A bit of an improvement over ROTF, but not nearly as good as the first

Rating: 6/10 (28 November 2013)

In order to coincide with a fourth Transformers coming out in the next few months, I'll be reviewing this third entry of the successful film series. I liked the first Transformers despite it's cheesy dialog in some parts and while there were some awkward moments and very bad dialog, I still liked Revenge of the Fallen. Then, when I saw the whole thing in theaters back at 2011, I thought, this wasn't so bad after all. It later turned out to be a good ride, but while I do think it's a bit of an improvement over the previous film, it's nowhere near as good as the first.
First, there are some good things that saved the film for me. The music score from Steve Jablonsky has improved and has an epic tone to it. The story is a lot more decent than the previous film with a much better second and third halves; the action sequences are solid especially the collapsing building scene which took my very breath away. The scenery is great and the special effects are as top-notch as ever. The acting is good, too. While John Turturo, Franches McDormand, and John Malkovich aren't given much to do, they did fine with the material. Patrick Dempsey did OK as the villain, but he's a bit underwhelming. Rosie Hunter Whiteley is a bit bland, but not exactly terrible as the new girlfriend for Sam Witwicky. While Shia LeBeouf isn't as charismatic as he was in the first film, he does have the same charm he brought to the film series so far. The Autobots and Decepticons are great to see again and the voice actors are solid especially Leonard Nimoy as Sentinal Prime, who is a very good villain for the movie much Megatron.
Then, there are the bad things that I would point out. First, the script. While the second and third halves are a lot better, the first half is pretty boring. It seems to be lacking in it's action and it wasn't exciting. Second, the ending is way too similar to the first Transformers (what? with the auto-bots and decepticons fight against each other while bringing destruction to the city and such?) The pacing is also very sluggish it would almost put you to sleep. Third and mostly the final problem is the dialog. There are some humorous bits that might get the audience a chuckle, but there are other parts that are just so inane it would give you a headache.
Overall, Transformers: DOTM isn't nearly as good as the first, but despite the flaws that I just stated, I think this is a great sequel in an overall solid franchise. I may not be a fan of Michael Bay and such, but while I do not like the Bad Boys films, Pearl Harbor, and others, I think that this and the other films are a lot better and it deserves a recommendation to those who haven't seen it.