Transformers 2 Disc Special Edition [HD DVD] [2007] [US Import]

How do you like your blockbuster movies? If the answer’s loud, fast and full of big robots fighting, then you’re well and truly in luck. For director Michael Bay’s take on Transformers, based on the toys of the same name, delivers just that. And with some style.

The film stars the fast-rising Shia LaBeouf (Disturbia) as Sam, who discovers that his first car has a little more to it when it transforms into an Autobot robot called Bumblebee. Fortunately, the Autobots are the good guys, and following not far behind are a good number more, headed up by Optimus Prime. Against them are the less friendly Decepticons, with Megatron at the helm, and the two sides are set for a frenetic battle right in the middle of Planet Earth.

There’s a plot sitting underneath all of this, but it’s pretty much given with the Transformers movie that it’s just a vehicle to get the film from one set piece to another. And there’s little denying that the action sequences are spectacular. Boasting quite staggering special effects, the on-screen action moves with a pace and ferocity that sometimes makes it hard just to keep up with it all, as mighty robots engage is some quite staggering fights. It’s quite an achievement.

Paving the way for an already-in-production sequel, Transformers has little pretensions about what it’s going to do, and is all the better for it. This is a film about big robots, big fights, big effects and, ultimately, big, dumb grin-inducing fun. What, really, is there not to like? --Jon Foster