Movie Review: Transformers: Dark of the Moon
It appears as if third time’s a charm for Michael Bay when it comes to the Transformers franchise. After a promising first film, and an absolutely dreadful sequel, Transformers: Dark of the Moon stands out as the best film in the series. Besides being a welcome addition to the Transformers canon, Bay’s third stab at the franchise also features some of the best 3-D work since Avatar, which is refreshing after shelling out wasted money for movies whose subpar 3-D effects were added in post-production (I’m looking at you Thor and Green Lantern).
Transformers: Dark of the Moon is what I want in a summer popcorn movie: a decent plot, decent acting, and at least two hours of absolute fun (this movie clocks in at 2:40 with the last hour being an intense battle between Autobots, Decepticons, and humans in downtown Chicago with parts of it looking like they could be in a dystopian sci-fi flick). Bay delivers this and more. Before I continue, let me get something out of the way for the sake of full disclosure – I am a product of the 1980s and grew up on a steady diet of Transformers cartoons. Because of this, I’m forgiving to a certain extent, but I’m also brutally protective of my favorite robots in disguise. For example, if I had the opportunity, I would unwatch Bay’s disgraceful Revenge of the Fallen.
Speaking of Michael Bay, Transformers: Dark of the Moon has all of the signature features of one of his films. Everything from the eye-candy female lead (Victoria’s Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whitely) to the intense action scenes, and the potentially inappropriate comic relief are all present and accounted for. Even though the movie clocks in at just under three hours, the time flies by. If you hate Michael Bay movies, then Dark of the Moon will be no different. In a way, this movie is almost critic-proof because most critics will spend most of the time hung up on disparaging Bay and his directing style, when the focus should really be on how fun this movie is. Sure, I could focus on his annoying Jar Jar Binks-like replacements for Skids and Mudflap (who are blatantly present to sell toys to the younger fans), his exploitation of Huntington-Whitely (did we really need one of the opening scenes in the movie to be a shot following her up a staircase in only a pair of panties and a men’s dress shirt?), or his propensity to blow up just about everything, but I won’t because as someone who has seen everything Bay has directed, I know exactly what to expect and he didn’t disappoint. That being said, even though this franchise is geared towards kids and selling them toys, there are several instances in this movie that may be hard for younger audiences to digest, both from a language aspect and a disturbing imagery aspect.
The movie opens letting us know the space race of the 1960s was actually a race to get to the dark side of the moon where an alien spacecraft has crash landed (for Transformers slappys like me, the ship that crashed is called The Ark). The ship, manned by Sentinel Prime (voiced by Leonard Nimoy), was filled with technology that would have helped the Autobots beat the Decepticons during the war for their planet Cybertron. Fast forward to present day and Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf in his best performance to date) still can’t find a job even though he’s saved the world twice. The Autobots are working with the government now and as a civilian, Sam can’t join along. From there, things start to go horribly wrong for the Autobots, led by Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen), as the Decepticons hatch a scheme to eradicate their enemies, and of course giant robot hijinx ensues – and this time around the hijinx is cranked to 11.
Bay debuts some brand-new robots this time (the coolest being the one that resembles one of the sandworms in Dune), including a few that were blatant product placement like the NASCAR Autobots (at least Bay didn’t make them sound like rednecks, right?). Also, aside from giant robots and main human cast, Dark of the Moon features some inspired casting for supporting roles including John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Alan Tudyk, Patrick Dempsey, and Ken Jeong.
Don’t get me wrong, Transformers: Dark of the Moon isn’t perfect, but it’s the perfect summer movie. No matter what I, or any other critics, say, this movie is still going to rake in the cash this summer. But, I would like to be so bold as to say this edition of the franchise will do for Transformers what Spider-Man 2 did for your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man. If you can only choose one summer action blockbuster to see this summer, make sure it’s Transformers: Dark of the Moon and make sure you see it in 3-D. It’ll be the most fun you’ll have at the movies this summer.
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