[Films] Transformers 3

Time for another film review. This time I'm turning my attention the way of Transformers: Dark of the Moon. A rather nonsensical title (presumably they meant 'dark side' of the moon), but then it's a rather silly series of films overall. The first one was decent, and the second one an improvement. So how does entry number 3 rate?

The theatrical release poster for Transformers 3. (Credit: en.wikipedia.org)

First, I have to make a confession. I'm not one of the many people who loved the 'original' English language Transformers cartoon. I'm a little too young for that. But I do still have very fond childhood memories of the franchise. My introduction came with Beast Wars, followed by Beast Machines, Transformers: Armada, and the following series. I also owned several toys from the Beast Wars line, and spent many a happy hour playing with them as a child. As such, the production of the new series of films by Michael Bay got me very excited. The first film was good fun, if not amazing, but the second film was, in my opinion, a big improvement. Some excellent robot-on-robot fights, coupled with a greater cast of Transformers characters, a couple of which even had character development, made it a very enjoyable film. 

Sadly, with the third entry the franchise has gone the way of the Spiderman series: decent first film; better second film; pretty disappointing third film. There are decent sections to the film, but overall it's pretty bad. Perhaps it's that I watched it on a train, but I don't think so

This image is pretty representative of these characters' entire contribution to the film. (Credit: http://collider.com/)

The Transformers themselves get very little screen time, instead being replaced by an expanded cast of humans with greater screen time. Sadly this has always been the weak point of the films in my opinion. Shia LeBeouf is one of my top five most irritating actors (I really don't like anything that he's done), and his characters parents have always been caricatures in my eyes, a view which is only reinforced by their short cameo in this film. The marines, perhaps the most interesting humans, get very little to say this time around, instead getting relegated to standing around looking tough. Most of the new characters are also pretty one-dimensional, but John Malkovich puts in his usual excellent, eccentric performance, whilst the replacement eye candy does a good job with the little she's given to work with. Patrick Dempsey also puts in a, for the most part, believable performance, until the final act when his character begins to act in a completely irrational manner.

Not only have the Transformers been sidelined, but those that do get screen time are a shadow of their former selves. In Megatron's case literally. Their action scenes are generally ok, with Optimus Prime having the best scenes in the entire film, but the final battle is somewhat anti-climactic. It seems as though the robots can be defeated even more easily by humanity than before, and although the fight between the two Primes is decent, it ends far too suddenly and in a way that seems as though they just needed to finish the film. Of the new Transformers, Sentinel Prime is an excellently realised character. His motivations are believable, and his actions are self-consistent throughout the film. The new Autobots are introduced with no explanation, and have no personality, and the Decepticons are reduced to a horde of generic bad guys.

Sentinel Prime, voiced by Leonard Nimoy. The best character in the whole film. (Credit: filmofilia.com)

Overall then this film was a let down, and, for me, puts a tarnish on the whole series.