(Movie Review) Transformers: Dark of the Moon: A Very Explosive and Expensive Blunder

Transformers: Dark of the Moon was supposed to be a much better film than Transformers: Revenge of the fallen. But the third film did not do too much to be better.

The film still has the giant robots, the humans, the action sequences, fight scenes, booms, explosions, comic relief, a hint of romance and that’s just about it. There is nothing new added to the table that would make us excited or would want to see more.

The film links the first human landing on the moon with the arrival of the mechanical aliens. This is the main plot of the film. Then we add Sam looking for a job and looking for himself. It has a great storyline but the story is not well told. Everything gets lost in the destruction and explosions. There are some things that are missing in this instalment that were present in the first two. If these factors were incorporated in the film, it would have been a great movie experience.

The film has no focus on its characters. The movie is mainly focused on Shia LaBeouf’s character Sam, but there are times that he even gets out of everyone’s attention. The characters this time around have become forgettable. Even the Autobots are left unattended. The characters in the film have their own worlds and though they seem to make the story flowing, their performance is forgettable in the end.

The supporting cast seem to lose their roles. Josh Duhamel seems more of a grunt than last year’s commanding officer of NEST. His team also lost their humour. Unlike the previous films, even how dire and serious the fire fight is, we still get a laugh from them. Sam’s parents, though they have very minor roles seems to be just comedic relief for a short time, and it’s not at all funny. The film lost the military feel. You don’t see the elite group. You just see a group of guys running around in military gear.

The film had new human characters. But some of them were just useless and were just a waste of time. An example would be John Malkovich and his role as Sam’s boss. He only has a short screen time and his role was scary and stupid. It was a waste of John Malkovich’s talent. Not all new casts were bad portrayals.  Alan Tudyk did a great job as Dutch, Simmons’s assistant with a very secret past. He brought great fun and laughs even if his role was just small. Frances McDormand brought her A-game to the film as well as the returning Agent Simmons, John Turturro. Replacing Megan Fox is Victoria Secret’s model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. She plays Carly, Sam’s new love interest. She is gorgeous but her acting skills are not that great. Her character gets lost in some scenes and sometimes she is just eye candy. One of the villains in the film is Patrick Dempsey. His character is a little bit complicated. He can’t seem to know which side he really wants to ally himself with. At first he is mean and dark and is a loyal servant for the Decepticons. Then he doubts his decision and later becomes dark again.

For the giant robots, the new ones don’t get any real introduction. One of the main new characters persistently showed in the trailers is Shockwave. But in the film, his character never got a background. He just appeared in Chernobyl with a huge metallic worm, reappears near the end, dies and that’s it. He is sort of a random thug for Megatron, a mean looking one, but a thug none the less. Even the worm gets no introduction. You may remember Soundwave from Revenge of the Fallen. This time around, he is no longer a satellite but a new latest model for Mercedes Benz. But he is now more of a tool. Just like Shockwave, he is a grunt who follows orders even from a human. Sentinel Prime is a character who is a main part of the film. Good thing he was well developed and helps make the story flow. The rest are just merely supporting robots, even Megatron. Optimus Prime has lost his edge in this film. As I said before, there is no focus in any of the characters.

One of the main flaws of the film is that there is no true hero or villain. Each enemy is balancing each other. Megatron at times is useless and Prime is becoming less and less of a leader. Who is the true enemy, we don’t really know. No steps up and take charge. That at least could have added more to the film.

We now go to the score and cinematography. One of the good things about the film is the score. It was perfectly matched with all the destruction and mayhem. It brought a darker feel to a dark scene or event. Like any Michael Bay film, cinematography is always one of his best qualities to look for. Camera movement during every scene was well planned and calculated.

In terms of special effects, everything is well made, except for the Kennedy scenes. Something was off from the computer editing. Computer generated effects blended well with the physical effects and all those explosions. This part of the film is where the franchise really holds the viewers. You well get amazed from all the effects that you tend to forget the story of the film.

Michael Bay is known for his explosion and action sequences. But for this film, it doesn’t feel like a Michael Bay film. Something is missing in the action. Some of the scenes look dull and at times are dragging. The fight scenes in this film are short and dull. The Decepticons are easily beaten as if they were just normal robots. The main fight of the film is in downtown Chicago. It is an urban setting but the fight sequences tend to get lost in all the rubble and debris.

There is also a lesser military presence during this war. Even if we got no tanks and planes, at least there could have been more infantry action. But there were none. The mood of the final action event in Chicago started out like Battle: Los Angeles and ended more like Skyline. There really was something missing. There should have been more. The battle was a mess. Everyone is just shooting everywhere and dying and falling. There is no flow of the action that helps the story.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon for me is a huge mess. Not as huge as Revenge of the Fallen but close enough. Bay tried to focus more on the emotional side of the characters but wasn’t able to perfectly blend it with the rest of film’s qualities.

Dark of the Moon was supposed to get the franchise back from the critical failure but box office hit Revenge of the Fallen. I’m sure this one will be a box office success but it would still be a critical bomb. Dark of the Moon is a film of humans, robots, war, explosions and shouting and screaming. It had a good start but loses the story at the middle. All the rich concepts were not well balanced and some got lost as the movie was exploding. Bay is not all to blame. The script of the film is flawed as well. It had dull lines, useless scenes and rubbish dialogues.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is an effect laden film with a basic plot and no symmetry. It is a dull, loud action film from director Michael Bay. A film made for the sheer entertainment and visual eye candy but has no deep plot or story that will be remembered. I give it 6 out of 10.