I remember reading about a possible live action Transformers movie way back in the early 2000's. I can't even remember when. I was ecstatic. I was excited. I knew CGI had come a long way, with Jurassic Park being the first of the superb enmeshing of CGI and real life human actors. I knew what CGI could do. I also knew that if done in a wrong way (i.e the Naboo fight scene in the 1st Star wars prequel, The Phantom Menace), everything could fall apart and blow up in the producer's face. So I had my fingers crossed. Fortunately the first Transformers movie in 2007 was good. Well not the best in terms of storytelling, but still better than what I had expected. Also the redesigned Transformers were also not as bad as expected, with most of the characters retaining their G1 identities. I actually like the redone Optimus Prime (a combination of Prime's original red and blue, and Hot Rod's flames!). I initially did not like Bumblebee's new design, but it quickly grew on me. Other bot designs that I really liked were Jazz (they should not have killed him off in the first movie!!!), Ironhide and Sideswipe. It was also fortunate that Peter Cullen, the iconic voice of Optimus Prime, got to reprise his role as the leader of the Autobots. I was bummed that Frank Welker did not get to voice Megatron, but I got over it pretty quick when Frank was involved in Revenge of the Fallen (ROTF) and Dark of the Moon (DOTM-he is the voice of Soundwave and Shockwave). Most people also liked the first movie as it introduced the characters and gave them more depth. The hardcore fans hated the lack of robot action and the fact that there were too many human scenes (this unfortuntely made its way throughout all three movies). I hated the fact that Prime was made to look weak in the first movie. Fortunately for us, Bay listened to the fan base (come on people he does listen!) and redeemed himself (in my eyes at least) when he made restored Prime to his former fighting glory (i.e. the now iconic forest battle scene in ROTF). In short I really liked ROTF. In my eyes, it came close to what the original animated movie (still the best movie of them all...Till all are one!) was in terms of the epicness, plus it had really badass fight sequences that even Jet Li would be proud of!
Fast forward to 2011 and DOTM. Could this be the last? It is still not certain if the franchise will be given the reboot, or as rumours would have it will continue in another trilogy (how they would do that is still anyone's guess as they killed off all the main antagonist). So what did I think of Dark of the Moon? I am assuming everyone has seen the movie so I am not going to hold back with the spoilers. So if you have not watched the new movie DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER THAN THIS!!!! To me the movie was good. It was not great, definately better than the first, but sure as hell wasn't the best of the three as many people would like you to believe (well in my opinion anyway). Many people hated ROTF. To me that was the best movie of the bunch. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, the movie came a close second to the iconic animated Transformers Movie . This one had its moments, but lacked in many aspects. I was hoping for DOTM to be what ROTF was and more. Sadly it did not pan out that way.
Firstly the good. As I mentioned before, contrary to what everybody thinks Bay actually listens to the fans and tries to stay true to the G1 stories and timelines, even though he oftentimes goes overboard (like mixing up his bots and cons and calling them weird ass names such as Devastator {who was really Brawl}, and then renaming the Constructicon combiners Devastator again, or calling Wheeljack Que, even though I did not really care as the design was crap anyway and Mirage dino...go figure!). It terms of pacing, the balance between humans versus robot scenes and corniness and lewdness, this one was the best of them all. The flow and pacing of the movie was heaps better than both its predecessors and there was minimal corniness or lewdness (although Bay still does those annoying lingering woman bum and curve shots, as well as bad toilet humour...the scene where Jerry "Deep" Wang ambushes Sam in the cubicle). I also did not find the human bits too long like in the other two movies (I could not stand the college bit and Sam's annoying roomie.....what's his face name again in ROTF!). Also Bay held back on cutting the scene too soon and you could follow plotlines a whole heap better. I also though he tried to differentiate the robots better in this one by giving them more color. At least the Decepticons were not all metallic grey in colour, making them hard to tell from one another. An example world be the Decepticon dreads were black in colour for one. also there was no annoying Megan Fox, although I really missed her after watching the other broad...she can't act to save her life...Bay get actresses not lingerie models!!!!!
Now for the not so good part. This movie seemed like a standalone movie. There was no direct mention or reference to the previous movies. How did the Fallen fit into the whole story and why was he not aware that Sentinel Prime was still alive? Also that was no mention of the allspark. And Fox's character got dismissed just like that. How could she have just dropped Sam after going through so much with him. they should have just written her character out of the story and not replace her with another even more annoying character. By contrast the second one had a good mesh with the first movie. Then there are the deaths. I think Bay wanted to make the movie a much darker one with a more serious feel. He managed to achieve that, but again failed to fully flesh out the characters. Shockwave for one was a big disappointment. After reading the prequel comics (which is mandatory if you want to know what's going on with the story..even for this one...and more so for ROTF where most people did not have a clue what was going on!) I had high hopes that he would have a much bigger role than in the movie. Non Transformer's fans and lay people would have a hard time telling him apart from the rest of the cannon fodder. By contrast Starscream had much more screen time this time round, even though he had a pathetic death, at the hands of Sam no less (goodness gracious what a way to go. This is worse than his death by Galvatron's hand in the 90's animated movie! he is a warrior and he deserves a proper warriors death...even if he is a sniveling and conniving character). Most people also questioned Optimus Prime's often violent reaction, and his sheer lack of emotion in this movie. Reading the prequels and comic book adaptation fleshed his emotions out a whole heap more. Bay should have focused more in that aspect than showing Carly's bum while walking up the stairs, or Brazzo's (Malkovich's character in the movie) mock fight with Bumblebee...what's up with all this nonsense). The main reason he was so mad at Shockwave was that, in the comics anyway, he killed so many of Prime's colleagues, Jolt among other and especially Elita 1! Also there were longer fight scenes with Shockwave in Chernobly (which should have made its way into the movie) and the ending in the comic and novels were heaps better. Prime did not kill Megatron in cold blood! As to why badass Prime could not take on Sentinel, if you watch closely, Prime was fighting but not giving his all. He could have impaled Sentinel right at the start of the fight, but chose to not stab him directly with his energon sword or axe. It looked like he hit him with the blunt parts of his weapons. I felt he was holding back and hoping Sentinel would feel remorse and make the right choice.
So did I like this movie better than ROTF. I am sorry but I did NOT. Plotflow aside, this movie offered me nothing more than I had already gotten from ROTF. I remember watching ROTF and really liking it and wanting to see it for a second time. The epicness and sheer scale of ROTF was also one of the main drawcards for me. When I watched ROTF, I also kept asking myself how Bay was going to top this!!!. I really liked how Bay brought in the Fallen (easily one of the coolest villian's in the Transformer's comic universe!!!). The fight scenes in ROTF were also way better or more cheoreographed and unlike most people, I did like the spiritual aspect to ROTF. The forest battle scene (especially the extended IMAX version) has to be one of the best, if not the best fight scene EVER. I rank that one right up there with the Prime versus Megatron battle scene in the original animated movie. How could you not like a fight scene with Prime taking on three Decepticons and beating them down (well until he gets run from behind by Megatron). For me that was the highlight of the Bayformers movies. Well the highway chase scene between the Dreads and Bumblebee and company and then Ironhide and Sideswipe's fight scene was pretty awesome too....but not even in the same mold as the forest fight scene. Plus the awesome fight, transform in mid air, catch Sam and then transform back into a car scene. I rest my case.......
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