Running Time: 2 hours, 37 minutes
Rating: PG-13
Director: Michael Bay
Quick Impressions:
Dark of the Moon was a lot better than Revenge of the Fallen in that it was less all-over-the-place and seemed to have a more focused and coherent story. Still, from my perspective, every Transformers movie has ended in the same way—with like an hour of mind-numbingly extreme explosions that seem to contribute nothing to the plot and somehow miraculously culminate in the demise of the villain(s) through a stroke of good luck near the end. If you like that kind of thing (as my stepson and husband do), then you’ll like this movie. As we walked out of the theater, my stepson said, “I think this was the best Transformers movie,” and my husband replied, “I agree.” I squeaked in shock, “Really?”
For my money, the first movie in the franchise remains the most coherent and enjoyable to watch, but I will agree with them that the action in this movie is better, and the 3D will enhance the viewing experience further (except for viewers who have epilepsy or a sensory processing disorder who might feel overwhelmed by the some sequences). (I’m serious about that.)
The special effects in the movie are amazing, and some of the scenes are just beautiful to behold. If you liked the previous Transformers movies, you’ll love this one. Sadly (in my opinion), Sam’s mom gets a bit less screen time this time around, but I’m sure that many people (who find her an annoying distraction cut from the same stamp as Jar Jar Binks) will appreciate that. (Personally, I think the inclusion of Sam’s mom might have improved the Star Wars prequels.)
Some Transformers mysteries: 1) How do they keep attracting such gifted actors with such a subpar script? (I’m sure the answer is money.) 2) Why is it that John Turturro’s character gets progressively less crazy as the franchise goes on? In the first film he’s nuttier than a peach orchard squirrel (as my Grandma used to say), and by the third, he’s one of the only sane people left in the world. 3.) Are Carly’s lips actually increasing in size throughout the film as they appear to be? 4.) Why was John Malkovich in the movie? And, of course, 5) How does Sam keep attracting such beautiful women when under the slightest pressure he begins to break down and act like all of the Three Stooges rolled into one?
The Negatives:
As always, the movie is over two hours long, and at least an hour of that time is devoted solely to expensive, fantastic explosions. The first half of the film introduces a number of potentially fascinating characters but chooses to develop only one or two of them. The others are dropped, wasted. The interpersonal conflicts motivating Sam all seem kind of contrived. (His dad being upset that he doesn’t have a job just three months after his graduation is ridiculous. It also seems pretty surprising that he doesn’t have some kind of involvement with the Transformers considering that they are all good friends with him and obviously need a human liaison and advocate, but the government does strange and unfair things all the time, so I guess I can believe that. His other problem is that he has a beautiful girlfriend who gives him stuff, but he wants to give her stuff. Also, he wants to do stuff that matters, but she doesn’t want him to do anything dangerous.) Not surprisingly, all of this gets resolved rather easily because most of it wasn’t really that big of a deal in the first place. But that’s a good thing because the real problem is the potential enslavement of all humankind by an invading alien race. Not surprisingly, this second issue takes up most of the screen time, so Sam’s personal growth has to be somewhat limited. There’s not time to show anything complicated.
The thing is, there would be time to show more character growth and development if some of the action were cut back (or if the characters and their problems were made central to the resolution of the crisis). Also, the movie would have more time to focus on Sam and his issues if it didn’t constantly introduce zany and intriguing new characters that it never seriously intends to tell us any more about. Of course, the zany characters make the Transformers movies worthwhile for me, so I’m not sure how to solve this problem.
Another small complaint is that the Decepticons’ scheme was far from brilliant. It depended almost entirely on luck and had many other flaws as well, but all the characters kept extolling its brilliance as if that was supposed to brainwash us into believing it was the most carefully laid plan of all time. One thing I did wonder repeatedly was why Optimus Prime is so fond of humans.
The Good and The Could Have Been Better:
I’m facing a strange dilemma here because I honestly believe the movie’s strength was the aspect of it I liked least. The 3D was well used and allowed for some spectacular effects, and by the middle of the movie, the action was non-stop and relentless. All of that kind of bored and overstimulated me at the same time. But I actually think that may be my problem since I’m not a big fan of action.
The decision to use 3D cameras to film the movie probably did improve the picture quality. Still, when James Cameron used 3D cameras to film Avatar, he created a beautiful world and invited viewers further into it through the use of 3D. The 3D visuals in that movie helped us to understand the Na’vi and their attachment to their world by making us feel a part of things. Transformers: Dark of the Moon mostly uses 3D to show cool shots of stuff blowing up and falling apart and crashing down. It’s still breathtaking, but it’s a little busy.
Still, Sam is still Sam. His parents are still wacky, and Optimus Prime still has a melodious voice and heroic sense of nobility. As always, there are tonal problems, but the craziness subsides somewhat earlier than usual in this installment, and the final act of the movie presents us with high stakes and a tone fittingly serious.
This movie is great for kids (although it’s rated PG-13), which is not to imply that only children will enjoy it, but it does offer likeable heroes and easy-to-spot villains. (You know someone intends terrible things toward humankind when his first deliberate act of evil is beating up a statue of Abraham Lincoln.) I actually thought that Dark of the Moon’s reinterpretation of the Apollo program was rather clever, and how cool that Buzz Aldrin got to appear in the movie!
Best Action Sequence:
The last hour of the movie was non-stop action, but I particularly enjoyed Sam’s rescue of Carly. Not only does Sam finally get a chance to prove that he’s a hero, but you also see people’s faces and reactions. The action seems to matter and to have immediate consequences.
That said, the movie is jam-packed with action and explosions. My eight-year-old stepson was on the edge of his seat, eyes glued to the screen the whole time. He never got bored for one instant. He loved every second of what was happening. My husband had basically the same reaction. (And I have to admit that the Decepticon snaking its way through the collapsing building did look very cool.)
Best Joke:
Sam’s mom is my favorite character in the series, but she’s got less to do in this film, though she does have some nice moments. I actually thought his dad’s reaction to Bumblebee’s new black-ops position was pretty funny. Also, the scene during the credits featuring John Turturro and Frances McDormand definitely cracked me up.
Best Scene:
Normally, I prefer character-driven scenes with abundant dialogue, but by far my favorite scene in Dark of the Moon was when they kept falling down the building. That may sound a bit vague, but anyone who sees the movie will immediately recognize the part I mean.
That particular sequence started to seem like a movie of its own. Will they ever stop falling? The falling continued for such a long time that I got lost in it. Somehow, it started to seem philosophical, like some absurdist commentary on the nature of reality. I expected French subtitles to pop up at any minute.
Watching them fall and fall and fall and fall was almost hypnotic. At one point, I became uncomfortably aware that they’d been falling for an awfully long time. Shouldn’t they stop falling soon? For a second, I felt distanced from the falling, but as the characters continued to fall and fall and fall, I felt a growing sense of satisfaction and well being. That’s right. They’re falling, and they should continue to fall. It was kind of like Sideshow Bob stepping on the rakes in the “Cape Feare” episode of The Simpsons.
And then suddenly, the falling stopped. The dialogue didn’t seem nearly as satisfying as the falling had. Man, I thought, I wish they were falling again.
And then they started falling again! It was awesome. It convinced me that Michael Bay’s next project should be The Towering Inferno 3D. I love recollecting that part of the movie at random moments, only I like to pretend that Carly had the white rabbit with her, and it started falling first. (I don’t think it really happened that way.)
Best Surprise:
I foresaw two things in the movie that surprised my stepson, but there was a big surprise as Sam entered Chicago that I hadn’t seen coming (mostly because I no longer cared). Also, before the movie, my stepson told me, “My mom said that people die in this movie. But not Sam. I was so worried until she told me Sam didn’t die.” I thought that was the sweetest thing until the moment when Bumblebee’s life was in danger, and I instinctively cringed and thought, Oh no! Not Bumblebee! Who does die? Wait and see. It’s a surprise.
Best Scene Visually:
Michael Bay has been talking up this movie for a long time, stressing the fact that he used actual 3D cameras to shoot it and urging fans to see it on the biggest screen possible in 3D. As I watched the movie, I became convinced that the director is 100 percent sincere in his conviction that his own work is amazing. I was not amazed, but I do believe that Michael Bay made the movie with love, and if you like big, dazzling explosions, then you’ll love Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
After we left the theater, my husband rhapsodized about two of his favorite scenes. One was during the opening sequence when you look through the window of the lunar lander out onto the moon. He felt that was “a brilliant use of 3D that was not cliché.” His second favorite scene was when Sam and the soldiers with him entered the decimated Chicago. I agree that both of these scenes were lovely. I also loved the shots of the elephants by the Decepticon hideout near what appeared to be Mount Kilimanjaro. And I liked the repeated shots of soldiers parachuting in 3D.
Overall, though, I felt that lots of moments in the Chicago sequence were over-stimulating visually because so many different things were happening all at once. In general, the staging shots were beautiful, but the actual action sequences were sometimes too busy and headache inducing.
The Performances:
This movie has a stellar cast. I could not believe that Frances McDormand—an enormously talented actress—was playing high ranking government official, Mearing. Of course, she played the character well, managing to make Mearing more interesting than her rather dull lines.
I was also really happy to see the always wonderful Alan Tudyk playing Dutch, perhaps the most mysterious character in the movie. We get the sense that he has such a rich, intriguing backstory, and yet we never learn it. More’s the pity.
John Malkovich is just how you would expect him to be but criminally underutilized. Patrick Dempsey was also very good as a type of character he doesn’t ordinarily play.
Ken Jeong did a lot as the conveniently named Jerry Wang, but maybe he shouldn’t have done most of it. His character had some really funny, over-the-top moments, and the actor performed well. His character’s behavior didn’t exactly seem realistic, but I guess it was realistic for a Transformer’s movie.
I’m sure people will disagree with this statement, but Josh Duhamel continues to impress with his lack of stage presence and chameleon-like ability to blend into any background, getting lost in the shuffle in every scene. He just seems to have no charisma. His character has been in all three movies, and the only thing I remember about the guy is that his daughter doesn’t fart because “she’s a lady.”
In contrast, Tyrese Gibson has tremendous charisma and makes the most of every scene he’s in as Epps.
I love Julie White as Sam’s mom, and Kevin Dunn is also good as his dad. And I thought John Turturro was fantastic this time around. Has his character edged closer toward sanity or has everyone else just gotten a lot crazier? Impossible to call.
Shia LaBeouf is always at his best as Sam, highly watchable though a bit of a kook under pressure. And Rosie Huntington-Whiteley was pretty, pleasant, and far too likeable as Carly.
In many ways, the real stars of the show are the actors voicing the Transformers, particularly Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime, who has lent his voice to so many classic cartoons. Hugo Weaving is also back as Megatron, and Leonard Nemoy lends some gravitas to Sentinel Prime.
Mikeala Vs. Carly:
Whatever really happened in the much-hyped conflict between Megan Fox and Michael Bay, and notwithstanding the fact that the former often comes off as somewhat unhinged in interviews, Fox’s claims that Bay objectifies women and treats them as sexual objects gains a large chunk of credence from the fact that he seems to have replaced her in this installment with a Stepford wife.
Don’t get me wrong, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is a beautiful girl, and Carly seems very sweet, but Mikaela Banes was a much better match for Sam. They’re very different girls. I never particularly liked Mikaela. Her personality seemed needlessly confrontational, as if the character herself shared Fox’s awareness of and objection to being thought of as a sex object by the men in her life. She always seemed angry about being objectified, yet she often used her sexuality to manipulate. Also, she had a whimsical temper—leading to some very illogical fights over awfully petty stuff—and a sordid past as the daughter of a car thief (which should be irrelevant but for some reason kept coming up over and over again).
But though imperfect and sometimes annoying, at least Mikaela had some personality and offered some resistance. If Sam pushed her, she pushed back. If Sam behaved like an irrational nitwit at times, she balanced things out by acting equally unreasonable at other times. Mikaela seemed to enjoy pretending to be trashy and sometimes seemed kind of nuts. But Sam comes from a family full of nuts, and he acts just as off-kilter himself. Plus, as the daughter of a car thief, Mikaela learned how to be a mechanic, how to fix engines and hotwire cars. She had a skill. By contrast, Carly’s skill is having a beautiful body, a pretty face, and being ever-so sweet and accommodating. In honesty, her skill is probably far more useful and lucrative than Mikaela’s, but I wish we’d gotten a hint that her cute and compliant persona was a mask worn for a purpose by a woman with real motivations, feelings, resentments, ideas…
Carly just never felt real. Of all of Sam’s friends, she has the least personality, and all his other friends are robots. To me, she also never seemed sexy. Throughout the movie, I’d watch her, unable to figure out why she felt out of place, unwilling to think anything bad about her because she seemed so nice. Don’t get me wrong. She has a gorgeous body, and the camera luridly displayed it from every possible angle, but she projected such innocence. And she always seemed to be carrying around a fluffy white bunny rabbit. To me, she seemed like a child, possibly because she was so loyal, pure-hearted, and good. (Also because in one scene near the end, she delivers a line to one of the movie’s villains and sounds exactly like Emma Watson playing a young Hermione Granger.) I understand that she’s meant to be sexy, and I also understand that she’s been in politics, that the demeanor she projects has served her very well, but I wish we’d gotten a peek behind the mask and seen a more complicated woman hiding behind the Stepford Wife façade. When Marilyn Monroe projected childlike innocence, you could tell it was contrived which made her seem unhinged and interesting. Plenty of girls exist who seem like Carly to people who aren’t looking closely. But when you look closer, you should see more. We never do.
What were the sources of conflict in her relationship with Sam? 1) He was resentful because she fed him, gave him a place to live, got him a free car, got him a job, and seemed to desire only to please him emotionally and sexually. 2) She was mad when she thought of him dying because she loved him so much. Her brother had died in combat, and she didn’t want to lose anyone else. She’s kind of like Catherine Barkley in A Farewell to Arms. Maybe after her brother died, she had a nervous breakdown that left her a shell of a woman. Maybe the last gift her brother ever gave her was a fluffy white bunny rabbit. Perhaps he said, “When you wear a sexy dress or a skimpy negligee, carry this white bunny around and think of me.” (I like to pretend this happened.)
Now that I’ve railed about Carly for so long, I should admit that she’s not actually that much of a negative. She’s quite enjoyable to watch and even pretty sympathetic. (And I’m sure that lots of people will find her sexy, especially those with an Alice in Wonderland fetish.) She’s not a very realistic character, but neither is anyone else in the movie, so really, it’s okay. (And, honestly, she does have a skill—manipulating people. We see her use it near the end of the movie. It’s just that, well…she chooses a pretty easy target. But that’s the script’s fault, not hers.)
(Irrelevant sidenote: Isn’t it odd that in a franchise directed by Michael Bay the first love interest was named Mikeala Banes?)
Overall:
If you enjoyed the previous Transformers movies, there’s no way you won’t like this one. It’s just more of the same. This time around, though, the stakes are higher than ever before, and the tone is much more serious (Deep Wang notwithstanding) than it’s ever been in the past.
Personally, the last hour or so of the movie (except for that relaxing interval where everyone was falling) made me wish I were at home doing something quiet with my two-year-old. For me, all Transformers movies stop about an hour before the end. As my eyes glaze over, a full scale battle between robots, other robots, and the U.S. military dominates the screen in a series of mind-numbing, noisy, seemingly pointless explosions. If you like that kind of action, then you’ll like Dark of the Moon. If you don’t like it, you ought to know by now. This is the third movie in the Transformers franchise.
If you’re not a fan of this type of bombastic action, then the movie really, really drags. Even if you love the action scenes, you have to admit that 2 hours and 37 minutes is too long for a movie that contains absolutely no character development. While there were several scenes I enjoyed, I would never want to sit through it in the theater a second time. My stepson, however, thought it was the best movie he’s seen this summer, and many fans will probably have a similar reaction.