Movie Review - Transformers 3 : Dark of the Moon (spoilers)

SPOILER INFESTED REVIEW. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK



Just got back from seeing this movie.

I was very optimistic about this movie and though it's still flawed in some ways - the positives were good enough for me to think of it as a well-done Bay movie that does tie up the TF-Bay era trilogy.

Can't believe it's actually come to the end of the Michael Bay era. The era that actually got me to love Transformers again after being brought up on KOs. I'll miss Bay directing TFs for sure :(.



SPOILER INFESTED REVIEW. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK







Here's my review:


- ACTION ACTION ACTION. OH MAN SO MUCH METAL ON METAL ROBOT ACTION. The Chicago Finale lasted for like more than an hour - most of it was great but the only thing that I disliked was the poor flow of the editing. You had intense moments, slow, slow, intense, slow - though that could be said to be like real warfare for a movie it can get boring / but come to think of it I was eager to see what would happen next as the pace was so random. Also there needs to be a longer cut of this scene despite being already so long - for instance there's a scene where BB saves Sam and next second he is captured off-screen, HOW? This long finale in many ways reminds of The Seven Samurai classic, though I'm not going to compare both in quality I see the similarities where the major finale rages on for such a long time as there's the intense cycle of attack and retreat between both sides that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

- The plot this time around is much better than ROTF. I still can't forgive ROTF for sending Sam to Prime Heaven.

- The editing. For some reason the flow of editing seemed really off in DOTM compared to the last 2 movies. You had a couple of scenes where the film would black out so quickly like a trailer and some shots were made so short for unnecessary reasons. The flow of the music also just didn't gel so well.

- The showdowns are so brutal this time around and if there's one thing we've learned it's this - If you intend to kill Optimus Prime, don't TRY so many times because he's going to get pissed and rip your head out or shoot you dead so many times. I liked how the showdowns were that tad-bit longer than ROTF.

- You actually see the robots get more screen-time this time around which is cool - they get more dialogue - more action scenes BUT even then Decepticons barely said anything. Lazerbeak spoke more than Soundwave himself, Sentinel Prime was talking of his plans to save Cybertron on a skyscraper to no-body half the time and Shockwave, who's apparently meant to be the main villain this time around said like 2 lines!


- I like the new look of Cybertron!

- The dialogue is much funnier this time around. And I liked how Sam's mum pointed out he's dated/dating 2 supermodel-women in his life lol.

- I like Sam's arc for DOTM, this time he's out of college and transitioning his way out into adulthood with an existential crisis - where he feels he doesn't matter anymore compared to his 'prime' days back in the last 2 movies, which saw him still at educational institutions. Because my young-adult years to adult years have been in era of Bay;s TF movies I can relate to Sam very much.

Overall for a TF movie I enjoyed this one much more than ROTF but it didn't have the wow factor that the 2007 did.

I was quite disappointed, and actually preferred the 'Adventure' theme of the second one over this. Perhaps it's a combination of factors for me that spoiled it so much, but I was expecting a lot more than what I saw, in terms of plot and characters.

We had more distinguishable Decepticon Characters in the second one, and again we had characters thrown in without any explanation of who they are, and where they are from. I'm kinda glad that IDW wrote a couple of prequel comics to try to explain this mess and plot holes... but they shouldn't be necessary. The movie should stand on its own, and was written without any intention of having comics written as prequels to it. As mentioned at BotCon, Hasbro was the middleman on this, so when the script was written, then IDW would have started working on their own.

The first scene with Carly was cringe-worthy, and reinforced Bay's opinion of female characters - they're just there for boys to drool over. So many of her shots were focused on her body, even when something else was happening or being said.

Starscream's death was cheap, and I felt that at least he should have lived for a fourth movie.
It was nice to see the loose end of Barricade finally being wrapped up (his absence in TF2), but he ended up being no more than cannon fodder like the rest of the troops.

I thought Shockwave would have had a more prominent role than just appearing twice and shooting at things. This was a big disappointment.

Wheelack (called Que, after the Bond character of the same purpose - maybe a nickname) seemed underused.
Mirage (called Dino) had a bit of screen time, but was more of a supporting cast member like Sideswipe and Jolt in TF2.

Cybertron was completely different this time to how it was 'drawn' in the first movie. Last time it was a jagged surface and structures - this time it was entirely honeycombed in appearance.

The inclusion of Sam's parents was forced, and didn't pay off too well. There were some great lines/laughs, but this time it didn't fit too well with the more serious theme/feel of this one.

Sentinel's betrayal... this was meant to be the big surprise in TF3 and I had it spoilt by accident, thanks to a kids activity book that shouldn't have even mentioned that he betrays the Autobots. It had a short blurb on each character, and that was the only thing they could think of to say about Sentinel? Up until that point I had managed to avoid anything significant, including that... and without experiencing that 'shock moment' at least once, left a big hole in the point of the movie. With nothing else surprising to make up for it, I guess I was just left with a movie that played out like the Titanic sinking.

One thing I liked - I had totally forgotten about Sentinel being voiced by Leonard Nimoy, so it was really neat hearing him take on a TFs role 25 years after his last one (Galvatron). There were two nods to his Star Trek character - Spock was on a TV that Wheelie was watching, and he used a famous line of his from ST2 & 3... 'the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few'.

I also liked that the Robots weren't the supporting cast this time. They were the main storyline, and featured as much or more than the human cast.

Damn, has John Malcovich aged or what? I thought his character was amusing, but inconsistent (especially when he acted strange around Bumblebee).

Overall, I didn't find it boring, but it doesn't inspire me to see it too often. I liked the first one most due to it being 'a new thing' and wasn't too bad with the story, and I liked the second one for the adventure, but this one comes in third for me.

I recommend people see it, at least once.

You're just jealous that your makeup can't stay THAT good even though you've been through the middle of a warzone...

Also, laserbeak transforms from a painting? Wait... what?

Ithoughtit was great aside from shockwaves involvement. And laser beak transformed into a plasma screen on the wall not a painting

The humor was great! One of the funniest movies I have seen that wasn't an actual comedy specific movie.

Rosie was great

I loved it, I already booked my tickets to see it again tomorrow

Back from the Perth midnight screening.

Eh. It had all the same faults as the second except the writing was decent this time around.

I actually liked the Wreckers - the United Kingdom accents suited them (esp. Roadbuster). I felt finally the right balance between human and robot dialogue was achieved, although was a bit let down that Shockwave, Soundwave and Dino didn't get more (or any in Shockwave's case) lines.

Was quite disappointed with the role of Shockwave - I spent the entire time waiting for him to bust out some line about logic but was let down when he was offed without making anything but grunting noises.

I didn't quite follow the ending - it was/is 3am but why did Prime randomly off Megatron? This caught me slightly off guard as in all the adaptations he made peace after finishing Sentinel Prime, whereas in the movie he basically randomly killed him after Megatron helped him.

As I said, basically RotF with competent writing. It still had the same problem of the end set piece going for so long that by the time it ended I really didn't care why it began. It also felt overly long. I'll probably see it again at some point but I'm not really in any rush because it more or less went for three hours, and don't feel it's worth that kind of time a few days after seeing it.

What I mean by the Megatron thing is that Sentinel Prime has Optimus at his mercy, then Megatron pops up and starts shooting him with his robo - sawnoff (ie saves Prime) and then the next thing Prime is wailing on Megatron and then takes his head off.

That's what it looked like through my bleary eyes at 3am.

Also Bay is a bastard for some on screen slow motion robo cranium destruction.

You mean Bumblebee didn't die? Nooooooooooooo:(
God he is annoying

Loved it. Thought it was great. Unexpected things, glad I avoided most footage until seeing it on the big screen.

Sounds like there is quite a bit differrent to the novel. Can't wait to see it tomorrow night.

My overall thoughts:

+ BRUTAL! (Phwoar!!)

+ More consistent story than ROTF

+ Far less immature stupid humour - no urinating, no humping, no drugs, no farting*, no enemy janglies! Some of you might sight that toilet scene, but at least that scene contributed to the plot (i.e. Sam obtaining information about NASA/Moon mission). The boss coming in wasn't absolutely necessary, but it's a bit of light-hearted humour which helps break the tension. And it wasn't overtly drawn out or overdone IMO.

+ Was better at capturing the spirit of the G1 cartoon than ROTF, which is what made TF1 so enjoyable for me. Although whereas TF1 captured the spirit of "More Than Meets The Eye," as Paul Agnew said, DOTM captures the spirit of episodes like "The Ultimate Doom" and "Megatron's Master Plan" -- especially the former.

+ The movie was more engaging and didn't drag on like ROTF.

+ Sentinel Prime: wow! What an awesome plot twist! Totally did not see that coming! Nice one. :) Also noticed that he killed Ironhide with Cosmic Rust! :eek:

+ Not all scenes are 3D, but for the ones that were, I thought the 3D was well done (and I'm not usually a fan of 3D movies). If you're a fan of 3D, it's worth watching, but otherwise I don't think you're missing out on a huge deal if you watch it in 2D. *shrug*

+ Wheelie and Brains were pretty cool. So... they survived, right?

+ Shockwave: massive disappointment. Did he even transform?!? :confused: Bugger all characterisation... he was just "random scary robot with giant tentacle monster." Right.

+ Wreckers: not overtly cool, but not bad either. They play their part well and are fun characters in their own right. I like how they explain why we haven't seen them before, lol. :)

+ Simmons: Fun character. As collectors we can all probably empathise with his obsessive-compulsive nature, hehehe.

+ Interesting to see that humans have improved in learning how to fight Decepticons since ROTF. The membrane-gliding and sky-diving scenes were freakin' awesome -- and there must've been a helluva lot of CGI done to modify that too, because Julie White explained that the scene was shot with stunt actors leaping off the top of Trump Tower then parachuting down before flipping out their guns to attack something (I suspect that last part must've been cut). But to go from shooting a straight vertical drop to having them "fly" through several city blocks must've required some significant special effects work.

+ Que (is he meant to be Wheeljack??) - the character I don't mind so much... but what's with that f'ugly wannabe Einstein head?!? :eek: And... did he transform??

+ Dino... cool action character, but erm... why isn't he called Mirage? Does "Dino" mean something cool in Italian?

+ Barricade's back laaaadies(man217)!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Paul Agnew

Michael Bay, please don't leave the franchise. Though if you are, then you have made the perfect send-off. 12 out of 10 from me.

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The Empire Magazine article said that Bay won't be doing any more TF films, and I have mixed feelings about this... cos a new director might be a good or bad thing depending on who they get and how s/he performs (it could be a case of better the devil you know). <shrug> Still, Bay's already had a shot at 3 movies, time to give someone else a turn I say.

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Originally Posted by STL

The acting from Carly was terrible.

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Considering that she's not a real actress, I thought she did alright. But yeah, they should've just gotten a proper actress. (-_-) But I think we all know the reason why she got the part :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by STL

That's not to say there weren't a couple of interesting things. The angle on Sentinel Prime was very interesting and I did not see it coming at all from having the toy and whatnot.

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+1

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Originally Posted by STL

What did piss me off was Sentinel Prime all of a sudden turning his back on Optimus. If he wanted to beat Optimus up and kill Autobots, why pass back the matrix of leadership? Again, it tarnishes what is a nice touch and makes it so undefiably stupid.

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I hadn't thought about that, but perhaps he was hoping that Optimus would come to agree with him and join his cause to save Cybertron. I think Sentinel was disappointed that Optimus was unable to make "the hard decisions" and was willing to sacrifice Cybertron for Earth.

Also, in the event that Optimus does defy Sentinel, Sentinel probably thought that he would just defeat Optimus and take the Matrix back by force anyway. Sentinel's portrayed as a far superior fighter than Optimus.

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Originally Posted by STL

Mum and dad? Less than funny this time, maybe snuck in one or two one liners but useless noise.

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They offered guidance to Sam in terms of his relationship with Carly - and of course, he endured a lot of save her. Again and again and again (there sure was a lot of catching!). At least their presence contributed to the story, unlike say the pointless scene in ROTF with his parents on campus... (-_-)

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Originally Posted by STL

The human bad guys were retarded to. Seriously, who would take those guys as threats or even consider them to be real? They're just caricatures, no character work at all.

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I thought they were believable... fear's a great motivator. ;)

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Originally Posted by STL

Starscream blind? That was stupid.

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Yyeeeaaaahh... part of me agrees with you there, because even dogs will continue fighting with their eyes out. (eye-gouging is seriously one of the most overrated moves in martial arts)

But maybe the Transformers are particularly sensitive to pain in their optic sensors?? Although we've seen Transformers with half their faces smashed off who keep battling on... maybe Starscream's just a beeotch. :p

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Originally Posted by STL

Prime being suspended helplessly and NO ONE targetting him? More stupid.

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Not implausible. He seemed to have landed in an isolated part of the city and the Wreckers were working on cutting him down. <shrug> It's convenient, but not impossible.

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Originally Posted by STL

Wheeljack? Thank god someone killed him. F--- was he annoying.

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+1. F'ugly too.

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Originally Posted by STL

Megatron getting a pep-talk from a human? WTF? Didn't he have a whole master plan? He just wanted to be retarded and go along with Sentinel?

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90% of a fight is psychological.

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Originally Posted by STL

Oh and one handed Optimus easily dispatches Megatron? Okay, great fight / fatality sequence - but that easy? Come on.

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Quick fights = realism. And being quick doesn't necessarily mean it was "easy."

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Originally Posted by STL

Oh and who is the Red Autobot Car in the movie (not hatchback)

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The red Ferrari is Mirage^Dino -- pronounced "Dee-no" like freakin' Fred Flintstone's pet dinosaur. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by STL

Hell Laserbeak had more personality than Shockwave.

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+1 QFT.

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Originally Posted by MeisterROB75

I was willing to look past those Bay staples: the lingering shots of the bimbo (especially annoying for gayformers like myself!),

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Yeah, we had some guys wolf-whistling during those scenes. *sigh* Hardly surprising though considering the gratituous shots we had of Mikaela in the previous films.

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Originally Posted by MeisterROB75

For example, Rosie Huntington-Bimbo chides Megs like he's a snotty little kid and he doesn't crush her like the bimbo bug that she is? C'MON!!

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Heheh, that's what I thought too... but I guess she must've hit a nerve and for a moment he had enough respect for this "insect" to have pointed this out to him that he decided to spare her life - probably because he was more concerned with getting Sentinel. Besides, if his plan succeeded, she would've been one more slave for him to use. :)

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Originally Posted by MeisterROB75

Sentinel is already a Rosenbauer when he's been on the moon for 50 years?

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How do you know he was already a fire engine? He never transformed until after he was revived on Earth. NEST probably gave him a fire engine to scan (like they did with the twins in ROTF).

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Originally Posted by MeisterROB75

One positive: laserbeak was pretty cool.

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Heh, yeah... and you can see why Hasbro gave him that weird VTOL alt mode - cos making a movie-accurate toy where Laserbeak can transform into a photocopier, TV, pink Bumblebee etc. would be hell hard (especially as a Deluxe)!! :eek: But Laserbeak's robot mode looked the same even when he acquired all those different alt modes.

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Originally Posted by griffin

We had more distinguishable Decepticon Characters in the second one, and again we had characters thrown in without any explanation of who they are, and where they are from. I'm kinda glad that IDW wrote a couple of prequel comics to try to explain this mess and plot holes... but they shouldn't be necessary. The movie should stand on its own, and was written without any intention of having comics written as prequels to it.

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+1.

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Originally Posted by griffin

Starscream's death was cheap, and I felt that at least he should have lived for a fourth movie.

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Maybe they're paving way for Thundercracker to shine. :) Although if Michael Bay directed it, he'd be called "Acid Storm" or something else completely random like... "T".

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Originally Posted by griffin

Cybertron was completely different this time to how it was 'drawn' in the first movie. Last time it was a jagged surface and structures - this time it was entirely honeycombed in appearance.

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Perhaps it's a different part of Cybertron. Earth has varied topographical features, why can't Cybertron?

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Originally Posted by griffin

Sentinel's betrayal... this was meant to be the big surprise in TF3 and I had it spoilt by accident, thanks to a kids activity book that shouldn't have even mentioned that he betrays the Autobots. It had a short blurb on each character, and that was the only thing they could think of to say about Sentinel? Up until that point I had managed to avoid anything significant, including that... and without experiencing that 'shock moment' at least once, left a big hole in the point of the movie. With nothing else surprising to make up for it, I guess I was just left with a movie that played out like the Titanic sinking.

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Ouch.

Lucky for me it wasn't spoiled... but yeah, it's like knowing the Darth Vader is already Luke's father when watching Empire for the first time.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by griffin

There were two nods to his Star Trek character - Spock was on a TV that Wheelie was watching, and he used a famous line of his from ST2 & 3... 'the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few'.

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I didn't notice the Spock thing (I'll have to keep my eye out for that on Saturday), but I did chuckle and clap when he did the "needs of the many" line. Nice. :)

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Originally Posted by griffin

I also liked that the Robots weren't the supporting cast this time. They were the main storyline, and featured as much or more than the human cast.

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YES!!

Overall I quite liked this movie and I can't wait to see it again on Saturday! Last night's meet was heaps of fun too, but I'll post photos and comments about that later. :)

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*We didn't see or hear anyone farting in the film, although Julie White explained at SupaNova that the big dog, which is Michael Bay's dog, is extremely flatulent - and during the scene where Sam and the dog enter the big Winnebago, the dog wouldn't stop farting and stank up the entire caravan. :)