Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon – A Review

You know its Summer when all the major studios bring out their big blockbuster hits to the big screen for the nerdy at heart. This past long weekend, Veronica went to see Transformers 3 because, well, she’s seen the previous 2. And really, giant robots smashing each other, pure and simple, is so much fun to see.

With a runtime of two and half hours, you’d figure that there would be some sort of cohesiveness to the story and more character development but true to a Michael Bay film, this was a testosterone laden ride that was more often than not bumpy. Shia LeBeouf reprises his role as Sam Witwicky, the only human that the Autobots truly trust. Megan Fox may have made headlines by going head to head with Bay, which resulted in her not being included in the third film, but did the introduction of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as Carly Spence, Sam’s new love interest. Does she have what it takes to replace Fox?

The only positive thing about Spence was the fact that her role was downplayed, but that also meant she was excess baggage that was carted around, scene after scene. It might be speculated that the Victoria’s Secret model had problems remembering her lines so they relegated her to just screaming and squealing at opportune times. And we even got the patented Victoria’s Secret pose near the end to emphasize that Spence was just eye-candy (or eye-Carly) for the boys.

That being said, this third installment is being lauded as the best of the 3 so far. And truthfully, it had the potential to tell the tale properly, with its play on the decades old conspiracy of the real reason for the US moon landing. But somewhere along the way, in order for Bay to get his over the top explosions and to ram the age old story of good vs. evil down our throats, he lost his direction. And at the base of it all, it’s a story we’ve seen time and time again.

Surprising additions to this film were John Malkovich and Patrick Dempsey, both whom did the best they could in their limited roles. You can’t help but laugh at Malkovich’s Bruce Brazos, Sam’s new boss, as he takes over each scene he’s in. Even when he’s being bullied by Ken Jeong in the men’s room, you’re taken with him.

We also got more a more in depth look at Soundwave and Sideswipe, both of whom were just barely gleaned over in Revenge of the Fallen. And of course, we had the return of all our favorite Autobots (Bumblebee, Optimus Prime) and Decepticons (Megatron!, Starscream) alike.

This film might have been fun to see in 3D but the wait and the stupid glasses don’t make it nearly worth it and we don’t feel as though we missed anything. As far as trilogies go, this was a satisfying ending to it all. But of course with Hollywood, there’s always room for a fourth.

Images from Googe Images