Jason KingTransformers: Dark of the Moon - A Review
June 27th 2011 07:18
:
Bay is BACK!!!
Category: Reviews
The bots are back fighting good and evil alike in what I consider the best of the trilogy. Micheal Bay came, he saw, he listened to all the bitching about the ridiculous Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and he delivered with Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Boy oh boy does he deliver in this one - it is non stop from go to woe of everything lovers of the Transformers want.
In Dark of the Moon it ties in the dark side of the moon, the space race, and why we lost contact when they were on the other side of the moon. An Autobot spaceship crash-landed there ages ago during the battle of machine on Cybertron. This space ship - the Arc - carries a very powerful transporter that could have won the battle for the Autobots but it went missing and now the dastardly Decepticons have obtained it and the battle for humanity must commence.
I want to bitch about something here - it is not related to the film or the makers - it is related to the press who view it. Some call themselves reviewers or critics. Not really a difference in my opinion - we are one and the same and are there to provide our opinions of the film we watch. But if you hate Michael Bay and what he does - why would you come along to a screening with your already preconceived opinions and be there to prove why you hate these things - the snickering, comments and disrespect during this film was disturbing. If a critic is someone who hates films and a reviewer is someone who loves films then I would much prefer to be a positive beacon of the film world. I respect people may not like it but it would be appreciated if you kept your opinions to your form of delivery as opposed to rubbishing it in the cinema you are actually viewing it in. Most of us in the cinema don't actually give a shit what you think - we are there because we believe our opinions are important. Besides you are watching a film about giant robots made by the action man himself - this is not an academy award possibility for plot or acting so enjoy it for what it is and stow that opinionated bullshit until you let loose in your own medium. Done - rant over.
Now to the film at hand - Transformers: Dark of the Moon absolutely kicks ass and the overused dark scenes and CGI confusion of Revenge of the Fallen has been replaced with genius and also now in the 3D format. The 3D is quite impressive in some scenes although it is not some of the best 3D I have seen. It definitely does not ruin the film in any way and in some scenes it made them. That Michael Bay fellow is quite clever when he does what he does best and for a director to hear the problems of the second instalment and to repair the damage gets a cheer from me - if only George Lucas listened after The Phantom Menace.
Dark of the Moon definitely feels a lot more like the first one with way more action, improved CGI, better acting, one of the strongest casts in an action film of all time and a plot that actually has some decent stuff in it with real emotion. I do feel Michael Bay's biggest weaknesses are his over patriotic bullshit with flags flying and the blah blah blah of "we are awesome" - and then his attempts at romanticism are really laugh out loud bad. If you don't take those ideas to heart and try not to take the film seriously but more as the roller-coaster it is supposed to be then this film is flawless
There are plenty of new robots for the Autobots and Decepticon lovers out there to get their fix and the last hour is Michael Bay letting loose with the best action he knows how to deliver - it was like a letting the Bay out of the cage hour and he goes nuts with some of the most edge of your seat action stuff I have ever seen on film. As for the acting is one of the strongest ensembles I have seen for years. Shia LaBeouf is of course the lead in these films and he is damn good at it mixing the action with the comedy flawlessly. I do believe the humour in these films is part of their success and most of the time I think Bay is trying to get us to stop taking things so seriously.
The parents (Kevin Dunn and Julie White) are in it but not as much and they are travelling around the US in a giant bus - they are their humorous selves and I would have liked to have seen more of them. Just a heads up - there is nothing at the end of the credits so no need to hang around unless paying your respects to the makers. I was expecting the parents to appear at the end but it was not the case. While Josh Duhamel is in it and plays an important part I felt he was less important in these films and had less focus on him - although him and his team have some impressive flying sequences in the hour of endless action. Tyrese Gibson steps up also for the ending and adds some fine action.
The new love interest of the film, Rose Huntington-Whitely does an OK job and shits all over the idiot Megan Fox, after Fox was removed from the franchise by Spielberg after comparing Bay to a Nazi, not a cool move when your executive producer made Schindler's List. Rose isn't the smartest flower in the bunch but oh my god she is HOT. Bay does use his sexualisation of hot ladies to its full extent on her but she doesn't mind (I don't think) as she has come from a modelling background. Where as Bay saw Fox as trailer trash he does at least see Rose as White House material and a more upmarket love interest for LaBeouf. They still look completely wrong together but who cares - I didn't see the film for a romance film and it is hilarious how subtle the stabs at her intelligence are She is the dumb blonde bombshell damsel in distress - the one thing that will make Sam Witwicky run into Dante's Hell.
John Turturro us again bloody hysterical and steals many scenes and surprisingly they increased the comedic acting in this one and it works really well. I didn't even know that John Malkovich is in it until he appeared and every scene he is in had me crying with laughter, then throw in Ken Jeong (The Hangovers) and I was nearly vomiting with laughter - the guy is a genius. There was even Alan Tudyk (Death at a Funeral) getting plenty of giggles.
Then there was the other actors added that did a fine job. Frances McDormand is a brilliant bitch with power and god she knows how to deliver lines. I love her. Then another actor I didn't even know was in it, Patrick Dempsey as the love threat for Shia's girl. He was also great. And I can't forget the robots - Decepticons you suck There are plenty of new robots, mostly on the Decepticon side with most notable Sentinel Prime being voiced by Leonard Nimoy. The film has quite a few references to Star Trek and a great opening sequence with a bit of love thrown to the Millennium Falcon. I am also pretty sure I saw a Predator styled Decepticon in there.
Love him or hate him - Bay knows how to put bums on seats and while his films may seem like dumb blow shit up films they are quite a bit more than that and this guy can do action and deserves to be respected. Transformers: Dark of the Moon releases at 12.01am this Wed morning and is set to sell out for many a session - if you like your blockbusters then get in there - if you don't then sorry about that - this ain't for you. Worth an easy 9 out of 10 and could have been a perfect 10 if not for the stupid attempts at romanticism and over the top bullshit patriotism. Autobots - let's roll.
In Dark of the Moon it ties in the dark side of the moon, the space race, and why we lost contact when they were on the other side of the moon. An Autobot spaceship crash-landed there ages ago during the battle of machine on Cybertron. This space ship - the Arc - carries a very powerful transporter that could have won the battle for the Autobots but it went missing and now the dastardly Decepticons have obtained it and the battle for humanity must commence.
I want to bitch about something here - it is not related to the film or the makers - it is related to the press who view it. Some call themselves reviewers or critics. Not really a difference in my opinion - we are one and the same and are there to provide our opinions of the film we watch. But if you hate Michael Bay and what he does - why would you come along to a screening with your already preconceived opinions and be there to prove why you hate these things - the snickering, comments and disrespect during this film was disturbing. If a critic is someone who hates films and a reviewer is someone who loves films then I would much prefer to be a positive beacon of the film world. I respect people may not like it but it would be appreciated if you kept your opinions to your form of delivery as opposed to rubbishing it in the cinema you are actually viewing it in. Most of us in the cinema don't actually give a shit what you think - we are there because we believe our opinions are important. Besides you are watching a film about giant robots made by the action man himself - this is not an academy award possibility for plot or acting so enjoy it for what it is and stow that opinionated bullshit until you let loose in your own medium. Done - rant over.
Now to the film at hand - Transformers: Dark of the Moon absolutely kicks ass and the overused dark scenes and CGI confusion of Revenge of the Fallen has been replaced with genius and also now in the 3D format. The 3D is quite impressive in some scenes although it is not some of the best 3D I have seen. It definitely does not ruin the film in any way and in some scenes it made them. That Michael Bay fellow is quite clever when he does what he does best and for a director to hear the problems of the second instalment and to repair the damage gets a cheer from me - if only George Lucas listened after The Phantom Menace
.
Dark of the Moon definitely feels a lot more like the first one with way more action, improved CGI, better acting, one of the strongest casts in an action film of all time and a plot that actually has some decent stuff in it with real emotion. I do feel Michael Bay's biggest weaknesses are his over patriotic bullshit with flags flying and the blah blah blah of "we are awesome" - and then his attempts at romanticism are really laugh out loud bad. If you don't take those ideas to heart and try not to take the film seriously but more as the roller-coaster it is supposed to be then this film is flawless
Bumblebee you still turn me on
There are plenty of new robots for the Autobots and Decepticon lovers out there to get their fix and the last hour is Michael Bay letting loose with the best action he knows how to deliver - it was like a letting the Bay out of the cage hour and he goes nuts with some of the most edge of your seat action stuff I have ever seen on film. As for the acting is one of the strongest ensembles I have seen for years. Shia LaBeouf is of course the lead in these films and he is damn good at it mixing the action with the comedy flawlessly. I do believe the humour in these films is part of their success and most of the time I think Bay is trying to get us to stop taking things so seriously.
The parents (Kevin Dunn and Julie White) are in it but not as much and they are travelling around the US in a giant bus - they are their humorous selves and I would have liked to have seen more of them. Just a heads up - there is nothing at the end of the credits so no need to hang around unless paying your respects to the makers. I was expecting the parents to appear at the end but it was not the case. While Josh Duhamel is in it and plays an important part I felt he was less important in these films and had less focus on him - although him and his team have some impressive flying sequences in the hour of endless action. Tyrese Gibson steps up also for the ending and adds some fine action.
The new love interest of the film, Rose Huntington-Whitely does an OK job and shits all over the idiot Megan Fox, after Fox was removed from the franchise by Spielberg after comparing Bay to a Nazi, not a cool move when your executive producer made Schindler's List. Rose isn't the smartest flower in the bunch but oh my god she is HOT. Bay does use his sexualisation of hot ladies to its full extent on her but she doesn't mind (I don't think) as she has come from a modelling background. Where as Bay saw Fox as trailer trash he does at least see Rose as White House material and a more upmarket love interest for LaBeouf. They still look completely wrong together but who cares - I didn't see the film for a romance film and it is hilarious how subtle the stabs at her intelligence are
She is the dumb blonde bombshell damsel in distress - the one thing that will make Sam Witwicky run into Dante's Hell.
John Turturro us again bloody hysterical and steals many scenes and surprisingly they increased the comedic acting in this one and it works really well. I didn't even know that John Malkovich is in it until he appeared and every scene he is in had me crying with laughter, then throw in Ken Jeong (The Hangovers) and I was nearly vomiting with laughter - the guy is a genius. There was even Alan Tudyk (Death at a Funeral) getting plenty of giggles.
Then there was the other actors added that did a fine job. Frances McDormand is a brilliant bitch with power and god she knows how to deliver lines. I love her. Then another actor I didn't even know was in it, Patrick Dempsey as the love threat for Shia's girl. He was also great. And I can't forget the robots - Decepticons you suck
There are plenty of new robots, mostly on the Decepticon side with most notable Sentinel Prime being voiced by Leonard Nimoy. The film has quite a few references to Star Trek and a great opening sequence with a bit of love thrown to the Millennium Falcon. I am also pretty sure I saw a Predator styled Decepticon in there.
Love him or hate him - Bay knows how to put bums on seats and while his films may seem like dumb blow shit up films they are quite a bit more than that and this guy can do action and deserves to be respected. Transformers: Dark of the Moon releases at 12.01am this Wed morning and is set to sell out for many a session - if you like your blockbusters then get in there - if you don't then sorry about that - this ain't for you. Worth an easy 9 out of 10 and could have been a perfect 10 if not for the stupid attempts at romanticism and over the top bullshit patriotism. Autobots - let's roll.
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