Thursday, June 30, 2011

Review: Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Grade: A

It’s been a couple years since the Autobots defeated The Fallen and chased the Decepticons off of Earth. In that time, the Autobots have been working with the government on covert assignments and making sure that the Decepticons do not return. When they learn of an Autobot spacecraft that crashed on the moon in the early 60’s, launching the space race, Optimus Prime and the others race to the moon to retrieve its contents and the ship’s captain, and former Autobot leader, Sentinel Prime. They quickly learn that the Decepticons have been hiding out on Earth and are trying to obtain the mysterious cargo from the ship that will allow them to destroy Earth once and for all as well as rebuild their home planet.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is the latest chapter in the Transformer franchise. I will start out by saying that it is definitely better than the second movie, Revenge of the Fallen, but not quite as good as the first. This one actually has a pretty decent story and the action is great. I am thankful that, while it does still have some funny moments, they didn’t try to load this one with tons of stupid humor like they did with the second one. Director Michael Bay (The Rock, Armageddon) actually managed to put together an interesting story and you really feel for a lot of the characters. He loaded it with tons of great action and you spend the last hour of the movie hanging on to the edge of your seat. It is definitely the most intense movie of the series and the third act is actually kind of emotional at times. My only complaint is that they could have trimmed up a couple scenes, but nothing major. It is a long movie but it keeps you interested the whole time so you don’t really mind.

The movie stars Shia LaBeouf (Eagle Eye, Disturbia) plays the role of Sam Witwicky, a close friend of the Autobots since they first arrived on Earth. LaBouf is his usual tolerable self who manages to play terrified very well. He has some decent moments in the movie but overall I just don’t care for him that much. New comers Rosie Huntington-Whitely plays the role of Carly, Sam’s new girlfriend. She is Megan Fox’s replacement after being kicked off the movie and is really just there for eye-candy, and in that sense, she succeeds. Josh Duhamel (Life as We Know It, When in Rome) is back as Lennox. He has a decent part in this movie and manages to be pretty good in it. John Turturro (Secret Window, Barton Fink) is back as Simmons, a Transformer expert. Turturro is always enjoyable and is pretty good and funny in this movie. The movie also features Tyrese Gibson, Frances McDormand, Patrick Dempsey, John Malkovich, Kevin Dunn, Julie White, Alan Tudyk, Ken Jeong and more and it features the voices of Peter Cullen, Hugo Weaving, Leonard Nemoy, James Remar and more.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a very enjoyable movie and is a lot of fun to watch. It is also a great ending to these movies. If you have enjoyed the first two… or at least the first one, then you should really head out and check this movie out. I will say, even though I’m not a fan of 3D, it is pretty good in this movie and seeing this movie in IMAX 3D is well worth it and is the way I recommend seeing it.

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