Transforming in the right direction

Rating: Null/10 (9 July 2011)

A mysterious event from Earth's past at the time of the moon-race is kept from the Autobots. It's a secret that now threatens to bring a war to Earth and the Transformers may not be able to save us.
The special effects have certainly been honed in this third instalment, it appears that with the right amount of money and talent you can achieve anything on screen. The action and locations are visually fantastic with great sound effects and music to match. The storyline is engaging especially for a film based on a Saturday morning cartoon made to push toys.
John Malkovich has a great time in a lengthy strange cameo (that didn't need an actor of his calibre) as Sam's boss but he's enjoyable in every scene and a welcome surprise. Megan Fox's replacement model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is a fine addition, with a natural striking, quirky look. And while not a veteran actress she's more than adequate as the love interest. Josh Duhamel, John Turturro and Tyrese Gibson return. Both Patrick Dempsey and Shia LaBeouf are on form with the Witwicky character given a little more development and purpose. Sam's toilet encounter aside there's less forced humour in this instalment and at times some of the robot attacks are violent, possibly be fitting of a Terminator movie.
Most notable robot characters are present. Key voice Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime is back, and oddly the leader against his traits remorselessly goes 'postal' in the closing act. Leonard Nimoy voices Sentinel Prime who gets much of the dialogue and is the most interesting of the robot characters development wise. It's a pity that like the previous two films this one also lacks the rapport between the robot characters that the cartoon captured so well. It's a missed opportunity, there's little interaction between Starscream and Megatron (Hugo Weaving who is given little to do) and the Autobot's shenanigans, bouncing off each-other and camaraderie is missing.
It must be a blast for the new generation but for those who grew up with Transformers it still fails to capture or match the original magic. That said, it moves one step closer in the right direction. Michael Bay puts every buck on the screen with great compositions and flair. It's loud, it's spectacular and debatably the most satisfying, balanced and rounded of the three.
Considering its origin (based on a series of cartoon and toys) it's solid entertainment which is being overly analysed and unfairly panned.