I had to do this.
The truth is, there's a pattern emerging here. With every Michael Bay movie I watch, my IMDB rating of it starts off high, and then drops over time.
I'm now at 7/10 for Dark of the Moon, where after my first showing, I was at a full 10/10.
I think I'm going to stay at 7/10 here, but even though ordinarily 7 is a great rating for me, if it's all I'm giving the latest and greatest Transformers, you know that means I'm bitterly disappointed with it.
Yeah, I raved about the movie in my previous post which was just after I'd just seen it, but you know what, I did the same thing with Revenge of the Fallen after I'd first seen that too, and that's now at 7/10 aswell.
So why the change? Well, when you have a deep interest in something, it's really easy to get caught up in that first (or even second) showing. My hunger for Transformers, hunger to see more of Optimus Prime, boosts my enjoyment of a show.
Time passes though, you watch it a couple more times, feel like you're able to look at it more objectively... and that's where it all falls apart.
There's so much that just doesn't make sense. I really liked the character of Sentinel Prime, but would someone who had evidently been leader of the Autobots for so long have been able to betray them so easily? To shoot Ironhide in the back?
Speaking of which, why wasn't Ironhide's death mourned? Hell, why wasn't it even mentioned? I realise they didn't have a whole lot of time to think, but would it have killed Bay to have included something like Prime kneeling over the remains? He wouldn't've even had to have said much, perhaps a line about revenge, or at the least, goodbye, old friend.
While I'm at it, what were all the Decepticons doing on the moon? How'd they get there? Correct me if I'm wrong, but considering it was a long lost Autobot ship that crashed there, if anything, shouldn't it have been Autobots out there? That or, I think I figured out exactly why the Decepticons keep losing the war, because one of them apparently summised that the best way to stage an attack on Earth was to hide underground on the moon and wait for a portal to be opened.
As far as Bumblebee being captured later on, there really needed to be a scene showing exactly how that happened, if just because of how that was used to inject so much emotional content into the proceedings. How many of the ladies weren't at the edge of their seats when it was looking like they were actually going to assassinate him?
Which of course, leads me to another point. Every time the Autobots get a chance they'll kill a Decepticon, but the Decepticons take prisoners? It felt like the Shanghai op from Revenge of the Fallen all over again, as we have the bad guys basically keeping to themselves, while being systematically slaughtered by the good guys.
Now, I love Optimus Prime as much as the next guy, but Bay's Optimus, I'm fucking glad he's on our side, because truth be told, he'd make one hell of a Decepticon. Some of the things he was doing, don't tell me he wasn't enjoying it. It's a CGI treat, of course, but does it always have to be at the expense of the character?
A lot of people have raved about the building sequence, but I hate it. I hate it because it only exists because of Bay's idea to have a building cut in half. There's no point to it. They go up because they've only got one rocket and they have to get higher to be able to use it, but then they get shot at, escape in spectacular fashion, and then... I don't know. They don't try again, or anything like that. No, Sam and Carly get separated from the rest, and then...
Sam kills Starscream. This sequence was like, the epitome of what Bay's movies are all about. So long as it looks great, to hell with common sense. It's just so fucking implausible.
And then there's the humour.
If it was a step up from that found in Revenge of the Fallen, it was only just. The whole thing with the Asian guy in the bathroom stall, I could do without, as I could also do without the parents lecturing Sam about how he's not gonna land another hotty like Carly unless he's got a big dick.
Urghh.
I still do like Michael Bay, and Dark of the Moon's very impressive CGI guarantees my purchase of that Blu Ray on day one, but a 10 out of 10 movie, it ain't. If I'm being brutally honest, I wouldn't rate it a whole lot better than Revenge of the Fallen, and as it stands now, I would more than welcome another director taking a shot at reviving this franchise.
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