julianleft
"It's for sure Bay's revenge for Revenge of the Fallen's wackness but still, does that say much?"
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It's for sure Bay's revenge for Revenge of the Fallen's wackness but still, does that say much?
-
Jun 29, 2011
- by julianleft
- posted in Movie Hype
Rating:
+2
Dark of the Moon was one of the most anticipated summer movies because it announced the closing, the ending, the final venture of this human and alien robots story. The last movie was pretty much acknowledged as a total catastrophe by the critics and cinephiles around the globe even though it scored highly at the box-office (like that really matters when judging quality). It was built on pure non-sense defining the point-less action movies of this generation. However, everyone turned their heads to the impressive trailers and cheered for the final take on this franchise by Michael Bay. Everyone expected this to pay up for the last disappointment and, expected or not, it sold out entire theaters. I'm one of those that just came back from the IMAX theater and I'm trying to detach myself emotionally from this one as much as I can. On short, Dark of the Moon Is for sure Bay's revenge for Revenge of the Fallen's wackness but still, does that say much?
The third installment uses the Apollo 11 mission on the Moon and the voyage behind the dark side of the Moon as a big cover-up for the first contact of this alien race. We get strong and pretty smart points made that connect the Apollo mission with the Sputnik program of the russians and the Chernobyl disaster. All these events eventually will lead to the cover-up humans made in order to keep the discovery of an extra-terrestrial vessel on the dark side of the moon a secret. What humans didn't know at that period of time was that the vessel contained the most powerful weapon the Autobots had that could have helped them win the war against the Decepticons on their planet, Cybertron. Of course, now with Autobots working for the U.S. government and "helping" maintaining peace on our planet and also defend us from possible Decepticons problems will soon occur. The battle between Optimus Prime and Megatron will continue and will be strangely and fiercely affected by another robot who apparently was their "Godfather" named Sentinel Prime, a robot which could control the weapon he had invented, a weapon so strong that could make earth disappear in just few beats of a heart.
While the Autobots Optimus Prime, Bumblebee or Ironhide worked for the government, Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBeouf) lived a casual and platonic life after just graduating. We get introduced with Carly (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley) which is his new hottie girlfriend but not without Bay allowing a unfair mocking on Mikaela's character or maybe should we say a direct mocking on Megan Fox. Apparently she was nothing but a "trashy" girl said in pompous words. Nice way to get rid of a character that made you so much money Bay and that made men feel uncomfortable in their seats while watching a pathetic excuse of an action film. What a schmuck... Anyway, getting back to the story. Sam lived now with Carly in Carly's house with another two little friends: the small autobots Wheelie and Brains. Of course he is the spoiled and ballsy guy who wants to stop living off Carly's work so he's on a continuous search of a legit job after just being decorated by the president and graduating a prestigious high-school. Of course, from now on, the story builds for the moments where Sam will find out that Decepticons have a devastating plan of conquering our planet and turn the humans into slaves. This first part of the film is built more on connecting the dots between our historic events, introducing the new characters like the coward business-man Dylan (Patrick Dempsey), Mearing (Frances McDormand) the C.I.A. director or Sam's employer Bruce Brazos (John Malkovich) and the relationship between Sam and Carly. By the way, the chemistry between Shia and Rosie isn't that great. The difference between them it's just too big and Rosie doesn't feel natural and sometimes it feels like Shia acknowledges it and gets pissed at that and tries to do too much to show that they have a strong relationship. After all "she's the one" even though "the one" is gone. Basically this first part is fueled with some light jokes, some hysterical and hilarious moments that will definitely make you laugh but it feels at one point that it's getting too messy by combining serious and pragmatic tones with ridiculous moments and even cheesy humor. It's like the first half of the movie tries to find it's maturity and goes through various stages of growing up and the process might hurt some fragile minds. But then we get to the second part when the action and the real story flourishes.
We get betrayals, we get jealousy, we get humans helping each other, we get the most well-executed action scenes in this film franchise, we get to have a really dramatic feeling but we also have part of the typical cheesy emotional Bay moments, we also have part of the weird changing of tones, we also have part of some serious issues with the characters which for the most part have no absolute importance, we also have part of a rushed ending but what enraged me the most was the lack of heart this movie had. Yes it tried. Yes it delivered all the Bay emotional speeches and so on but it just didn't work. Another "weird" thing was the trashing of the common law of physics that rule our planet. It seems like nothing happens when huge objects, possibly 4-5 times bigger than earth happen to be closer to the Earth than the Moon and Earth is chilling like "nah, there's nothing". Also, some the of the scenes lack in logic, like there are hundreds of Decepticons in this city but just one witnesses the intruders and no back-up comes in time even though you see them navigating in the sky. I mean sure, let's say you miss some details but still, that doesn't mean you have to be total blind. Anyway, these are things that I wanted to forget but I mention them so you don't make a big deal out of it. It's a Bay action movie and nothing should be taken seriously. We already have a better story that has an actual meaning and purpose and we definitely feel this movie is far better executed so we should be thankful don't we? Or should we still be disappointed that even with a better story structure the movie still failed in some categories?
The acting for example is one of the categories I'm not sure what to think of. The delivery is on point for a movie like this but I felt it could have been much better. Sure, Shia is a great actor and he proved it again. His intense and spontaneous reactions are great, Malkovich's appearance is okay, John Turturro plays our beloved c*cky and goofy Simmons perfectly, Frances McDormand covers the rigid and egotistic C.I.A. director pretty well while Patrick Dempsey as Dylan the Villain is a nice attachment to the acting process but this Rosie chick can't act to save her life. Sure she can pose but she can't act as hell. On top of that, all these characters feel empty and have no solid life. They are enjoyable, they might make you laugh or despise them but they still feel out of our world and not as real as they felt in the first film. The emotional factor in this movie is seriously damaged and I don't think it's necessary because of this reason but also because the emotional core of the movie is really missing. You have Autobots fighting to protect humans and Earth, you have Decepticons fighting to conquer Earth and enslave humans, you have Sam having a fight with Carly and so on, but none of these real issues get emotional enough for us to care. There's only one scene where we get close to Bumblebee but besides that... there's nothing that makes me care.
The visual effects and special effects are departments that did not fail. On the contrary. The action scenes in this movie are highly improved, better executed, more coherent and plausible even with the breaking the rules of physics. The 3D is amazing. It's really a stand-out for this film. It gives solid action moments that will push you in the back of your seat and the excitement really reaches "unwordly" levels because I must admit, it really gets immersive and surreal. This movie pretty much has one of the best action scenes I've seen in my life and if there's one thing Bay knows how to do perfectly it's large epic action scenes. This movie proves that blowing stuff up with a purpose is more fun then you might think. The cinematography was also great. No judgment on the contrast or the lightning used. I had problems with some shots though. The "Victoria Secret Model" shots that had no point whatsoever frustrated me and the visual editing might feel for some people unappropriate but I had no problem with it. The sound is impeccable, the music matches the tonality of the film weather it has a dark tone or a light tone. The most impressive thing however was the genuine and ingenious usage of handy-cam shots. Those were really beautiful to watch from a visual stand-point. Great job there and there's also a reproduction for few seconds of a FPS gaming image and it felt really interesting to watch that. I would like to see more of that kind of shots in some future action/war movies. I think it would be a ground-breaking experience.
Pretty much this movie sits on highs when it comes to the technical aspect of it, it presents a much better story but still lacks in heart and lacks in a constant narrative structure. However, this is by far a way of Bay saying that the second film sucked big time and "I got you all with this one" because it's more entertaining and makes you feel really good while watching it but after you'll get out you'll realize that still this doesn't prove that Bay can do more than this. This is still a typical Bay movie but this time with just a better execution both story and technical wise than the second one. Should we go that far and say that is better even than the first one? Nope... not in my eyes.
Storyline/Dialogue: 6/10.
Acting: 6.5/10.
Technical Execution: 9,4/10.
Replay Value: 7/10.
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Overall: 7,1
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BaronSamedi3
June 30, 2011
Awesome review! Thanks!
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2_TwoJewsOnFilm
June 30, 2011
Liked your review a lot. Very very Thorough. Good writing.
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julianleft
June 29, 2011
It's much better than the second. Anyway I just saw I had the premiere review for TF3 lol.
woopak_the_thrill
June 29, 2011
yup congrats! featured in our community (Movie Hype)
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woopak_the_thrill
June 29, 2011
Ok, I have to admit that I won't be seeing this film with high expectations, but this may be better than the second one which I really disliked. I'll still check this out!
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More Transformers: Dark of the Moon reviews
First off I should preface this by confessing that I am a big transformers fan: 1) I blame my brother for introducing me to the cartoon series at a young age and 2) I blame Michael Bay for making it look so badass to be a transforming robot. I mean, let’s be honest here, Bay has created three films for a franchise that can now continue to grow by showing younger generations that “old” cartoons make for some pretty cool stories (and toys). Granted, … more
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About the reviewer
Julian Left (julianleft)
Ranked #12
Ranked #12
Member Since:
Nov 4, 2010
Last Login: Mar 2, 2013 02:52 PM UTC
Last Login: Mar 2, 2013 02:52 PM UTC
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About this movie
Transformers: Dark of the Moon is the third and final film in the Transformers film series, directed by Michael Bay and produced by Steven Spielberg. It is the sequel to Transformers and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and is scheduled for release on July 1, 2011, in Real D 3D, regular 2D theaters and IMAX.[1]
Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson and John Turturro are set to reprise their starring roles, with Peter Cullen returning as the voice of Optimus Prime. Ehren Kruger, who collaborated in the writing of the second film, was said to be again involved in the writing. Despite having initially been confirmed for the film,[2] and with the film already into principal photography, it was announced that Megan Fox would not be reprising her role from the previous two films. With Fox's character Mikaela being dropped, Sam was assigned a new love interest, who will be played by English model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. Also, Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman, having written the first two films, will not return for the third installment in the series,[3] which Orci had earlier somewhat anticipated, fearing the duo would "risk getting stale".[4] Bay has stated this would be his last installment in the series.[5]
Cast:
Leonard Nimoy,
Patrick Dempsey,
Hugo Weaving,
Tyrese Gibson,
Alan Tudyk,
Shia LaBeouf,
John Malkovich,
Josh Duhamel,
Ken Jeong,
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley
Director:
Michael Bay
Genre:
Action,
Adventure,
Sci-Fi
Release Date:
1 July 2011 (USA)
Screen Writer:
Ehren Kruger
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