Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Well, I will first off say that there is no point really discussing plot and character development, because the film takes the bold approach of ignoring such things.  About halfway through the film, at the precise moment where my brain started hurting, I realized that I had to just completely abandon any hopes that the story would be any better than the previous movie, Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen.  While I had believed that Revenge of The Fallen had a convoluted story, Dark of the Moon ups the ante to astronomical proportions, and, in the interest of self-preservation, it was best that I just left such things alone.

Characters in the film are just set pieces that exist to spew out expository dialogue and dramatically shout out names of the Transformers periodically.  Sam Witwiky (Shia LaBeouf), who is supposed to be the main character who we cheer for from the previous two installments, has now evolved into an entitled jerk who somehow always seems to get super model girlfriends.  There really is next to nothing likeable about him, and for a lot of the film I was hoping he was going to get squashed by a bulking Decepticon.  I won’t spoil his fate for you, but I will say that I did not feel properly satisfied by the end.

With no plot or interesting characters, we really ended up getting what seems to be the typical Michael Bay movie, which is all about focussing on big effects and big noises.  After an excruciating time watching Revenge of The Fallen, I was pleasantly surprised to see that this film had left behind a lot of the infantile humour and tone from its predecessor and seemed to be a step towards progress.  Where my intelligence and self-respect were under attack while enduring Revenge of The Fallen, I felt free of such assaults with Dark of the Moon.

That is not to say that it was lacking obnoxious elements (such as the aforementioned Witwiky) or what seem to be visual favourites of Bay.  It begins to feel impossible that I will ever see a film of his that does not have a slow motion shot of a person getting out of a vehicle, a slow motion shot of someone staring at something with much conviction on their face, and a slow motion shot of a helicopter.  It all does begin to feel so redundant and that we are merely treading over the same ground, time and time again.

I was, however, able to find some level of entertainment in the movie.  Perhaps that was because I was able to view it as a purely visceral experience without having to grind through juvenile humour about farts and robotic testicles.  The effects in the film where brilliant, and the flow of them seemed to be cut and inserted into the movie in a more flowing form that the previous film.  What ended up happening was that I actually enjoyed myself on some level, which I am not ashamed to admit.

This is the type of movie that I could see a number of people liking for its action sequences, but as a whole, it still was just not there for me.  While so many elements were an improvement over the last film, it is still a film that is ultimately lacking in a well-rounded presentation.  It is never a good sign when I am cheering for the protagonist to be offed by any means possible, willing to accept anything from giant explosion to simple food poisoning from cross contamination due an improper kitchen cleaning regiment.  The film succeeded in not feeling like a complete waste of time, but that is never a shining endorsement.

Rating – 2 out of 4 stars