There are two ways a Michael Bay film can go. It can either be an entertaining, over-the-top action extravaganza that satisfies (The Rock, The Island, the original Transformers) or it becomes transcendent in becoming a complete, utterly senseless piece of garbage (Bad Boys II or the 2009 sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen). Now we have Bay’s latest, the third – and supposedly final – chapter in the Transformers saga, Dark of the Moon. Considering Bay’s track record – and the pure crappiness of the underwritten, overproduced Fallen – it could’ve easily gone either way. In the end, though, it does lean more towards the good side. Perhaps that’s because Moon addresses so much of the stuff that went wrong in Fallen. Those gangster robots that talked trash? Gone in favor of more sensible heroes. Those robot testicles? The joke’s been passed, let it go. And Megan Fox? Dismissed as “mean” and replaced by a new model. That’s not to say that everything’s been resolved, but Dark of the Moon does progress in the right direction.
The story ties in to the lunar moon landing that took place back in 1969. It turns out the astronauts weren’t just going to proclaim victory, but to also investigate a strange crash landing that had taken place years before. Not only are the Autobots involved, but also the Decepticons, and events over the course of the film lead up to a potential war between the two sides, with the Earth as the battleground. Meanwhile, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) finds himself involved once again, despite the fact he’s looking for a job and trying to entertain a new girlfriend (Rosie Huntington-Whitely), while keeping his nosy parents at bay and putting up with the ultimate “bad boss”, in an amusing )yet mildly worn-out) turn by John Malkovich. He gets involved with the Autobots once again just in time, as they’re about to butt heads with the government, and an agent named Mearing (Frances McDormand) over the issue that they didn’t get all the facts over the moon landing.
At a rough length of just over two and a half hours, Transformers: Dark of the Moon takes quite a while to get started. The opening sequence, revolving around the moon landing and narrated with majesty by Leonard Nimoy (who also voices the character Sentinel Prime, a major part of the plot), is nifty, but then we fall into the day-to-day stuff with the Autobots and Witwicky. After about an hour, though, it finally picks up, and the film culminates into one huge epic battle sequence that not only entertains, but also takes advantage of the 3-D format that’s available. (Still, if you see it in just 2-D, you’ll be equally entertained.) Credit screenwriter Ehren Kruger for acknowledging events on past films without dwelling on them – and repeating their mistakes. The story actually has some interesting twists and turns this time around, including a subplot revolving around Dylan (Patrick Dempsey), Rosey’s boss and a guy who turns out to be a bigger pain in the neck than expected. We knew there was a reason we shouldn’t trust McDreamy.
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