by Month: May | June | July | August       Lists

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Photos (see all | slideshow) Videos (see all)
Transformers: Dark of the Moon -- Against the backdrop of the space race between the U.S.S.R. and the USA, the alliance between Sam Witwicky (LaBeouf) and Optimus Prime is put to the test against a common enemy: Shockwave.

Director: Michael Bay

Stars: Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Tyrese Gibson (more)

Synopsis: The Autobots learn of a Cybertronian spacecraft hidden on the Moon, and race against the Decepticons to reach it and learn its secrets, which could turn the tide in the Transformers' final battle.

Why We're Excited: It was initially tough to get excited about this project - Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was not by almost any measure a good movie. Over the last year or so, though, that skepticism has slowly started to fade. First, producers ditched Megan Fox, whose star has been rapidly fading ever since she broke out in the original Transformers. Then they added exciting new cast members like John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Patrick Dempsey, and Alan Tudyk, opted to actually shoot the movie in 3D (instead of post-converting it like most movies this summer), and sent Michael Bay on a press blitz promising that this movie is significantly better than the last one. After an atmospheric but action-free teaser last summer, Bay and company served up an intense 30-second Super Bowl commercial that suggested the kind of epic robot vs. robot battles weíd expect from a quality Transformers movie. At this point, we're mostly sold.

Why We're Not: Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice... you get the idea. The first Transformers had its moments, but it was far from great. However, it looks downright Oscar-worthy in comparison to the plodding, pointless sequel. In both cases, though, the marketing played up the strong visual effects and insane action and buried the plot, resulting in trailers that were much cooler than the movies themselves. Besides Bay's insistence that Dark of the Moon is actually going to be good, what else do we have to go on to suggest we won't be fooled again?

Trivia: The "dark of the moon" is as a three-day long phase when the light of the moon is obscured, and thus absent, and precedes the new moon and the beginning of a new lunar cycle. Symbolically, it represents a time of inner stillness and contemplation, and preparedness for a new beginning. Something tells us that "inner stillness" and "contemplation" are two terms that we won't be associating with Transformers: Dark of the Moon.