Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)

When Michael Bay first revived the 'Transformers' franchise in 2007, the outcome was a fun and visually stunning film that treated the franchise with respect whilst never taking itself too seriously. Regardless of the flaws of the film, I enjoyed myself whilst watching it. 2009 saw the release of the sequel, subtitled 'Revenge of the Fallen'. It was universally panned for becoming largely humourless and featuring awkward camera work that made it difficult to appreciate the special effects that the films had become famous for. The third film has just been released and has addressed many of the issues with the previous films. In the process however, it has introduced many more.

The acting in the film is a strange mishmash of styles. The Transformers are CG creations that are given character though voice acting. Peter Cullen, whose resume reads like the Wikipedia page for the Transformers franchise, resumes his role as Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots. Cullen's voice remains as it has been for years: strong, authoritative and a perfect fit for the character. Optimus' enemy, Megatron, is voiced by Hugo Weaving, whose sly, deceptive tone is a perfect counterpoint to Cullen's boldness. When these characters speak, the voice acting is good enough to help the audience forget the silliness of the premise and buy into the plot of the film. However, problems arise when the acting style of the human characters clash completely with the grandiose nature of the two main voice actors. Shia LeBeouf reprises his role as Sam Witwicky, bringing nervous energy to the cast. Many of the other human characters share this 'quirky' characterisation, such as Sam's parents, played by Kevin Dunn and Julie White, and (ex-)Agent Simmons, played by John Turturro. This style of acting feels more appropriate for a summer comedy then an action blockbuster. It is very jarring when the movie seems to have a habit of moving from scenes with humans speaking fast-paced lines of dialogue about their to scenes with robots crashing into each other and solemnly reciting their moral codes. It is as if scenes from a summer comedy were spliced into a science fiction film- the different styles of acting do not blend well with one another.

As mentioned earlier, the special effects of the films are known for being superb and the third instalment of the series does not disappoint. Amongst the explosions and decaying cities, the thing that struck me the most was the quality of the animation. The various Transformers moved fluidly, but also managed to deliver a sense of weight and momentum that I felt was seriously lacking in the previous two films. The camera work was also substantially better then the previous film in particular, slowing down shots and removing the unnecessary 'shaky-cam' technique in the action scenes. The result is that the third film is more pleasing to the eye, giving the audience a clearer view of the action sequences and allowing the special effects of the film to be better appreciated.

Unfortunately, all of these improvements were offset by a particular flaw that had not been addressed from the previous films: that is, the overall length of the film. 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' runs for 157 minutes. This movie is simply far too long and outstays it's welcome long before the film finishes. The storyline had to be basic to accommodate the action and the characters do not have the depth to sustain the audience's interest for this length of time. This film desperately needed a tough editor to come and slash at least half an hour from what ended up as the final cut, preferably more.