Review: Dark Side of the Moon

I have low expectations for Transformers: Dark of the Moon to be honest, because its predecessor, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was such a dud. But the trailers of Dark of the Moon are such fun to watch, so the hype was kinda rebuilt. So yesterday, me and my buddies decided to watch it on Queensbay Mall (Btw, it's the cheapest 3-D tickets we have ever bought, will tell that later) and I am happy the movie is entertaining and fun to watch.

When Michael Bay promised moviegoers that Dark of the Moon, I was kinda skeptical with it, since many of his movies are light on plot (Revenge of the Fallen, I'm looking at you). But surprisingly, the plot is kinda good, not great, but just good, you can sense that this time the robots are gonna attack for real and the world is gonna end, the characters have more connections and feelings this time around. I gotta give kudos to Steven Spielberg especially for making Bumblebee with voice problem throughout the series, because the connection between Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) and Bumblebee are really close even through Bumblebee's radio voice and his expression. Rosie Huntington-Whitely is a good replacement as Sam's new girlfriend, but due to the no history behind the movie, the pair's story is unexplored.

The pinnacle of Transformers movies is gonna be the visual effects and the action sequences. Dark of the Moon offers the best visual effects I've seen and it set the bar for CGI quality, the CGI is seamlessly drawn into the image and at most of the time feels incredibly detailed and realistic. Remember my last topic about 3-D, I was spot on about it. The 3-D effects are also spectacular in many many ways, it rarely offers rarely effects but it really does offer an extra dimension and focus on the image Michael Bay wants you to focus. I am only doing this for the third time, that is you must Transformers: Dark of the Moon in 3-D. The action sequences stay true to Michael Bay's fashion, loud, exciting and explosive. Optimus Prime is more badass, the sequences and robots are definitely much better to distinguish than the last film.

The audio is also on the level of reference quality, the new 7.1 audio system is always on the maximum and offers the clarity. If you watched the past film and you'll know what I meant.

The jokes and comedy has finally toned down and made more sense, but in some part still very inappropriate and unnecessary. For example, the perverted Autobot Wheelie and his new sidekick, still make some jokes, but the perverted look at Carly's ass is just a waste of time, why robots like humans' asses at the first place. The start of second act is a bit shaky with too much weird jokes and old references. The addition of John Malkovich as Sam's boss is too much and Patrick Dempsey's character is just retarded, I've never seen anyone this stupid. John Turturro's return as Agent Simmons is a welcome one.

My opinion: Transformers: Dark of the Moon is still a much watch, it redeemed what its predecessor done in many ways, but some of it's old past remains. The combination of a better story, action sequences, 3-D, visual and audio effects is going to entertain many people.

Pros: Better story, jokes starting to makes more sense, action sequences, visual effects, audio effects, Optimus Prime is a badass warrior, Dino is sexy, Megan Fox is gone.

Cons: Story can be improved further, perverted jokes are weird, shadow of Revenge of the Fallen remains.

The Ugliness: You'll come out of the cinema and wonder why the character Patrick Dempsey portrayed is so dumb.

Verdict: 4/5