Me (***): http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/50760...k-of-the-moon/
Orndorf (**): http://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/50762...-moon-imax-3d/

I think you're kidding yourself if you don't know what you're getting yourself into when you go see a Michael Bay Transformer movie. Given those lofty expectations, while the film does its best to keep the adrenaline pumping in the final hour, the first half of the film is a bit over-"written" and could have had 15 minutes cut out of Sam's job hunting subplot. .The casting of Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is distracting, as you just sort of have to accept her being shoe-horned into the film dispensing enough 411 to keep the plot going at times, which was just weird (like a record screeching to a halt when something weird just went down).

The story beats are a little jarring, but let's face it, it's about transformer-on-transformer action pr0n that people come to see, and Michael Bay delivers in spades, definitely in excess. Those wondering about what the alien invasion of earth looked like for "Fallen Skies" just need to watch this movie, it'll fill in those blanks. This is a long, loud, bombastic movie featuring lots of everything (except clever writing). But still, I was entertained given my expectations.

Saw it in 3D, and it wasn't too distracting in terms of following the action.

I give it 2.5 stars, or a grade of C+

Better than the 2nd one, but once again I didn't give two shits about the human crap. It all just seemed unnecessary.

The pacing was a bit off during the last hour. I lost track of various Autobots during the final battle.

Finally, I hated how the new chick's manufacturered sex appeal was forced on the audience countless times, like they were trying their best to out do Fox.

Too little, too late. Easily the best film in the franchise by a long shot, but that's not saying much at all compared to what the last two entries have brought us.

While the film is just as long, Bay knows how to keep the film somewhat tightly paced. I say somewhat as the film could've easily used twenty minutes shaved off its already bloated 148 minute running time. For example, did Sam's parents really need to show up? Was the Turturro/McDormand romance angle necessary? What the fuck is John Malkovich doing here again? Humor has never been Bay's strong suit and this film could've been even better if Bay cut it all.

However, you're here for the action and Bay delivers it in spades. Especially when it comes to the third act shoot 'em up extravaganza.

Also, another random leap of praise goes to Bay for knowing how to end a film. Action's over? Roll the credits!

However, I can't recommend the 3D. I get that this film was conceived and shot in 3D, but Bay manages to fuck it up by not knowing what depth of field is. The strongest example I can point out is the scene in Patrick Dempsey's automobile museum/office/Bay's personal wet dream. You can't have an entirely white background and place actors and objects in front of it and call it 3D. There are a few moments where Bay gets the 3D right like the soldiers gliding into Chicago or the opening introduction on Cybertron, but otherwise? The 3D is just a letdown.

ok...I understand wtf you're saying but just give it to me straight, man.

Is better than TF2 and is at least equal or greater than to TF1?

I hated TF1 and I wish I would've walked out of TF2.

So, yes, it's better than both as Bay somehow manages to completely not fuck everything all up like the last two outings.

Saw it earlier

Better than 1 and 2

Great 3D

Incredible action

Rosie is waaaaaaaaay better than Megan Fox, everyone who saw it unanimously agreed

A friend of mine saw it last night. She told me the 3D was "shaky" and made her dizzy.

She did love the movie, however. And she told me Rosie was every bit as horrible as she seems in the clips.

Saw the 9PM with a packed house, and thought it was great. Best of the 3, and the final invasion/battle was truly epic in scope. I usually don't like Shia, but I enjoyed his freak out attitude here. The 3D was ok, but nothing special.

I'm surprised you stuck with the franchise. I also hated TF1, and passed on TF2 after reading reviews.

And yet you plunked down good money on opening day no less to see 3!

Saw it last night at the 9PM show. Here are some quick thoughts.

I thought 3D was fantastic in the movie. 1st movie since Avatar that I've enjoyed in 3D. (Well, How to Train Your Dragon was enjoyable in 3D)

The movie is long and definitely needed some editing.

Rosie is smoking. It made me forget about Megan Fox.

The plot is dumb and barely makes sense. It's better than TF2 though.

The action is great. Lot's of shit blowing up. That last hour (or however) was, is what you have come to expect from summer action movies. It's a fun ride.

Easily better than TF2. (I enjoyed TF2 in theaters, but it really fell apart on repeated home viewings)
Not sure if it's better than TF1. It's at least on par with it.

I enjoyed the movie, but we know it's a big dumb action movie and it's not going to win Best Picture movie.

I'll give it a B.

If so many of you guys hated TF 1 and TF 2, what makes u think that Bay is somehow, somewhere gonna pull a miracle out of his ass with this one?

Interesting choice of words considering "Dark of the Moon."

Haha! No pun intended, then!

I can't disagree with that scene in particular but overall I thought Bay did a great job with the 3D. Sure there is a good 45 minutes where the 3D is nothing to write home about, but the rest is pretty spectacular IMO. I saw it on a giant screen with extremely bright projection, so the 3D worked great.

The movie itself was a decidedly mixed bag. The highlights are better than any of the previous movies, but the main flaws with part 2 are still here, just to a lesser extent. I thought overall the pace was decent but it could have lost 30 minutes in the middle (the malkovich stuff comes to mind) and not been worse off.

Fans of the series will enjoy it, but if you've been lukewarm to the series, it's not going to convert you. I really hope when we get the inevitable Transformers 4, the new director realizes that the robots should take centre stage and let's cool it with the goofy humour.

I don't get that statement. He has a freak out attitude in every movie he's in. It's a joke at this point.

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A.O. Scott in The New York Times gives this as close to a favorable review as possible without actually being "favorable."


New York Times review of TRANSFORMERS 3

Try these first two paragraphs:

"There are filmmakers whose work is characterized by thrift, efficiency and devotion to the subtleties of cinematic expression. And then there is Michael Bay, whose films are symphonies of excess and redundancy, taking place in a universe full of fire and metal and purged of nuance. I’m not judging, just describing, and since today’s theme is bluntness, I might as well come out and say that “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” is among Mr. Bay’s best movies and by far the best 3-D sequel ever made about gigantic toys from outer space.

I apologize if this sounds like faint praise, but let me provide some perspective. The second of Mr. Bay’s “Transformers” movies, “Revenge of the Fallen,” released in 2009, struck me as not only the worst movie of that year — measured in raw box office dollars, it was certainly among the most popular — but also as irrefutable evidence that our once proud civilization was in a state of precipitous decline. Perhaps my own enjoyment of “Dark of the Moon” is further evidence. I can’t decide if this movie is so spectacularly, breathtakingly dumb as to induce stupidity in anyone who watches, or so brutally brilliant that it disarms all reason. What’s the difference?"

Shrug, I just liked it when he completely lost his shit at the gate, wanting to talk to Optimus.

I saw the film on a 48' IMAX screen with bright projection, and well...

The only two segments as I mentioned earlier that worked great in 3D were the opening on Cybertron and the gliding sequence through Chicago during the third act. There were shots throughout that were effective (such as Ken Jeong pulling out the two guns, some of Bay's signature "let's turn the camera at an angle to shoot this scene," etc.), but the rest? Nothing felt that it had to be 3D. Just because you're shooting in 3D means it'll come off as 3D.

I still feel that the best live-action 3D film to date is Step Up 3D as a majority of the effective 3D work is done... IN CAMERA (and was not done during post). A portion of me wants Chu to shoot G.I. Joe 2 in 3D just to show Bay how to shoot a film in 3D, but the other portion of me just wants this 3D phase to die.

I agree with the previous statement that Bay should stay away from humor as it's always a huge misfire for me. In the last film we had Mudflap and Skids and thankfully they're gone for this film, but the jokes have transitioned to those two little Italian mafioso robots. Every time they spoke I cringed.

The thing I'm actually most excited about is that this is hopefully Bay's last Transformers movie and now he can get back to making other movies. I was a big fan of The Island and I know he has some good stories in him, so I'm hoping he does something original instead of Transformers 4 or Bad Boys 3.

anyone bring babies to the showings yet? wondering what my younger son's reaction will be when i go see this

Not a baby, but I took a 10 year old, and he thought it was the most epic thing he'd ever seen.

who knows, but I will tell you the reaction of everyone around you..

don't bring a fucking baby into a movie theatre

So you text in a movie theater and bring babies to a movie theater? Wow, you're like the perfect theater customer that everybody would want to sit next to.

Do you smell and weigh 400 lbs too? That would be like icing on the cake.