Watching Transformers: Dark of the Moon is an exercise in frustration. This is a film that could have flourished into the best of the Michael Bay Transformers movies, but smothers its spark in a nonstop flurry of clumsy missteps, and the movie ends up a mishmash of parts that never gel into a coherent whole.
For G1 fans, the story itself is basically a live-action adaptation of "The Ultimate Doom" with a dollop of "City of Steel" thrown in. This could have served as an action-packed backdrop for some emotional high points, like Sentinel Prime's motivations, Sam Witwicky confronting his adrenaline-junkie issues, and some growth for Optimus Prime's and Megatron's characters.
Unfortunately, all of this potential is lost in the actual execution. There is no pacing to the film; all of the dialog and action proceeds at an unrelenting fast trot, whether it's an epic fight scene or a quiet conversation. The movie thus ends up as a nonstop barrage of quick cuts with clumsy exposition used to fill in plot points. Worse, this breakneck rush robs the movie of any emotional impact, as major moments are lost in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it rush to the next scene (Chicago goes from a bright, happy city to a smoke-filled warzone in less than 10 seconds). The overcrowded cast does no one any favors, with most characters reduced to one-note caricatures. Almost everyone ends up either as Comedic Relief Characters or LargeHams, and it's a rare sight when a normal person shows up. And for Primus' sake, don't try to make sense of the plot — there's a reason why the Headscratchers page is almost bigger than the main trope page. All of this is topped off by the two-hours-plus runtime, which makes the movie an emotional Death March to get through.
The only way to enjoy Dark of the Moon is to go into it without any critical thinking skills — just sit back and enjoy the assortment of eye candy. Anything else is just begging for disappointment.
A good premise lost in a torrent of crud
Watching Transformers: Dark of the Moon is an exercise in frustration. This is a film that could have flourished into the best of the Michael Bay Transformers movies, but smothers its spark in a nonstop flurry of clumsy missteps, and the movie ends up a mishmash of parts that never gel into a coherent whole.
For G1 fans, the story itself is basically a live-action adaptation of "The Ultimate Doom" with a dollop of "City of Steel" thrown in. This could have served as an action-packed backdrop for some emotional high points, like Sentinel Prime's motivations, Sam Witwicky confronting his adrenaline-junkie issues, and some growth for Optimus Prime's and Megatron's characters.
Unfortunately, all of this potential is lost in the actual execution. There is no pacing to the film; all of the dialog and action proceeds at an unrelenting fast trot, whether it's an epic fight scene or a quiet conversation. The movie thus ends up as a nonstop barrage of quick cuts with clumsy exposition used to fill in plot points. Worse, this breakneck rush robs the movie of any emotional impact, as major moments are lost in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it rush to the next scene (Chicago goes from a bright, happy city to a smoke-filled warzone in less than 10 seconds). The overcrowded cast does no one any favors, with most characters reduced to one-note caricatures. Almost everyone ends up either as Comedic Relief Characters or LargeHams, and it's a rare sight when a normal person shows up. And for Primus' sake, don't try to make sense of the plot — there's a reason why the Headscratchers page is almost bigger than the main trope page. All of this is topped off by the two-hours-plus runtime, which makes the movie an emotional Death March to get through.
The only way to enjoy Dark of the Moon is to go into it without any critical thinking skills — just sit back and enjoy the assortment of eye candy. Anything else is just begging for disappointment.