Transformers : Dark of the Moon Reveiw

[rating:3.5]

So the 3rd Transformers movie is out and it did not dissapoint. It was a great action sci fi flick with all those things you expect from the Transformers franchise. Sadly it has all the little things I also expected from the Transformers series.

The Negatives

Well I guess I will start with the bad stuff of the movie. Like Shia LaBeouf character Sam Witwicky and his lame life story with a woman that none of us in real life that have no money would ever get. In my opinion they should drop that side plot all together or focus much less on the hero saves the girl plot and get on to more meat and potatoes about the autobots. And while I am at it lose the complaining wining of the character all the time. It really was a turn off on what was other wise a good solid movie.

Another negative would be trying to hard to interject ghetto humor into the robots. It just seemed a little off at time like it was forced into the plot an out of place. I have to admit in some parts of the movie it was funny but in other parts it seemed to lose it’s appeal and made the scene drag. Another turn off of the plot was for some reason there is always a nitwit in charge of the Autobots as a human commander. This time it was a woman (Frances McDormand as Charlotte Mearing )
that was formally the head of the CIA. Yea I am for the bashing and making fun of the government at times because they sometimes deserve it but hitting that punchline once to often in the series is just tiresome.

The positives:

Hearing Lenord Nemoy once again play the voice of a Transformer. If you did not know this he once played the voice of Galvatron in the 1986 Animated Movie of the Transformers series. This time he played Sentinel Prime who was Optimus Prime’s predecessor who eventually turns against the Autobots for the sake of saving Cybortron their home planet. A quick game for Nimoy fans. Look for some Star Trek references. I saw two. There may have been more of them that I missed but I am certain of at least 2 of them. One was somewhere in the beginning of the movie where two little Autobots were flicking through channels and came across an old Star Trek episode in which they commented something to the effect and I do not remember the exact words ” I remember this one its when Spock loses control” Or “Turns evil” . And the other was his famous line from the Star Trek movies made famous in the Wrath of Khan ” The needs of the many out way the needs of the few”. This time he referenced the line in justifying his plan to make a slave race out of the humans.

Other pluses were the battle scenes. I thought the effects were spot on and the sequences more defined then the last two films. The film makers made the Decepticons more grayish and darker and made the Autobots more colorful. One of the major complaints coming from the last film was that you could not tell who was who and people got lost in the action sequences. The plot was stronger then the last and of course begs for another sequel.

So to sum this up . I gave this movie 3 and half stars. For those of us that love the Transformers from a young age and watched the cartoon series then you can add another 1/2 star . But all in all the movie is worth going to see for an action film. However extremely violent in some area more so then it has in the past. There are quite a few scenes when humans are killed and mutilated by Decepticons. So caution when bringing children. Other then the melodrama of Sam’s life and his on going woman problem the movie in all had some great scenes and some fantastic visual effects .

Plot from (as always ) Wikipedia

In 1961, the Ark, a Cybertronian spacecraft carrying an invention capable of ending the war between the Autobots and Decepticons, crash lands on the far side of the moon. The crash is detected on Earth by NASA, and President John F. Kennedy authorizes a mission to put a man on the moon as a cover for investigating the craft. In 1969, the crew of Apollo 11 lands on the Moon to explore the craft.

In the present, the Autobots assist the US military in preventing conflicts around the globe. During a mission to Chernobyl to investigate suspected Alien technology, Optimus Prime finds a fuel cell from the Ark, discovering it had survived its journey from Cybertron. The Autobots are attacked by Shockwave who manages to escape. After learning of the top-secret mission to the moon, the Autobots travel there to explore the Ark. There they discover a comatose Sentinel Prime – former Autobot leader – and his creation, The Pillars, a means of establishing a Space Bridge between two points to teleport matter. After returning to Earth, Optimus uses the energy of his Matrix of Leadership to revive Sentinel Prime.

Meanwhile, Sam Witwicky is frustrated that he is unable to work with the Autobots and failing to find a job. He also becomes envious of the close relationship between his new girlfriend, Carly Spencer, and her boss Dylan Gould. After finding work, Sam is provided information by his co-worker Jerry Wang about the Ark before he is assassinated by Laserbeak – a condor-like Decepticon. Sam contacts the now-retired Seymour Simmons, and together they realize thatMegatron and the Decepticons are murdering people connected to the American and Russian space missions to the Ark. They locate two surviving Russian cosmonauts who reveal satellite photos of hundreds of Pillars being stockpiled on the moon. Sam realizes that the Decepticons raided the Ark long before the Autobots mission and intentionally left Sentinel and five Pillars behind to lure the Autobots into a trap – Sentinel being key to activating the Pillars and the Decepticons lacking the means to revive him. The Autobots rush to return Sentinel to their base for protection but Sentinel betrays them and kills Ironhide, revealing he had made a deal with the Decepticons to ensure the survival of the Cybertronian race.

Sentinel uses the Pillars to transport hundreds of concealed Decepticons from the moon to Earth and Carly is captured by Gould, who is revealed to be in the Decepticons’ service. The Autobots are exiled from Earth at the demand of the Decepticons to avoid war but as their ship leaves Earth it is destroyed by Starscream, seemingly killing the Autobots. The Decepticons, led by Megatron and Sentinel, seize Chicago as their agents place Pillars around the world. Gould reveals to Carly that the Decepticons plan to transport their homeworld of Cybertron to the Milky Way to use the resources and enslaved humans of Earth to rebuild their world. Sam teams with Robert Epps to go into Chicago and save Carly, but they are nearly killed by Decepticon forces before the Autobots intervene; revealing they concealed themselves during the launch of their ship to convince the Decepticons they were destroyed.

Working together, the Autobots and human soldiers manage to rescue Carly and destroy Soundwave, Barricade, Starscream and Shockwave with Optimus using Shockwave’s arm-cannon to blast the Control Pillar, disabling the Space Bridge. Sam confronts Gould as he reactivates the Control Pillar. Sam knocks Gould into the Pillar, electrocuting him. Bumblebee and Ratchet arrive and destroy the Control Pillar, permanently disabling the Bridge and causing the partially transported Cybertron to implode. Optimus and Sentinel fight while Carly convinces Megatron that he will be replaced as leader of the Decepticons by Sentinel. Sentinel severs Optimus’s right-arm and prepares to execute him when Megatron intervenes, incapacitating Sentinel. Optimus attacks Megatron, decapitating and killing him. Sentinel pleads for his life but Optimus executes him. With the Decepticons defeated, Carly and Sam are reunited and the Autobots accept that with Cybertron gone, Earth is now their home.