Dark of the Moon OFFICIAL Dark of the Moon REVIEW THREAD

[Jake Cassidy]

At least the actress to play April is gonna be from Victoria's Secret...

Candice Swanepoel

 

[DoomsdayApex]

Peter Weller as Ultra Magnus.

Good thinking, I think he's perfect for that role.

 

[the-rake]

He will also have beastiality or is it reptiality jokes about how the turtles want to get with April in the sexual way.

He will also have jokes of Splinter's poop as pizza toppings.

 

[Jake Cassidy]

Ron Perlman as Grimlock

 

[Jake Cassidy]

He will also have jokes of Splinter's poop as pizza toppings.

Now you're just making me hungry.

 

[DoomsdayApex]

Oh, I have to add Peter Welker, as well.

 

[Jake Cassidy]

Do you mean Frank Welker?

 

[DoomsdayApex]

I'm serious too, I'm going to track down all of them. It's probably going to result in me getting arrested though...

 

[DoomsdayApex]

Both Frank Weller and Frank Welker. I want them both in my film.

 

[Jake Cassidy]

Frank Weller? Are you ok?

You gotta get Judd Nelson for Hot Rod.

Then bring Orson Welles, Robert Stack and Chris Latta back from the dead.

 

[DoomsdayApex]

Frank Weller? Are you ok?

You gotta get Judd Nelson for Hot Rod.

Then bring Orson Welles, Robert Stack and Chris Latta back from the dead.

I apologize, I meant to write Peter Weller & Frank Welker.

Man, I gotta write down the cast selections. I don't want to forget anyone.

 

[OoAnd1]

Most of the loose ends were tied up (abruptly), but I didn't feel like this was "The End." If Paramount wants to make another, though, it's going to be very hard. Outside of introducing Unicron to revive all the villains, there aren't enough big names left to work with.

Big names aren't really needed. Most people didn't even know who Megatron was before these movies came out. They can make an entirely new trilogy with new Decepticons since the general audience only really care for- or even remember- the Autobots.

I don't know a lot about the mythos, but Producers can get away with basing characters off of Galvatron, Straxus, Stunticons, Skywarp, Thundercracker, and Rumble and make a tough Decepitcon core team.

As for pleasing the real TF fans.. I think all you have to do is flesh out the Autobots like never before and they'd be please.

The story/plot is the most important thing when you're talking about a 3rd sequel. Autobots getting love is the second most important aspect. Who exactly they're fighting isn't-- I loved Barricade, for example, and I never even heard of him before TF1.

 

[DoomsdayApex]

So far...


Autobots:

Peter Cullen as Optimus Prime
Judd Nelson as Hotrod
Ron Pearlman as Grimlock
Peter Weller as Ultra Magnus
Darius McCray as Jazz
Kevin Conroy as Bumblebee
Bryan Cranston as Ironhide
Keith David as Omega Supreme
Robert Foxworth as Ratchet

Decepticons:

Hugo Weaving as Megatron
Frank Welker as Soundwave/Shockwave/Ravage
Charles Adler as Starscream
Tony Todd as Unicron
Jess Hernall as Barricade
Mark Hamill as Onslaught
as Rampage
as Vortex
as Hun-Gurrr

 

[bell110]

SPOILERS AHEAD for people who get upset about spoilers being in a review thread in the spoiler section.

Well, I liked it. Definately better than RotF. I liked the story. I liked the twists. Bots had more screen time. Sam being more aggressive was cool. They action was awesome. The CGI was awesome (which they've always been in these movies). Finally, we get back to some epic tranformation scenes (which I found severely lacking in RotF). So, overall, I enjoyed it.

Now, since gushing over a movie is boring, on to the fun stuff; nitpicking.

TOO MUCH ACTION! God damn. Specifically the last hour. It just became too uncomprehensable. I seriously started to lose track of how things got from point A to point B. Bumblebee catches and saves Sam and Lennox after they kill Starscream, next thing I know, Sam is sneaking around and Bumblebee is caught by Soundwave. The building falling could go. Sure, it looked cool, but it served no other purpose other than looking cool. And it serverly strained my suspension of disbelief. Everybody just happend to land on a column instead of falling straight through, and the building remains entact instead of crumbling to bits.

Rosie's hot, but I prefer Megan Fox.

Is it just me, am I going deaf, or is some of the dialogue too mumbled? I didn't understand a word of the Italian robot. One of the robots had a cockney accent, I think. Another was Irish, and I just barely made out what he said. And Shia has a tendency to talk way too fast and soft. Almost like a Rain Man-esque murmuring.

Human cartoon characters. Toned down, but still there. Deep Wong? Seriously? If he got me in a stall like that and tried to rub his crotch papers in my face, he'd be getting a fist to the nuts. Why is a big name star like John Malkovich in such a small, silly roll? I though he would have a role like John Voight. He did make me laugh though. Simmons and Dutch were cool. And of course we had to have the obligatory, blubbering black guy. The big guy with the missle launcher going, "Man, why'd you bring me out here?", "I don't care if we fall, I'm going to have a heart attack". I'm thinking, aren't you supposed to be a solider?

Once again we get robots without any introduction. I think one was said by name, but I didn't make out what it was. The Wreckers were never individually named, I don't think. Who was the old bot who looked like he had a decaying zombie face?

Shockwave. Why? Why even bother? I thought he was going to be the main bad guy. He didn't do anything. He didn't interact with any other bad guy, except for the one that looked like Barricade. And what was the deal with the mechanical graboids* he was controlling?
*Cool points if you know what a graboid is.

Soundwave's vioce. Enough said. Oh, and Bumblebee STILL not talking. Come on already.

Bay doesn't understand how time and space work. When the shuttle goes up, it's day time. When it blows up, it's dusk. They go inside and talk, it's day time again. They go out to Epps' car, dusk. Sam gets attacked in the office, day time. It's an emergency and he wants to get to the autobots quickly, now it's night. Megatron is in Africa, then Chicago. Soundwave is in Africa with Megatron, while also being Carly's car. Lazerbeak goes from the Ukrain, Africa, DC, and Chicago. The movie mostly takes place in DC, then everybody decides to up and go to Chicago. And while Sentinel Prime and Optimus were talking about the matrix, why were they on the plains?

Now, things I though would have been cool.

Bumblebee dying. Bumblebee being executed right in front of Sam's eyes. That would have been emotionally jarring. It would have been this generation's Optimus dying from the 80's movie.

Sentinel Prime. It's funny, when he first woke up, his eyes looked kind of purple, which I thought was weird. While Sentinel was talking with Optimus, I thought it was funny hearing Galvatron's voice comming from Sentinel. Yet, him turning was completely unexpected to me. After that, I was expecting, and I think it would have been cool, if at some point he said something like, "I am no longer a Prime. Call me Galvatron".

Also, anyone expecting or hoping that the shuttle the Autobots left in turned out to be Omega Supreme? While Sam and Optimus was talking, I even saw rail tracks behind Sam's head. That would have made my day.

Finally, there was this giant spider robot thing they kept showing in the background. I wish they showed more of him.

 

[bell110]

Ugh, I forgot... Bay is taking over the TMNTs.

The guy is destroying my childhood.

Are you serious? Please tell me you're joking. We need to take him out. Where is SEAL Team 6 when you need them?

I always thought his voice would be perfect for a Transformers film t:

"Dead or alive, you're coming with me."

Oh, you were serious. I thought you just got his name mixed up with Frank Welker.

 

[nightwing06]

How can any critic give Transformers: Dark of the Moon a zero?
Ok aside from a slick opening sequence in the first hour and the vicious Laserbeak,there are some awful,eye rolling
obnoxious moments in the script in which Sam(Shia LaBeouf) is trying to find his place in the world, that include actors,John Malkovich and Ken Jeong.I think i laughed twice at their antics.For some reason the writers are bent on including gremlin like sidekick robots.

TDOTM is a big improvement over the second Transformers film which was overpopulated with annoying characters i wished would leave the screen.Nice nods to the original animated series.
Even John Turturro's Agent Seymour Simmons,is more laid back
Director Michael Bay puts the 3D technology to good use with spectacular aerial shots,and chase sequences.
Some great voice work as usual from Peter Cullen voices Optimus Prime,and
Leonard Nimoy Sentinel Prime
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and her bee stung lips are fun to look at.
I also liked Shockwave and his constricting ,tentacled mega machine,and Patrick Dempsey was pretty good in the film too.
Im not sure where the series will go from here with Bay and Shia dropping hints this will be their last Transformers film,but it will be interesting to see what another Director will do with the series.
Scale of 1-10 a 7½

 

[Vid Electricz]

I gotta riddle.

Without suspense what's the point of an action scene? You don't care about the outcome and it's not a thrilling experience.

Then the action scenes you don't care about go on for over 45 minutes. lol. It's not entertainment it's just an assault of boring noise.

Exactly. There is ZERO tension. You care absolutely nothing about any of the characters. There is no emotional core, therefore, it makes it impossible to care about who does what to who.

All sound and fury signifying nothing.

 

[marvelman2006]

Exactly. There is ZERO tension. You care absolutely nothing about any of the characters. There is no emotional core, therefore, it makes it impossible to care about who does what to who.

All sound and fury signifying nothing.

I cared for shia's character in the final battle and bumblebee and optimus but that is it anyone else good riddance. I think rosie's situation would have been more tenseful if it was megans character given we have been with her for 2 movies now and with the third you would have the maybe in your head that she could die.

Also did anyone notice when optimus had his sword fight with a certain someone at the end it had the same moves as brad pitt and eric bana did from there fight in troy?

 

[nogster]

This is my review.

The action and 3d effects are obviously spectacular, but the awe and movie magic produced in the 1st film of the series has become stale. There is no soul. No substance on the screen. The characters I loved have been reduced to flying pieces of metal weaponry. Other than the "comedy relief" robots there is no personality to the transformers that made the toyline and cartoon such an iconic success. Only optimus prime and to a lesser extent, Bumblebee and Laserbeak resemble their original characterizations. The new "hottie" who replaced Megan Fox's role has no chemistry with Shia Labeouf and cant act.

I was actually really enjoying the 1st half as the story was intriguing and finally incorporated some classic TF generation 1 themes to the series which gave me some "geek out" moments, but I ultimately lost interest due to not caring for any of the characters on screen. the overlong action finale where you are just bombarded with explosions, unrecognizable robot fights and stupid character decisions over and over again just started to grate.

Transformers [bayformers] "the dark of the moon" was an empty experience. 2 out of 5.

 

[Marvin]

Ugh, I forgot... Bay is taking over the TMNTs.

The guy is destroying my childhood.

Well, if you want, you can go watch the previous turtle movies and relive their undiminished "glory" in full force. Especially the third.

I cared for shia's character in the final battle and bumblebee and optimus but that is it anyone else good riddance. I think rosie's situation would have been more tenseful if it was megans character given we have been with her for 2 movies now and with the third you would have the maybe in your head that she could die.

That's the problem, they're is plenty of tension on Shia's part because it is shia's story. It's unfortunate but that's the reality. Transformers represents a lot of thematic logistical errors as an adaption.

1. There's never been a studio produced live action film in which humans weren't prominent and there probably never will be. Sucks for fans but this will always be a human centered story no matter who directs. Don't think for one second that Spielberg wasn't going to make it about "a boy and his car." And with Berg producing it wouldn't matter if Cameron himself did it. = sucks for fan boys.

2. Most films have the luxury of featuring a lead, his friend and his love interest as the core characters we care about. How many people do we care if die in batman begins? Spiderman?
The only films of late that have a third act with multiple characters that we are supposed to "care about" amidst action would be Super 8, and to be honest I really only cared if the main kid and the girl survived, the fire kid not so much, the fat kid not so much.

Xmen FC, just about every review says the secondary characters are under-developed! And the truth is if almost anyone else got shot at the end it really wouldn't matter. That's not to say they didn't all get featured in the final conflict, but banshee and havok were the equivalent to bee, without the puppy dog eyes.

Green Lantern...

That being said, I was very much disappointed in this film. Too many missed opportunities. On an action level, almost every conflict could have been handled in a number of better ways.

Why do/should we care if brains begs for his life before being killed if we literally just met him 12 minutes ago? It works on the premise that he's a good guy, that's it. As annoying as that is, watching a ton of jews that I didn't know beg for their lives and get killed in Schindler's list worked on the same level. It works and more importantly worked, but it could have been sooooooo much better. It's amazing that Berg and co. never do anything about this...
I won't be giving it a second viewing.

Not enough to give it a lower score the the second though! If people hated the second for the reasons they said they did, this can't possibly score any lower or even close to that. DOTM more is like a 3X more entertaining version of the pirates movie. Silly characters and crazy action. Except you care about shia more than Depp.

I would have liked to see a film where Optimus looses his "humanity" as he is pushed further and further. Bee being mortally wounded pushing him over the edge only to be saved by bee in the very end and closing with a nice speech.

I am disappoint.
Still the biggest looking and feeling movie of the year so far.
And hey, Optimus got a trailer, the movie was 3000x times better for it right? /sarcasm.

 

[Marvin]

The autobots in DOTM are comparable air force team with the wing suits.
Cool as hell, and given enough to entertain an audience on a visceral level, but without development, beyond a few lines.

The extremely mixed reception of the film is telling of the audience.
On second thought I think the producers sign off on this because the know that the cartoons worked on the same summer fun over substance level. I don't know about anyone else but I wasn't analyzing character arks when I was enjoying the cartoons.

 

[marvelman2006]

Well, if you want, you can go watch the previous turtle movies and relive their undiminished "glory" in full force. Especially the third.



That's the problem, they're is plenty of tension on Shia's part because it is shia's story. It's unfortunate but that's the reality. Transformers represents a lot of thematic logistical errors as an adaption.

1. There's never been a studio produced live action film in which humans weren't prominent and there probably never will be. Sucks for fans but this will always be a human centered story no matter who directs. Don't think for one second that Spielberg wasn't going to make it about "a boy and his car." And with Berg producing it wouldn't matter if Cameron himself did it. = sucks for fan boys.

2. Most films have the luxury of featuring a lead, his friend and his love interest as the core characters we care about. How many people do we care if die in batman begins? Spiderman?
The only films of late that have a third act with multiple characters that we are supposed to "care about" amidst action would be Super 8, and to be honest I really only cared if the main kid and the girl survived, the fire kid not so much, the fat kid not so much.

Xmen FC, just about every review says the secondary characters are under-developed! And the truth is if almost anyone else got shot at the end it really wouldn't matter. That's not to say they didn't all get featured in the final conflict, but banshee and havok were the equivalent to bee, without the puppy dog eyes.

Green Lantern...

That being said, I was very much disappointed in this film. Too many missed opportunities. On an action level, almost every conflict could have been handled in a number of better ways.

Why do/should we care if brains begs for his life before being killed if we literally just met him 12 minutes ago? It works on the premise that he's a good guy, that's it. As annoying as that is, watching a ton of jews that I didn't know beg for their lives and get killed in Schindler's list worked on the same level. It works and more importantly worked, but it could have been sooooooo much better. It's amazing that Berg and co. never do anything about this...
I won't be giving it a second viewing.

Not enough to give it a lower score the the second though! If people hated the second for the reasons they said they did, this can't possibly score any lower or even close to that. DOTM more is like a 3X more entertaining version of the pirates movie. Silly characters and crazy action. Except you care about shia more than Depp.

I would have liked to see a film where Optimus looses his "humanity" as he is pushed further and further. Bee being mortally wounded pushing him over the edge only to be saved by bee in the very end and closing with a nice speech.

I am disappoint.
Still the biggest looking and feeling movie of the year so far.
And hey, Optimus got a trailer, the movie was 3000x times better for it right? /sarcasm.

I agree with most of that, My biggest problem with this franchise has always been since part 2 that we get all these bots in the background and none of them get any meaningful screen time. Take Arcee in ROTF, we never get much of them and even though there is a chase sequence with them we still never get much of them because the camera work is frantic, hell my wife didnt even know they were a female bot. Studios have no balls I repeat no balls to make a movie with the Autobots front and center and the humans the background. I just like to think of brains being in the movie to give sam a bomb and hand device and serve as the sheep instead of bumblebee.

Its weird though because in the first movie of course were suppose to follow sam because he serves as the audience eyes and first time exposure to the robots. In the second they should have thrown that formula out and get right into the Autobots story and focus on that. Bay's one crutch I cant stand in these movies are no introduction to new characters and crappy edits.

 

[Marvin]

what's interesting is that the GI JOE movie rectifies just about all these issues(as far as featuring characters)

I mean they all talk right?
And the Joe brand was arguably more recognized than TF over the years. The fact is, and no one want's to admit it is that, Bay makes these films exciting and gives them an event status. I'm pretty sure if Bay and Sommers switched the box office would switch with them.

Bay has always wanted to make an army movie out of this, I think his JOE would get a fraction of the complaints based on situation alone. And Sommers does love indulging in the fantasy elements of his films.

 

[chaseter]

Thats were all these characters are from though man. Not saying they shouldnt be updated, or they should follow the exact storyline from the series. They should have some similarities though.

Yes but the people that clamor to an awful cartoon and say that a live action movie is butchering those characters in reference to a paper thin cheesy kiddy cartoon show 30 years ago need to be slapped. If anyone told me that Sam Raimi ruined Spider-Man because he didn't follow more closely Spider-Man, the animated series, I would slap them.

 

[chaseter]

It's absurd to focus on humans in a film about a robot race fighting across the stars.

And ***** and whine all you want about the TV show Chaseter, the characters came from that origin. It'd be inexcusable to have a fearful Optimus Prime or a pathetic Starscream.

While Bay didn't screw up Prime (making him the fearless, wise, compassionate, asskicking leader we all know and love), Bay didn't give a flying f**k about Starscream (butchered his character completely), Shockwave, Soundwave, The Fallen (Really?...), Megatron (to an extent), Barricade, Jazz, Arcee, etc.

In my opinion, he just dropped names and made them disappear for 80% of the film. Who the hell does that?

You're the one that is whining about the tv show. Bay ruined mah life because the Decepticons didn't drink liquid energon in the desert and get drunk.

Yes Jazz deserved more screen time. The movie was all about Jazz. I now hate X-Men First Class because Havok and Banshee were background characters in a movie focusing on Charles and Erik. Thanks for showing me the light. Every character in a movie should be the main character Bay holy ****. The man can't get anything right.