cater as maniacal Butler, Cogman (he’s good), and Steve Buscemi turns up briefly as Daytrader. But it is Anthony Hopkins as steward protector of the transformer’s secret history on earth, Sir Edmund Burton, who clearly has the most fun. Hopkins is a delight in this role, an actor of such impressive caliber and esteem who shows himself entirely at home among the passable script and massive visual effects juggernaut that is a Michael Bay picture. All around, the cast does good work as secondary elements to the visual effects and hurried storyline.

Action set pieces are good, with the impressive quality of visual effects being a standout. The detail and complexity inherent in just a single Transformer moving about is a visual feast, but add in a barrage of characters fighting, it becomes more than the eyes can see in one sitting. Sometimes there’s so much going on that it’s an overload, and that’s when Bay can be effective, using slow-motion to help our eyes and brains keep up. As a fan of visual effects achievements, I never find Transformers boring to look at. That goes especially for the film’s piece de resistance, [potential spoiler alert if you didn’t catch this in the film’s trailers] a cataclysmic threat above the planet with massive fractures of Cybertron dragging across the planet on tendrils, swinging and swaying as our heroes try desperately to save the planet.

The finale succeeds in the dizzying one-upmanship spectacle that comes with each entry in the series (though my favorite remains the finale of Dark of the Moon and the battle in Chicago). The action is extremely well choreographed and edited together to build momentum, thrills, and tension. It is disappointing that by the time we get to this finale, it seems as though we’ve been through a repeat of many moments from the earlier films, complete with auburn sunset skies flaring in the lens as character silhouettes are made, random slow-motion moments, running, sweating, and a plethora of hit and miss chuckles thrown around for good measure. I know for sure a 14-year-old me wouldn’t have cared that I’d seen it all before. But it gets harder to let the lack of new territory explored in these films pass.

Bumblebee – 3.5/5

“Bumblebee, our war rages on. You must protect Earth, and its people.”

Fighting a losing war on Cybertron, Bumblebee heads to earth as an advanced scout to prepare for the Autobots to regroup there. But Bumblebee is attacked by some Decepticons who followed his trail. Damaged, he escapes and hides until he’s discovered by a Charlie (Hailee Steinfeld), a young girl who finds more than she expected in her junkyard-rescue first car. With a secret earth military force, Sector 7, in pursuit, and the Decepticons still on the hunt for B and the ‘fugitive’ Autobots, Charlie and Bumblebee form a fast friendship and work together to save the earth.

Bumblebee was offered as a spinoff adventure from the enormously successful (but diminishing returns) of the Transformers juggernaut franchise, but it also serves as a curious, sideways reboot of sorts. While the vast and ever-changing backstory of the Autobot existence on earth isn’t exactly challenged, it has is on notice with this simpler, clarified narrative proposition that could make future installments or spinoffs less complicated. Bumblebee succeeds as a restated offering of the Transformers universe. It is certainly the most character driven, and it thrives with its smaller scale. But isn’t without its own issues.

Director Travis Knight does well on the smaller scale, where, driven either by budget or design, the film is more concerned with the evolution of its characters than placing them amongst pyrotechnics. He offers a brisk, often light, warm, and very human take on the ‘Autobots on earth’ world which makes for a welcome break from the action and visual effects focused, and convoluted plotting, of the main franchise. The casting of Hailee Steinfeld as the little-bit awkward teen, Charlie, is brilliant. Steinfeld’s a gifted actor with a compelling presence, adept at finding the corners of comedy and rounding the bends of her isolated and socially outcast character. And thanks in no small part to the approach from the screenplay and direction, she never gets lost amidst the occasional robot melees.

There’s much to cherish about this Transformers adventure. Its unabashed sense of innocence and fun, the simplicity of its overall plot, and the purposefully quieter moments with character building adding dimension to our heroes, both human and otherwise (led by the friendship of Charlie and Bumblebee). Steinfeld is perfectly cast as the smart young Charlie who knows more about car engines than high school social ‘norms.’ She’s a delight to watch in every scene, and with every other actor with whom she performs. This is Charlie’s movie as much as Bumblebee’s, and the supporting players are particularly good. Jason Drucker as Otis, her younger brother, is likeable with a good sense of comedy. Her awkward love interest, Memo, is played by Jorge Lendeborg, Jr. who charms with his endless misadventure in wooing her. Charlie’s parents are played enjoyably by Pamela Adlon and Stephen Schneider, and John Cena turns in a good performance as the apparent earthly enemy, Agent Burns.

The frenetic, enormously staged action in the DNA of Michael Bay’s directed adventures is notably absent here. The entire universe feels smaller and more intimate. That serves the character moments and Charlie’s growth arc from awkward to assured, but it also shrinks the world so much that fans of the overall franchise may feel like something missing. The net result is a positive, but the mix of character and adventure could have used a little more calibration, frankly. It sounds like that message was heard by the producers who have made it clear that the expected continuation of this mini-reset film will have a little more action spectacle added in.

Video: 5/5

3D Rating: NA

Transformers 4.5/5

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen 5/5

Transformers: Dark of the Moon 5/5

Transformers: Age of Extinction 5/5

Transformers: The Last Knight – 5/5

Bumblebee 5/5

Paramount has made the Transformers films available in 4K before and what we have are the same transfers. These films are perfect showcases for the increased quality and Dolby Vision grading. Bay’s signature style includes a warm, sunnier color palette, with plenty of sun-just-above-the-horizon aesthetics producing warmer yellows, reds, and oranges. He likes tanned skin tones and brightness within the frame. Those ingredients, contrasted with darkness, shadows, and deep blues and steely grays produced Bay’s familiar look.

The films look splendid, cinematic, with fine grain especially in the early films, though crisper in the sequences shot with IMAX cameras. The Last Knight retains the shifting aspect ratio (I do miss that shifting that appeared in the Wal Mart exclusive Blu-ray release of Revenge of the Fallen).

Michael Bay’s films have a distinct feel, from the way he sweeps the camera around the action to how he bleeds shards of light into and out of scenes as he moves the camera. He likes to use more traditional means for filming and that gives his movies a welcome look of film. Everything from the high-quality CGI creations to the establishing and close-up shots of landscapes and people, to those flashes of bright light in the frame, look gorgeous. The level of fine detail pops and though clean and utterly issue free, it hasn’t been unnaturally tweaked or enhanced.

Bay also enjoys brightness and color in his films (The Rock being the odd one out), and though the flesh tones all veer toward the tanned (that could be natural, however), the colors are stunning. Computer generated imagery is so crisp that there are many sequences that are of reference quality.

Each of the films are replete with vibrant colors and filled with the warm glow of the sun, sharp contrasts, deep blacks, and skin tones that veer more in the orange tones than traditional ‘natural.’ Detail levels in each of the films are marvelous, and as the technology improved across the films, so does that high level of detail. In films filled with violent explosive action, sequences are alive with debris from multitudinous explosions littering the screen.

In Transformers: The Last Knight, which was heavily filmed with IMAX cameras, the opening sequences in the time of King Arthur is indicative of how the IMAX filming opens up the scope of the action and delivers jaw-dropping detail, and this ratio is dominant, but the fast cuts in later action sequences means the bounce between the 1.9:1, 2.0:1, and 2.39:1 ratios can become distracting.

The HDR10 and Dolby Vision grading (I watched with Dolby Vision) available on each of these films deepen the colors, offer an uptick in the already superb black levels and more clarity in darker sequences. Like the action, everything about the look of these films is pushed to 11, doubling down on the look Bay and his different cinematographers sought during production.

As the only film not made under Michael Bay’s ownership, Bumblebee presented in its original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.85:1, was filmed using Arri Alexa cameras and doesn’t push the color palette to the edges. It’s more natural, contained, but looks splendid in K. The sequences on Cybertron opening the film are a parade of exquisite detail and contrasting colors. Strong visual-effects work showcased by the extra resolution afforded the 4K are quite a feast for the eyes. On earth, the 1980’s setting offers up less vibrancy in the general color palette, but Bumblebee’s yellow pops with delicious clarity.

Audio: 5/5

Transformers 5/5

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen 5/5

Transformers: Dark of the Moon 5/5

Transformers: Age of Extinction 5/5

Transformers: The Last Knight – 5/5

Bumblebee 5/5

Each of the Transformers films and Bumblebee enjoy wonderful Dolby Atmos audio tracks and they’re the real deal.

In each of the films, the results are top-notch featuring low frequency effects taken to a new level of boom and rumble, with exceptionally deep bass balanced amongst the overall sound design. The audio tracks are loud, making excellent use of the overheads (I have 4 in the ceiling), and back surrounds. You’ll marvel at the precision placement, with crashing glass, dings of metal, gunfire, explosions, and the sounds of various locations turned into war zones, all while never drowning out the dialogue. The sound design makes ambitious use of the full speaker spectrum, creating a delightfully immersive experience. Sounds and sound effects zip around the speakers and the subwoofer given space to pound and punctuate the scope and scale of the action perfectly.

In Bumblebee in particular, heavy machinery, helicopters flying, fighting, and transforming robots, and a full album worth of great tunes make great use of the audio.

Special note about Steve Jablonsky’s scores for the first 5 films (Dario Marianelli assumes scoring duty on Bumblebee). Jablonsky is a real asset to the film’s action and emotion. He crafts memorable, propulsive, and richly heroic films that are great fun to listen to apart from the films. If you listen to his scores over the 5 films, you’ll hear his scoring grow in complexity and innovation. By the time we get to The Last Knight, he’s adapted themes, and introduced compelling new ones that perfectly match what the films are trying to be. His final score pulls back the booming propulsion, offering more contemplation and mood, and it’s excellent.

Special Features: 3.5/5

Overall, there’s a healthy set of special features across the 6 discs in this terrifically produced box set. The steel books themselves with custom art are lovely, but the box Paramount has staged them in is of the highest quality I’ve seen from them. I which Star Trek had been given this kind of love.

TRANSFORMERS

Disc 1 – 4K Ultra HD

• Feature Film
• Commentary by director Michael Bay

Disc 2 – Blu-ray

• Our World
• Their War
• More Than Meets The Eye

TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN

Disc 1 – 4K Ultra HD

• Feature Film
• Commentary by Michael Bay, Roberto Orci & Alex Kurtzman

Disc 2 – Blu-ray

• The Human Factor: Exacting Revenge of the Fallen
• A Day with Bay: Tokyo
• 25 Years of TRANSFORMERS
• NEST: TRANSFORMER Data Hub
• Deconstructing Visual Bayhem
• Deleted/Alternate Scenes
• The AllSpark Experiment
• Giant Effing Movie
• Linkin Park – New Divide
• The Matrix of Marketing

TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON

Disc 1 – 4K Ultra HD

• Feature Film

Disc 2 – Blu-ray

• Above and Beyond: Exploring Dark of the Moon
• Uncharted Territory: NASA’s Future Then and Now
• Deconstructing Chicago: Multi-Angle Sequences
• The Art of Cybertron
• The Dark of the Moon Archive
• The Matrix of Marketing

TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION
Disc 1 – 4K Ultra HD

• Feature Film

Disc 2 – Blu-ray

• Evolution Within Extinction—The Making of TRANSFORMERS: AGE OF EXTINCTION
• Just Another Giant Effin’ Movie
• A Spark of Design
• T.J. Miller: Farm Hippie
• Trailers

TRANSFORMERS: THE LAST KNIGHT
Disc 1 – 4K Ultra HD

• Feature Film

Disc 2 – Blu-ray

• Merging Mythologies
• Climbing the Ranks
• The Royal Treatment: TRANSFORMERS in the UK
• Motors and Magic
• Alien Landscape: Cybertron
• One More Giant Effin’ Movie

BUMBLEBEE
Disc 1 – 4K Ultra HD

• Feature Film

Disc 2 – Blu-ray

• Feature Film
• Sector 7 Archive
• Deleted and Extended Scenes
• Outtakes
• Bee Vision: The TRANSFORMERS Robots of Cybertron
• Bringing BUMBLEBEE to the Big Screen

Overall: 4/5

Often derided as fast-food movies, popular but unhealthy and not worthy of serious cinema-loving people, director Michael Bay’s Transformers movies are better than their reputation suggests, but they also earn some of that derision. Large, loud, unsubtle, and guilty of throwing everything at the screen in hopes enough sticks to make sense and have it be entertaining was increasingly the approach. But, amongst all the noise and flash are quality cinematic accomplishments; spectacular visual effects, splendid sound designs, strong costume work, often sightly cinematography, expressive camera work at times, and invested performances. However, those positives aren’t always enough to forgive the thick plotting, style over substance, and exhaustive and explosive action sequences that seem to pop up before a character’s had a chance to even think about undergoing growth. But being Bay movies does make the series an easy target. While his grasp of the language of cinematic art may be problematic, his command of massive productions is astonishing, and these films can be more entertaining than not if you’re willing to go for the ride.

I am thankful I can enjoy movies like Transformers along with serious cinema old and new. They happily sit in my collection next to films like 2001: A Space Odyssey and most of Kubrick’s other classics, about every movie Clint Eastwood, Christopher Nolan, and Martine Scorsese ever made, a slew of Buster Keaton and other silent classics, Akira Kurosawa films from the 50s through the 80s, celebrated films from around the globe and then shelves upon shelves of Criterion releases. It’s good to enjoy such a full spectrum of cinematic offerings, and to have the Transformers films ready to watch with my son when he’s ready.

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Neil Middlemiss

Neil has been a member of the Home Theater Forum reviewing staff since 2007, approaching a thousand reviews and interviews with actors, directors, writers, stunt performers, producers and more in that time. A senior communications manager and podcast host with a Fortune 500 company by day, Neil lives in the Charlotte, NC area with his wife and son, serves on the Down Syndrome Association of Greater Charlotte Board of Directors, and has a passion for film scores, with a collection in the thousands.