Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Release date: June 29, 2011
Director: Michael Bay
Screenplay by: Ehren Kruger
Cast: Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Peter Cullen, Hugo Weaving, Leonard Nimoy, Patrick Dempsey, Kevin Dunn, Julie White, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Alan Tudyk, Ken Jeong

I liked the first Transformers film, but I hated Revenge of the Fallen. Well, the trailers for Transformers: Dark of the Moon made it seem it like Michael Bay was going to try and redeem himself for what happened on the second film. I still had skepticism to watch it, but I did it anyways.

The film begins with a backstory regardling the events of Autobots and Decepticons in war at Cybertron, with Sentinel Prime (voiced by Leonard Nimoy) piloting the Ark spaceship containing the Pillars, technology that could have helped the Autobots win the war. In present day, the Autobots have forged a military alliance with the USA. During a mission, Optimus Prime discovers a fuel cell from the Ark and takes it upon himself to retrive the remaining Pillars and revive Sentinel Prime.

Meanwhile, Sam Witwicky has a new girlfriend called Carly Spencer (Huntington-Whiteley) and deals with the frustration of not being able to get a job since graduating from college as well as his girlfriend’s close relationship with her boss, Dylan Gould (Dempsey). Later on, Sam lands a job in a high-pressure working enviroment. One of his co-workers, Jerry Wang (Jeong), passes him information regarding “the dark side of the moon” before getting killed by Laserbeak, a Decepticon. After contacting former agent Seymour Simmons (Turturro), Sam realizes that the Decepticons raided most of the Pillars decades ago and they left Sentinel Prime there since they couldn’t revive him. Basically, luring the Autobots into a trap. With the information he has now, Sam has to contact the Autobots and the military before it’s too late.

How does Dark of the Moon fare when compared to the previous films? Good news, no twin-bots. But you’re still getting Sam’s mom, who is still an obnoxious bitch that makes you want to place her in a chokehold until she passes away or dies. She’s much more annoying than Sam, Wang, Carly and the small-size pair of Autobots combined. Model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley makes her film debut as Sam’s new love interest (Megan Fox got fired) and she looks sexy and has a great ass, but she’s very stiff acting-wise, doesn’t have good chemistry with LaBeouf and makes Fox look great in comparison. And if you thought what I said looks bad, the following is much worse: in Dark of the Moon, robots bleed red oil. What kind of fucking travesty is that? No wonder I hear about people wanting to murder Michael Bay. I’d still take all of that rather than experiencing the twin-bots again, though.

However, the film boasts an amazing final battle between the Autobots and Deceptions. It’s obvious that the Transformers film have always looked visually great on the big screen, but the final battle stands out as the best part of Dark of the Moon by a long shot. That final battle makes it worth to sit down through the bad parts that take place before it. Even if there are things that defy logic during the final battle, it’s absolutely worth the watch as a whole and might be the best thing that Bay has ever done in his career. I am not ashamed to admit I enjoyed the hell out of this battle, it’s a marvelous spectacle. Among the actors, John Turturro and Alan Tudyk are the best of the bunch, despite the material that they have to work with on the film.

So in the end, Transformers: Dark of the Moon boasts a final battle worthy of the 4-star rating, but it is sadly joined by a 1.5-star script. But it is still more tolerable than Revenge of the Fallen. Keep in mind that my star rating will be slightly higher due to the final part of the movie.

Rating: ★★¾☆☆ 

Rodrigo

YAM Magazine contributor, has a B. Sc. degree in Science/Pharmacy and is a very lazy person.

3 Responses

  1. Dan O. says:

    It’s an improvement over the second one, which isn’t saying much, but still is a very fun blockbuster filled with action, destruction, romance, robots, and Michael Bay once again letting loose on all the special effects and action there is to let loose. Good Review!

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    […] to successfully kill an insane amount of brain cells, yet millions of people somehow went to see Dark of the Moon, which was an slight improvement. I remember being skeptical about seeing the third film, but a […]

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