Reviewer: Ian Roberts

09/23/2008 10:39pm

Transformers. Blu-ray. Finally, after nearly ten months, the film that was the centerpiece of the Blu-ray vs. HD DVD format war is available on the victorious and superior high definition format, Blu-ray. Much like the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons as depicted in this film, the high definition format war was short but brutal. Paramount Pictures, the distributor of Transformers, shifted from a policy of format neutrality to one of HD DVD exclusivity only weeks before the expected street date of Transformers on both formats. Many high definition fans were shocked and saddened at the news, and the fact that Transformers had tags such as "format seller" and "potential audio and video reference material" attached to it worsened the blow. At the time, it was one of, if not the, most anticipated Blu-ray releases ever, and with word of the press release announcing format exclusivity on the part of Paramount, Transformers became something of a legend among Blu-ray fans, the symbol of the format war, and the movie was sited as the title that was to put HD DVD over the top and spell the beginning of the end for Blu-ray. As fortune would have it, however, high definition consumers, studios, and many consumer electronics manufacturers recognized the strengths of the Blu-ray format and, as days turned to weeks, as weeks became months, the writing-on-the-wall began to materialize, and it spelled the end of Toshiba's inferior high definition optical disc platform. Now, Transformers is home on Blu-ray, where director Michael Bay (The Rock) wanted it all along, and it's all we once dreamed it could be. The disc is a winner in every regard, a trophy that, for me, even more than any press release or HD DVD fire sale, symbolizes the official end of the HD DVD platform and the victory of the superior Blu-ray format.