Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Review
Brad Sturdivant
December 2nd, 2017
People love to openly trash Michael Bay and sometimes it’s for good reason. But despite his growing obliviousness to stories or character arcs, his movies can still be fun, despite their problems. And they do have problems, so don’t get me wrong. But even though one minute I’m shaking my head in embarrassment over the horrible dialogue delivered by John Turturro one minute, I’m actually getting goose bumps from excitement the next minute as Shia is telling his dad he can’t go with him in the battle. That about sums up TRANSFORMERS 2: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN. It’s going to have plenty of scenes that are cringe-inducing, but more than enough fun moments that will make up for it.
The film takes place several months after the events of the first one. The Autobots are working with the government to hunt down and destroy Decepticons while Sam (Shia LaBeouf) is juggling his new relationship with Mikaela (Megan Fox) and starting college. Everything is going fine until he finds a shard from the cube and somehow it imprints images and memories into his brain that causes him to see symbols. We later learn that these symbols are actually a map to a global-destruction device that could end life on earth. So Sam and the Autobots must battle a resurrected Megatron and prevent the end of the world.
Some reviewers will have you believe the story is much more complicated than that. I’m not going to argue with them because it’s MUCH more complicated than that. But what I’ve done is made a conscious decision to not mention any plot point that doesn’t have an impact on the end of the movie, which is about 25% of the film. Yeah, there’s a human girl that’s actually a robot and it makes no sense that Sam wouldn’t be goo-goo over Mikaela, but we all know Bay gets bogged down in worthless points, so that’s what we get when we go into a Bay film.
What he does well is set up a sense of impending doom and then make everyone involved with protecting us from said doom look really, really cool doing it. Every time I see a Shia LaBeouf movie, I like him more and more. Bay couldn’t have picked a better lead actor and Shia has done so much with so little. The Transformers movies get 2 or 3 notches higher just because he’s the lead star. Shia isn’t Brad Pitt or Tom Cruise, but he has a schtick that worked very well in his Transformers films.
At the end of the day, if you like Michael Bay (even if you won’t admit it) and if you liked the first Transformers film, there’s no reason you won’t dig this one. The action is fierce and intense and it moves fast enough that you’re never bored. Just suspend logic and reality for 2.5 hours and accept that the point of the film is to wow you with big special effects and loud noises and you’ll get your money’s worth.
4K ULTRA HD BLU-RAY REVIEW
Video: Michael Bay is a director tailor made for the 4K UHD format because his movies are beautiful to look at. The second Transformers film is no exception and it comes through looking spectacular on 4K. The day scenes, specifically the desert showdown, come through in striking detail. Bay uses very bold colors throughout the film and they really shine through on 4K, thanks to the added detail and the impressive HDR. Say what you want about Bay’s Transformers films, they look great on home video.
Audio: The Dolby Atmos track is reference quality and a nice addition to the great video transfer.
This title was reviewed using a Samsung UBD-K8500 with a Sony XBR75X850C TV.
There are no special features exclusive to the 4K, but it does include a Blu-ray of the film and you can read our Blu-ray review by clicking TRANSFORMERS: REVENGE OF THE FALLEN Blu-ray Review.
Click 4K Ultra HD to read more of our 4K reviews. And you can also follow us on Instagram (@flix66pics) to see previews of our upcoming 4K reviews and more pics of the packaging.
