Yes, you read right: pirated.

For as long as the movie’s been out (or maybe even before, I’ve yet to see a DVD screener version), this piece of TF goodness has existed as well. (…and I queue “DVDX” and “Antichrist Television Blues” at the same time in my head…)

And yes, I bought a copy. I know, I know, the movie’s still showing in theaters, and before we go into a St. Francis Square morality play, I’ll stop you by saying that piracy can’t ever be justified. (Ok, so maybe if the bumbays hawking them wore eyepatches and fed Polly a cracker, payag pa ‘ko.)

Even if I saw the movie 3 times in the cinema, it can’t ever weigh the amount of damage I’ve done to the franchise I love, (Do I truly love it? so why’d I buy a copy?) I would say that I can’t always afford/have time to see the movie anytime I want to see it. I mean, who could? (Save for if you actually do own a theater and you’ve still got the reels … do they still use reels, even?) The official release is months away, and impatience has become a gateway for my bootleg purchase.

What I can say though, is the video is awesome. Whichever group released this opted to sit in a higher seat, as opposed to the other release which was probably shot in an off-center seat. The centering of the video is awesome, although you could still see tiny-people-head shadows in the bottom at times. I’d rate video quality an 7/10; 10 being the original copy they showed in theaters. I’d rate it an 8, but the group that released this (still no idea what group it is) used a contrast filter on the whole movie, making the colors pop out, and at the same time, making the outdoor shots look like big white flashes.

Sound is superb. Probably a tele-sync. That means you won’t hear the crowd watching the movie at the time.

Subtitles are weird — engrish translations abound — either for comedy gold, or the misappropriation of the Autobots’ intent for the hearing-impaired.

The menus are average. They even show the Paramount disc intro video just before the main menu pops out. (effort!) But the chapter selection screens’ thumbnails are out of order, so you never know which scene you’ll land into. It also includes language options and the hi-res trailer as selections.

This is a pretty solid release for whomever’s responsible. (And you know they won’t openly pat themselves on the back for a job well done.)

Buying this DVD is like saying “I bought some mad crack because there was a sale at my local pusher’s. I love it, but I know it’s no good for me.” It gets a one out of virtue. I’m an advocate of piracy, but of the “yarrr!” type, thank you. One star out of shame. (or shamelesness?)

1/5

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