REVIEW: Transformers 3 - Dark of the Moon

FOR FANS ONLY

Like so many of these action/animation franchises, Transformers: Dark of the Moon works with the confidence that it has a large enough fan base (mostly young boys), who will not just buy anything ‘robotic’ dished out to them, but will also come back for more.

The third Transformers outing, directed by Michael Bay is a noisy, almost plotless, unattractive (to the non-fan) mess. But it has loads of CGI action, and presumably nobody thinks any more is required in a film that is primarily about Autobots and Decepticons bashing each other, with humans chipping in. Somewhere down the line the world gets into danger and has to be saved.

The success of the Transformers series must lie in its predictability.

The film opens with the moon landing of 1969 (when most of this film’s target audience wasn’t even born), which was supposed to have been a secret NASA mission,  and leads to the Earth being in danger (again!) and a big battle—naturally—with Chicago at the centre. But did this need two and a half hours of mayhem?  The beginning with the real moon landing, news footage of Presidents Kennedy and Nixon and astronaut Buzz Aldrin in a cameo is all rather cool.

But that’s where sense ends and headbanging action takes over. Let’s not forget, this franchise was created out of Hasbro toys and cartoons. Does it even need a script? The ‘transformations’ happening in 3D can be exciting, in a film that’s meant to be nothing but a spectacle. If watched on DVD, say, you could fast forward most of it and not miss much. Pity, because so much tech work goes into movies like this Somebody called it a gift to aspirin companies… that about describes the film.

Comments

[Zafar]

I agree, the 3rd of the series was really a drag. Nothing to cheer about. As the series has progressed, it has become more and more predictable. In fact its the animated films that are turning out with better concepts and messages.