Now Playing: Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)

Today I went to see Transformers: Dark of the Moon in the theater in 3D with my friend @wjhull. I feel I should give you an idea of where I'm coming from with the previous Michael Bay Transformers movies. I enjoyed the first film, but recognized shortcomings like shakey-cam and not enough robots. I came away from Revenge of the Fallen feeling undeniably disappointed. It addressed problems of the first, but in turn created all new problems like new robots that never even get any lines. There's been a ton of mixed reviews coming out on this one, and now it's my turn to give my two cents. Hit the jump for my impressions on this.


All you need to know about the story is that the Decepticons are evil, and the Autobots are good. The Decepticons are plotting to take over the world, as usual. There are new characters, both human and robot, on both the good and evil sides. Really, the concept of "good vs. evil" is all you need to know and you're all set. It's not that there is no story, the Decepticons definitely have a plan they are trying to unfold, but like a good Rambo movie, good guys vs. bad guys is really all that matters to have fun.

I don't think I need to state the obvious in that this movie looks AMAZING. The graphics and special effects, both CG and practical all look great. I often didn't know where real and fake started and ended in the scenes. In addition, I should also mention that I saw it in 3D. I thought the 3D in Green Lantern was alright, Kung Fu Panda 2 kicked its ass outta the water, and Transformers: Dark of the Moon is nearly as good, if not better since a lot of it is live action, in which it is much harder to pull off 3D. If you're willing to pay the little bit extra, you won't feel ripped off or cheated, that's for sure!

Shockwave and his snakey sidekick

One of the biggest weak points to the Transformers films have been their poor comedy. It was always juvenile and usually very slapstick. That really didn't work for me in those films, so I'm glad to say that the comedy has vastly improved here. All the stupid robots humping legs, bodily fluid jokes and giant metal balls are gone. I actually found myself laughing at many of the jokes instead of shaking my head, as I got used to doing in the second movie. There are still some oddball transformers, but it's more that they're just weird, and less "Hey look at me! I'm doing something funny! Look! LOOK!"

Carly getting out of her fancy Mercedes

This brings me to the new characters. For the most part, I really liked them. Starting with the humans, I thought Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, as Carly, made a good girlfriend thrown into one of the worst situations imaginable, and Patrick Dempsey as her boss was pretty good too. John Malkovich and Ken Jeong also make short appearances and they were just great. I just want to mention again that I actually did really like Rosie, and I'm super glad they replaced Megan Fox.

The Wreckers are 3 new Autobots that looks like NASCAR stockcars

Now on the robot side, we have Mirage, Brians, The Wreckers, Shockwave, Razorbeak, Sentinel Prime, and an Autobot that looks like Einstein, whose name I didn't catch. Other than the Autobot scientist Einstein dude, I quite liked all the new bots. In Revenge of the Fallen, one of the things I disliked the most is that they had new bots just for the sake of showing off a new car. Arcee, the triplet motorbikes, had 1 line for only 1 bike, and Jolt had zero lines and did almost nothing. In Dark of the Moon almost all the bots seem to get enough screen time and lines that it seems like they have a purpose in the film. They all take part in fights and are shown quite a lot. There just seemed to be equal time given to all the robots, new and old, which I really liked.

Overall, Transformers: Dark of the Moon seemed far more "grown up" and less "for the kiddies" than the previous 2 movies. You actually see humans get killed in a big way in this one! I'm not sure if it's because I had my expectations lowered a ton, or if I was just able to get in the right mindset, but I had an absolute BLAST watching this movie. It is by far the best film in the trilogy with no shakey-cam, much better humour, a large robot cast that isn't pointless, and balls to the wall awesome action. There were even a few moments that genuinely shocked me. I'll probably be seeing it again this weekend, and I have zero problems with that. If you liked the first Transformers movie, you'll LOVE this one!