Film Review: Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)

Wow Michael Bay, wow.  Transformers (2007) astonished viewers with unrivaled summer spectacle, especially in the disappointing summer of 2007, but then the redundant Revenge of the Fallen (2009) frustrated nearly all audiences, to say the least.  So when news broke of a third movie, many claimed it is nothing more than a cash grab and will be of very poor quality.  Then the initial previews came out – they were pretty exciting; Bay definitely knows how to cut a trailer and tease audiences.  However, when it comes to creating a deep, plausible story, dialogue, and believable characters, he has much room to improve.  Then again, his movies aren’t focused on the story and characters as much as they are about the plot and thrilling action.  Thus, in that regard Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) is a decent blockbuster filled with epic, albeit eventually overwhelmingly loud and repetitive, action sequences and solid imagery and 3D effects.  While the necessity of a third Transformers movie is questionable, it is definitely better than Revenge of the Fallen but nowhere near as remarkable as the original, perhaps because the novelty has worn off and the target audience has shrunk.

Transformers 3 takes place some time after the previous installments, but it focuses on the consequences of semi-historical events from the 1960s.  In particular, the film begins with a sort of prologue narrating the final days of the great war between Autobots and Decepticons on Cyberton where Autobot leader Sentinel Prime escaped from the heated battle with precious materials that could win the war for them; however, the Decepticons managed to damage the spaceship as it fled and it consequently crashed landed on the moon, at which point the U.S. and U.S.S.R. raced to discover the cause and aftermath of the disturbance.  The movie then shifts back to present day where main character Sam Witwicky tries to find a job in Washington D.C. since he isn’t allowed to work with the special ops team made up of Autobots.  The details of the top-secret mission to the moon surfaces after a dangerous black-ops mission to Russia; this sparks a renewed war between the two extraterrestrial factions and ultimately leads to an all-out invasion of the planet (sorry if this is a spoiler, but unless you’ve been living under a rock basically every single advertisement, video or not, has displayed this fact).

Bay spares no expense in producing the extravagant yet amusing Dark of the Moon.  With a budget of about $200 million, the special effects are first-rate; interestingly, the crew that developed the “revolutionary” 3D found in Avatar (2009) worked on this film as well.  On the other hand, because of Bay’s frenetic style and the overwhelming amount of action per shot, the depth of the 3D is sometimes hard to grasp and may be nauseating depending on where you sit in the theater; even if you aren’t seeing it in 3D, the battle scenes may be overwhelming (in the bad sense).  Nonetheless, the movie features truly exhilarating action sequences that are elevated by Steve Jablonsky’s epic score, which is eerily similar to Hans Zimmer’s excellent score for The Dark Knight (2008) – just compare “We All Work for the Decepticons” and “A Dark Knight” (the links go to specific times for the similar sounding music).  The film’s final forty minutes or so repeatedly strikes the audience with impressive stunts and fight scenes, so much so that viewers may become weary and find the action less and less appealing; how many ways can a metal machine tear apart another and watching it remains “cool?”

Besides the eventually repetitive and tiring action, crammed into a lengthy runtime (157 minutes), the thin story is rather superficial and services the plot and action rather than developing the characters much.  Take the climax and abrupt denouement (the scenes/moments after the climax) for instance – the climactic fight exposes the flimsy and somewhat lazy writing; in other words, (to those who have seen it & for those who have not): that was convenient for that Decepticon to intervene.  Furthermore, was there any conclusion to wrap everything up?

In addition to the cheap but serviceable script, the film’s weak acting may take many viewers out of the moment.  Shia LaBeouf hasn’t changed much as Sam as he turns in another barely passable performance.  Rosie Huntington-Whiteley especially lacked credibility as Sam’s new love interest, replacing Megan Fox who seems almost award-worthy in comparison.  Moreover, her character Carly just happens to have the right job to make the plot play out.  The usually great John Malkovich is not much better as he overacts the part of Sam’s new boss Bruce Brazos; he gives John Turturro’s (Ex)-Agent Simmons a run for his money as one of the film’s most absurd characters, maybe because audiences have simply become amused by or indifferent to Turturro’s schtick.  Frances McDormand does a fair job as the stern Director of National Intelligence Mearing, but she cannot help make this film much better.  Patrick Dempsey likewise is decent as Dylan, who serves as an interesting twist on the franchise.  Sam’s parents again have little depth as do Sam’s military friends Lennox and Epps, but you shouldn’t expect anything more.  Alan Tudyk and Ken Jeong, without the thick accent, make actually hilarious appearances as Simmons’s assistant Dutch and Sam’s coworker Jerry Wang; sure they may be overacting but they bring some fun to this grinder of a movie.  Glenn Morshowerseems to be in every action movie these days as some kind of military man and reprises his role here.  Two well-known celebrities make cameos that won’t be spoiled here, but they don’t have much to do and don’t make the film better.  The inclusion of Leonard Nimoy voicing Sentinel Prime is worthwhile though.  Lastly, the film may have rid itself of the racist Autobots from the second film, but it still has a few annoying Transformers.  Furthermore, the movie might not have a Transformer’s pelvic anatomy like it did in the previous one, but the inclusion of hair and “blood” this time around is a bit silly.

In short, the at best mediocre and at worst horrific performances make the epic action sequences less immersive and engaging.  For instance, the cheesy dialogue (i.e. “own ride home”) and mindless character moments (i.e. Carly staring into the distance without concern as debris and shrapnel fall around here) undermine the seriousness of the battle scenes.  Still, one cannot deny that the action and special effects are breathtaking and impressive.  Besides, this is by no means up for any acting awards, other than MTV ones or similar “awards;” it’s about the visceral appeal and Bay achieves that for the most part this time around.  Also, the campiness may add to the viewer’s enjoyment of this totally undemanding movie.

However, the necessity of making Dark of the Moon is rather debatable.  In fact, despite the colossal stakes throughout the movie, by the end you have the feeling that it was just more of the same, but with more special effects and bigger, yet similar, risks.  Sure it is awesome at times, but apart from the intriguing concept of humans working with/for the Decepticons, not much is really new in this sequel.  Actually, every Transformers movie is virtually the same: various Decepticons want to take over the world but the Autobots are there to protect humanity.  Yet, somehow Megatron and the Decepticons repeatedly recover to fight an even stronger battle in this great war.  Hopefully Bay and LaBeouf stick to their word, won’t be swayed by the profits that the film will make and already has garnered, and walk away from the franchise.  After all, it’s about time Bay returns to making original movies, hopefully ones like The Rock (1996) and Armageddon (1998) or even the Bad Boys movies and not ones like Pearl Harbor (2001).  Dark of the Moon, though, stands somewhere in the middle of the pack of his filmography, a level or two below his bests.

Dark of the Moon is at times overwhelming and juvenile but overall fairly entertaining with state of the art effects and remarkable action sequences.  If you liked the original then this one is actually worth checking out, and if you enjoyed the second film then you really ought to like this one.  See it in theaters, possibly in 3D, for the grand action but only as a matinee considering the excessive prices and remember to have little to no expectations of meeting the original’s quality.  You’ll get a ton of bang but it might not be totally worth the amount of buck you pay.

 

Transformers: Dark of the Moon – 6/10

 

 

 

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