Transformers: Dark of the Moon Review
Sunday, July 3. 2011
Although I enjoyed Revenge of the Fallen, I do recognize that hte story was a step down from the first movie. The effects were better, the robot scenes were better, and the overall scope was larger, but those are all technical achievements that come with the extra years and extra budget between movies. Dark of the Moon, by contrast, continues to provide the improved effects we saw between the first two movies, but manages to step up its game in terms of story as well. The result is a simple but decent plot that has some good unexpected moments. Read on for a SPOILER-esque review.
One of the best non-technical improvements I thought RotF made over TF was the reduced humor. Michael bay does good with action scenes, but doesn't quite have the knack for directing humor. Either he or the writers have finally gotten a handle on that concept, because the forcd humor from the first two movies is practically nonexistant here. Sam's parents' roles are reduced, and they seem more natural here than they have before. Gone entirely are the robot anatomy jokes, the crude innuendo, and the questionable stereotypes.
Instead, DotM is actiually a pretty dark, violent action movie. This is not a shoot-em-up where characters shrug off wounds, die off-screen, or die to be resurrected as before. And the casualties aren't limited to secondary characters: Ironhide meets his end by way of disintegration, Megatron gets a Mortal-Kombat- or Predator-style spine rip, and Starscream is blinded before being destroyed. We also see the new Autobot character Que killed execution-style by Barricade, a Decepticon pilot rended by the Wreckers, and various humans killed during the destruction of Chicago. This is the middle of a war, after all, but it's still more than we've seen previously and parents should be cautious when they decide whether or not to let younger kids see it. The overall Transformer body count rivals the 1986 Transformers movie, while the human toll is something that has not been seen outside of the comics.
Not that it was all doom and gloom. Wheelie and a similar new character Brain have some great moments, showing that they can be useful even if they're not the largest or strongest of the bunch. Wheelie also provides a huge moment of foreshadowing, as he sits down to watch the Star Trek episode "Amok Time," referring to it as the episode where "Spock goes crazy" and referencing Sentinel Prime's traitorous actions later in the film.
There were lots of other great inside references as well, including nods to the original G1 cartoon (the Autobots' exile, bringing Cybertron to Earth, Prime's battle axe), the comics (the Wreckers have British accents and built/pilot the Xantium), and the earlier movies (Sam drives a yellow beater with black stripes and a bee and disco ball hanging from the rear-view mirror).
Performances were very good overall. One of the best was probably Peter Cullen's Optimus Prime, who went from honest soldier to awestruck apprentice to wounded victim to angry avenger and finally war-weary veteran. His shock at Sentinel Prime's betrayal was palpable, as was his disgust at what things had come to at the end of the movie. Not a bad range when your character spends half his time as a Peterbilt. The rest of the existing characters do their usual work, and newcomer Rosie Huntington-Whiteley does a passable job as Carly. There's really not much for her to do, though they did manage to squeak through a couple of plot devices that made her more than just search-and-replace name change from Megan Fox.
Overall I think this was best of the series: it has a story and performances that were better than RotF, and had plenty of robot, car, and military action to put it above Transformers.
Collector/Modeler Interest:
"In association with Hasbro" was the second credit. 'Nuff said.
One of the best non-technical improvements I thought RotF made over TF was the reduced humor. Michael bay does good with action scenes, but doesn't quite have the knack for directing humor. Either he or the writers have finally gotten a handle on that concept, because the forcd humor from the first two movies is practically nonexistant here. Sam's parents' roles are reduced, and they seem more natural here than they have before. Gone entirely are the robot anatomy jokes, the crude innuendo, and the questionable stereotypes.
Instead, DotM is actiually a pretty dark, violent action movie. This is not a shoot-em-up where characters shrug off wounds, die off-screen, or die to be resurrected as before. And the casualties aren't limited to secondary characters: Ironhide meets his end by way of disintegration, Megatron gets a Mortal-Kombat- or Predator-style spine rip, and Starscream is blinded before being destroyed. We also see the new Autobot character Que killed execution-style by Barricade, a Decepticon pilot rended by the Wreckers, and various humans killed during the destruction of Chicago. This is the middle of a war, after all, but it's still more than we've seen previously and parents should be cautious when they decide whether or not to let younger kids see it. The overall Transformer body count rivals the 1986 Transformers movie, while the human toll is something that has not been seen outside of the comics.
Not that it was all doom and gloom. Wheelie and a similar new character Brain have some great moments, showing that they can be useful even if they're not the largest or strongest of the bunch. Wheelie also provides a huge moment of foreshadowing, as he sits down to watch the Star Trek episode "Amok Time," referring to it as the episode where "Spock goes crazy" and referencing Sentinel Prime's traitorous actions later in the film.
There were lots of other great inside references as well, including nods to the original G1 cartoon (the Autobots' exile, bringing Cybertron to Earth, Prime's battle axe), the comics (the Wreckers have British accents and built/pilot the Xantium), and the earlier movies (Sam drives a yellow beater with black stripes and a bee and disco ball hanging from the rear-view mirror).
Performances were very good overall. One of the best was probably Peter Cullen's Optimus Prime, who went from honest soldier to awestruck apprentice to wounded victim to angry avenger and finally war-weary veteran. His shock at Sentinel Prime's betrayal was palpable, as was his disgust at what things had come to at the end of the movie. Not a bad range when your character spends half his time as a Peterbilt. The rest of the existing characters do their usual work, and newcomer Rosie Huntington-Whiteley does a passable job as Carly. There's really not much for her to do, though they did manage to squeak through a couple of plot devices that made her more than just search-and-replace name change from Megan Fox.
Overall I think this was best of the series: it has a story and performances that were better than RotF, and had plenty of robot, car, and military action to put it above Transformers.
Collector/Modeler Interest:
"In association with Hasbro" was the second credit. 'Nuff said.
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