I haven't posted here in quite a while.  Possibly, the last time I posted the TransFormers sequel, Revenge of the Fallen was out or just getting ready to be released.  I have taken too long of a break from political writing and it's good to be starting up a regular blog again.  More about why I stopped posting here will be forthcoming later but today I would like to write about TransFormers:  Dark of the Moon, which I just saw the other day.

There is a fine line between genius and crap, and TransFormers:  Dark of the Moon walks that line well.  Part of what is wrong with this movie is that, while it obviously does not take itself too seriously, it still tries to project the image of being a sweepingly epic grand masterpiece.  Director Michael Bay's style is more than apparent here:  One of the consistent and most recognizable aspects of all three films is his use of overhead and low-angle "human's-eye-view" shots of the robots.  These points of view do make the movie fun to watch for a time, but like bubblegum the flavor fades too fast.

Critically, I look at this movie and realize what a huge, steaming pile it is.  Like a Taco Bell taco, there is no redeeming value and up to 12% of filler.  You know it is bad for you, but still you eat it.  At least a Taco Bell taco tastes good.

Throughout the movie, characters often do illogical things while other plot points are equally illogical.  Why did Sentinal Prime need to betray his people when he could have just as easily used the Bridge to defeat the Decepticons and exile them to a barren planet?  Why isn't the Government putting Sam Wittwickey's knowledge of the Autobots and field expertise to good use?  Why use the Xanthium to get to the moon early in the film, but only make a big show of it when they are sending the Autobots away?  Why didn't the Xanthium's Engergon detectors pick up all those Decepticon ships and robots that were on the moon and apparently hidden just miles away from either Tranquility Base or the crashed ARC?

Like in the second film, these logical falicies kill the momentum when you stop to think, "Why didn't they just use the chunk of Allspark Cube to revive Optimus?  Why did they use it to revive another Autobot who might be able to tell them about something else that might possibly revive Optimus?"  Attempts to build tension like this plot summary of Revenge of the Fallen also occur in Dark of the Moon, and they feel empty, as if the writers are trying to be clever rather than letting the story itself be naturally clever.

Yes, writing 101 will tell you that having a character point out the illogic in something is often a good way to dispell the audience's disbelief at said illogicality (and characters do this here almost as often as when they point out the obvious like, "Look at that ship!  It's landing!")  But that writing technique does not give writers license to be wholly illogical in their premises.

All the same, perhaps one can get past the inconsitencies, the vaguary and the skewed logic such as, Sentinal Prime was headed to Earth to meet up with Megatron, yet Megatron was discovered in an already frozen state during the 1920's while Sentinal's ship, the ARC, did not crash on the moon until 1953.  If one can get past all that, Dark of the Moon does what it set out to do - gives us giant robots, lots of explosions, nearly endless action sequences and is pretty well-shot so at least it's nice to look at.

In spite of all the terrible points, all the reasons why these are bad movies (not the least of which is this is a MOVIE franchise based on a CARTOON which was itself based on series of TOYS), I still love these movies.  For whatever reason, giant robots that can change shapes into cars, planes and other vehicles still hold a childlike fascination for me.  All the action sequences simply make my eyes pop out of my head and my inner child is extremely satisfied.

And at least Dark of the Moon has one saving grace over the first two TransFormers movies:  No Megan Fox.

Definitely not five-star fare, but better than most of the summer selections that aren't Marvel this season.  I can't wait until the fourth movie, when they introduce the Dinobots!