Transformers: Dark of Moon

Directed By: Michael Bay
Written By: Ehren Kruger
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Frances McDormand, Patrick Dempsey,Tyrese Gibson and John Malkovich
Rated: PG-13

MY RATING: D+

Okay so Transformers: Dark of Moon, a third sequel ... why oh why?  I must say I was disappointed with this one.

I will try to simplify this overly complicated story as best as I can.  In this third film, the Decepticons and Autobots are at odds again.  This time the Decepticons hope to use pillars, which have the power of teleportation, to bring planet Cybertron to Earth and build a new home where humans are the slaves.  Of course Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) is back, this time he's fresh out of college and (true to our economic climate) having a hard time finding a job despite his accomplishments as a "hero."  His former girlfriend (Megan Fox) is out and he's met someone new named Carly (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley).  He ends up landing a job at a company led by tyrannical boss, Bruce Brazos (John Malkovich).  While on the job he meets the over-the-top Jerry Wang (Ken Jeong) who ends up having secrets that could help Sam save the world.  So once again the Decepticons and Autobots battle it out and we're all caught in the middle.   

For me this film had an overly complicated script.  They spent too much time explaining the whole, pillars, The Ark spacecraft, planet Cybertron, moon, NASA, blah, blah, blah and not enough time on a tangible story with Sam Witwicky.  The first two films were all about Sam (Shia) which got us to care about him and in this third one not much time was spent on his character.  His parents return for no necessary reason and are nowhere near as funny as they were before.  Jerry Wang (Jeong) and Bruce Brazos (Malkovich) also weren't that funny and seemed out of place.  Then there's the new relationship between Witwicky and Carly which was not developed enough to create a connection to them.  I enjoyed them but I can't say that I was rooting for them throughout the film.  The focus was mainly on the transformers in this one so the human characters took a hit in their development.  I mean they tried to make Patrick Dempsey a bad guy.  Come on now!  Not McDreamy!  Sorry didn't work for me.   
Add in Michael Bay's over usage of the slow motion shot and you just have a big budget let down.  The best part of this film was the last ten minutes.  Great action there!

So I'd say if you're a man's man and love military, government conspiracy type films and you're a huge fan of the Transformers cartoons then this is the film for you.
Everyone else ... the first one was the best and you could actually skip this one altogether. 

(Note to Parents: A good deal of profanity so this is definitely for children 13 and up.)