Review of Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) by Chris S — 26 Nov 2013

This is the culmination of Michael Bay's film career, his 5th symphony if you will, composed of pulsepounding scores, dazzling special effects, and a plot that almost manages to justify the extensive usage of explosions and mind numbing action sequence. Now let's not get ahead of ourselves, this is still a Bay film, so character development is pretty weak in areas where it really shouldn't be (particularly with the introductions of Five new characters, played by none less than Ken Jeong, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Patrick Dempsey, and Megan Fox-replacer Rosie Huntington-Whiteley). With the exception of McDormand and Dempsey, all of these actors are underused, particularly Malkovich, who'se eccentricity is a delight in the few scenes he's given. Yes the script is also uneven, and sometimes seems to be more of a means to justify action and bringing back actors from the previous films than to actually create tension, which is left up to the magnificent score. Sam's mom also makes a welcome sober return to form. Overall, this is first class entertainment.

All ratings out of ten:

Special effects: 10.

Cast: 6.

Screen play: 6.

Entertainment Value: 7.

Cliche Factor: 6.