The third instalment of TRANSFORMERS isn’t out till June 29th, but Paramount treated THN to a sneak peek of the first five minutes of the film as well as some extra footage, some unfinished, to wet our appetite. So what did we see?
I can say that I was very apprehensive about DARK OF THE MOON after the last TRANSFORMERS film, which is universally loathed. But the new film looks great – it may possibly save 3D after a string of under preforming films in the last year. The 3D had been mostly completed with one fantastic scene showing Shia LaBeouf being catapulted from Bumblebee while he is transforming and then pulls him back in just in time to transform back into a car with LaBeouf screaming the house down. Bay has also been inventive with the application of 3D such as attaching cameras to the helmets of some skydivers. Of course, this wouldn’t be a Bay film without some controversies, such as this film having initial reports that, as Mark Kermode has noted, it was so terrible the 3D may be dropped from the film. And some of the 3D, apparently being a conversion rather than actually being filmed using 3D technology.
One of the main problems I have had with the Transformers film have the fight scenes/robot designs, have been overly complex and impossible to keep up with. I don’t know whether they have simplified this factor in the new film or the 3D making everything clearer since there is far more depth to the shots that help to distance the CG’d characters, hence being easier on the eye.
The first five minutes of the film, which may not of been final cut, is a tad patchy when it comes to its editing. It throws lots and lots of stuff at you including some dodgy CGI’d JFK face, as it tries to explain the reason for the space race in a covert mission to the moon to find a downed spaceship. After they present the intro of the film a montaged of finished and unfinished special effects scenes including a peek at what could possibly be Springer from the animated film and TV show as well as the long-awaited appearance of Lazerbeak.
Overall I am still sceptical about the film when it comes to the story but looks wise it does make me excited. On a separate note there were interview segments littered through the presentation of Michael Bay and James Cameron discussing the film and its application of 3D as well as something that I hugely disagree with coming from Cameron stating that every film could benefit from 3D…. I don’t think so.
TRANSFORMERS THE DARK OF THE MOON is out 29th June 2011.
