Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Patrick Dempsey, Frances McDormand, Kevin Dunn, John Malkovich, Julie White, Alan Tudyk, Ken Jeong, Hugo Weaving (voice), Peter Cullen (voice)
Directed by: Michael Bay
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Adventure, Science Fiction
2011

Times Seen:
Tim: 2

Summary: Sam (Shia LaBeouf) and the Autobots race against the Decepticons to find a Cybertronian spacecraft holding a device with amazing power.

Review:

Tim: After the disappointing Revenge of the Fall, everyone involved in this franchise seemed primed to fix the mistakes of earlier installments. The promise was that this movie would be better. I can say that, yes, this film probably is better than the previous installment. However, it's not significantly better. That is still disappointing. I enjoyed this movie, but not nearly as much as I should have. The first time I saw it, I liked it much better than the second time. I feel like that's true with all of these movies. The first time, you're almost blinded and distracted by all the shiny metal jumping, shooting, and flailing around. The special effects in these films are unbelievable, and it makes you think the movie is good.

However, on a subsequent viewing, the shiny special effects don't seem so special. The flaws of the film grow to epic proportions. Michael Bay is terrific at giant robot fights, but is horrible at the human elements of these films. That's really a shame, because it's the human parts we actually care about.

I had a number of issues with the humans here. Shia LaBeouf is once again front and center, but I just felt like his importance was diminished here. He didn't play as instrumental a role as in previous films. He almost felt unimportant. The same can be said for Josh Duhamel, who does almost nothing in this movie. John Turturro was still annoying, but not nearly as terrible as in the first film. Tyrese Gibson has a few decent moments, but not many. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley was a horrible choice to replace Megan Fox. Fox is a bad actress, but Whiteley may be even worse. Her wooden, forgettable acting was pretty atrocious. This was her acting debut, and it shows. Bay should have went for talent- not just looks. It hurts the movie very much.

Patrick Dempsey was a nice addition, although a bit odd to see him in such a villainous role. Frances McDormand seemed silly and out of place. Ken Jeong was pointless and unfunny. John Malkovich was just plain weird and I didn't like his role here at all. Michael Bay assembled an impressive cast, and gives them nothing to do.

This movie isn't really about the humans or their plight, even though Bay tries to convince us to care. The movie is really about the amazing, lengthy action sequences, especially the jaw-dropping climax in Chicago. You have buildings torn apart, skydivers flying among the buildings, explosions, gunfire, and giants robots going head-to-head. The special effects are pretty astounding, and they were even more impressive in 3D. I really liked these action sequences quite a bit.

However, there were some major flaws in this movie, too. I appreciate Megatron not being the main villain for the third time in a row, but I missed him. He has a much diminished role in this film. I also hate how the Milwaukee Art Museum was used in this film. This might be a nitpick, but the beautiful building supposedly exists in Washington, D.C. (in the context of this film). I've been there, and I thought it was pretty awful that this movie tries to pretend that building exists somewhere other than where it does. That's stupid.

I appreciate the effort put into making this movie better than the last film. I am really glad that Bay cut down on the number of mind-numbingly stupid jokes that ruined the first two films. Despite that, this movie still leaves far too much on the table. I didn't care. I think at this point, I might be a bit numb to it all. I liked this movie and enjoyed it, but I think the flaws prevent it from reaching its real potential. This is a good movie that could have been significantly better. This film ends the trilogy, and I think it's time for some new blood to reinvigorate the franchise.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: Transformers, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls, Constantine, I, Robot; Disturbia