The Dark Side of Spock

Rating: 5/10 (2 July 2011)

Greetings again from the darkness. It would be unfair to analyze, critique or compare this to any "normal" movie. Being somewhat limited in scope by the source material, director Michael Bay, delivers what the fans want ... full scale noise and all-out action.
While he admitted that part two of this trilogy was lacking much, it appears his efforts to improve part three come not from script improvement, but rather by tossing in some familiar Hollywood faces: John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Patrick Dempsey and Ken Jeong. Oh, and we also get Bill O'Reilly, an odd sequence with legendary Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, and the best surprise - Leonard Nimoy voicing Sentinel Prime.
Most of the same key players are back: Shia LaBeouf as Sam (friend to Optimus Prime), John Turturro (cashed in on his 10 min of fame), Josh Duhamel and Tyrese Gibson as soldiers, and Kevin Dunn and Julie White as Sam's parents in a couple of throw away scenes that cost much less than the CGI that dominates the movie.
While I remain an avid opponent to 3-D, this film offers a few of the best uses since Avatar. Unfortunately the dimmed coloring offset the benefits and continue to annoy me. Just remove your glasses periodically and you can easily see how much brighter the colors are without the 3-D muting. Such a shame.
Michael Bay knows explosions. And there are no shortage on display here. We get plenty of rock 'em sock 'em action and the military is on full display, especially with some pretty cool skydiving tactics. Heck, we even get Frances McDormand as a power-hungry bureaucrat. For those who know Chicago, the familiar sights abound. The Wrigley Building plays a vital role, though it still bothers me a bit to see a skyscraper destroyed. I will say the tilted office is not close to the rotating hallway of Inception, though the effort is appreciated.
The battle of the robots is what people pay to see and the 40 plus minute final battle is something to behold, even if it drags on entirely too long. And I can't fail to mention that the lack of presence of Megan Fox' character is explained a couple of times as having "dumped" Sam. Sam has rebounded nicely with Carly, played by supermodel Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, who looks just fine in a $200,000 Mercedes, a slim white dress or conversing with an injured villainous robot. Yes, one must maintain a sense of humor during the film.
The use of slo-motion, the ties to the space program, and the connection to Chernobyl are all a bit heavy-handed, but this is a Transformers movie, not a documentary. And the actual transformation of these guys is still one of the coolest on screen moments you can find ... even if the story and dialogue will have you desperate for brain resuscitation when the movie finally ends.