Grade: B Director: Michael Bay (Pearl Harbor) Screenplay: Ehren Kruger (The Ring) Cast: Shia LaBeouf (Transformers), Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (a Victoria's Secret girl) Rating: PG-13 By John DeSando, WCBE's "It's Movie Time," "Cinema Classics," and "On the Marquee"
"You may lose faith in us, but never in yourselves."Optimus Prime
Transformers: Dark of the Moon is not so much about faith as it is things that bump and grind in the day and night?machines to be exact. Michael Bay directs, and he and his buddy, Steven Spielberg, are executive producers, so kids or kid-like fun dominates.
It's a CGI smorgasbord impressive for its volume alone. Almost every frame is full of metal parts that burrow, blow up, or just jabber. Although Bay is clearly having a ball, when he gets down to toppling a big building in venerable Chicago (the echoes of 9/11 are sobering), it's almost serious filmmaking: Awe overtakes humor, which has its own part in summer fluffy fare.
Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) and girlfriend Carly Miller (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (foxy but no Megan Fox) are primary civilians to stop the Decepticons from conquering the earth. Earthlings are in the process of banishing the Autobots, who have been faithful allies. It's all pretty hazy to me, so I'll stop here with the plot and return to the visual, where Bay puts all his effort.
The re-creation of downtown Chicago, with the Wrigley Building taking center stage, is as good as the London of Cars 2. In fact, just seeing street signs such as "Wacker" gains immediate sympathy from the natives and travelers in the audience. Transformers is another version of special-effects porn at which our American filmmakers are so adept.
The effect least impressive for me is 3-D, an ubiquitous bother that is finally on the wane as admission process rise and consumer enthusiasm wanes. The drain of light, making a dull screen image, can be mitigated if theaters were willing to pay extra for bulbs that burn out quickly. Not. I am left to hope for deliverance from this annoying sideshow except in the case of the documentary Cave of Dreams, in which appreciating 30,000-year old cave paintings is enhanced.
Although Bay does an adequate exploitation of the process for romping around the summer screen with thin fare, 2-D is just fine for me, thank you. However, at two and one half hours, he is a magician who keeps the kiddies in their seats. Or maybe it's Huntington-Whiteley substituting for Fox. Anyway, the visuals are the stars.
John DeSando co-hosts WCBE 90.5's It's Movie Time, Cinema Classics, and On the Marquee, which can be heard streaming at http://publicbroadcasting.net/wcbe/ppr/index.shtml and on demand at http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/wcbe/arts.artsmain Contact him at JDeSando@Columbus.RR.com