I know The Dark Knight got all sorts of praise last year, and I know the latest Batman film has D-BOX Motion Code, which we’ll eventually review. But forgive me for a moment while I divulge one tiny, miniscule but very important secret: Transformers is still a hot property for us children of the ’80s, and the D-BOX support for Transformers on Blu-ray will darn near make you forget all about the Caped Crusader and his nefarious, joking nemesis.
Transformers isn’t exactly a new Blu-ray release, having shipped out in early September, but for those home entertainment enthusiasts who have recently ponied up for a D-BOX Motion Control system, allow me to be among the first to recommend and welcome you to the best D-BOX implementation you’ll experience. Hands down, the D-BOX Motion Code on Transformers is the best D-BOX movie to date. Do you want to know why this D-BOX review is a little late, and why I haven’t yet written about the D-BOX code on The Dark Knight, among other recent releases? Because I can’t simply stop watching (and feeling) this one.
Right from the opening credits of Transformers, you know you’re in for something special. The opening scenes with the helicopters reproduce the thump of the blades, while the chair rocks to coincide with the camera movements and rocking in the air. Amazingly, the D-BOX code actually “transforms” with the on-screen action, too, as the Decepticon’s helicopter blades thumping in your back transition smoothly to an in-seat rattling as F-16 jets with a powerful engines fly by the bogey. As the helicopter transforms into its robot form, you feel a whole host of vibrations, clicks, thumps and jarring motions as the various parts move into position. Then those subtle thumps blow up into massive thumps associated with explosions as the chopper destroys the base. It gets even better, though, as the EMP blast is the closest thing you’ll ever experience to D-BOX porn. Screw the rumble effect in a videogame controller; these feelings are immersion perfection.
And did I mention this is just the movie’s opening scene?
Once the movie gets going, and we meet our first Autobot (Bumblebee), the D-BOX engineers start to have even more fun, experimenting with different motions and sensations related to disparate on-screen actions. For example, the blast of Bumblebee’s radio blowing out the cars’ windows is hilarious, but it’s also incredibly effective. When you stop to think about it, though, D-BOX has always had a penchant for timing its Motion Control to vehicle movements, so I shouldn’t have been surprised by the excellence of the Motion Code in a movie based on vehicles “moving” from one form to the next. Heck, just look at the name of the movie. This film, already excellent in its own right, is actually improved ten-fold with the “rock and roll” experience.
In essence, every time there’s a Transformer on the screen, your D-BOX-equipped seat is moving, thumping or doing something other than just standing idle. D-BOX engineers should personally recruit Michael Bay to make all movies with D-BOX support, because Transformers is the perfect film for D-BOX support. Bay is known for making films with huge explosions and massive action; funny thing, that’s exactly what D-BOX does best. Yet it’s not just explosions and gunfire, which of course Transformers has in spades, but also nuanced movements with the recoil from gunfire and camera-associated sways.
Seriously, everything D-BOX does well is jacked up to 11 in Transformers on Blu-ray. Explosions, car chases, gunfire, subtle camera movements, sways that coincide with an airplane, bumps that correspond to impacts with the ground or flat surfaces. You name it, this movie has it, and D-BOX has a motion that corresponds masterfully to it.
Transformers is a good action movie on its own, but it’s an in-your-face-and-gloatingly-great action movie with a D-BOX Motion Platform. I enjoyed this film immensely before watching it on a D-BOX system, but I got downright giddy watching it with D-BOX. In fact, the only thing keeping me from calling all my friends and family over to watch it right now was my unflinching and selfish desire to never give up the D-BOX-equipped chair for a minute while watching this movie. Transformers is a showcase Blu-ray Disc for video and audio, and it’s by far the best candidate for a D-BOX showcase piece as well.
Buy Transformers on Blu-ray
- Score: 10
— Jonas Allen
