Coming just two years after the much-maligned Revenge of the Fallen, the latest and final(?) instalment in Michael Bay's Transformers trilogy doesn't really have a lot to live up to. Accused of being everything from racist to misogynist, ROTF was the film everyone loved to hate in 2009.
Personally, I liked it. I can see why others despised it; it's big, loud, dumb. It's long, it's stupid, it is a touch racist and despite some impressive visual effects, appears hastily thrown together. Really there was only one way Michael Bay could go.
Let me just start with this - Dark of the Moon is better than ROTF. Much better. It doesn't quite have the magic of the first movie, but I think it comes fairly close.
Setting us up for a 154 minute journey is an interesting prologue about Cybertron and the real reason behind the USA/USSR Space Race throughout the late 50's and early 60's, involving spacecraft on the Moon and an intriguing premise - why did we stop going to the Moon after 1972?
Of course the story is a little deeper than this, I don't want to ruin the fun but the prologue sets up the film nicely as we come to the present day and meet our hero, Sam Witwicky. Shacked up with a new girlfriend in the shape of Rosie Huntingdon-Whitely poor Sam is having something of a crisis; he's currently jobless but a hero, having saved the world twice - so who wouldn't want to hire a hero? Plenty of people, apparently, except for John Malkovich, in a scene-stealing turn as Sam's slightly insane boss.
Other well-known faces pop up throughout the show; Frances McDormand lends some credibility to a Government role, the ever-funny Ken Jeong pops up in a manic cameo and Leonard Nimoy adds gravitas to a pivotal role.
Lessons have been learned from ROTF. The terrible attempts at 'comedy' have largely been written out. Sam's parents, excellent in first movie but almost ruining the second, have also largely been written out. The first hour and a bit lays groundwork for the finale. Not much happens, there's a lot of talk, but when something does happen...it's awesome. Less is most certainly more. A freeway chase about 50 minutes in showcases some amazing VFX and stuntwork.
Of course, there are some niggles. It is 154 minutes - 2 hours and 25 minutes of movie and 10 minutes of credits, but every penny is on the screen. I suspect a 2nd viewing won't feel quite as long as you know where you're heading.
Rosie Huntingdon-Whitely is quite obviously a last minute replacement for Megan Fox - and it shows. She can't act, unless it's pouting at a lens for underwear shoots. And rather alarmingly, her trout pout appears to get bigger as the film progresses, despite not (obviously) being smacked in the mouth at any point.
Quibbles aside, people say all sorts of mean things about Michael Bay, some of which are really not fair, though some are deserved. Let's just be clear, for all his faults, no-one directs carnage like Michael Bay. All the minor faults with this film (and probaly ROTF) pale into insignificance compared to the last third of this film where Bay carefully sets everything up for a fabulous payoff. The reward for making you sit through the first hour with very little going on is well worth it as the last hour of this film presents the most spectacular 'Bayhem'...ever.
It's an orgy of building-demolition porn and robot snuff, wherein a host of Deceptions including a massive snake/drilling machine, lay waste utterly to the city of Chicago, while the humans invade the city to destroy a planet-wasting MacGuffin and the Autobots go to town on the Decepticons to save the day. And were talking brew-fuckin-tality; no-holds-barred, no mercy, robot-on-robot smackdowns.
It's Transformers meets War of the Worlds (Spielberg's version) meets Black Hawk Down and it's pure awesomeness, fucking brilliant - a stunning denoument.
Personally, I liked it. I can see why others despised it; it's big, loud, dumb. It's long, it's stupid, it is a touch racist and despite some impressive visual effects, appears hastily thrown together. Really there was only one way Michael Bay could go.
Let me just start with this - Dark of the Moon is better than ROTF. Much better. It doesn't quite have the magic of the first movie, but I think it comes fairly close.
Setting us up for a 154 minute journey is an interesting prologue about Cybertron and the real reason behind the USA/USSR Space Race throughout the late 50's and early 60's, involving spacecraft on the Moon and an intriguing premise - why did we stop going to the Moon after 1972?
Of course the story is a little deeper than this, I don't want to ruin the fun but the prologue sets up the film nicely as we come to the present day and meet our hero, Sam Witwicky. Shacked up with a new girlfriend in the shape of Rosie Huntingdon-Whitely poor Sam is having something of a crisis; he's currently jobless but a hero, having saved the world twice - so who wouldn't want to hire a hero? Plenty of people, apparently, except for John Malkovich, in a scene-stealing turn as Sam's slightly insane boss.
Other well-known faces pop up throughout the show; Frances McDormand lends some credibility to a Government role, the ever-funny Ken Jeong pops up in a manic cameo and Leonard Nimoy adds gravitas to a pivotal role.
Lessons have been learned from ROTF. The terrible attempts at 'comedy' have largely been written out. Sam's parents, excellent in first movie but almost ruining the second, have also largely been written out. The first hour and a bit lays groundwork for the finale. Not much happens, there's a lot of talk, but when something does happen...it's awesome. Less is most certainly more. A freeway chase about 50 minutes in showcases some amazing VFX and stuntwork.
Of course, there are some niggles. It is 154 minutes - 2 hours and 25 minutes of movie and 10 minutes of credits, but every penny is on the screen. I suspect a 2nd viewing won't feel quite as long as you know where you're heading.
Rosie Huntingdon-Whitely is quite obviously a last minute replacement for Megan Fox - and it shows. She can't act, unless it's pouting at a lens for underwear shoots. And rather alarmingly, her trout pout appears to get bigger as the film progresses, despite not (obviously) being smacked in the mouth at any point.
Quibbles aside, people say all sorts of mean things about Michael Bay, some of which are really not fair, though some are deserved. Let's just be clear, for all his faults, no-one directs carnage like Michael Bay. All the minor faults with this film (and probaly ROTF) pale into insignificance compared to the last third of this film where Bay carefully sets everything up for a fabulous payoff. The reward for making you sit through the first hour with very little going on is well worth it as the last hour of this film presents the most spectacular 'Bayhem'...ever.
It's an orgy of building-demolition porn and robot snuff, wherein a host of Deceptions including a massive snake/drilling machine, lay waste utterly to the city of Chicago, while the humans invade the city to destroy a planet-wasting MacGuffin and the Autobots go to town on the Decepticons to save the day. And were talking brew-fuckin-tality; no-holds-barred, no mercy, robot-on-robot smackdowns.
It's Transformers meets War of the Worlds (Spielberg's version) meets Black Hawk Down and it's pure awesomeness, fucking brilliant - a stunning denoument.
