Or arrest him.

 

I'm so glad I kept away from spoilers. The turn by Sentinel Prime was crazy and him killing Ironhide was awesome. Great battle between the Primes to close out the movie. Rose was hot. Good movie.

 

It is difficult for me to review Transformer movies because, let’s face it – I am something of a Transformer junkie at the best of times. Throw a giant, transforming robot into the mix and I tend to be entertained. That having been said, the latest instalment of the live-action Transformers franchise is probably the most accomplished film of the three efforts. There is humour, but it is a bit smarter and a bit classier then it was in Revenge of the Fallen and, in a more dramatically appropriate way – the humour is better proportioned.

Which is to say, the movie plays lightly toward the beginning but becomes more serious as the plot stakes rise.

The plot stakes, here, being considerably higher – in some respects – then they have been in either of the earlier two films. This also becomes the biggest departure point for this film as compared to the others. Dark of the Moon is a darker and more violent film then the franchise has traditionally been. In terms of human death & transformer death both – fatalities are shocking, brutal and – at times – painful.

Unfortunately, we live in a culture where violence is equated with maturity. We automatically give more weight and credence to a film (or book, television show etc. etc.) that skews dark. Bad things happen in Dark of the Moon, and the characters suffer for their decisions and their failings. If suffering makes art (and believe me, many people believe so) then again – it cannot be said that Dark of the Moon is not the most accomplished film of the trilogy.

It is not the most fun movie of the trilogy. It is also a gutsy film in ending the way in which it does – the ending is sobering and somewhat sombre – which is, if the current wave of press is to be believed – a strange turn for the end of the Michael Bay era of the franchise. Instead of building to a triumphant finale, the film takes a very calm and very practical (if such a term can be applied to a movie with giant transforming robots) approach to bringing an end to the war.

On other notes, the 3D effects are spot-on – the movie is sharp and displays no ‘ghosting’ tendencies as some 3D efforts seem too. There are some staggering moments and you never really ‘fall out’ of the film by virtue of feeling like the 3D effects are a slap-dash gimmick slapped onto the film at the last minute.

A good time will be had by all and the film may transform your notion of what a movie about giant robots can be.

 

I agree w/ koh4711.

 

I thought this movie was the best out of all the movies. The only parts i disliked was ironhide's death, not that he died, but rather whats with the rust? Noone else did that. Is it some sort of special gun Sentinel has thats rather overpowered. Oh yeah he's a prime guess thats in the lineage.

Then megatrons was disturbing not that he died, but that it was short. If he and optimus had that What would you be without me and the fight lasted even ten minutes it would have felt more over you know.... Like the end or something.

And im still tripping over how nooned is saddened by any one person's death. If i remember right when ironhide died, the next couple scenes sam was using his typical play it off jokes as if he hasn't realized what has happened. Oh well still a fun movie

 

Yes.

 

Is anyone else pissed that, once again, Prime feels nothing for his fallen comrades after they die? Ironhide takes the brunt of Sentinel's betrayal and when Prime rolls in too little, too late, he puts on his concerned face, looks around at the damaged military base and doesn't even acknowledge that Ironhide is DEAD?!

That's so messed up!

As Prime's look of concern and confusion sets in, I was thinking, "Oh man, he doesn't see Ironhide's rusting corpse yet. He is going to lose his Shit!" But it never came. At least Jazz got two words of sorrowful regret. Prime just avoids the fact that one of his greatest warriors and best friends just bought it and he has no reaction.

Sorry, but that was just incredibly frustrating to watch.

 

Yeah, me too! I kept away from major spoilers. I knew minor things but yeah. After the adaptations came out, i forced myself to avoid the movie forum.

I had no idea that sentinel was going to turn like that. I actually really liked the plot in this one, and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I'm so glad I fought the urge to read the spoilers!The refrences to the G1 episodes was a nice nod in my opinion.

I really really liked this movie. I definitely thought it was the best. I loved the first one. Thought the second one was ok. But this one I have to say takes the cake. I'm sorry to hear that alot of people didn't like it. I can see where they're coming from and there were a few things that seemed off. But there was so much that I enjoyed that makes those things seem so small. Too much to list on what I liked. The one scene that was my absolute favorite was the mexican standoff. I really like the prime vs sentinel fight too. I do agree that prime killing sentinel and megatron was out of character for a prime, but I've come to see the moviverse prime as just a more hardcore prime that doesn't take any crap. G1 prime will always be my favorite, but I gotta say I like this prime too. And yeah, one of my only other gripes is that the megatron and prime's fight ended too quickly. I didn't even really catch what happened. The movie ended way too quickly. Would it kill bay to shorten an action seqeucne to add 5 more min to the ending? lol

Other than that, I had a great time. I liked it so much, I think I'm gonna go back and see it again with my sister today. Go transformers!

 

all i know is i burst out in the theater when prime first showed up and transformed with the trailer transforming into a battle station with weapons that was just totally not expected and totally bad ass!

i love the film. it was everything i wanted to see and more.

 

Ironhide's death hits Optimus pretty hard. When he confronts Sentinel outside the White House, you can hear the fear in his voice. Optimus is terrifed of him after what he did to Ironhide. Later in the final battle in Chicago, Optimus pretty excutes Sentinel for killing Ironhide and betraying the Autobots. So yeah, Ironhide's death does affect him.

 

Going to see it this Saturday hoping for the best  

 

Yeah, almost forgot about that! Ironhide knocking on OP's roof. That really felt very Transformers like. That's the stuff we want to see. Also, it's not mentioned a lot here, but I thought the whole 'pulling Cybertron in to Earth' was done very well, it felt very good, because you see Cybertron in the sky, with al the shimmering FX and what not. Very good.

 

That may be, but I still would have preferred a vocal reference from Prime about his death, or at least a call out during his fight with Sentinel.

"This is for IRONHIDE!!!"

How hard would that have been to include? Ironhide deserved a better send off then what we ended up with, is all I'm saying.

 

What about all the other people who died? Do they not get to be avenged?

Gawd! Selfish!

 

Ugh. 7:30 for me tonight and I know this day is going to drag.

 

Also, does anyone else think Ironhide's death is neglected too much? You don't see the Autobots mourn or something, they just go on and nobody even mentions IH anymore. For such a big character, who has been in all three movies, surely this should have been executed far better?

 

That would have been lame, honestly.

I like how the Autobots sat in hiding, waiting while thousands of people in Chicago were blown to dust just to prove a point to the government. HAHAHAHAHA

 

As much as I enjoyed the Chicago finale, I'd have been willing to sacrifice part of it to beef up the action scenes earlier in the movie. They seemed all too brief and some extra time there could have helped pick up the pacing of the first 45 min or so. After the space race/ark/cybertron intro, the movie seemed to drag a bit until it got to the highway scene with the dreads, but not too many complaints from that point on, except that I'd have liked to see more of the Wreckers.

 

I agree. Instead Ironhide's death was followed up with a light hearted scene with Sam's parents.

 

I see what you mean, but honestly compared to ROTF I could live with what they did. I mean some of the human were lame but for the most part they worked.

I felt the first Shockwave scene was a little 'meh.' Prime fucked him up in the comic, I would have liked to see some sort of shock on his face when he saw Shockie stand up.