TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON REVIEW

Micheal Bay is an interesting type of director. While constantly panned as a director with nothing but flair and spectacle, his Transformers films is him in his prime form. Great looking cars, sexy-looking women, and killer explosions caused by large robots!...and maybe a few humans caught in the crossfire. With Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009), audiences and critics both were caught in a crossfire of borderline offensive cinema. Has Bay Learned from his mistakes with the last film? Has he brought back the fun in Transformers?

Bay and Crew have delivered a film that does away with all the flaws present in the last film and delivers what could be arguably his best film in the franchise to date. The film follows Sam (Shia LaBouf) as he bands with the military and the AutoBots to combat a horde of new robots that crash-landed on the Moon in the 60's. Sam and the rest of humanity must band together with the AutoBots to combat old and new unexpected foes for a fight for Earth. The plot reaches convoluted ends. This is the type of film if you don't think too hard about the plot and all it's holes, it's a ton of fun to be had at the cinema. The acting is typical for summer blockbuster. The story is a bit more thicker than the other films. While Dark of the Moon doesn't aspire to be more than a summer film, it does reach moments of darkness that elevate the stakes. Thereby, Bay and crew have delivered their more serious effort with Dark of the Moon. That said, the film is still a popcorn film at it's core. It's a ton of fun to be had. The action scenes are bigger in scale than the last two films combined and they are more better than ever! From the Freeway chase, to the final hour with the destruction of downtown Chicago, the action set-pieces raise the stakes higher for the franchise. That said, they are all loud, impressive, but dumb (and not in a bad way.) This film is a crowd pleaser to the Transformers fans, but something to be had for the mainstream.


The way to experience this film is definitely in IMAX 3D. The film was shot specifically for 3D and it's deserves to have a few more of your hard earned dollars to prove to studios that shooting in 3D from get-go is the way to go. This will help do away with all of the rage with Post-Conversions to milk more money. There are many sequences to be had in this film where Bay shows that what he is best at is visual composition and the 3D helps elevates that aspect to a level that must be seen to be believed. The Base Jumping scene alone steals the show in terms of the 3D aspect. The 3D impresses, but with IMAX 3D, the scenes are jaw dropping at best.

The flaws of the film steam from the script. The film suffers from a pacing problem. When it's fast, it's fast. When the film is slow, it's painfully slow. The film could have used a second go in the editing bay for time and pacing. The film also suffers from an uncertainty of tone. At points, really funny, then it gets really grim with it's last act. It's a nitpick at best. The story problems are there, but the spectacle of the picture saves whatever problems the story might have. It's an enjoyable piece of summer entertainment.


Is the film perfect? Of Course not, but it is a fun one that delivers a great summer blockbuster. With the 3D technology, and Bay's cinematic eye for action; He delivers a summer film with the best use of 3D since James Cameron's Avatar. If you see it, spend the extra dollars for IMAX 3D, totally worth it! Dark of the Moon is what it is; loud explosions, battle-bots, and destorying as much of the city as humanly possible. It's everything we want from a summer film, except it could have used a better narrative and more likable characters. It's everything we love and hate about Bay, but more love to be had than the last outing.

7 of 10