As even Michael Bay has admit, "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" had nearly nowhere to go but up once the writers' strike-affected, audience-alienating previous installment.
For those thoughts and others, take a serious dive into the "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" reviews.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon absolutely has further of a plot than either of its predecessors. — Jim Vejvoda, IGN
— Drew McWeeny, HitFix
The Comparisons
"Bay's hammering technique works, in a commercial sense. — Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune
— Josh Tyler, Cinema Blend
Later than the vessel’s scientific treasure is finally deployed — against earthlings by those darned Decepticons — “Dark of the Moon’’ turn into a war movie.
Dark of the Moon’’ is accomplished of having a little entertaining with itself.
The woman—the actress, I expect —who met these wishes was Rosie Huntington-Whitely, an English Victoria’s Secret model. Huntington-Whitely is the designated babe in this third Transformers destruct-a-thon. Shia LaBeouf, unlikeliest of action men, is back as young Sam Witwicky, friend to the noble Autobots, scourge of the evil Decepticons.
And series regulars John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, and Josh Duhamel, all returning for another tent-pole paycheck, are joined this time around by John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, and designated supporting stud Patrick Dempsey. LaBeouf, an actor of limited charisma, still can’t make much out of his character; and it doesn’t help that in his scenes with the decorative Huntington-Whitely, sparks consistently fail to fly.
LaBeouf also displays an alarming penchant for screamy-face overacting, in which he’s exceeded only by the shameless Ken Jeong, playing an irritating Asian-American character named, I’m afraid, Wang. The “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” franchise has inevitably grown repetitive, and it’s beginning to feel played out
