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

[Lord_Zed]

I also assumed he smashed Lincoln because it was symbolic as he was the great emancipator and Megs wanted slaves, Mbay and the writer couldn't be that smart though, could they? but yeah that was a good image.

Having though about it I'm conflicted now, there was some great imagery and transformery stuff I really liked, but on the other hand it was almost as dumb as ROTF.

LIES! They're at the back of the line when the Autobots drive into base. I wonder what I'll spend my $25,000 on?

I thought I saw that but I can't confirm, on the other hand they never transformed so maybe they were the twins twins? What's more perplexing is I clearly recall them saying after that there are 9 Autobots left, which leaves no room for the Twins (not to mention Arcee and Jolt).

[Tropisetron]

Just a small addition:

Love the fact that they used the Gen1 transforming sound for some of the robot-vehicle vice versa transformation. I recalled clearly the scene bumblebee transformed nearing the end of movie with it.

[1AZRAEL1]

Just a small addition:

Love the fact that they used the Gen1 transforming sound for some of the robot-vehicle vice versa transformation. I recalled clearly the scene bumblebee transformed nearing the end of movie with it.

I too remember that now as well. Damn lack of sleep messing with my brain. That was a cool addition. Almost like the first transformation in the first movie starts it all, then the last transformation in this one ends it all

[christalcase]

Went in and watched it without high expectations, I was still a bit disappointed , the movie felt so different to the first two, that it seemed to me it didn't fit. I found myself bored for the first hour or so while the plot was being set up.

Ironhide's death caused by Sentinel Prime's betrayal came to me as a shock and big surprise, didn't really see that one coming.

My biggest gripe by far is Starscream's death, come on, death by two humans?!?! That feels so demeaning of the character who's been in an important role in the first two movies. Even Shockwave, who was an epic disappointment (that guy basically didn't do anything), got the honour of being killed by Optimus Prime.

Then there's Megatron, who doesn't get much screen time at all, he didn't do much either, with the main villain being Sentinel. That was disappointing too, Megatron joins the fight for a few mins right at the end and gets easily killed by Optimus Prime immediately. I found myself wondering, why did they bother...

Also didn't like the alien spaceships, it doesn't feel very Transformers to me, it feels like another generic alien invasion technique (for lack of a better term). Shockwave's worm thing (Driller) was lame, the building being destroyed in half was lame, the Stealth Force modes were lame (to me anyway, the transition to the big screen wasn't as great as I expected) and Sam should have died a dozen times already with all the situations he's been in (especially when the Orbital Spaceship thing crashed with him on top).

I think the biggest problem for me was that the action didn't justify the movie like it did for ROTF, in terms of just the action, explosions and what was happening in the climax of the film, I felt DOTM was worse. A few scenes I couldn't follow what was happening, probably coz I didn't pay enough attention.

I was surprised at all the (brutal) deaths in this one, and finally more Autobots died instead of only just Decepticons. It was quite cool that there were quite a few references to other aspects of Transformers.

Oh, and we didn't get to see Optimus put on his Jetpack transforming from the trailer, I was looking forward to a scene like that and would have loved it but it wasn't to be... The ending was very abrupt too, so quick that I was like, "Huh?! It's finished!?".

Overall, I think it's worth watching, but DOTM was the only one in the Trilogy where I walked out after watching and felt disappointed. The first movie is by far the BEST, while I can't decide whether ROTF or DOTM is better (ROTF has better action sequences, while DOTM is more coherent). Really really really annoyed by Starscream's and Megatron's death though.

[SkyWarp91]

If you guys watch Transformers, ROTF, Bad Boys II and DOTM you'll notice something - The way the first movie and ROTF are filmed and edited are very similar to each other in that the pacing of cuts and editing of music follows the flow of the storyline, despite ROTF having such an incoherent plot. Both movies I felt had so much better editing done, even ROTF which kind of also had an abrupt ending too.

The way DOTM is edited together is so similar to Bay's Bad Boys II in that the shots and how they are cut together are so out of sync to how the story flows which actually kind of ruins all those explosions and robot kills. Michael Bay is a great special effects visual artist, in fact the best of Hollywood and his editing had improved so much since Bad Boys II when the 2007 movie and ROTF came out but in 2011 with DOTM I can notice that his bad editing habits have returned.

After some rethinking this is a good conclusion to the Bay Transformers era. And good is a generous enough term for me but like Christalcase I had very high expectations of this movie as Bay and co had said that the issues of ROTF would be fixed in DOTM - well to a certain level they were right as the story was more coherent but at the same time the movie suffered from faults that you'd think Michael would have learned from in the past.

[Gutsman Heavy]

Always have low expectations kids, you'll never get disappointed, mostly be right or be pleasantly surprised. Win-Win-Win.

[Lord_Zed]

My biggest gripe by far is Starscream's death, come on, death by two humans?!?! That feels so demeaning of the character who's been in an important role in the first two movies. Even Shockwave, who was an epic disappointment (that guy basically didn't do anything), got the honour of being killed by Optimus Prime.

Then there's Megatron, who doesn't get much screen time at all, he didn't do much either, with the main villain being Sentinel. That was disappointing too, Megatron joins the fight for a few mins right at the end and gets easily killed by Optimus Prime immediately. I found myself wondering, why did they bother...

Also didn't like the alien spaceships, it doesn't feel very Transformers to me, it feels like another generic alien invasion technique (for lack of a better term). Shockwave's worm thing (Driller) was lame, the building being destroyed in half was lame, the Stealth Force modes were lame (to me anyway, the transition to the big screen wasn't as great as I expected) and Sam should have died a dozen times already with all the situations he's been in (especially when the Orbital Spaceship thing crashed with him on top).

As I said before I had no issue with Starscreams end, the way he's portrayed in the previous movies is just as some misrable yesman who is kicked around by Megatron, powerfully he may be in the air, but he's still and idiot.

Megatron on the other hand did deserve more, specially when he had such a cool new look and scared Elephants. I think it was Bay just trying to tie it all up as a "screw you" to whichever poor director picks up the mantle next.

.... and Sam should have died a dozen times already with all the situations he's been in (especially when the Orbital Spaceship thing crashed with him on top).

+ 1, Totally agree with you about the crash, my suspension of disbelief got me past the other stunts, but not that one, geez he could have at least jumped clear, crashing aircraft doesn't kill anyone in Hollywood no more.

After some rethinking this is a good conclusion to the Bay Transformers era. And good is a generous enough term for me but like Christalcase I had very high expectations of this movie as Bay and co had said that the issues of ROTF would be fixed in DOTM - well to a certain level they were right as the story was more coherent but at the same time the movie suffered from faults that you'd think Michael would have learned from in the past.

Bay doesn't learn ever, he just makes occasional minor concessions he's like George Lucas in that way.

[Paul Agnew]

I thought I saw that but I can't confirm, on the other hand they never transformed so maybe they were the twins twins? What's more perplexing is I clearly recall them saying after that there are 9 Autobots left, which leaves no room for the Twins (not to mention Arcee and Jolt).

It can work. The Dark of the Moon novel depicts Skidz sacrificing himself to save Bumblebee moments after Sentinel Prime goes Nemesis Prime on poor Ironhide.

After his brother's death, Mudflap threatens to "kill that bastard" and relentlessly pounds the Prime, only to befall the same fate as his fellow kin.

Jolt was killed by Shockwave in Rising Storm, and the injuries Arcee and Chromia suffered were probably fatal, thus died between the Rising Storm/DOTM gap.

[tjparkside]

i liked the movie!
although reading many spoilers & viewing most trailers there where still enough suprises!
i will see it again! i am happy the movie is finally out!

[Doubledealer]

Saw it last night. It's official, the first movie was a fluke.