Transformers: Dark Of The Moon

Director: Michael Bay
Writer: Ehren Kruger
Starring: Shia Labeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, John Turturro
Release Date: June 29, 2011
Length: 2 hours 14 minutes

Michael Bay returns for the third and hopefully final installment of the well-milked action series, Transformers. It’s only been two short years since the good and bad robots fought on our lovely territory, earth, but this time we’re going back to where the discovery began. Transformers: Dark Of The Moon is one out of three films this summer that suggests the plot of the film is the reason for some part of history, the other two being Captain America with World War II and X-Men: First Class with the Cuban Missile Crisis. In Dark Of The Moon, we learn that in 1961, Kennedy initiated putting a man on the moon as a cover to investigate the far side of the moon where a Cybertronian (transformer) spacecraft called The Ark had crashed. What Neil Armstrong and his crew kept secret was the Cybertronian species found on the dark side of the moon. In present day, our familiar protagonist Sam Witwicky has been trying to find a suitable job for three months and has had no luck, much to his parent’s dismay. Sam never gets to see his beloved car Bumblebee anymore since the autobots have been helping the U.S. military and he is also unfortunately without his high school girlfriend, Mikaela (Megan Fox). Calm down boys, he still has an equally hot girlfriend Carly (played by Victoria Secret’s model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley). When the wacky Bruce Brazos (John Malkovich) hires Sam onto his company, Sam is given information concerning The Ark by eccentric employee Jerry Wang (Ken Jeong), who is then quickly assassinated by decepticons. Through research done with the now rich Seymour Simmons (John Turturro), Sam finds out more about what Apollo 11 has been hiding. We learn that hundreds of transporting pillars have been stockpiled on the moon and this is how Megatron, the leader of the decepticons plans on making earth the new home of the Cybertronian race, by transporting the rest of the robots left on the moon. With the help of old friends USAF Chief Epps (Tyrese Gibson) and Lt. Colonel Lennox (Josh Duhamel), the arrogant Director of National Intelligence, Charlotte Mearing (Frances McDormand), Sam prepares for a full war as the decepticons attempt to take over the world. The first Transformers, which came out in 2007, was so much fun, and not in a cheesy guilty pleasure way. Alex Kurtsman and Robert Orci’s original script was clever, funny and served as a very good base for a film with a lot of action. The second film, Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen for most people, bombed completely with a confusing never-ending story set in too many different countries and had more than one false climax. Unfortunately, Transformers: Dark Of The Moon falls somewhere between the two. There seemed to be a rumor or surge of hope that this film was going to perfectly wrap up the series and possibly be a better film than the first. I was one who suffered in that idea and can definitely say now after watching the film that it was a vast improvement from it’s predecessor, but did not rise to the quality of the original Transformers. Each film has had three consistent components: a funny script, great actors and too much action at the climax. Orci and Kurtzman created very clever dialogue and funny characters for the first two films and Dark Of The Moon’s screenwriter, Ehren Kruger (who also co-wrote Revenge Of The Fallen) does the exact same, to the point where you wondered if the first half of the film was a comedy. The dialogue written between Sam and his parents always garners laughs while the writing for the overconfident loser Seymour Simmons is always humorous. The new characters in this film are perfectly written in with witty dialogue, without crowding the film with too many different people. However, these hilarious characters in the film might slightly be so great because of some of the greatest actors of all time like John Malkovich, Frances McDormand and John Turturro playing them. Say what you want about Michael Bay, but he knows how to pick a cast. Every film has been accompanied by an outstanding group of actors. Shia Labeouf carries Dark Of The Moon incredibly as he always does. Despite the material, Labeouf has always been able to show his remarkable acting skills and he is always by far the funniest actor in each film, proving he really shines best in comedy. When everyone heard Megan Fox was leaving the franchise, many thought, great, maybe they’ll actually hire a decent actor to replace her. Then we find out she was replaced by a Victoria’s Secret model. I was one of may too quick to judge that that was not much of an improvement, if any because Bay really lucked out on a beautiful and great actress. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley proved to be a million times more natural and charming than Megan Fox ever was in the series. Part of her natural acting made the chemistry between her and Shia Labeouf so much more interesting than his and Fox’s, which makes this film better overall. Completely believable and captivating from beginning to end, Huntington-Whiteley held her ground well as the strong female lead and I can’t wait to see her in future films. John Malkovich is crazily hysterical as Bruce Brazos while Francis McDormand is also very funny as the intelligently uncaring Director Of National Intelligence who butts heads with Labeouf’s character. Patrick Dempsey is terrific as Carly’s mysterious car collecting boss, Dylan Gould. Tyrese Gibson and Josh Duhamel were great for their short returning roles and Julie White and Kevin Dunn are as usual, extremely entertaining as Sam’s parents. Ken Jeong is also hilarious for his small role in the movie, like every role he’s in. What get’s in the way of these fabulous actors and funny script is a problem that’s appeared in all three films. Unfortunately when anyone hears Transformers, they immediately think of pure action. There is a way to have a successful action movie, without letting the actual action consume it. The first half of Transformers: Dark Of The Moon is intriguing, romantic and funny like any great movie would have been. This film had the potential to be the best Transformers film and an exceptional film on it’s own. At one point in the movie, Decepticons attack Chicago leaving it looking like a real aftermath of a terrorist attack with Labeouf at one point, stating, “Chicago is Ground Zero”. There are realistic and strong elements of the script, but it loses its entire credibility when the second half of the film – supposedly the climax - is pure action. I’m fine with car chases, or buildings blowing up or even robot fights, especially with the outstanding 3D special effects this film has. However, a fight between two robots - who seem like the main characters of the last 45 minutes of the film - that just goes on and on and on, honestly just feels like a video game I can’t turn off. If the fight was between the main protagonist and antagonist Shia Labeouf and Patrick Dempsey, I might have cared a little more. Transformers: Dark Of The Moon is not a terrible film, but a major disappointment. If you’re looking to purely just see an action movie, go right ahead but if not, you might want to think twice before spending your money.