The film is once again (like all of Bay's films) loud, obnoxious and relentlessly in your face. It's also a lot of fun if you're into that sort of thing!

Rating: 8/10 (4 July 2011)

'TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON': Four Stars (Out of Five)
The third chapter in director Michael Bay's immensely popular super robot franchise, based on the popular 80's cartoon show and Hasbro toy series. Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, John Turturro, Kevin Dunn, Julie White and most of the rest of the cast are back. With one obvious exception of course; Megan Fox. Due to conflict with the film's producers (Bay and Steven Spielberg) Fox was fired from the project. She's been replaced by popular Victoria's Secret's model Rosie Huntington Whiteley (who has worked with Bay before on a 2009 Victoria's Secret commercial). Also new to this film are John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Patrick Dempsey, Ken Jeong and others. Ehren Kruger (who co-wrote the last installment) returns as the sole scriptwriter this time around. The film is once again (like all of Bay's films) loud, obnoxious and relentlessly in your face. It's also a lot of fun if you're into that sort of thing.
This adventure begins in 1961 while the Autobot's and Deceptions still wage war on their home planet of Cybertron. An aging Autobot known as Sentinel Prime (voiced by Leonard Nimoy, who also voiced the character Galvatron in 'THE TRANSFORMERS: THE MOVIE' 1986 animated film) escapes the planet with special teleportation technology called Pillars that could end the war for good. He crash lands on the moon and has been wrecked there ever since. When Optimus Prime (once again voiced by the legendary voice actor Peter Cullen) learns that the U.S. government has known about Sentinel's whereabouts and the Pillars for some time he becomes extremely angry and makes it his mission to bring Sentinel home to Earth. The Decepticons meanwhile lay in wait, waiting for the appropriate time to strike and seize control of the Pillars. Sam Witwicky (LaBeouf reprising his most famous role) at the same time is struggling with unemployment (even though he helped save the world twice and earned a medal from President Obama) and feelings of inadequacy while trying to impress his new super hot girlfriend Carly (Huntington-Whiteley).
The story is once again pretty simple but things still seem to get very convoluted and hard to follow (in classic Michael Bay fashion). The film always moves at breakneck speeds regardless of what's going on (whether it's a simple dialogue scene or an elaborate action spectacle). It jumps from slapstick comedy to emotional drama to explosive action, without a moment's pause, and back again (constantly). The whole thing becomes very exhausting (like all of Bay's films) and you really need some strong caffeine or some kind of drug (whatever LaBeouf is on) to keep up with it. This kind of material can definitely leave the viewer with a severe headache if they're not in the right mindset. With that said the movie is still a heck of a lot of fun and you get far more than your money's worth (there's so much going on). The scam is that it takes you three or four times of seeing the film just to process it all. The action scenes are breathtaking, the 3D visuals are arguably the best since 'AVATAR' and the comedy for the most part is very funny. The script is a complete mess but that's not really important with this type of film. LaBeouf's shtick is getting a little old but for me it still works. The guy has so much energy and is still hilarious in the right role (and Witwicky is the perfect showcase for LaBeouf's comedic and improvisational talents). Some people hate the parent characters but in my opinion Kevin Dunn and Julie White are always scene stealers in these films. Huntington-Whitely does a good job of looking extremely glamorous and beautiful (and that's all she really has to do) but I still prefer Megan Fox (or anyone more real). Bay's directing is once again Bay's directing; you either love it or hate it. I personally love it. Seeing one of his films is a very unique experience and it is almost like being on drugs in a way. It's mind-blowing! I love creative independent films made for next to nothing but I also love big visually exploitative films (made on budgets of 2 to 300 million dollars). I think there's room for both types of film-making in the marketplace and one style doesn't hurt the other. They can co-exist! If you enjoy these types of films you'll definitely enjoy this one too.
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