5 replies to this topic

[Dave]

Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon - crap or not crap?

Watched it in 3D Imax.

All I wanted out of this (and I don't think it's too much to ask for a movie based on a toy line) was a fun action ride. Not a movie, a ride. Bay used most of the production team from Avatar (the film with the lame story but awesome 3D visuals), but what a difference a competent director makes. Bay has no idea how to use the new 3D technology. There are a few cool shots, but it is nothing compared to what Cameron did in Avatar. The 3D was largely wasted, and you will not get any lesser of an experience if you watch this on a 2D screen. The first Transformers didn't deliver on the action. The second had a stupid plot, but the action saved it. This one had wall to wall action, and some Sam character development in the first hour, but the action was uninspired and the character development was simply "Sam is bitter, bitter, bitter that the gov't didn't give him a job." ...but the gov't gave him a medal and paid for college...and he's bitter about not having a job 3 months after graduation...dude...this guy is going to grow up to be the most bitter person on the planet.

The action? Look at what Spielberg did in War of the Worlds (not a great film, but I think he captured the dread of alien invasion pretty well). Compare to Bay's Decepticon invasion. Take any other halfway decent alien invasion film and compare. Bay's is weak. There are the requisite scenes of giant ships, kill teams and panicking, screaming humans, but they are all disconnected scenes. What good directors do is create set pieces that take a smaller task and weave it into the larger mayhem (Tom Cruise trying to get his kids to the ferry, for example). Set pieces give you the sense of rising action that leads to a bigger emotional payoff at the end. Bay just chops stuff together, "whaddaya need? big ships? [click on Premiere] there's your big ships. screaming people? [click on Premiere] sure, we got screaming people. whatcha need? we got it." If your shooting philosophy is to puke up tons of shots, you are going to end up with vomit on the screen.

I was excited about this one, and my expectations were geared towards a ride more than a movie, so I'm disappointed that Bay couldn't even deliver that.

Other warnings:
*It is long. About 2.5 hours plus tons of previews (I say without exaggeration that the preview for the Shrek spinoff Puss in Boots was more exciting and fun than Transformers).
*It is loud. Really loud.
*The 3D glasses become really uncomfortable at the 1.5 hour mark.

[monogodo]

I've never understood the allure of 3D movies. They don't appear to be any different than 2D ones to me. Maybe I'm one of the few people who can't see the 3D aspect of them.

[Dave]

monogodo, on 11 July 2011 - 12:58 PM, said:

They don't appear to be any different than 2D ones to me. Maybe I'm one of the few people who can't see the 3D aspect of them.

Perhaps you are only a 2D object and have no conceptual framework to perceive in a third dimension? Us cubes would call you a 'square.'

/Flatland by Edwin Abbott

[Deb]

Mono, you need to wear the glasses, dear.

I saw this at the movie theatre, even though I downloaded it and I was bitterly disappointed.

The only good thing to come out of seeing this movie in 3D was I got to see the preview for Cowboys & Aliens, which I really really liked.

[Dave]

I declare this thread incomplete until Chad posts in it.

[Chad]

Like other trilogies before it, I think if Dark of the Moon was the first instead of last in the series, there would be hope. It's my favorite out of all 3. It certainly went a little on the long side though. First thing that urked me was replacing Megan Fox. Her character was useless. Replacing her character with standard-issue-blond-actress just completed the circle of uselessness. The movie didn't really start until the Primes betrayal scene, which picked up the pace of the movie. I really didn't see that coming. That's not a a commentary on the movie doing something correct, it's just what happens when you stop bring expectations. But from that point on, I liked it. All the scenes are heavily dominated by Transformers instead of annoying untalented human actors. Just like people have asked for since the first movie.

I think Bay went out of his way to put his "stamp" on TF3 as well, the cheesy slow-mo shots, over and over and over. I actually got a kick out of it. The writers bailed on the franchise, some of major characters bailed or died, but Bay saw it through and made his mark with the franchise. Good for him.

When the proper standards are applied, it isn't a bad movie. Fanboys and critics each had their own ideas of what should be done with the franchise. But when you take the movie for what it is and not what it "should have been" it's a fun summer movie that makes the effort but never claims to be more than it is. I loved following the trilogy, I've loved seeing them in the theaters.

At the end of it all though, if I had to wrap up my experience, from initial obsession with TF1 to sleeping on the wet spot after TF3, I can sum it all up in one word: Forgettable.