Transformers: Dark of the Moon

In order to coincide with a fourth Transformers coming out in the next few months, I'll be reviewing this third entry of the successful film series. I liked the first Transformers despite it's cheesy dialog in some parts and while there were some awkward moments and very bad dialog, I still liked Revenge of the Fallen. Then, when I saw the whole thing in theaters back at 2011, I thought, this wasn't so bad after all. It later turned out to be a good ride, but while I do think it's a bit of an improvement over the previous film, it's nowhere near as good as the first.

First, there are some good things that saved the film for me. The music score from Steve Jablonsky has improved and has an epic tone to it. The story is a lot more decent than the previous film with a much better second and third halves; the action sequences are solid especially the collapsing building scene which took my very breath away. The scenery is great and the special effects are as top-notch as ever. The acting is good, too. While John Turturo, Franches McDormand, and John Malkovich aren't given much to do, they did fine with the material. Patrick Dempsey did OK as the villain, but he's a bit underwhelming. Rosie Hunter Whiteley is a bit bland, but not exactly terrible as the new girlfriend for Sam Witwicky. While Shia LeBeouf isn't as charismatic as he was in the first film, he does have the same charm he brought to the film series so far. The Autobots and Decepticons are great to see again and the voice actors are solid especially Leonard Nimoy as Sentinal Prime, who is a very good villain for the movie much Megatron.

Then, there are the bad things that I would point out. First, the script. While the second and third halves are a lot better, the first half is pretty boring. It seems to be lacking in it's action and it wasn't exciting. Second, the ending is way too similar to the first Transformers (what? with the auto-bots and decepticons fight against each other while bringing destruction to the city and such?) The pacing is also very sluggish it would almost put you to sleep. Third and mostly the final problem is the dialog. There are some humorous bits that might get the audience a chuckle, but there are other parts that are just so inane it would give you a headache.

Overall, Transformers: DOTM isn't nearly as good as the first, but despite the flaws that I just stated, I think this is a great sequel in an overall solid franchise. I may not be a fan of Michael Bay and such, but while I do not like the Bad Boys films, Pearl Harbor, and others, I think that this and the other films are a lot better and it deserves a recommendation to those who haven't seen it.

It's 'Bayhem' time again - and this time around demolition king Michael Bay presents his trademark 'Six-C's' in glorious 3D! In case you don't know, the six 'Cs' are: chases, clashes, crashes, combustions, carnage and cleavage. Spread over a bottom-numbing two-and-a-half hours, "Transformers: Dark Of The Moon" can also induce mental and metal fatigue, especially with the clanging robots smashing one another - and the whole exercise making little sense.

Technologically, however, "Dark Of The Moon" is Bay's best work so far - and action fans looking to be awed by scenes of massive mayhem and destruction in 3D should be satisfied. Story-wise, this one is better than "Revenge Of The Fallen", but not as fun and emotionally-connecting as the first.

The film opens with a flashback to the Sixties Apollo landing mission where history is rewritten (by Ehren Kruger) to incorporate the cover-up of an alien spaceship crashing on the moon. That spaceship, of course, is one of the remains of the epic battles between the Autobots and the Decepticons, and its 'discovery' sparks off another war that threatens to destroy planet Earth. Or at least the face of Chicago as we know it.

On the human level, we find that Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) has traded in his girlfriend Mikaela (Megan Fox) for a newer model (a Victoria Secret one, to be exact) in the shape of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as Carly). Sam is being offered a job by Bruce Brazos (John Malkovich) but we soon learn that Carly's boss Dylan (Patrick Dempsey) may be up to no good. Then, when the conflict between the Autobots and Decepticons hots up, Captain Lennox (Josh Duhamel) and Sergeant Epps (Tyrese Gibson) of the elite Government squad NEST are summarily called into action.

We get lulled into believing that there may somehow be an intelligent plot coming from the conspiracy of the NASA lunar-landing cover-up which also involves the Russian space program and Chernobyl. These turn out to be just an exercise in 'historical name-dropping' to spur our interest before we get to the demolition derby created by the Transformers. Indeed, some of the robots seem to emote better that the live cast. Cybertron leader Sentinel Prime, for example, is even designed to look like Leonard Nimoy (who provides its voice), complete with stuff that looks like beard. Again, the problems of the previous installments recur - like the confusion between the good and bad robots in the clashes.

Unlike the first two movies, there are no more gags about the shock of humans interacting with the mechanical 'bots. Bay, however, insists on some comic sequences and he has hired Ken Jeong to do his in-your-face shtick as Jerry Wang. John Turturro reprises his role as former FBI agent Simmons but this time around, Turturro finds it fit to clown around with his role. The most striking inclusion to the cast is Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as Sam's love interest. However, with limited acting talent, she provides only eye-candy and beside her, Megan Fox would look like an Oscar-caliber actress.

Like the first "Transformers", this one is also a live-action cartoon on a grand scale. Scenes of Chicago buildings being toppled and destroyed can be as spectacular and brain-numbing as those of September 11; and the wing-suit flying sequences are breath-taking. Indeed, these are what most of Michael Bay's fans pay for and they will not be disappointed. The only problem for me is that Bay prolongs and repeats the robotic clash sequences to the point of being self-indulgent. Technically brilliant and visually arresting, "Dark Of The Moon" lacks heart and soul. (limchangmoh.blogspot.com)

After their disastrous second outing, few people had faith in the third part, but Dark of the Moon rights a lot of the narrative faults and feels like the sequel the first film deserved.

A despondent Sam finds himself out of the limelight as the Decepticon threat appears to have lessened, Mikaela and Bumblebee have left him and he struggles to find a job and direction in life. But when Optimus Prime learns that humanity had found a vital Autobot ship crashed on the Moon, he rescues Sentinel Prime from the wreck, just when the Decepticons return with a plan to restore their homeworld of Cybertron.

Watching Dark of the Moon feels like an endurance test by the time it finishes, this is due to a ridiculously drawn out battle set in Chicago for the climax. While it makes up for Revenge of the Fallen's terribly underwhelming finale, it does become a blur of insignificance after a while because there's simply too much happening! But if there is one thing done right this time is a correct use of characters. A lot of the ludicrous padding and fluff from RotF is completely missing; our human characters are involved but not excessively (ie. Sam's parents hardly feature at all!) and let's say this film provides us with humans who aren't noble and just. There's a lot more of the Transformers too (you would hope so) and it feels like they have a lot more respect shown to them now. Decepticons genuinely appear threatening and the Autobots are shown to have personalities again, continuing from the first film's groundwork (a scene with a silent, brooding Optimus-in-truck-mode is a favourite). The action is off the rails too. More in keeping with the original film we see them transform during battles.

There are some deeply unsettling scenes too. The setup involves assassinations against humans who knew about the mission to the Moon, executed by Decepticon Laserbeak (great to see him too), one where he infiltrates a family's house by pretending to be a friendly Autobot playing with their daughter. Woah, woah! RotF was too cheesy, but this is really dark all of a sudden!

As a fan of the Transformer characters, this film sees a lot of deaths. Some are most unforgivable. We haven't seen this many prominent robot deaths since the slaughter that was the 1986 Transformers: The Movie! The only other gripe I mostly have about this film asides deaths and a bloated finale is Carly, Sam's new love interest (the forgettable Rosie-Huntington Whitely) who is given things to do thanks to the plot, but is far less notable than Fox's Mikaela (I cannot believe I just wrote that) but I do believe the film would be stronger without a love interest. But it is Michael Bay, we need a girl for those slow-mo shots.

It is a vast, vast improvement and a faithful sequel to the 2007 film. It is too long, and it does make some unforgivable decisions regarding Transformer characters, so it feels less perfect in those regards. It is still a fun film though.

Well I knew I would have to review this movie sooner or later being this was the only film I saw in theaters in 2011 which I wish now I saw more but it is what it is.

I love Transformers and as you know from my reviews of Transformers Movies, Video Games and TV Shows I am a huge fan of the Transformers however I know not all Transformers can be perfect and this movie prove to be that.

Transformers: Dark Of The Moon prove what happens when you're not paying attention to anything. Everything about this film just feels disappointing.

The Autobots: Optimus Prime (Voiced by Peter Cullen), Sentinel Prime (Voiced by Leonard Nimoy), Ironhide (Jess Harnell), Ratchet (Voiced by Robert Foxworth), Sideswipe (Voiced by James Remar), Mirage "Dino" (Franceso Quinn),Bumblebee, Wheeljack "Que" (Voiced by George Coe), Wheelie (Voiced by Tom Kenny) Brains (Voiced by Reno Wilson) The Wreckers Roadbuster (Voiced by Ron Bottitta) and Leadfoot (Voiced by John Dimaggio)

The Decepticons: Megatron (Voiced by Hugo Weaving), Starscream (Voiced by Charlie Adler), Soundwave,Barricade, Shockwave (Voiced by Frank Welker), Laserbeak (Voiced by Keith Szarabajka) and Greg Berg voices Igor.

The voice talent and their performances are what I like best about this movie and it was awesome to have Mr.Nimoy return to Transformers because anything he touches turns to gold. As I set in the theater listening to his voice work I can't help but think of Galvatron the role he first performance in Transformers. It's good to have Peter Cullen and Frank Welker in the film together since they are part of the Transformers for so long and you can't have one without the other.

The plot of the movie was good enough as it did have a tense story line Action scenes in the film are the rewarding part as you are given tense and extreme battles. The music is also very well done Also the Special effects are just awesome that is enough to make you go wow

The disappointment I have with this film is that the comedy was really Bad comedy they try to push the comedy and I swear it just so bad that I wanted to cry. The human characters the new ones are pretty much awful and just really insulted my intelligence it just made you wish they added more transformers instead of more stupid human characters who are not even worth the screen time

This in my opinion is the weakest of the films yes I know "Revenge Of The Fallen" got a bad rap but this one deserves it more because it is like a wreck on a wreck while it does have some things to make it watchable.

What I like the best of the film is The voice performances of the cast, the music and the action scenes that are just what you hope for in Transformers. What I hated the most is the human cast who are just pretty much the worse punch line in the history of punch lines

But the plot, the action scenes and the voice performances are the redeeming features of this movie

I give Transformers: Dark Of The Moon an 7 out of 10

I was highly disappointed with Revenge of The Fallen and I thought the script for Dark Of The Moon would be similar to the other films of the franchise. But surprisingly, it was fresh. Ehren Kruger cleverly used the Apollo 11 event to create a Decepticon world invasion storyline with few interesting twists...

Although I was amazed with the explosive action and brilliant special effects used in the film, the film itself lacks a lot of things...

It started very well with the whole history of THE ARK and it crashed throughout the second half of the film. The humour was still silly like Revenge Of The Fallen. For example, Ken Jeong was appalling and Sam's parents (Kevin Dunn and Julie White) tried to be funny and humorous but failed. Replacing Megan Fox with Rosie Huntington Whiteley wasn't much of a big difference. However, she was certainly better than Fox. There was pointless scenes around the last half of the film that made it a really long, boring film. Also, Michael Bay tried hard making the slow motion action scenes very 3D and realistic which was a bit irritating and ruins the film. The main antagonists haven't performed well enough to create an epic ending to the franchise In another point of view, however, this film was fairly enjoyable and the script was written very well. The soundtrack used was fresh and bends well with the film. There was some scenes that just blew me away and the CGI special effects definitely deserves an Oscar nomination. Shia Labeouf, John Turturro, John Malkovich and Alan Tudyk was enjoyable to watch.

Overall, Michael Bay definitely improved this film compared to Revenge Of The Fallen by creating really amazing CGI effects and a really interesting script, but it wasn't enough to deliver a spectacular ending to the franchise...