Transformers: Dark of the Moon *spoilers*

[Blazemane]

I figured I'd set up another thread so we can post spoilers freely.

I just saw the movie tonight, and before I mention specifics- it was awesome. It takes time to dwell on the desperation and epic scale of the central conflict. That, combined with the great fight scenes, made it engrossing for me.

Specifics things I liked (I'm sure I won't hit them all right now. In fact, I don't think I want to try):

Ironhide and Sideswipe taking on the dreads. I mostly appreciated seeing Ironhide get to destroy them. He never really got enough time in the previous movies, and aside from his flip-over-missiles-in-slow-motion shot, I don't think he got to show his potential much either.

The silent treatment conversation. Again, I think the Transformers need more screen time- specifically where they can just interact with each other.

Sentinel Prime completely changing the implication of Spock's heroic, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". I don't mean to say I appreciate what Sentinel was doing in the movie. It's just interesting to hear how the same thing can be said by two characters and, based on context, have such a drastically different meaning. Of course the irony of this would have been nothing if Sentinel weren't voiced by Leonard Nimoy.

Show references:
Megatron sitting in the chair of the Abraham Lincoln memorial.
The Decepticons bringing Cybertron to Earth. I guess that kinda makes Dylan like Dr. Arkeville.
Optimus Prime using his axe, which is made awesome since he actually kills Megatron with it.

Don't shoot me, but I saw a parallel with Lord of the Rings when Sam sees the devastation of Chicago along with Epps and his men, and, knowing he isn't sure where he can even find Carly, he decides to head in. This is one of the moments that highlighted the near-hopelessness of the heroes' predicament in the movie- an element which, a I said, helped make the whole thing enjoyable.

Optimus Prime was already pretty aggressive in the previous movies, but his hard edged nature in this movie is still a sight to behold.
-"We kill them all."
-Executing Sentinel Prime. I think it had to be done, but it still must have taken some... is there a word for courage-in-following-dictates-of-ethics-against-other-potential-dictates-of-ethics? Stoicism? Well, a special kind of ethical courage anyways.

Here's something I'm not sure I liked, but definitely hit me- why'd Ironhide have to go? He's my favorite character in the movies. On one hand, that made it easier for me to find Sentinel Prime's action despicable (as I've read a complaint that Ironhide's death seemed weightless. So I guess that wasn't a problem for me), but on the other hand- no. Not Ironhide...

[Night-Hunter]

You have to realize that it's always the cool awesome characters that always die. Dinobot, Optimus (on several occasions), Starscream from Armada ect... I know it's irritating to see favorite characters die. It's just like how african Americans always get killed off in other movies. I've come to grips with it, but I still get p*ssed when it happends.

[Venatrix]

But Ironhide's death was.... beautiful to see.
But what disturbed me in the movie was how easily Megatron was persuaded by Carly, Sam's new "bunny" to attack Sentinel.

And what about Startscream? I always thought he would be taken out by Bumbelbee after somewhat an epic battle. But c'mon..... he's slain by Sam!
A freakin human.... The mighty Starscream.....

My favorite transformer is now Laserbeak. He rules!

I also think Shockwave might disapoint a few fans. He's not the hyper intelligent, bad-ass Decepticon general, that would possibly be a rival for Megatron.

But, i believe there is alot of stuff left to make more movies, so maybe something apocalyptic like Unicron and the Dinobots might appear in the future.

But those where the only lesser parts i can think of right now.
When I've seen it the movie a second time, i might be able to make a more accurate and detailed review. Right now I'm still floating around with my initial thought: It was cool!

[Razor One]

Watched it last night in gold class with a friend.

I'm giving it an 8 out of 10. It's a great film, but I feel it falls down in a few places.

The Good:

The film seemed to strike more towards the right balance of Humans and Transformers on screen. Still a bit too heavy on the Human side of things though.

Action sequences. If there is one thing Michael Bay knows how to do, it's action.

The Parents: They've got about 5 minutes of screentime. Enough to be entertaining, not enough to be nauseating.

Carly. Say what you will but I'm a guy and I likes me my eye candy

Shoutout. Oh so very many. Teleporting Cybertron, tossing Lincoln off his chair, attempting to turn a human city into a fortress, Shockwave's trademark monocular eyepiece... there were probably a whole lot more but I can't quite recall them right now.

Crazy Asian Guy. Full. Of. Win.

Cybertron, what we saw of it, looked absolutely badass.

Needs of the Many irony by Leonord Nimoy.

Laserbeak was excellent.

An alien invasion film that effectively realises that the only important resource Earth has is Humans. Iron? Water? Oxygen? You can find them ALL OVER the universe. They're freaking EVERYWHERE and conveniently located in areas that don't have psychotic apes armed with nuclear weapons. This alone impressed me so much that I had to add an extra point to my rating. If they'd blathered on about Earth being rich in resources and gone on to list common crap like water I'd have thrown a fit. Yes I know Sentinel claimed it was for our resources in his official address... I like to think he was thinking in terms of human resources and was using vague language to screw us over.

The Bad:

Carly. Don't get me wrong, the way she hits the eye is just lovely. Unfortunately she's devoid of character. She's pretty much just channels "Girlfriend of our hero" and that's that. She's implied to be hyper-intelligent and everything but we don't get to really see that at all in the film... we get told about it. Show, don't tell, Bay. The only time we get to see any glint of intellect is when she goads Megatron into attacking Sentinel, which will be discussed further below.

Too many characters, too few lines, no development. We see a lot of different Transformers in this. Many we haven't seen before, some we have. They all have too few lines and have very little development. I would have been happier with fewer characters and some more developed and hashed out scenes where we actually get to know them as people and not necessarily as stereotypical accents that belong to giant CGI death machines.

Sentinel Prime. What... exactly was his motivation for betraying his faction again? How exactly was Sentinel ever an Autobot with that god complex of his again? And were his logic circuits damaged? The line about the needs of the many only applies when you have many. Six billion humans versus how many transformers exactly? I can understand the line given the context that Sentinel views human lives as effectively worthless but that's impossible to reconcile with him being an autobot... which brings me around again to his motivation for betraying his faction. How did Megatron convince him to turn his coat and turn it so thoroughly that he effectively abandoned Autobot Principles 101?

Megatron. Is. An. Idiot. At the very precipice of success, at the very cusp of victory... he allows some runt of a human to convince him to do in Sentinel... BEFORE THE PLAN SUCCEEDS. Did Megatron NOT read the Textbook Guide to Villainy? You backstab your henchmen AFTER YOU'VE SUCCEEDED. NOT BEFORE. Why... WHY would he take out Sentinel and allow the good guys to do in the space bridge before Cybertron was successfully teleported? You should have done that AFTER you NUMBSKULL. Once Cybertron is safe and sound, THEN blow Sentinel away, but not BEFORE.

Humans caving to the Decpticons. Seriously. No. No way in hell. When an alien race invades and claims they only want resources and then they'll leave you alone, YOU. DO. NOT. CAVE. You fight them. You make them work to take everything they need. Why? Because if you show that you're a pushover it will only encourage them to hit you up the next time they need resources. And the time after that. And the time after that. It's like letting a bully take your lunch money on the basis that once he has it he'll leave you alone. Wrong. He'll keep coming to take your damn lunch money until you give him a black eye because he thinks you'll just cave in every time. Trust me. I know.

Optimus line to Sentinel, "No, you betray yourself," followed by his killshot. It should have gone like this, with a moderate simmering anger in Optimus voice:

"You betrayed the Autobots," **shot** "You betrayed me," **shot** "You betrayed yourself..." **pause as Sentinel realised just how far he's fallen** **killshot**

I think I've covered everything that I can recall. Don't get me wrong on the bad points, it's a great film, but it isn't perfect. There are areas I think it could have been fine tuned to make it an awesome film, maybe even epic.

It gets a 7 / 10 from me overall, with a +1 point for not using a stupid reason for an alien invasion for total of 8 / 10.

If the motivations for the villains and the characterisation overall had been done better, it would have scored 9 / 10.

If it had a sympathetic Decepticon character (ala Dinobot), it would have gotten a 10. Yes I know we had Jetfire last movie. I'm talking about a Decepticon who supports the Decepticon cause and fights for them for readily justifiable and understandable reasons here. Yes, I understand that's expecting way too much of Michael Bay.

As an aside, I didn't even notice Ironhide getting slagged. Guess I'll have to keep an eye out next time I watch it or when it comes out on DVD.

[Aesir]

Sentinel Prime. What... exactly was his motivation for betraying his faction again? How exactly was Sentinel ever an Autobot with that god complex of his again? And were his logic circuits damaged? The line about the needs of the many only applies when you have many. Six billion humans versus how many transformers exactly? I can understand the line given the context that Sentinel views human lives as effectively worthless but that's impossible to reconcile with him being an autobot... which brings me around again to his motivation for betraying his faction. How did Megatron convince him to turn his coat and turn it so thoroughly that he effectively abandoned Autobot Principles 101?

He didn't see how the Autobots could win the war due to the Decepticons being more powerful (in the past) so he and Megatron must have made a deal to work together to kill Optimus and his "rebel Autobots" and rebuild Cybertron.
And the needs of the many verses the needs of the few thing was referring to Optimus and his team as the few, since Sentinel and the Decepticons (and presumably some of the off screen Autobots) want to use Earth for it's human resources to rebuild Cybertron, but Optimus etc want to just start over on Earth.
I don't think the humans even register on Sentinel's radar in the slightest honestly

[Beastbot]

Random thoughts:

I loved it, except for perhaps 10 minutes or so of awkward comedy. One of the few movies that uses 3D effectively, and the last 2/3rds were pure awesomeness. I love Optimus' ruthlessness-- these Decepticons are mass murderers. You don't leave them alone because they threaten a snow tiger (sorry, I HATED those bits in Beast Wars). You kill them dead, and you do it now. (And this is coming from a Decepticon fan.)

Shockwave was probably my biggest disappointment with the film. Perhaps the prelude comics had built him up to much, but I was expecting him to be like his G1 version but more bloodthirsty, plus he was my favorite G1 character so I was looking forward to seeing that translated to the big screen. And to at LEAST kill 1 Autobot, if not more before he went down. Instead he stood around, looking menacing, and only said one line in English ("Optimus"), and got killed roughly as easily as any other Decepticon. His drill monster was way more awesome than he was.

Action scenes were incredible-- that particular bit where they jump out of the window of the slanted building, slide down it for a while, and then blast the windows ahead of them to fall back into another floor was simply ingenious.

Laserbeak is creepy as HELL. Loved him-- except for his ability to transform into utterly anything in an entirely unconvincing manner, but that was small beans frankly.

Barricade was back, YEAH!

Loved the Sentinel Prime betrayal-- really nice character, even if he killed my favorite movie Autobot (Ironhide), but at least that gave his betrayal a lot more oomph. Wheelie and Brains were also great. Wreckers were fun as background characters.

Paramount pulling their weight and calling Mirage "Dino" and Wheeljack "Q" ticked me off, especially since those two suck as Transformer names. Also would've liked a tad more screentime for Wheeljack, though I understand you need a buncha new characters each movie for the toyline and it's expensive to keep them onscreen.

Also didn't like the complete ignoring of Skids and Mudflap. I liked 'em because few things are inherently funnier to me than people acting "gangsta", but I understand a lot of people didn't. But just because you don't like something doesn't mean you ignore it. At least have them in the background in a few scenes or something, especially since we saw in leaked pictures their cars were already done up. Still, those same two voice actors also got to voice the back-and-forth duo of Wheelie and Brains.

Best quote of the film?
Megatron: "After all, who would you be without me?"
Optimus: *faceplate down, assumes battle-ready stance* "Let's find out."

Now for a few responses:

Crazy Asian Guy. Full. Of. Win.

Really? What did you think was so great about him? I'm honestly curious. To me he was easily the low point of the film. To me he wasn't just funny, just supremely weird and made me uncomfortable, since it seemed to be a brief return to some of the worst of the RotF over-the-top comedy.
On a side note, I also found John Malkovich's character to be of a similar vein, especially his last scene with Bumblebee.

Carly. Don't get me wrong, the way she hits the eye is just lovely. Unfortunately she's devoid of character. She's pretty much just channels "Girlfriend of our hero" and that's that. She's implied to be hyper-intelligent and everything but we don't get to really see that at all in the film... we get told about it. Show, don't tell, Bay. The only time we get to see any glint of intellect is when she goads Megatron into attacking Sentinel, which will be discussed further below.

I thought she had far more character than Mikaela, and a far more positive contribution to the movie. The stuff about her brother, her reactions to Sam's various eccentricities... all great. Plus I think although she needs some work here and there, her acting was much better than Fox's. Ignoring Bay's standard couple of gratuitous shots, I thought she brought a lot more dignity to the role.

Megatron. Is. An. Idiot. At the very precipice of success, at the very cusp of victory... he allows some runt of a human to convince him to do in Sentinel... BEFORE THE PLAN SUCCEEDS. Did Megatron NOT read the Textbook Guide to Villainy? You backstab your henchmen AFTER YOU'VE SUCCEEDED. NOT BEFORE. Why... WHY would he take out Sentinel and allow the good guys to do in the space bridge before Cybertron was successfully teleported? You should have done that AFTER you NUMBSKULL. Once Cybertron is safe and sound, THEN blow Sentinel away, but not BEFORE.

I'll agree with you here, but I think that was intentional. I think they tried to make it obvious-- what with the run-down vehicle mode, the scraplets feeding off his body, his cloak-- that Megatron's headshot in RotF really set him back. He seemed more like a ranting old guy with memory loss in this movie, and I'm pretty sure that was intentional. Particularly when he's just staring off into space with an empty look on his face, slumped against a building before Carly comes up to him. And later he goes down easily compared to the substantial fight he put up in movies 1 and 2. So the illogical behavior to me was in line with his portrayal this movie-- after all, he's missing a portion of his processor!

Humans caving to the Decpticons. Seriously. No. No way in hell. When an alien race invades and claims they only want resources and then they'll leave you alone, YOU. DO. NOT. CAVE. You fight them.

Logically yes, but really? People, governments, leaders, cave into thugs you know will bite them in the butt later ALL. THE. TIME. (Iran, anyone?) This was an incredibly easy plot point for me to believe.

[JazZeke]

I saw it with Alak today and it was definitely worth the slightly more expensive movie ticket and the theater he likes to go to!

THE SPOILER-FREE PART

Well, I enjoyed it, for the most part. I think it was the best of the three, even. It really healed up some of the problems I had with the last movie, like with Sam. He matured as a character and my hatred for him has subsided. His parents were also less of a nuisance, and Judy's antics were actually funny this time.

I for one actually liked Wheelie and him showing up again was a pleasant surprise. He's funny as a foul-mouthed but ultimately harmless little twerp. I might actually use the word "cute" to describe him if I were inebriated. I expected them to just ignore him like they did with Barricade - and speaking of Barricade, he showed up again. That dude gets around.

Shockwave was a disappointment. Foolish me, I expected him to actually be a big deal in the movie, or at least have more than one line of dialogue. Instead, he just stands around and looks menacing, occasionally growling. Just like the Cons in the first movie. What a waste.

Laserbeak was pure win. Loved him, absolutely loved him. He was possibly the most badass Decepticon in the entire trilogy.

When I think about it, the Decepticons actually got more screen time than the Autobots in this film... or at least more positive screentime. The Autobots' scenes usually revolved around the humans and they hardly did anything. Without any humans to bog them down, the Cons actually get chances to shine.

Carly wasn't so bad. She has no personality, but I'm just relieved that they spared us another trite "falling in love story" and jumped right to her and Sam living in sin.

With no explanation, Seymor Simmons is now a millionaire - but it's worth it to introduce his mysterious assistant Dutch, played by Alan Tudyk. I loves me some Alan Tudyk, and anyone who sees this will too.

Optimus had the "Great Matrix of Leadership" which he initially uses to revive Sentinel. That was a nice touch, good use of continuity and source material. In fact, this movie had a few nice shout-outs, like the Wreckers' ship being called the Xantium like in the IDW comics.


THE PART WITH SPOILERS

Why do all my favorite Autobots always die!? First Jazz, then Ironhide. Balls. Balls, I say!

But it was definitely a dramatic, worthy death for Ironhide. Killed by none other than a turncoat Sentinel Prime... I did not see that twist coming. That's right, Sentinel's a jerky jerk in this incarnation too. And since he was voiced by ol' Spock, I absolutely loved how they took that famous "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" line from Wrath of Khan and absolutely perverted it. Nice touch there.

Of course, then the movie turned into a plot recycling of the Sunbow G1 episodes "Megatron's Master Plan" and "The Ultimate Doom." Shame to see less originality there.

I didn't like seeing so many iconic characters die. Megatron, Starscream... Bay didn't really leave an opening for a sequel. Selfish jerk. Guess they're going to have to reboot after all.

Megatron was really infuriating in this. So one human manages to manipulate his ego into betraying Sentinel. That's cliche enough as it is. When he attacks Sentinel just as he's about to slay Optimus Prime for him, that's epic levels of stupid. What, did they bring Mike Costa in to write that part?

And geez, if people thought Optimus was violent before... he goes downright cold-blooded psychotic in this. Even his apologists cannot defend killing defeated enemies in cold blood, even when they're pleading for a truce. And he kills in cold blood not once, but twice. People want to see Optimus Prime being more pragmatic and less stupid paladin-y, but that's way too extreme.

Guess I'll have to spring for the 3D next time around. It will definitely be worth it.

And I definitely want to read Peter David's novel adaptation. David is one of my favorite pop authors and I have long wished to see how he would handle the Transformers.

[Razor One]

Crazy Asian Guy. Full. Of. Win.

Really? What did you think was so great about him? I'm honestly curious. To me he was easily the low point of the film. To me he wasn't just funny, just supremely weird and made me uncomfortable, since it seemed to be a brief return to some of the worst of the RotF over-the-top comedy.
On a side note, I also found John Malkovich's character to be of a similar vein, especially his last scene with Bumblebee.

Comic relief. The low brow humour he was exuding wasn't all that bad considering the amount and calibre of low brow humour my friend and I were sharing prior to the film, during the previews and the odd snark during the film. The upside was that there was just enough to be humorous here and not enough to be nauseating as it was in RotF.

Carly. Don't get me wrong, the way she hits the eye is just lovely. Unfortunately she's devoid of character. She's pretty much just channels "Girlfriend of our hero" and that's that. She's implied to be hyper-intelligent and everything but we don't get to really see that at all in the film... we get told about it. Show, don't tell, Bay. The only time we get to see any glint of intellect is when she goads Megatron into attacking Sentinel, which will be discussed further below.

I thought she had far more character than Mikaela, and a far more positive contribution to the movie. The stuff about her brother, her reactions to Sam's various eccentricities... all great. Plus I think although she needs some work here and there, her acting was much better than Fox's. Ignoring Bay's standard couple of gratuitous shots, I thought she brought a lot more dignity to the role.

Oh in there I'm completely agreed. She definitely is lightyears ahead of Meagan Fox. My beef is that her role is the girlfriend of the hero. It would have been nice to see her firmly step into the role of a hero alongside Sam rather than acting as a threshold guardian. Part of the reason I liked Cartoon Carly is that she wasn't an idle character for Spike to smooch up to. She did stuff and affected the outcome. I acknowledge her goading of Megatron but it didn't feel like it was enough to me.

Again, don't get me wrong. Definitely better than Meagan Fox... I just felt she needed to do more.

Megatron. Is. An. Idiot. At the very precipice of success, at the very cusp of victory... he allows some runt of a human to convince him to do in Sentinel... BEFORE THE PLAN SUCCEEDS. Did Megatron NOT read the Textbook Guide to Villainy? You backstab your henchmen AFTER YOU'VE SUCCEEDED. NOT BEFORE. Why... WHY would he take out Sentinel and allow the good guys to do in the space bridge before Cybertron was successfully teleported? You should have done that AFTER you NUMBSKULL. Once Cybertron is safe and sound, THEN blow Sentinel away, but not BEFORE.

I'll agree with you here, but I think that was intentional. I think they tried to make it obvious-- what with the run-down vehicle mode, the scraplets feeding off his body, his cloak-- that Megatron's headshot in RotF really set him back. He seemed more like a ranting old guy with memory loss in this movie, and I'm pretty sure that was intentional. Particularly when he's just staring off into space with an empty look on his face, slumped against a building before Carly comes up to him. And later he goes down easily compared to the substantial fight he put up in movies 1 and 2. So the illogical behavior to me was in line with his portrayal this movie-- after all, he's missing a portion of his processor!

I see where you're coming from. Still doesn't assuage my rage. Still, Hollywood writing being what it is, I should be glad that it was entertaining at the very least.

Humans caving to the Decpticons. Seriously. No. No way in hell. When an alien race invades and claims they only want resources and then they'll leave you alone, YOU. DO. NOT. CAVE. You fight them.

Logically yes, but really? People, governments, leaders, cave into thugs you know will bite them in the butt later ALL. THE. TIME. (Iran, anyone?) This was an incredibly easy plot point for me to believe.

When the invasion is on home soil, any government that immediately caves in to the aggressor will find themselves replaced by a more militant internal faction. Even Iraq fought back against invasion knowing full well they'd lose (except the Information Minister). Against the Decepticons there is a chance for victory... a bloody, costly victory, but a chance nonetheless. If you know for a fact that the aliens are going to teleport their home base into your solar system and a ground resistance can stop that from happening, you throw everything you have at them to stop it.

And that includes nuking the city. Yes I know it'd never happen in the movie-verse but the consequences of nuking one city already ravaged by the Decepticons is small fry compared to the consequences of an entire planet getting teleported into the Solar System, screwing up Earth's orbit, allowing the Decepticons potentially limitless reinforcements, slavery for all humans and a ravaged world after they're done... and that's assuming they leave at all once they've rebuilt.

The humans knew the consequences of caving in to the decepticons and caved anyway. That's not your average political convenience, that's abject cowardice.

That being said, most of these points are fairly minor. It didn't detract too significantly from my enjoyment of the film, hence the high score I give it

Oh, and I forgot about Dutch. I loved that guy. You think he's the effete Majordomo that will fall to pieces the moment things start getting heavy and he pulls out ball bearings the size of Mercury instead. Made of epic win.

[Darth Knuckles]

I'm sorry to do this but I didn't really like the movie all that much. I'm not here to tear the movie apart or start a war of words or anything but I'll give my opinions on the movie. I heard reviews that said it was better than Revenge of the Fallen but I'm not sure about that myself. At least Revenge of the Fallen had the forest battle scene.

Things I liked:

The movie begins alright. Seeing Cybertron was cool I guess but then again it just reminded me of the opening of Revenge of the Sith and parts of the end of Return of the Jedi. I enjoyed Ironhide and Sideswipe really fighting and talking together on how to defeat the Decepticons as they were trying to protect Sentinel Prime. I liked the sudden betrayal of Sentinel Prime and killing Ironhide was cruel and quick. I thought that was well done and surprising. I didn't mind Carly so I guess that's a positive. I liked the backwards meaning to the line "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few". I thought that was very well done on a few levels. I liked seeing Buzz Aldrin in the movie. I also liked the history part of the movie like they have done pretty well in the whole series. Especially the moon landing being ultimately for The Ark and all of the people involved strangely all dieing. It reminded me of how that same kind of thing happened after Kennedy got shot. I liked Optimus' trailer being added. Actors/characteres I liked were John Turturro, Alan Tudyk, Kevin Dunn and Julie White.

Things I didn't like:

I definitely disliked the way they represented Shockwave. He was in all of the trailers and movie posters showing a villain and he was nothing more than another Decepticon! Even after the very beginning showing Optimus having knowledge of his name, like he would be a threat. Shockwave and his "burrowing companion" reminded me so much of Demolisher, Devastator, and The Fallen from Revenge of the Fallen. They have so much time in the trailers and they all die in both of their movies so easily and in mere minutes of screen time it seems. It seems like a total waste of time and effort. I also assumed, wrongly I guess, that the great matrix of leadership had been destroyed when Optimus destroyed the Sun Harvester. Laserbeak was okay until he turned into a pink Bumblebee looking thing that didn't make sense. I know why they did it but he shouldn't have been able to transform that way. Am I also the only one that still doesn't get why Bumblebee's voice box hasn't been fixed yet? He even starts this movie out with Ratchet so he has had time, in four years mind you, to fix it! I know it's for the movie but it still doesn't make sense.

Was I the only one that seemed surprised to have Optimus' explaination of why they wanted the humans to think they had died was so the humans could see how much they actually needed the Autobots there? In other words: a lot of humans needed to be sacrificed to let the humans know they needed the Autobots to help them rather than leave. Doesn't that seem heartless on Optimus' part? I know they were pretty much forced to leave but they still allowed Chicago to start being destroyed at the same time. I didn't think that made sense or was very Autobot-like. I also thought it was weird to have the Decepticons want to keep humans alive, even if they were to be human slaves. Maybe that's because Sentinel Prime wanted to do that because in the previous two movies Megatron wanted to annihilate every human in sight, I thought.

Starscream was again totally under used and died in just a silly way to me. What I take away from Starscream is that I expected him to lead on screen at some time in three movies. He didn't. Then he died. I'm sorry but he could have been used a lot better. Megatron......oh boy. He's supposed to be a great villain right? For me, he was the main reason I wanted to see this third movie. I wanted to see his big comeback plan. It seems it was just a plan he had already had from fighting on Cybertron years ago that came to fruition. And correct me if I'm wrong because I don't know for sure, but wasn't there at least four years between Revenge of the Fallen and Dark of the Moon? You're telling me in four years The Doctor or anyone couldn't have fixed up the Decepticon leader's head? And after Sentinel Prime rips a part of his head off the great Decepticon leader goes to the bottom of the building and sits down? Really? But hey all it takes was Carly to remind him he was going to lose his leader status and he decides to do something about it. That just looks silly. I mean Cheetor never went up to our Megatron and said "Hey give me the Golden Disks, make yourself a bath, and lock yourself in the bathroom" and have Megatron do that did we? I guess Megatron didn't kill Sentinel Prime because he still needed him to get Cybertron fully in Earth's atmosphere but I would have liked to have seen Megatron kill someone of importance. And then we get to the long awaited Optimus Prime vs. Megatron fight and it lasts what two seconds? (insert a little sarcasm here ) That was a waste to me again. I also didn't like Megatron dieing either.

Also didn't the original Prime's tell Sam in Revenge of the Fallen that Optimus was the last Prime left? Sentinel Prime anyone? Plus in this one there wasn't a new "Beast Wars" robot to be seen like in the previous movies. I was a little disappointed in that too. I think that that may be due to the fact that Orci and Kurtzman didn't write this though. I also think that Bay ultimately says at the end of the day: "We'll make the Decepticon's look cool, but Optimus and Bumblebee will always beat the crap out of everybody and win." There are Decepticons in this movie as well as other Autobots! Actors I didn't like in this movie: Ken Jeong and John Malkovich's characters were both just too over the top for me. It's also just quaint that Jerry's character is a huge moon buff who just finds himself next to Sam, whom he recognizes, and tells him all about the doom that's looming at the perfect time. Really? I also just didn't like Patrick Dempsey's acting that much.

Having said all of this, I am in no way a Transformers fan. I love Beast Wars and watched these movies because of the importance that Transformers, obviously, had on Beast Wars. I really liked the first movie and thought it was a good movie even if you knew nothing about Transformers. I just simply haven't liked the last two nearly as much as I did the first one. I'd give this movie a 5/10 really. I didn't think it was possible, but I think I prefer Revenge of the Fallen to this movie, sadly.

Wow I didn't realize how long this would be and I obviously have many more negative things to say than positive things. I didn't write this in a mad stupor or anything. I really just didn't like or didn't understand a lot of this movie. If you'd like to change my mind about the movie or some of my points I'm willing to let you change my mind on them. I thought this movie would be better than it was though.

[Alak]

I suppose it's no secret here that I walked into this movie with uber low expectations. After what happened in the second movie, I really thought Michael Bay was losing it after the first and that the final installment would be him making a 3rd movie simply because Paramount executives were telling him to. I already knew Shockwave was going to fail to live up to the hype that was given to him. I already knew that there would be raunchy comedy and gratuitous shots of women. I didn't really expect anything at all but since I saw the first two, I might as well go see the third movie... and JazZeke invited me. Basically, this was all I wanted to see:

- A stronger, more intelligent military showing from Autobots, Decepticons, and humans.
- Robot violence.
- Mind-blowing CGI.
- A good finality that will end this trilogy with no possible sequel that will lead to Paramount milking the Bayverse like the cash cow it is.

I'll have to say that all of the above was provided (except Autobots still lacked military strategy). Not only that, but we're actually given a lot of pleasant surprises.

What I Liked

- We're given a protagonist who finds out what it's like to live in the real world. Robot adventures, presidential medals, and saving the world won't pay the bills. Jobs pay bills, and sure enough it's difficult to find a job in the real world even if you've graduated from Princeton. You have to have connections in order to make it big, and Bay showed this by having Patrick Dempsey be Sam's secret referral that finally lands him a job. Even after getting a job for a lucrative company, Sam doesn't take long to realize that he's just a paper pusher. Even though his salary isn't minimum wage, he's still not making enough to satisfy his ego. This was also illustrated well everytime we see Sam and Carly arguing over Dylan. Even though Sam was involved in the fight that saved the world for a 3rd time, it becomes apparent from the beginning that he's still going back to that same job at the end of the day.

- I didn't hate Mikaela like most viewers did, but I didn't like her either. Carly, on the other hand, impressed me in this movie. Maybe it's because I had zero expectations of some random Victoria's Secret model turning into an actress. I liked how she foiled Sam's life from beginning to end. She's the rich girl who doesn't mind sharing her wealth with her boyfriend, even though his pride is killing him every time she helps him out. Carly was also incredibly realistic when she was shown to be the type of person who enjoyed hearing stories of adventure, but abhorred it when it arrived at her doorstep. The re-introduction of the Autobots into Sam's life almost broke their relationship and Simmons was right in saying that a path of a warrior is a lonely one. I won't argue over whether Carly or Mikaela is more useful because they both had their roles in the war. I will say that I liked Huntington-Whiteley's performance more than Fox's.

- Strategy. So much strategy that blew my mind because the first two movies blew when it came to military potential. When the Decepticons held down-town Chicago, I was thinking the entire time, "Uh... where's the U.S. military response?". Then, Bay revealed that every military aircraft was shot down by ships creating a perimeter around the city. Looks like Decepticons know how to play defense. The fact that they alternated waves of fighter patrols to give rest to their pilots was a nice touch. The human reaction to this was impressive, as well. Even though they knew their aircraft would be destroyed, they still succeeded in landing a task force via wingsuit (it helps that Chicago is a windy city). Realizing that fighters can't compete with Decepticon ships, the Navy used tomahawk missiles to siege their enemies from afar with the assist of laser guidance from the wingsuit task force. I loved how the Autobots helped the American army practice against them and learn how to be productive in fights against Decepticons. Shockwave and his crew were a nuisance to the Autobots, but humans succeeded in tearing through his group.

- Sentinel Prime's betrayal. I definitely did not see this coming, and I just assumed that the Decepticons would somehow capture him and this would turn into a hostage recovery film. The fact that he killed Ironhide made that scene so much better. I'm not saying that because I don't like Ironhide. I just think killing off a highly significant character makes the act of treason all the more emotionally impacting. His arrogance falls in line with the War for Cybertron and TF Prime continuity where every Prime before Optimus was stricken with pride and arrogance. Zeta Prime in the game was an example that not all Autobots are righteous figures, and I'm glad that Bay portrayed Sentinel Prime in a similar manner. The guy wanted to be part of the winning faction, but he also wanted to stay in charge. Dark of the Moon did a great job at portraying both intentions.

- I liked the G1 references, although I wished people would have said something about the catastrophic effects of having a large satellite being in Earth's orbit. If the cartoon can do it, then a live-action movie can do it. The exploding shuttle was also a reference to the "What If?" Titan comics regarding the Bayverse in which the story explores what would happen if Sam died in Mission City and Mikaela became the hero. Autobots were ordered off American soil and as soon as their ship left, a missile destroyed the craft and everyone believed the Autobots were dead. Of course, they faked their deaths so when the shuttle was destroyed in Dark of the Moon I knew that they were never on it in the first place. It was still a nice allusion, though.

- Decepticons using humans via corruption or coercion was very neat. Let's face it, we're given only two factions on Bayverse Cybertron, but on Earth there's hundreds and thousands of groups who have conflicting ideologies. It was only natural for some humans such as Dylan to voluntarily side with Megatron. He reminded me of Sentinel Prime. An individual who only seeks to survive by standing by those who win. The coercion process was cool because it touched on humanity's behavior during times of fear.

- CGI was good and that's no surprise seeing how the first two looked amazing. The action scenes were spectacular because they actually portrayed collateral damage. No bystander was killed in Mission City; only faceless drivers. I liked how Michael Bay did the deaths tastefully, though. The vanishing bodies reminded me of War of the Worlds where people disappeared in a poof, but in a shocking and violent sort of poof. It brings a new level of gravity to the invasion.

- "I'm so sorry... that was the old me!" Alan Tudyk did a great job and even though his appearance seemed a bit unnecessary, I welcomed it with laughter.

- Relating Cybertron's history with Earth's history is also welcomed. I liked going "behind the scenes" of historical events such as the Apollo mission. Things like that are really cool.

- No Leo. Parents weren't as annoying this time. No humping robots. Starscream died a pathetic death which is very deserving considering he's as useless as his G1 cartoon counterpart.


What I Didn't Like

- Agent Simmons was useless. He actually did something in the previous film. Now he's only there for unwanted comic relief. John Turturro is a good actor and his talent was wasted.

- Ken Jeong is a good actor, but I think his commercials with Derrick Rose and Dwight Howard had too much of an influence in this movie. I think this particular image also made its way into the movie:



Pulling duel pistols on Lazerbeak? You forgot, bro, your guns ain't gold in this movie. That means you die!

- Optimus was bit too willing to kill...

Optimus Prime was already pretty aggressive in the previous movies, but his hard edged nature in this movie is still a sight to behold.
-"We kill them all."
-Executing Sentinel Prime. I think it had to be done, but it still must have taken some... is there a word for courage-in-following-dictates-of-ethics-against-other-potential-dictates-of-ethics? Stoicism? Well, a special kind of ethical courage anyways.

This. He seemed like the tired general who has given up on peaceful resolutions and that killing is what he has resorted to. Not exactly Optimus-like in my opinion.

- The ending where Carly and Sam finally say "I love you" to each other is pretty much a remake of Revenge of the Fallen's ending. It took a war between Earth and Cybertron to get the two to say the "L" word. Even the whole kiss and slow motion hugging was a quick repeat of the second movie. It was cheesy and I didn't like it.

- Megatron should have plotted against Sentinel Prime on his own rather than have a human girl convince him. I understand that he died at the hands of Sam, had to serve under the Fallen, and got worked by Optimus Prime. Still, this guy's pride should not affect his intelligence. Sentinel Prime kicked him around like a punk and Megatron just took it. It's like he switched roles with Optimus from the first movie. Furthermore, I do get why he saved Optimus instead of taking the smarter route and letting Sentinel finish the job for him. If you have an arch enemy, it is only fitting that you finish him off yourself and not let someone else steal the glory. On the other hand, Megatron was stupid not to attack Optimus while he was down. Asking Prime for a truce after he just jacked up half your infantry, Shockwave, and was willing to fight Sentinel Prime to the death? That was just poor expectations on his part.

- So... much... lens flare. I was telling JazZeke about this while driving him home. Lens flare is awesome, but it's usage in the hands of Michael Bay is getting outrageous. Try watching the movie and count how many lens flares you see. I tried, and I lost count after the first fight scene. Only J.J. Abrams rivals Bay in this area of lens flare overdose. I'm sure no one else cares, but I'm a graphic designer so things like this stand out to me.

- Jets getting shot down is understandable. Jets flying at low altitudes and getting shot down is stupid. Epps himself said that F-22s don't fly lower than building levels. This was immediately contradicted in the first movie and it's contradicted again in this film. Military aircraft would attempt to bomb the target from above where the enemy will be more focused on the deployed payload as opposed to the pilot. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure jets flying at higher altitudes would get shot down by the Decepticon wall of defense. I just wish they showed that instead of ones flying at unrealistic planes.

- Despite having low expectations for the character, I still could not help but feel disappointed in Shockwave. He was listed as the primary antagonist when early reports came out so I at least thought we'd be dealing with a Shockwave who would... I dunno... talk? Plan? Give orders to those other than tentacle monsters?


There's more things to list of what I like and don't like. I'm tired, though, so I'll just end it here. I give this movie a:

6.5/10

I enjoyed it and it was a pleasant surprise that surpassed my expectations. I'm going to watch it again with some other friends tomorrow night and this time I'll be going to a 3D screening. Maybe I'll notice some things I haven't before and maybe I'll forgive some annoyances at the same time. I'll let you guys know.

[JazZeke]

- So... much... lens flare. I was telling JazZeke about this while driving him home. Lens flare is awesome, but it's usage in the hands of Michael Bay is getting outrageous. Try watching the movie and count how many lens flares you see. I tried, and I lost count after the first fight scene. Only J.J. Abrams rivals Bay in this area of lens flare overdose. I'm sure no one else cares, but I'm a graphic designer so things like this stand out to me.

That reminds me, here's that article I was telling you about - http://www.cracked.com/article_18664_5- ... -same.html

[Beastbot]

I - I liked the G1 references, although I wished people would have said something about the catastrophic effects of having a large satellite being in Earth's orbit. If the cartoon can do it, then a live-action movie can do it.

I at first thought about that, until the space bridge stopped working and Cybertron essentially disappeared, instead of the part that we saw "come through" just staying there. That, to me, said that it was in the process of going through the space bridge and hadn't fully materialized in our solar system, hence no gravitational effects yet.

- Optimus was bit too willing to kill...

Optimus Prime was already pretty aggressive in the previous movies, but his hard edged nature in this movie is still a sight to behold.
-"We kill them all."
-Executing Sentinel Prime. I think it had to be done, but it still must have taken some... is there a word for courage-in-following-dictates-of-ethics-against-other-potential-dictates-of-ethics? Stoicism? Well, a special kind of ethical courage anyways.

This. He seemed like the tired general who has given up on peaceful resolutions and that killing is what he has resorted to. Not exactly Optimus-like in my opinion.

This is something I will never understand. This is exactly Optimus when he doesn't have to play by kid cartoon/comic rules! (BTW, Peter Cullen has said that he based Optimus' tone and voice off of his Vietnam vet brother-- who was basically a "tired general.) In the cartoons/comics, they always have to let the bad guy go/imprison him/not completely kill him because the bad guy(s) have to come back and the series has to go on-- thereby a tacit admission that this strategy does not work. You find the mass murderers, you kill 'em dead. Simple as that. In an age where far too many of us treat our enemies with kid gloves, it is so incredibly refreshing to have a leader (even a fictitious one) who unapologetically kills the enemy and hasn't been turned into a wuss (I'm looking at you, Superman).

Also, Transformers are not humans. As Lennox said in the first movie, "These things just don't die". You can't shoot 'em in the head and be done with it (Megatron!). Especially when they're a top-tier TF that other TFs will want to bring back to life. You want a TF like Megs dead, you have to rip 'em apart, make sure there's nothing left intact for their subordinates TO salvage. I mean, I'm pretty sure we all knew Megatron would be back after the end of TF1, but it'll take a REALLY hackneyed explanation for how Megatron could survive THIS. (Which is why I hope if TF4 happens, there's either a new villain or it's a prequel or something.) Notice the regular ol' footsoldiers merely got pulled part or cut in half, while the top-tier Decepticons are the ones that get utterly eviscerated. Also note that Optimus merely blew Sentinel's head off instead of utterly destroying him-- perhaps a tribute to the 'bot Sentinel once was.

I mean, really. I can understand a lot of complaints against the TF Movies, but Optimus & Co. being too violent is one of the silliest.

[JazZeke]

Megatron was in the process of asking for a ceasefire, though (or at least as close as Megatron can get to it). Optimus flat-out denied him mercy and cut him down. The rational thing to do would be to negotiate terms for surrender, first and foremost ordering the Decepticons in Chicago to stand down and surrender. By killing Megatron, Optimus ensured that the Decepticons would keep fighting and the war would go on.

[Beastbot]

...Seriously? I hope you're joking and I'm just not getting it because of the lack of tone of voice over the Internet or anything.

[JazZeke]

Yes, I'm serious. Megatron asked for a truce. Had Optimyus accepted that, Megatron would have ordered the Decepticons to stop fighting. Thus the siege on Chicago and the slaughtering of its citizens would have stopped. Instead, deprived of leadership, the Decepticons would have just kept on fighting. And Megatron would have been made into a martyr.