Film Review: Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Transformers: Dark of the Moon. Rated M (action violence and coarse language). 149 minutes. Directed by Michael Bay. Screenplay by Ehren Kruger.

Nothing, it has to be said, can compare to the bravura technological showmanship of the brilliant, big-screen world of the Transformers. From the inspired dinky ‘turn, click and soar’ toys of 1984 to this latest (and apparently final) cinematic installment, the Transformers managed to capture and continually inspire the imaginations of young devotees around the globe.

In the world of our heroic Autobots and their arch-enemies, the Decepticons, anything was possible – and Bay (the first two Transformers movies, Pearl Harbor, Armageddon) ensures that his film franchise’s conclusion is reached with a spectacular full metal slap-down of monumental proportions.

Joyfully blasting off with a wonderful re-imagining of the motivation behind the USA’s first moon landing, Kruger’s screenplay runs the gamut from A to Z – while also managing to find time for some quaint but entertaining sequences involving Sam (Shia LaBeouf) and his Mom and Dad, who join him in Chicago on holiday. The boys (much like Bay’s camera) will also find much to appreciate about Megan Fox’s replacement, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (making her feature film debut), while the regular hard-working cast members are joined by Frances McDormand (Fargo) and John Malkovich (Burn After Reading) – who both polish off their cameos with scenery-chomping efficiency.

But as any Transformer fan knows, it’s not really about human fallibility at all – it’s about the machines – and it is on his spectacular Transformers that Bay and his colleagues (especially production designer Nigel Phelps and cinematographer Amir Mokri) lavish most of their skill, care and attention to detail.

Shockwave’s pet ‘Driller’ (like the Kraken in Clash of the Titans) fits the bill of the seriously-big-predator-set-crushing alien perfectly – and while it takes an eternity to finally arrive on the scene, when it does it is something to behold. In 3D particularly, the transformations take on an astonishing new complexity – and the sequences involving the cast of Transformers are magnificently realised with flawless and uncompromising artistry. Which is both as much and as little as we could possibly have hoped for.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspaper Group.