Im biased as a fan of the franchise, but this was a great action blockbuster

Rating: 8/10 (17 July 2011)

Firstly, loved the film, i will say now im a fan of the franchise so im sure that will allow the critics of the film to point to the fact i enjoyed ROTF. But this film delivered a very satisfying finale to Bays transformers imagining.
Before i go any further, i have to say one thing. What are people really expecting to get from a film where the premise is a battle between 20 foot alien robots? I have read a bit of empires review and stopped simply because they had some odd perception of what this film should be. Its not art-house iranian drama, which i know they seem to adore, its a summer action blockbuster.
OK, to the review as best as i can without ruining anything.
Forget any *beep* you hear about a nonsensical plot, compared to the more 'out there' effort in ROTF, this plot is straight down the line.
This next bit is a spoiler so i will cover it accordingly... The starting point where we lay a foundation involving seeing cybertron set a tone that Bay wants to offer up a truly great transformers film, OK they didn't give us much of it, but to have tried to focus any significant time on their planet could have incurred more wrath from the purists complaining it wasn't how THEY imagined it.
So they set the scene well and then as i think someone else pointed out on the board the pacing does take a little turn for the worse. It wasn't bad like some films have been before, but it did obviously have an intention of laying down a lot of plot about Sam and his new life before they could really kick on and hit the main point. But at no time do they ignore the need to bring in the transformers and action sequences to keep the adrenaline pumping.
Again a spoiler, it will be better when many more of you has seen it, but I thought it would be hard to bring a more menacing and destructive decepticon than devastator, yet the introduction of shockwave with his burrowing giant worm was outstanding as an ultimate evil. The fact they made megatron a fallen force, a damaged villain that was being usurped made for another nice little touch.
The last hour as has been mentioned is all out action, but the setting of the city of Chicago did definitely give it that edge to it, and the darker tone we were promised.
And yes, when one of the decepticons or autobots loses a team mate, they die. No get out clauses, Bay made sure when a warrior fell they fell for the last time.
It had comedy that of course some are going to point to as either juvenile, racist or just plan dumb, but i have yet to see a film in recent years that hasn't incorporated at least one example of each of these areas when aiming to play for laughs, so why is this suddenly an issue in a bay film? And yes its an action film, but to draw a balance you need to feel the light hearted side before they assault you with the darker tones.
And the action was exceptional. In ROTF one of my biggest complaints was that when Optimus took on the fallen he had him beaten within a couple of moves. Unlike the epic throw down they had in the forest in the same film where optimus fought 3 decepticons simultaneously while Sam tried to avoid getting squashed (along with the trees showing a perspective of scale for the warriors) the final battle then lacked a bite. Well in DOTM i was not disappointed with the fights, they played out how you would hope.
Like i said it had the human elements played in. It had twists, it had a plot that made sense and the action was mind blowing. It was dark and the comedy was played down.
And for the record, the new girl playing Carly was not terrible at all. She may never be an Oscar winner (like that is a benchmark these days?) but she held her own and did what she was there to do... look pretty and provide a flow to the story as it played out. Sam needed to care at key points in the film, and she provided a love interest worth saving
Overall very impressed, 9/10 and very much looking forward to another viewing before it leaves the cinema.
p.s. 3D viewing was worthwhile, it was far better than the *beep* converts i have seen recently and the made the action all the more amazing.