by Brian Phelps
I know I'm late on this, but I finally took the time to watch Transformers 3 at home on Netflix. I saw the first two Transformers movies in the theater, but skipped the third one. I loved the original Transformers, but the sequel was awful and soured me to the point that I wasn't willing to spend 10 bucks on Transformers 3. You know the old saying, fool me once...
That being said, I thought Dark of the Moon was a little better than Revenge of the Fallen, but then again that's not saying a whole lot because the movie was still a let down. It was obvious that Michael Bay and Ehren Kruger spent the entire first half of this movie going out of their way to show Megan Fox just how easily she could be replaced. I literally felt like they were rubbing it in that she was cut from the third movie. The way she was so cheaply written off was funny for all the wrong reasons. I don't mind that she was cut from the third movie, but the cheap explanation hurt Dark of the Moon. All they said was that she dumped Sam, and she was mean. There was no actual explanation of why they broke up after all they had been through. Then they start off the movie with a scantily clad Rosie Huntington-Whiteley in a scene that appeared to be once again nothing more than Michael Bay's way of saying that Megan Fox's are a dime a dozen and she was expendable. They clearly were trying to rub it in to Megan Fox that they didn't miss her.
Sadly, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley was actually a worse actress than Megan Fox if you can believe that. Her dialogue and delivery often seemed awkward and out of sync with the rest of the actors.
I also didn't like how it's only been 2 years since Revenge of the Fallen came out and all of a sudden Sam has been out of college for a few months. I thought the whole schtick of Sam Witwicky's character is that he was supposed to be a geeky KID. Apparently, they lost sight of this and now Sam is an adult trying to get a job in a tough economy.
Once you get past the fact that the first half of this movie was just rubbing it in Megan Fox's face that she had been replaced, and the awkwardness of Sam Witwicky being an adult even though he doesn't seem like one... this movie failed plot wise for the same reasons that Revenge of the Fallen failed. For some reason, in each of the Transformers sequels they always have to have two characters that outlandishly and implausibly know each other. In Revenge of the Fallen it was Sam's dorm mate and that Sector 7 agent guy who figured out that they knew each other through some one conspiracy website amongst the billions of web sites on the internet. In Dark of the Moon, somehow Sam's girlfriend just so happened to be working for a guy that was working for the Decepticons. It's suggested that McDreamy was using Sam's girlfriend to get to Sam and I get that part, but here's the real question. How did Sam hook up with Carly to begin with? Oh wait, they never explained how he met her in the first place. Sam's supposed to be a geek whose entire relationship with Mikaela was a fluke to begin with. So, how did he land a chick as "hot" or "hotter" than her? I kept waiting for Carly to double cross Sam, or admit that she knew her boss was working for the decepticons but it never happened. So, once again how did Sam just so happen to hook up with a chick whose boss was working for the decepticons? This was never explained. There was no double cross... so it just didn't make any sense plot wise.
I also didn't like how Sam didn't even speak to Optimus until the movie was half way over. Sam was the key to the Autobots coming to Earth in the first place, and now in this movie they made it out like the Transformers don't even see or hang out with Sam anymore because they're too busy. This is another reason why this movie lacked the charm and innocence that made the original so good.
I'm not going to lie to any of you reading this. The first half of Transformers: Dark of the Moon sucks. However, the second half managed to succeed in spite of all of the leaps in logic and awkward character development throughout the first half of the movie. The second half of this movie moves at a great pace, and is actually pretty entertaining. It is also the only reason this movie is any better than the second one.
I should also note that this movie by far has the worst soundtrack out of all three Transformers movies. This movie once again had a single by Linkin Park, but it was a slower single and it just wasn't very good. What I've Done and New Divide are far superior to Iridescent. The only saving grace of this movie in my opinion was Leonard Nimoy as Sentinel Prime. He was a perfect voice over fit for the franchise, and the subtle homage lines to his Star Trek character were cheesy but nice and expected. My advice to anyone out there, don't pay to see another Transformers movie. Save your money and watch them on Netflix.
