Review: Will "I Am Legend" Smith - The Film Rests on His Shoulders

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 143 (of 2007) by Leroy Douresseaux

I Am Legend (2007)
Running time: 101 minutes (1 hour, 41 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence
DIRECTOR: Francis Lawrence
WRITERS: Mark Protosevich and Akiva Goldsman (based upon the 1971 screenplay by Joyce Hooper Corrington and John William Corrington and based upon the novel by Richard Matheson)
PRODUCERS: Akiva Goldsman, David Heyman, James Lassiter, Neal H. Moritz, and Erwin Stoff
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Andrew Lesnie
EDITOR: Wayne Wahrman
Image Awards nominee

SCI-FI/DRAMA/HORROR/THRILLER

Starring: Will Smith, Alice Braga, Charlie Tahan, Salli Richardson, and Willow Smith

I Am Legend is the third film adaptation of Richard Matheson’s 1954 novel, I Am Legend, following the 1961 film, The Last Man on Earth (starring Vincent Price), and the 1971 film, The Omega Man (starring Charlton Heston). The book also apparently influenced George Romero’s Night of the Living Dead.

Robert Neville (Will Smith) is the last human survivor in what is left of New York City, and perhaps the last man on earth, after a manmade virus – unstoppable and incurable – ravages humanity. Neville, however, is not quite alone. He shares the city with “the Infected,” victims of the plague who were mutated into monstrously fast and powerful carnivorous beings, who can only exist in the dark (and look like the belong in a video game).

For three years, Neville, who is also a brilliant scientist and military virologist, has scavenged for food and supplies. He also sends radio messages hoping to find other human survivors – his only companion a faithful dog named Sam. Immune to the virus, he also continues to search for a cure to the virus, a way to reverse the effects to the virus. Meanwhile, the Infected are watching him, waiting for him to make a fatal mistake, and Neville knows that he is outnumbered and running out of time.

There’s something missing in I Am Legend, and I can’t quite put my finger on it. I know what it does have in its favor – Will Smith, and that’s enough to carry the incomplete things and wash over the bad things. Neville played by Smith seems a powerful force in the lonely canyons and abandoned edifices of New York City – alone because man finally brought about Armageddon all on his own. It was the end of everything, and Satan didn’t have to break a sweat to bring it about, but here is the stubborn Smith-Neville, single-minded in his pursuit to survive and find a way to make hungry monsters human again. That makes him something like a persistent weed or an oblivious roach, or maybe he’s too clueless to remember that quite a bit of humanity was already trading in monstrosity before the virus wiped them out. This complexity of character and the ambivalence and stubbornness Smith gives Neville is what marks Will Smith as a great movie star and exceptional actor. His excellence is both in the process and in how he executes his preparation into fashioning engaging, riveting, mesmerizing characters.

Smith is glorious in a film that traffics in the mundane and sometimes makes intractable boredom the narrative, and what’s amazing is that he does it by playing a character that, while he may earn our sympathy, is largely unattractive. Neville is either slowly going crazy because he is lonely or has already been driven bonkers because he’s so desperate for human contact. He can’t be friends with the Infected who only want to eat him (although one could get the idea that he’d like to be friends). Smith presents Neville as someone, who because of his current state of affairs, should be avoided.

I Am Legend is well-served by the lovely German shepherd, Sam. In a world that has died, a dog is hope, love, friendship, and loyalty on four legs. Director Francis Lawrence, fortunate that Warner Bros. Pictures gave him another chance after Constantine, makes the best of this wonderful dog. Lawrence is also lucky for Smith’s masterful, rich performance and for the incredible CGI work that went into creating an empty NYC. That’s why “the whatever” that’s missing in I Am Legend seems like such a small thing, so Lawrence helms a film that is almost a great sci-fi movie, but is still a really good one.

7 of 10
A-

Sunday, December 16, 2007

NOTES:
2008 Image Awards: 2 nominations: “Outstanding Actor in a Motion Picture” (Will Smith) and “Outstanding Motion Picture”

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Vincent Price Carries "The Last Man on Earth"

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 87 (of 2006) by Leroy Douresseaux


The Last Man on Earth (1964) – B&W
Running time: 86 minutes (1 hour, 26 minutes)
DIRECTORS: Ubaldo Ragona and Sidney Salkow
WRITERS: William Liecester, Furio M. Monetti, Ubaldo Ragona, and Logan Swanson (Richard Matheson); (based upon the novel I Am Legend by Richard Matheson)
PRODUCER: Robert L. Lippert
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Franco Delli Colli
EDITORS: Gene Ruggiero and Franca Silvi

HORROR/SCI-FI/DRAMA

Starring: Vincent Price, Franca Bettoia, Emma Danieli, and Giacomo Rossi-Stuart

A worldwide plague (or pandemic) seemingly kills all of humanity, but it also causes the dead to arise and return as shambling, simple-minded, vampire-like creatures who want blood. Dr. Robert Morgan (Vincent Price) is apparently the only human unaffected – the last man on earth. Every night a group of these “living dead” attack Morgan’s house, calling his name, and demanding his life. What makes it worse is that one of the creatures was Morgan’s best friend, Ben Cortman (Giacomo Rossi-Stuart). Eventually, Morgan encounters a young woman named Ruth Collins (Franca Bettoia), whom Morgan at first assumes to be another surviving human. However, there is more to Ruth than meets the eye, and it may mean there are others like her – others who want Morgan dead.

The Last Man on Earth was the first film adaptation of one of the most famous vampire novels of 20th century, Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend. Stephen King claims that the book was a huge influence on him, and both Matheson’s book and this 1964 adaptation influenced George A. Romero’s seminal zombie film, Night of the Living Dead. This adaptation is a somber and occasionally creepy, if not chilling, film about loneliness and what it truly means to be “the only one.” Price ably carries the film practically by himself, as every other character only has a small part. The surreal black and white photography and the carefully designed sets give this film a forlorn mood. However, the locations, which feature abandoned cars, debris, and bodies scattered about the streets make this a depressing and haunting, but engaging apocalyptic film.

7 of 10
B+

Saturday, April 22, 2006

Review: Great Performances "Walk the Line" (Happy B'day, Joaquin Phoenix)

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 177 (of 2005) by Leroy Douresseaux

Walk the Line (2005)
Running time: 135 minutes (2 hours, 15 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for some language, thematic material, and depiction of drug dependency
DIRECTOR: James Mangold
WRITERS: Gill Dennis and James Mangold (based upon the books The Man in Black by Johnny Cash and Cash: An Autobiography by Johnny Cash and Patrick Carr)
PRODUCERS: James Keach and Cathy Konrad
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Phedon Papamichael
EDITOR: Michael McCusker

DRAMA/BIOGRAPHY/MUSIC-SONGS with elements of romance

Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin, Robert Patrick, Dallas Roberts, Dan John Miller, Larry Bagby, Shelby Lynne, Tyler Hilton, Waylon Malloy Payne, Shooter Jennings, Sandra Ellis Lafferty, and Dan Beene

Walk the Line, the Johnny Cash biopic, chronicles Cash’s beginnings as the son of Ray Cash, (Robert Patrick), a poor Arkansas cotton farmer, his rise to fame with Sun Records in Memphis, and his early status as a rock and country music star with Columbia Records. Along the way, Johnny Cash (Joaquin Phoenix) battles an addiction to pills, struggles with his first marriage to Vivian Cash (Ginnifer Goodwin), and meets the true love of his life and his soul mate, June Carter (Reese Witherspoon), a singer Cash admired when he was a poor Arkansas boy and she was a child star singer on the country music circuit of the 1940’s.

Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash is the primary reason Walk the Line succeeds. He plays Cash with equal parts mad abandon and quiet intensity. His Cash is one moment a wild man and the next moment a vulnerable soul desiring an intimate connection with June Carter or perhaps seeking reconciliation with the past. A film biography usually can’t give us the interior substance of the man a book could. However, a film biography can give us some kind of emotional and visual approximation of Cash. That’s what Joaquin does in Walk the Line.

Sadly, the film’s (almost) fatal flaw is the script because it’s shallow. The writers, Gill Dennis and director James Mangold, rely on several elements to give the film its emotional impact. One of them is Cash’s drug use, but the film takes a very surface look at it. Cash uses drugs; he becomes addicted, acts like an ass to his friends and family, and breaks things. That entire sub-plot comes across as what it is – old hat. It’s more annoying than interesting.

Two other important sub-plots are Johnny’s relationship with his father, Ray, and his wife Vivian. Robert Patrick gives a good performance as Ray Cash, but Mangold and Dennis mishandle the relationship (or misunderstood it while doing research for the film). It’s a clunky bit of writing that usually has a strung-out Cash staring oh-so-intensely staring at Papa Cash while Ray simply acts like a mean sumbitch. The film doesn’t need the father-son dynamic to be touchy-feely, but that relationship has no heart, is paper-thin, and the resolution is tacked on for a feel-good ending.

Vivian Cash, expertly played by the stunningly gorgeous Ginnifer Goodwin, gets the same dismissal. Mangold and Dennis once again rely on an old film stereotype, one especially big in biopics – that of the shrewish wife. Vivian is more whiny than happy, and the marriage is more or less played as being misbegotten from the get-go. That’s inaccurate (certainly by the accounts of Cash’s four children by Vivian), and if the filmmakers intended to play the marital strife for dramatic effect, they failed, instead ruining a good character.

The biggest waste in Walk the Line is Reese Witherspoon’s June Carter. As written here, the part isn’t a co-lead; it’s a glorified supporting role. Ms. Witherspoon and Phoenix certainly have some serious screen chemistry. They butt heads, stare deeply at one another, and bicker like siblings – or like longtime lovers. Ultimately, however, the story plays June Carter as being only important because she is something Johnny has to have. Of course, this isn’t really June’s story, but it’s obvious to anyone who sees Walk the Line how important June was to Johnny, though we only get a tantalizing piece here and there.

In Ray, the Ray Charles biopic, actor playing important supporting characters get at least one scene to define his characters both as an individual and as a larger part of the narrative. Walk the Line doesn’t allow this except for June Carter’s part. We also get very little of Johnny Cash’s backup band and or of his industry collaborators and acquaintances. Ray also gave the viewer numerous looks at Ray Charles’ creative process of songwriting, performing, and producing. Other than the concert scenes, Walk the Line gives us very little of Johnny Cash’s creative process.

Still, I found myself getting emotional during much of Walk the Line. There are some powerfully emotional scenes here (for instance, when Johnny first performs for Sam Phillips, founder of Sun Records). Add such magical moments to Joaquin Phoenix and, to a lesser degree, Reese Witherspoon’s performances, and Walk the Line is a special biographical movie.

7 of 10
B+

Monday, November 28, 2005

NOTES:
2006 Academy Awards: 1 win: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Reese Witherspoon); 4 nominations: “Best Achievement in Costume Design” (Arianne Phillips), “Best Achievement in Film Editing” (Michael McCusker), and “Best Achievement in Sound Mixing” (Paul Massey, Doug Hemphill, Peter F. Kurland), and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Joaquin Phoenix)

2006 BAFTA Awards: 2 wins: “Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role” (Reese Witherspoon) and “Best Sound” (Paul Massey, Doug Hemphill, Peter F. Kurland, and Donald Sylvester); 2 nominations: “Anthony Asquith Award for Film Music” (T-Bone Burnett) and “Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role” (Joaquin Phoenix)

2006 Golden Globes: 3 wins: “Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Cathy Konrad and James Keach), “Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Joaquin Phoenix), and “Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy” (Reese Witherspoon)

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"We Need to Talk About Kevin" Wins 2011 BFI Best Film Award

BFI LONDON FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES 2011 AWARD WINNERS

London – 10.30pm, 26 October 2011: The 55th BFI London Film Festival, in partnership with American Express announced the winners at its high profile awards ceremony, supported by Montblanc at London’s LSO St Luke’s this evening. Hosted by Marcus Brigstocke, the four awards were presented by some of the most respected figures in the film world.

BEST FILM: WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT KEVIN, directed by Lynne Ramsay
Celebrating the most original, intelligent and distinctive filmmaking in the Festival, the Best Film award, presented in partnership with American Express, was chaired by John Madden who presented the award with fellow judge Gillian Anderson.

On behalf of the jury John Madden (Chair) said: “This year’s shortlist for Best Film comprises work that is outstanding in terms of its originality and its stylistic reach. It is an international group, one united by a common sense of unflinching human enquiry and we were struck by the sheer panache displayed by these great storytellers. In the end, we were simply bowled over by one film, a sublime, uncompromising tale of the torment that can stand in the place of love. We Need to Talk About Kevin is made with the kind of singular vision that links great directors across all the traditions of cinema.”

BEST BRITISH NEWCOMER: Candese Reid, actress, Junkhearts
This award is presented in partnership with Swarovski and honours new and emerging film talent, recognising the achievements of a new writer, producer, director, actor or actress. The award for Best British Newcomer was presented by Edgar Wright and Minnie Driver to Candese Reid, for her acting role in Junkhearts, a sophisticated, social drama about hope and the search for redemption. Starting acting at the age of nine, she joined Nottingham’s prestigious Television Workshop, and her role in Junkhearts, at the age of 18, was her first professional acting role. Candese also received a bursary of £5,000 courtesy of Swarovski

Chair of the Best British Newcomer jury, Andy Harries said, “Candese is a fresh, brilliant and exciting new talent. Every moment she was on screen was compelling.”

SUTHERLAND AWARD WINNER: Pablo Giorgelli, director of LAS ACACIAS
The long-standing Sutherland Award is presented to the director of the most original and imaginative feature debut in the Festival. This year, Argentinian director Pablo Giorgelli took the award for his film Las Acacias, a slow-burning, uplifting and enchanting story of a truck driver and his passengers. The director received his Star of London from film director Terry Gilliam.

The jury commented: “In a lively and thoughtful jury room debate, Las Acacias emerged as a worthy winner, largely because of the originality of its conception. Finely judged performances and a palpable sympathy for his characters makes this a hugely impressive debut for director Pablo Giorgelli.”

GRIERSON AWARD FOR BEST DOCUMENTARY: INTO THE ABYSS: A Tale of Death, A Tale of Life directed by Werner Herzog
The award is co-presented with the Grierson Trust, in commemoration of John Grierson, the grandfather of British documentary. Recognising outstanding feature length documentaries of integrity, originality, technical excellence or cultural significance, the jury was chaired by Adam Curtis and the award went to Werner Herzog’s coruscating study of the senselessness of violence and its consequences.

BFI FELLOWSHIP: Ralph Fiennes and David Cronenberg (as previously announced)
Awarded to an individual whose body of work has made an outstanding contribution to film culture, the Fellowship is the highest accolade that the British Film Institute bestows and was awarded to Canadian auteur David Cronenberg whose film A Dangerous Method premiered at the Festival on Monday. The Fellowship was presented by Jeremy Thomas and Michael Fassbender.

Ralph Fiennes, one of Britain’s pre-eminent actors, who has just made a bold and critically well received transition to film directing with his festival film Coriolanus, was also presented with a Fellowship, this time from fellow actor and personal friend Liam Neeson.

Greg Dyke, Chair, BFI said: ‘The BFI London Film Festival Awards pay tribute to outstanding film talent, so we are delighted and honoured that both Ralph Fiennes, one of the world’s finest and most respected actors and David Cronenberg, one of the most original and ground-breaking film directors of contemporary cinema, have both accepted BFI Fellowships - the highest accolade the BFI can bestow. I also want to congratulate all the filmmakers and industry professionals here tonight, not only on their nominations and awards, but also for their vision, skill, passion and creativity.’

The Star of London award was commissioned especially for the Festival and designed by leading sculptor Almuth Tebbenhoff.

Jurors present at the ceremony included: Best Film jurors John Madden, Andrew O’Hagan. Gillian Anderson, Asif Kapadia, Tracey Seaward and Sam Taylor-Wood OBE; Sutherland jurors Tim Robey, Joanna Hogg, Saskia Reeves, Peter Kosminsky, Hugo Grumbar, and the artist Phil Collins. Best British Newcomer jurors Anne-Marie Duff, Tom Hollander, Edith Bowman, Stephen Woolley and Nik Powell; and Grierson Award jurors Mandy Chang of the Grierson Trust, Charlotte Moore, Head of Documentary Commissioning at BBC, Kim Longinotto and Adam Curtis.

Other guests included: Alfonso Cuarón , Sheharazade Goldsmith, Duncan Kenworthy, Aaron Johnson, Paul Gambaccini, Chair of the BFI Greg Dyke, Chief Executive Amanda Nevill and Festival Director Sandra Hebron.

Review: 1993 Version of "The Three Musketeers" is Surprisingly Fun

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 87 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux


The Three Musketeers (1993)
Running time: 105 minutes (1 hour, 45 minutes)
MPAA – PG for action/violence and some brief sensuality
DIRECTOR: Stephen Herek
WRITER: David Loughery (based upon the novel by Alexandre Dumas père)
PRODUCERS: Roger Birnbaum and Joe Roth
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Dean Semler
EDITOR: John F. Link
COMPOSER: Michael Kamen

HISTORICAL/ACTION/COMEDY with elements of drama and adventure

Starring: Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Chris O’Donnell, Oliver Platt, Tim Curry, Rebecca De Mornay, Gabrielle Anwar, Michael Wincott, Paul McGann, Julie Delpy, and Hugh O’Conor

The Three Musketeers is a 1993 swashbuckling comedy film from Walt Disney Pictures. It is based upon Alexandre Dumas père’s 1844 novel, also entitled The Three Musketeers.

The film opens on young d’Artagnan (Chris O’Donnell) who arrives in Paris with dreams of becoming one of the Musketeers, a band of men sworn to protect and serve the King of France, as his late father was. However, the king’s minister, Count Richelieu (Tim Curry), has just disbanded the Musketeers. This is part of Richelieu’s plot with the Duke of Buckingham of England to overthrow King Louis XIII of France (Hugh O’Conor). Richelieu wants to become the new king after the coup, and he also plans to take Queen Anne of Austria (Gabrielle Anwar) as his queen.

Through a series of misadventures, d’Artagnan joins the three best Musketeers: Athos (Kiefer Sutherland), Porthos (Oliver Platt), and Aramis (Charlie Sheen) to stop Richelieu’s evil plot. First, they must intercept Richelieu’s spy and secret agent, Milady de Winter (Rebecca De Mornay), from delivering a signed treaty to the Duke of Buckingham. However, it seems as if the entire country is set against d’Artagnan and the Three Musketeers as they try to save King and Country.

When this version of The Three Musketeers debuted back in November 1993, I was too much of a snob to see it. To me, it seemed like it was going to be nothing more than trash, but 18 years later, I enjoyed watching it. However, it turns out that I was right about some of my misgivings. Three of the four lead actors: Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, Chris O’Donnell are just awful, with the lone exception of quality being Oliver Platt’s largely comic performance. Even Tim Curry is way more over the top than he needs to be, while Julie Delpy’s Constance is hardly in the film. Rebecca De Mornay actual makes the most of her scenes and turns in quite a nice performance as the femme fatale, Milady de Winter.

Early in the film, either because of the direction (by Stephen Herek) or the editing, the pace of the film is clumsy and awkward. Then, as the story goes on, the film settles into being a rousing adventure with a delightful comic mood. The film’s art direction and set decorations make this a surprisingly beautiful film, and the English and Austrian shooting locations offer viewers some lovely scenery. Plus, there is even a cool song for the soundtrack, “All for Love” sung by Bryan Adams, Sting, and Rod Stewart (written by Adams, film composer Michael Kamen, and Robert John “Mutt” Lange).

There isn’t much else to say. In most ways, this 1993 version of The Three Musketeers is just an average Hollywood flick, but I like it.

6 of 10
B

NOTES:
1994 Razzie Awards: 1 nomination: “Worst Supporting Actor” (Chris O'Donnell)

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

"Curse of the Phantom Shadow" at Kickstarter

I received the following email:

My name is Mark Ross, and I am an independent filmmaker in the Las Vegas area. My current project may be of interest to your readers.

I am currently in production on our short concept film, Curse of the Phantom Shadow. This movie is an homage to:


Radio Dramas
The Phantom
B Movies
Dick Tracy
Batman
Spy Smasher
The Shadow
Republic Movie Serials
Comic books
Pulp Novels/Magazines of the 1930s/1940s

Our film takes place in 1948. We have professional actors, some of which have been in Hollywood productions.

Until recently, we were 100% self financed from my personal savings. We are now trying to raise money to finish our production.

I realize you probably get many of requests, such as the one I am about to make [Actually, no I don't.]. However, a mention on your blog would definitely help us with our fundraising endeavors:

http://kck.st/o7JT2f

I'm flattered that he thinks our little blog could help, and I hope that it does in any way it can.  So please, lend a helping hand if you can and give Mark and company a kickstart.

Review: "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" is a Shiny Empty Thing

TRASH IN MY EYE No. 86 (of 2011) by Leroy Douresseaux

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)
Running time: 154 minutes (2 hours, 34 minutes)
MPAA – PG-13 for intense prolonged sequences of sci-fi action violence, mayhem and destruction, and for language, some sexuality and innuendo
DIRECTOR: Michael Bay
WRITERS: Ehren Kruger (based on Hasbro’s Transformers Action Figures)
PRODUCERS: Don Murphy, Tom DeSanto, Lorenzo di Bonaventura, and Ian Bryce
CINEMATOGRAPHER: Amir Mokri (D.o.P.)
EDITOR: Roger Barton, William Goldenberg, and Joel Negron

SCI-FI/ACTION/WAR

Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Rose Huntington-Whiteley, Tyrese Gibson, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Patrick Dempsey, Kevin Dunn, Julie White, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Alan Tudyk, Ken Jeong, Lester Speight, Glenn Morshower, and Buzz Aldrin; (voices) Peter Cullen, Leonard Nimoy, Hugo Weaving, Frank Welker, Charlie Adler, Reno Wilson, and Keith Szarabajka

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a 2011 science fiction war and action film. It is the third movie in the live-action film series starring Hasbro’s popular toy line, the Transformers. The two other movies were Transformers (2007) and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009). Once again, the human hero from the first two films is caught in a war between two factions of alien robots, the Autobots and the Decepticons, but this time the war involves a new technology that could enslave humanity and forever change Earth.

Dark of the Moon takes place three years after the events of the second film. Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) is frustrated on two fronts. U.S. government officials will no longer allow him to work with the Autobots, and Director of National Intelligence Charlotte Mearing (Frances McDormand) tells Sam that he is not a hero, but was merely a messenger bringing the Autobots to the world’s attention. Sam also cannot find post-college employment that satisfies him professionally and financially. He is also irritated that his new girlfriend, Carly Spencer (Rose Huntington-Whiteley), supports them both with her high-paying job.

Meanwhile, the Autobots are helping the U.S. military prevent conflicts around the globe. Bigger things are about to happen for the Autobots, however, and it involves a mystery that began 42 years earlier with the Apollo 11 mission to the moon. Autobot leader, Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen), travels to the moon where he finds an Autobot thought to be dead, Sentinel Prime (Leonard Nimoy), Optimus’ predecessor as leader of the Autobots. Optimus revives Sentinel, and that begins a series of events which allow Megatron (Hugo Weaving), leader of the Decepticons, to commence a diabolical plot to revive Cybertron, the ruined home planet of the Transformers. Soon, the Decepticons launch an all-out war against humanity with Chicago as the epicenter.

USAF Chief Robert Epps (Tyrese Gibson) and “Team Epps” join Sam on a mission to slip into Chicago to save Carly. Meanwhile, U.S. Army Lt. Colonel William Lennox (Josh Duhamel) leads the classified strike team, NEST, into Chicago to help them. But time is running out for them to save Carly and the world.

Like Revenge of the Fallen, Dark of the Moon got some bad reviews, although maybe not as many as Revenge. I like this as much as I did Revenge of the Fallen, but both films are too long. Dark of the Moon is probably a half hour longer than it needs to be, but it’s almost worth it to get just about any of the action scenes that include the Transformers. Many of the Transformers here are more complex and have more moving parts, in addition to the fact that this film is shot in 3D. The special visual effects wizards who worked on Dark of the Moon were up to the task and turned in the best visual and special effects of the three films.

Visually, this is an undeniably impressive science fiction action film. Sadly, the rest of the film is either barely coherent or simply incoherent. The acting is often lost in all the noise and visual splendor, and in many cases, that is for the better. There is some hysterically bad acting and embarrassing overacting. This film is also over-the-top and overwrought, and sometimes, it’s just too much. It took me three sittings over three days to watch this movie, and I’m glad I chose not to see it in a theatre.

The special effects and the robots transforming were superb, but as much as that blew my mind, something is really wrong with this movie as a story. This is director Michael Bay at his most mind-numbing, and it is now clear that he has perfected film as sound and fury signifying absolutely nothing. Transformers: Dark of the Moon shows how far the science and technology of cinema have come, but the storytelling is positively Stone Age.

5 of 10
C+

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

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