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Friday, July 1, 2011

Directed by Michael Bay
Starring Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, John Turturro, Frances McDormand, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Patrick Dempsey, Alan Tyduk, John Malkovich, Ken Jeong, Julie White, Kevin Dunn, Glenn Morshower, Buzz Aldrin, (voices:) Peter Cullen, Leonard Nimoy, Hugo Weaving, Charles Adler, Frank Welker, Jess Harnell, James Remar

Well, time to bring on the wrath of thousands of die hard TF fans and declare this a successful trilogy throughout. Many would say that Bay couldn't direct traffic to save his life let alone good movies but in my opinion that's all how you look at it. And yes, there truly are different angles. You can't seriously win an argument against these films by comparing them to the likes of Pulp Fiction or Citizen Kane. Those films are art and hardly what you may call entertainment for a friday night. Transformers on the other hand is that kind of a film. And there really is no harm in that. 

 Sam Witwicky (LaBeouf) is now a college graduate and looking for a job. He's been dumped by Mikaela (who was played by Megan fox in the two previous films and was fired from TF3 by executive producer Steven Spielberg for calling Bay a nazi) and is now dating Carly (drop dead gorgeous Victoria's Secret angel Huntington-Whiteley). The dormant Decepticons have been plotting a scheme ever since the first Apollo moon landing and with treacherous human allies are about to come down hard on humanity unless the Autobots stop them.

 The third film in the series improves on the previous installments on the humor front which has always been Bay's Achilles heel. He's really into a kind of loud ghetto humor depicted in the first film by the usually quite irritating Anthony Anderson and in the first sequel by the fucking annoying Autobot Twins. In Dark Of the Moon much of the comedy rests on LaBeouf's comedic timing and physical comedy and luckily that's one thing he's very good at. Also Malkovich shines in a bit part as Witwicky's eccentric boss and Jeong from The Hangover fame manages to pull of his first role where I don't feel like punching him in the face. The first hour and a half is quite easy going and there's a surprisingly large amount of plot building which, in a tradition, culminates in to the last hour of almost non-stop action. The film owes much of it's gravitas to McDormand's presence. It's immediately a different ball game when she is on screen because her performance is very commanding and spot on for this movie. The effects are absolutely photoreal and the Academy will really make an ass of itself if the special effects statue doesn't finally come this way. Also, it's always an unforgettable experience to hear Cullen as the voice of my greatest hero, Optimus Prime but the addition of Nimoy as the voice of Sentinel Prime really finishes the geeky experince for myself and no doubt many others. Especially with all the fun Star Trek and Spock references. Then again, he's not a new commer to Transformers having voiced the character of Galvatron in the 1986 animated Transformers: The Movie.

 People and especially fan boys just love to bitch about stuff and the geeky die hard fans of G(eneration)1 Transformers series must have been digging into their starting positions as the first film was announced. Yes, Optimus Prime trampled some flowers in the Witwicky backyard in the first film and everyone grabbed their torches and pitchforks. Shit, really?! You're gonna blacklist a whole film for one throw away joke? In that case the joke's on you, buddy. And the fact that they updated the designs of the characters? Well if you look at the whole thing objectively and stay true to what you'll find, it's a simple fact that they had to. If you would've simply transferred the medium on screen as it was in the 80's series, the whole thing would've looked fucking ridiculous and you wouldn't have been able to take any of it seriously. You fan boys know this, but can't admit to it. Then there's the whole international grudge thing against Michael Bay. Why? Okey, it's very fair to say the man is no Ingmar Bergman or Stanley Kubrick but then again no-one has ever claimed he was. Bay himself once said something along the lines of "I make films for 12 year old boys. Is that such a crime?" and I can't help but wonder the same myself. Once again, people love to complain when it's their turn or when they have the opportunity to do so. Pathetic. I'm sure there are objective people out there who honestly hate these adaptations of Transformers and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But if it's because you just have lots of misguided random anger or you're just basically an egotistical prick or want to go with the flow and are afraid of standing out while you actually love these films, then you've got nothing. Fucking NOTHING. In fact, I believe most of the lame ass internet trashers haven't even seen all of these films or none of them but still love to fucking bitch and moan about how Michael Bay sucks balls and how he ruined their childhood memories. Fucking face the facts, adjust and deal with it, douchebags. Your complaints are not gonna stop Bay from making movies and by the way that's another fun fact.

KITEYTETTYNÄ SINIVALKOISILLE
Valmistautukaa nörttivuodatukseen. Transformers: Kuun Pimeä Puoli on lisää samaa kuin kaksi edellistäkin elokuvaa, sillä erolla että muutamat epäkohdat on saatu hiottua lopullisesti kondikseen. Huumori on ollut aina ohjaaja Bayn Akilleen kantapää, sillä mies on ollut tykästynyt ns. jenkkiläiseen ghettohuumoriin, joka pohjautuu lähinnä kovaan ääneen ja latteisiin epähauskoihin heittoihin. Ensimmäisessä leffassa edellä mainittua edusti Anthony Anderson (Me Kaksi & Irene, 8 Mile) ja ensimmäisessä jatko-osassa hölmöt ja todella ärsyttävävät Autobottien robottikaksoset. Nyt komiikka lepää pääasiassa LaBeoufin ajoituksen ja fyysisen komedian harteilla ja onneksi se on yksi osa-alue, jolla tämä mies loistaa. Ensimmäiset 1½ tuntia leffassa kasataan yllättävän eheää juonta ja tunnelmaa ennen kuin viimeinen tunti vietetäänkin jo näille filkoille tunnetusti miltei taukoamattoman toiminnan keskellä kun Chicagoa pistetään maan tasalle. Lisää tasapainoa vaakaan tuo etenkin McDormand sivuroolissaan ja yllättäen myös Greyn Anatomia-sarjasta tuttu Dempsey. Molemmat osoittavat kuinka paljon hienosti vedetty vakava roolityö tuo lisää arvoa tällaiseen viihde-elokuvaan.

Cullen on AINA koskettavaa kuulla oman suurimman lapsuuden sankarini, Optimus Primen äänenä, mutta tällä kertaa ääninäyttelijöistä löytyy myös yhtä legendaarinen Nimoy joka on varmasti suurelle yleisölle tuttu Star Trekin suippokorvaisena Spock-hahmona. Mies ei tosin ole uusi tulokas Transformersin maailmaan sillä hän antoi äänensä jo Galvatron-pahikselle vuoden 1986 animoidussa elokuvassa Transformers: The Movie. Olen kenties puolueellinen näitä leffoja kohtaan, oltuani fani jo lapsuudesta asti, mutta allekirjoittaneen mielestä Kuun Pimeä Puoli on suurelle yleisölle luultavasti ainakin viihdyttävä kokemus, jossa ei tylsyys ehdi iskeä. Etenkään miespuoleisille katsojille. Ohjaaja Bayn vihaajat tulevat vihaamaan tätäkin elokuvaa ja pilkunussija himofanit tulevat valittamaan ikuisesti formaatin päivittämisestä 80-luvun piirretystä nykypäivään, mutta totuus on ettei ilman näitä muutoksia koko projektista olisi saanut millään muotoa uskottavaa pakettia. Hyväksykää ja sopeutukaa tai olkaa katkeria ikuisesti. Ei oikeastaan kiinnosta.

Transformers: Dark Of The Moon at IMDb



2 comments:

I616 said...

Yeah, a good ending for a respectably well-made trilogy of fun-to-watch movies. And Optimus is even more awesome. =)

The only thing that _really_ has annoyed me with the films is the glorification of the US of A which culminates in the second film (and raises it's head in the third,too).

I mean the point where the pencil necked idiot from defence department comes to the base and tells that Autobots need to get the hell out of our planet, because they can't stay in the US since they are a national security risk.

WTH? They just can't relocate to another country? Noooooo. "We don't like you so GTF off the planet!" USA decides that for the whole world now? Geez, talk about delusions of grandeur.

Ok, rant off. Sorry, bro. =)

616 out.

EdWood said...

Well the flag waving has always been a part of Bay's films and like you, I too find most of that "America the greatest" hoo haa more than a tad obnoxious and overblown.

Personally I think there's nothing wrong with patriotism but like many other things, it too can go too far. It's actually kind of like jealousy.. having a bit of it is not bad. Hell, in moderation it's even healthy but breathing down someone else's neck with it becomes old REAL fast.

And what comes to the flag waving in Bay's movies, I've always thought that viewers should turn it into a drinking game. Take Armageddon for example, probably his most America heavy film to date. Down a shot every time you see a waving flag and you'll be blastered within 15 minutes. Tops.