Transformers: Dark of the Moon Reviews
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The third instalment in the Transformers film finds more a repeat of the first then the second. Whilst the original sequel, 'Revenge of the Fallen' was the worst film I believe has ever been made, this third one does produce a slightly better hint of a plot and emotion.
The explosions and action are all there as usual, and in true Bay style, too frequent and far too much. When the emotion does come along it is wrecked by the previous two hours of non-stop explosion, after explosion, after explosion...
With a new central female protagonist alongside Shia Le Beouf as well, we see a slightly better performance by Rosie Hungtington-Whiteley than Megan Fox. But Sam Witwicky's parents as usual steal the show in well performed and perfectly timed small appearances and anecdotes.
Overall however, as usual the film disappoints and disappoints. 'Transformers' the first was good, but then the sequel came along. Whilst 'Dark of the Moon' will never be able to rebuild the damage of the second, and in itself is a pretty poor film, it is better than its predecessor by a little way.
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Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi.
Question: Did your mom ever tell you she walked to school, uphill both ways, and in the snow when you complained about walking somewhere? I got very close to saying something like that when I told my kids I was taking them to see Transformers: Dark of the Moon but they complained when I told them we were going to walk to the movie theater. "Ugh. No! Mom, come on. Do we have to?" I kept silent for a moment - collected myself and simply said, "Yes."
I could have told them I really wanted see the newest Ewan McGregor movie instead but decided not to. What we do for our kids - oh, the sacrifice...OK, just kidding. I really wanted to see the latest installment of the Transformers series. Yes, I am movie geek! I will admit it - proudly. (But I am still going to see that other film!)
The first Transformers was fantastic; I would have given it a 9 out of 10 and have watched it many times since. The second one was so bad that I refuse to talk about it anymore. But I just had a feeling the third installment would work.
I was right. Transformers: Dark of the Moon got back to what made this franchise good - a story not just gimmicks. Now, the story isn't as well-rounded as the first but it worked for me. (Although my daughter said there wasn't really a point. My son's reply to that "Yes, there was - fighting robots are cool! And you didn't even see the first two!" Her rebuttal "Yes, I did. I still didn't see the point!" She rolls her eyes. I sit there observing, silently laughing inside because both are sort of right.)
Now before I go any further in this review I have to tell you that the movie is over 2 1/2 hours long and that doesn't include the 6 (yes, 6) previews we saw beforehand. So you will be sitting down for almost 3 hours. Stretch those legs.
The movie started out with history of the Autobots coming close to earth and how we, or a select few, knew of their existence from over 50 years ago. It was a plausible concept. Then it heads to the main character: Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) graduated from college, looking for a job and shacking up with another hot girl. Yes, this point always had me perplexed but his mother begs the question in the story on this little unexplained detail. It is one we may have all thought about on how this semi-nerdy guy with an Autobot for a car gets all these hot women. Let's just say you wouldn't want your mother to say it about you. I laughed out loud at that scene - and am so happy it went way over my children's head. Whew!
There is no need to say anymore about the plot because it is jammed packed with a ton of detail that you should see for yourself - especially if you are a fan of these movies.
Many sequels lose me when they show little restraint: too much action, too much of a character, too many attempts at humor. There is a fine line to using these tricks of the cinema and Transformers did it perfectly. The second did the opposite. Transformers: Dark of the Moon used many of the qualities that I liked, sparingly - to a point.
Shia LaBeouf was just as nerdy and spastic as ever with a slight roughness that makes his character very likable. Josh Duhamel is back but not as powerful of a character as the first movie. Of course, we have John Turturro back and he may have jumped over the shark a few times but it was a good balance to the new character played by Frances McDormand.
Now I love her. She is in many Coen Brothers films. She is a character actor that can play anything but mostly strong but off-beat women. (Remember Fargo?) However, her character in this film missed what I usually adore about her (except at the very end).
There was a surprise character or two, which I will remain mum about. I will tell you that a huge smile emerged when I saw them though. I wasn't expecting these actors at all- and don't go IMDb it. Be surprised, people.
The list of others actors in here is too long to mention now but the other characters in Transformers: Dark of the Moon that made this movie worthwhile was the Autobots and Decepticons. Seriously, what geek doesn't love them?
There were some new additions to the changeable robots which I rather enjoyed. I have to say there was a Scottish Autobot - so I got my Scottish fill even though it wasn't with Ewan McGregor - it will do. I couldn't understand a word it said but I liked the accent anyway. In fact, most other new Autobots sounded like they were British, but I read one review yesterday and they said there was a French Autobot. I didn't hear that accent. Oh well.
The main new Autobot, Sentinel, was voiced by a very famous actor. Trust me you should get the voice in the first 30 seconds. And if you don't - you cannot call yourself a true geek! That is all I am saying about that.
I am not sure if this movie is for everyone but I know teen boys everywhere will love it - especially the slow motion robot changes. That might have made the movie for me. Also, and I can't believe I am about to say this: go see it in 3D. Those annoying little glasses made the whole 2 1/2 hours totally engaging. But be prepared for a lot fighting scenes and cool robots changes - it fills up the last third of the movie. Remember I said this was 2 1/2 hours long. I was simply exhausted by the end of it but my son wasn't. And we still had to walk home.
My favorite thing: Slow motion action scenes.
My least favorite thing: Perhaps a few too many characters trying to be funny.
Rating: PG-13
Length: 157 minutes
Review: 6 out of 10
Random thought: As we were sitting there through the previews I had my eyes focused on the ground, of course. I saw both my kids watching intently until the preview for the final Harry Potter came on. My son covered his eyes with his hands and held them there for the whole time. I asked him afterwards why he did that. His reply, "Mom, I really want to see that movie!" Makes a mama proud!
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The story this time is yet again centered around the Autobots and Decepticons duking it out for control of a a mystical device that has the power to destroy Earth as we know it. Enough already. Isn't there any other sort of plot they can come up with for these movies? Oh yeah, and once again mankind gets thrown in the middle, with the government playing another crucial role involving coverups and secrets, and that sort of thing. This time however, the Apollo 11 moon landing is involved, and the great Buzz Aldrin does his legacy no favors by making a brief appearance.
Here's the thing about this movie: I think I kinda like it more than the second (which isn't saying much), but even then, the movie still finds a way to be the longest entry and still be guilty of some of the same crimes, even though it slightly downplays them. What I mean is, the film is unnecessarily long ,and filled with way too much filler. If all of the stuff going on during the first 90 minutes (primarily the stuff just involving the human characters) were heavily condensed to just bullet points and heavily trimmed up, I'd be a lot happier. There's no reason for this, or the other two films to be somewhere near the 150 minutes mark. Unless of course the exposition is actually good stuff and well done, but that's not really the case. Also, the plots are just ridiculous, and the humans aren't really that necessary. At least Bay gives limited screen time to Sam's parents. They're still painfully dull and unfunny, but at least they're hardly in it. That goes for the rest of the unfunny comic relief. It seems like there is less of it this time around, but even then, it still sucks and is unnecessary. Especially the stuff involving Ken Jeong. He should know better. So should Malkovich. And McDormand. Although I kinda wanna give her a pass because she does have one or two moments I sorta liked, but still. It's painful seeing her waste her time here. Even Turturro who I don't mind giving a pass to seems even less necessary here than before. It's like they felt it wouldn't be the same without him, and that's just dumb.
I don't feel like Megan Fox really added much to the first two other than some wooden acting and sex appeal, but it's really saying something when I prefer her to her replacement this time around: Little Miss Surprised Duckface, I mean Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. Having a love interest for Sam isn't necessary either, so why the hell is she here? Why is most of the crap in these movies here?
The racist autobot twins Skids and Mudflap are gone, which is nice, but are replaced by a Joe Pesci-esque bot and a Beavisish bot, and that's not much better. Also, why are the NASCAR autobots given Scottish accents? Sure, southern accents would be more obvious, but those would at least make sense. Also, I'm fine with Nimoy voicing Sentinel Prime, but those Star Trek references, especially one of the greatest lines ever, did not need to be egregiously forced in.
The movie does do some stuff right, I will give it that. I mean, I am giving it 2 stars. From technical and effects standpoints, yes, the film is top notch, and it's impressive work. But some of the action is still messily edited. I didn't see it in 3D, but at least the film was bright, so that probably helped makes the 3D work halfway decently. There's one great dramatic moment that really showed the filmmaker displaying some balls, and it actually got me caring and invested in the movie, but of course, it's too good to be true and they ultimately pussy out with the sort of twist that makes forgiving audiences go wild when the reveal happens, so that doesn't help, but at least they started doing something good.
At least he film does start to cut the crap and devote the last hour or so to balls out acton, but even that gets boring and stale fairly quickly, and the words boring and stale should not come up when duscussing constant scenes of explosions, massive urban destruction, and giant alien robots fighting one another. I shouldn't get bored dur ing a movie like this, but I did, and that's one of the biggest sins a film can commit in my eyes. I'll be hoenst and say i did enjoy the location shooting, and some of the action, but with no heart and soul, it's hard to care about anything in this movie. It didn't seem quite as excessive as the second, but maybe because it's still fresh in my mind. Regardless, you should just skip this one and pray that if another damn movie shoudl be made that whoever helms it will learn some restraint, subtlety, and nuance...even for a film about Transformers.
Oh yeah, I didn't even mention the sexism, misogyny, jingoism, and racial stereotypes (without Skids and Mudflap). I don't have the strength to go into it right now. Just know that's it all there, and that the core audience will probably sadly just overlook it because hey, explosions! hot girl! cars!
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