When I was a kid, I used to have a transformer toy of my own. It is battery controlled that when you press the transform button, it would ultimately change into a robot. The fantasy of owning or having a car which can transform into a robot has been lurking in my mind during those days. When the first Transformers came out it was like a reminder that I was once a kid. When the second one came out, it was a so-so. This time, Michael Bay is yet to redeem himself from the tragedy that was Revenge of the Fallen.
The second one is so over-blown and loud. The action scenes were just loud sounds of clattering junk. In Dark of the Moon, Bay tries to lessen such noise, well during the first half of the movie. Bay tries to inject what is lacking the previous 2 movies: character development. While the first two movies tries to focus more on the plot, this one tries to dive a little bit deeper on the characters - Just a little bit. Sam is now frustrated and wants to feel the glory that was once his during the early years, but now he is jobless and worthless, although on the plus side, he has a hot new girlfriend played by Rosie Huntington-Whitely. The Autobots are more engrossed with their missions together with the military. The plot thickens when Optimus discovers the Pillars which is in possession of their leader before Optimus, Sentinel Prime. With this, they searched for Sentinel and sees him in space shuttle wreck in the moon which is discovered during Armstrong's first landing there which is actually the main purpose of the space navigation back in 1969. Megatron is still alive and living off in the desert after he has taken a rough fight on Revenge of the Fallen.
One of the strength of this movie is its pace. On the first half, it relies more on flashbacks and some background checks on what happened. Now that Megan Fox is out of the picture after ranting against Bay, Whitely comes to the scene as Sam's new girlfriend. I can say that they are equally HOT. However, Whitely has a more genuine pouty lips. As I can recall,
Fox tried to pout her lips so hard on Revenge it sucked her acting ability. There are a few new characters on the movie and I enjoyed Ken Jeong's character Jerry Wang which made me feel like he still has hangovers over The Hangover. John Malkovich plays Sam's boss. He and Jon Turturro makes a good on-screen chemistry which should have given more screen time. Frances McDormand plays the new Secretary of Defense. She seemed stiff with the character. But one of the most surprising character is Dylan Gould played by McDreamy himself, Patrick Dempsey. Oh yes, he still has those locks. He plays Carly's boss. It is in this movie that Dempsey proves that he is an effective villain without injecting a lot of sinister laughs but with just plain antagonism.
What is more notable in this movie is the use of special effects and 3D technology. While the first half of the movie is dedicated for plot development, the finale which is about an hour long is a display of special effects bonanza. While the plot is an utter mess, the finale is a mess filled with beauty. The action scenes are well-crafted. There is nothing more you could ask for. Bay has pushed himself far than the limits and came out with a beautiful output. I can still remember back in the early 2000s when Matrix Reloaded and Revolutions came out, nothing can top the fight scenes and action sequences, Transformers 3 broke that record. The clattering of the metals is not annoying to the ear and there is equal distribution between the humans and the robots on the finale. Bay made it sure that we get what we want and we did.
Most of the critics panned Bay's movie. But ladies and gentlemen, this is an eye-candy. We went to see the movie for the robots and we did see robots fight. Like a boxing match, we watch it because we want to see a fight and see a little drama, and we get to see them. In this movie, Bay delivered.
GRADE: A-
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