"Down in Flames"

Rating: Null/10 (29 September 2011)

I'll say this about Michael Bay, he can handle Action and Suspense like no other director since Hitchcock. And Just like Hitchcock, he gets a little over-ambitious sometimes.
In this very ambitious third installment of the Transformers Saga, Bay literally "Reaches for the Moon" - Someone else commented that this film is riddled with clichés, but I say the clichés are turned on their ear. This film starts out with Documentary style filming, combining "News Footage" scenes with "Live-Action", first-person footage (If you can call the CGI here, which is very photorealistic, "Live Action"). The inclusion of real-life footage of Kennedy mixed with a pretty convincing lookalike filmed in Black and White Video style *almost* had me believing that it was really Kennedy in all of the scenes- "Almost" - Because the final cameo of "Kennedy" has a different angle, and in colour, and at that point, the differences are apparent with the lookalike actor.
Although the story told here does not quite match the story that has been told in the first two films, it is still a very good story: "Down in Flames" - Bay cannot now back up and make any new Transformers films, he has destroyed his world, literally. And so I am expecting that, this film is the last film of the Franchise, if more Transformers films are made, some serious "Rebooting" will have to be done.
This film loses "Mikaela Banes" (Megan Fox) and 'gains' "Carly Spencer" (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley) - Which from the start is a total loss, as the "Mikeala" character had been developed from the beginning, this "new chick" is dumped on us and we are supposed to believe that Whitwhickey has developed a relationship that rivals his earlier association with Ms Fox. No - It does not work, and Sam Whitwhickey's puerile salivatings and palpitations and teenage jealousy rages are just not believable, the character Carly is simply not believable, she's a card-bored cutout. As a real actress and woman and most importantly high-style Fashion Model, she works VERY well, I believe THAT. But in this film, I do not believe HER. Mikaela, on the other hand, was shown as a talented and gifted Mechanic- That I believed.
So from the moment Spencer walks up the steps in first-time reveal, on tip-toe even, the average viewer might go "Oh Come On" with in-credulousness... Incredibility? Disbelief maybe. Personally, I DO NOT believe that a chick like that would ever be interested in pimply-faced Shia Lebouf. But I can suspend that a bit cos of *my* ex gf's
So with my only spoiler of this review over with, I can get into the way this film looks, mostly happening in "Washington DC" and "Chicago" -And on the Dark Side of the Moon, I believed THIS. The first time we see an Autobot, one of the little guys, I'm still not sure what they were called, and then later as we see the Autobots on various missions, the transformations are better, the overall look of the Autobots are better, the CGI is very very good... This is why I gave this film a "9" - It would have been a "10" if not for the female-lead change.
Excellent performances here from John Turturro, Frances McDormand, "General Glenn Morshower" (Who I think lately is always a character named Morshower in his latest films), Alan Tudyk, John Malkovich, and even Shia LaBeouf - Plus the return of Tyrese Gibson as "Epps" which makes this his reunion with "Lennox" (Josh Duhamel), makes this a great "Mega-Ensemble" cast. And Leonard Nimoy who just had to be given lines referring to things Spock said in "Star Treck" - That was another mistake, but mostly he plays his character well, as do all of the Autobots and Decepticons.
This film is just too overwhelming. There is no relief, no space to relax, this film is a juggernaut- It plows over you. Some of the editing is confusing, mostly it adds to the very rapid pace of the film. (And I have said this before and will probably say it again}: Too Much "Future Shock" - Enough to kill 1,000,000 Alvin Tofflers.
But despite the changes in female lead and other small inconveniences, this film is a warp-15 thrill ride, I was wholly exhausted after watching it, especially the final ⅓rd of the film. For those who like massive mechanical destruction on a scale that makes Brobdingnagian look like Microscopic, insane stunts that no human could possibly perform (but they did), well then this is for you.
It's just Mindless Entertainment, insanity on a galactic scale, and the warping of not only time and space, but of our minds as well. Michael Bay has come a very very long way, parsecs, light years, from "Bad Boys".