Transformers: Dark of the Moon Review

“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” -Neil Armstrong (1969)

We open Transformers: Dark of the Moon with the basis that the mission to the moon was not just because of man’s natural curiosity but was really based on an alien ship crash landing on the moon in 1961.  Dark of the Moon even uses some classic footage of JFK before switching over to an obvious imitator of one of the most famous presidents in American History.  It’s a fun look back at the motivation for the third movie in the Transformers saga which has been two years in the making and eagerly anticipated by some who felt like the second movie was slightly rushed and disappointing. We switch over to find Sam Witwicky, our human hero from the first movie, being awoken by a beautiful blonde bombshell named Carly (played by Rosie Huntington-Whitely).

Where’s Mikaela you ask?  Apparently she dumped a national hero who managed to luck out in finding Carly after receiving a medal from President Obama in the first real laugh providing moment of the movie.  There’s a reference or two in the movie to her but Huntington-Whitely does a very capable job of stepping into the lovable bombshell role left open by the Megan Fox/Michael Bay controversy.  The movie transitions from catching up with Sam to catching up with the Autobots in the film first’s real spectacular display of its 3D capabilities.   The Autobots end up taking out an illegal Nuclear camp in Iraq and we find them still working for the government with Col. Lennox (Josh Duhamel) from the first movie.  The movie starts with catchup but the plot is revealed when a Ukrainian government employee meets with an American one and we found out about a potential “Decepticon” sighting in Chernobyl.  From there it’s a fast and furious mix of great one-liners and beautiful action scenes definitely to be seen in 3D if you get the opportunity.

All of the familiar characters you’ve come to know and love from the first two movies have come back to Transformers: Dark of the Moon with the exception of Megan Fox’s Mikaela.  John Turturro is still spectacular comic relief as Special Agent Simmons,  Kevin Dunn and Julie White are back as Sam Witwicky’s crazy parents and Shia Lebeouf is once again the lovable Sam Witwicky.  While the old cast was great, I love the new additions to the cast of this movie.  John Malkovich is hilarious in his short interactions as Sam’s new boss. Patrick Dempsey is also greatly cast as Carly’s rich, handsome boss who makes Sam feel very threatened. Ken Jeong plays Jerry Wang, a former NASA scientist who knows about the Decepticon and the conspiracy.  His interactions with Witwicky are spectacular. Frances McDormand plays the National Director of Intelligence and the main liaison between the U.S. Government and the Autobots.  Alan Tudyk almost steals the show as Simmons’ right hand man, Dutch.    The casting mix in the movie is great.

The action in the movie is spectacular although my female companion did bring up the point that the action scenes went on just slightly too long.  It was as if Michael Bay had to show off what they were capable off between the stunts and the CGI involved.  A lot of the movie’s action takes place in the air and the center piece of it is the city of Chicago which is decimated by the Decepticons who also end up with Sam’s main squeeze, Carly. Sam and his cavalry including the now “retired” Epps (Tyrese Gibson) must ride to the rescue and save the city, the girl and the world from the Decepticons.   The action is spectacular, the visuals are beautiful and the explosions are plentiful enough to satisfy any action movie fan.

During the screening of the movie I was at, the crowd broke into ovations three times and that’s a sure sign of a crowd pleaser.  Transformers: Dark of the Moon runs about two hours and forty minutes so that along with the language rampant throughout the movie may make it harder for young kids to sit through the entire movie but for the teenage and older crowd, it’s a great mix of comedy and action with some romance mixed in between.  If you get a chance to see it in 3D, it’s a must see in my mind as it’s the best use of it I’ve seen so far (and yes, I saw Avatar as well.)