I may be on vacation, but that doesn't mean a vacation from films, and an opportunity arose for me to get to see the latest Michael Bay explodo-fest in the form of Transformers: Dark of the Moon, in all of its 3-D glory. I have to say that I am a big fan of 3-D in general, from having seen things like The Three Stooges in Spooks! (watch this link with 3-D glasses, if you have them, for a taste of the past) and Creature from The Black Lagoon, which showcased the early 3-D format, to other attempts such as Jaws 3-D, which did little to advance the technology. Recently, though, the tech has come a long way, not requiring the viewer to wear the standard red/blue glasses, instead swapping them out for specs that could double as ordinary sunglasses. This allows all of the colors to come through, without everything and everybody having to be painted or dressed in red and blue. I had only seen this new tech in operation once, with Avatar, and though that film was visually stimulating, it didn't offer much in the way of story, so that left me with split feelings on the film. I needed to experience this medium in a way that made me forget that I was watching a film, and thankfully, this movie did just that.
If you haven't seen the first two movies in this series, this one is not the place to start. The original two saw the Autobots and Decepticons arriving on Earth to continue their eons-long war that originated on their home-world of Cybertron. Movie #1 had them looking for the "AllSpark", which is what gives all Transformers life and had made it's way to Earth, the Autobots were trying to protect it, and the Decepticons wanted it to build an army to defeat the Autobots and conquer Earth for their own. Movie #2 in the series had a ridiculous plot that had the Decepticons trying to build an Energon source on Earth that would wipe out humanity or something like that. That particular film, while a box-office success, suffered greatly from having been rushed into production to avoid being affected by the impending strikes of the Screen Actors Guild and Directors Guild of America, and also from what I call "The Jar Jar Effect", which is defined as sticking in an annoying character solely for the purpose of comic relief.
A face begging to be punched.
Now comes entry #3 in the series, and supposedly the final film as well (at least from director Bay). Gone from the series is Megan Fox, but the rest of the main cast is intact. The film starts with a flashback to the early 1960's, with a creative twist on our own history: an Autobot ship crash lands on the dark side of the Moon, and that's why NASA sent Apollo 11 up there with Buzz Aldrin and company, to check out the wreckage. Back in present times, the Autobots and the government are working together to extinguish global threats, and are ever on the look-out for any Decepticon threats as well. They travel to Chernobyl to investigate suspected alien technology and while there, Optimus Prime, leader of the Autobots, finds a fuel cell from the crashed ship, and then they are promptly attacked by Decepticons. An angry Prime confronts the Americans after the battle, and in the first of many twists, finds out that we knew about them longer than they thought. The Autobots travel to the crashed ship, and while there, discover an old Autobot leader in the form of Sentinel Prime, Optimus' mentor, and "The Pillars" which are pieces to a space bridge that can transport material, and can only be activated by Sentinel Prime. They return to Earth with Sentinel and The Pillars, and that's where things start to really ramp up, and for me to go into any further detail from here would ruin the rest of the movie for those who haven't seen it.
Did somebody say twist?
This film is very long, clocking in at 155 minutes (2 hours 35 minutes for those that don't want to do the math), but I enjoyed every minute of it, and not just because of the beautiful 3-D. I've gotten over the fact that I won't see EVERY Transformer that I knew from the cartoon or the toys, but I do get a little annoyed when they create new ones for the movies. That would be the only negative thing I have to say about this movie, and even though I am not that much of a LeBeouf fan, I was able to tolerate him here. John Turturro is also great in reprising his role as Special Agent Simmons, and newcomers to the series Frances McDormand and John Malkovich eat up their roles whenever they are onscreen. I think this particular film was an excellent way to wrap up the series, and hope that Hollywood doesn't take a dump on it by releasing more sequels just to cash in on the continuing popularity of a franchise that dates back all the way to 1984, and filled my particular childhood with many hours of enjoyment.
In preparation for the impending zombie apocalypse I watch a TON of zombie movies, and most of them are really bad. I reviewed one a while back that was awful, but I felt it was necessary to write about it to warn people to stay away from it. It's really hard to make a good zombie movie, the zombies are the easy part, crafting a good story around them is what usually sinks a movie. Sure, you can have rampant, over-the-top gore and effects try to carry the picture, but that can only take you so far if you don't care about the people the zombies are chewing on, or how they got there in the first place. Most conventional American made zombie flicks follow the same pattern: outbreak, panic, survivors band together and fight back, some make it, some don't, survivors trudge on. It gets pretty stale after a few viewings. Then, along comes a breath of fresh air in the form of the Norwegian film Dead Snow.
It's a pretty basic story, group of friends getting together for a weekend in the mountains for some fun in the snow, and they are quickly ambushed by Nazi Zombies. Yep, that's right, Nazi Zombies. The only way possible to make a zombie any worse than it already is would be to make it a Nazi, and that was director Tommy Wirkola's goal. He also uses the rich history of the area as a backdrop to his film, Norway and it's Nazi occupation in WWII is very well known and provides a reason for there to be Nazi Zombies in the first place. These aren't your typical zombies, however, these guys are the fast, tree-climbing variety, who also appear to be able to coordinate their attacks much like when they were alive. So I was wrong with what I said earlier, The only way to make a zombie worse is to make it a Nazi AND smart.
I like 'em when they're classy.
This film has some of the best zombie gore I've seen since Dead Alive, at times it seemed like they were paying direct homage not only to that film, but other classics like Evil Dead and Shaun of the Dead. There is just blood everywhere when the action heats up, including the best mutilation scene I've ever seen. I also don't think I've ever seen a zombie movie done in the snow, so there's bonus points for originality on that one. I said earlier that rampant gore shouldn't have to carry the picture, and although there is plenty of it here, you actually care for the protagonists as they go through their motions, and I didn't like to see some of them go. I felt like I could have stood toe-to-toe along side of them and fought it out to the bitter end. The end of the movie felt a bit hurried, but it was still satisfying over-all. It also had little bits of comedy sprinkled in it, just to keep the edge off, and keep the viewer unbalanced.
Couldn't find Comedy Sprinkles, so...
I don't imagine it will be long before we see an Americanized version of this, not that I've heard anything about it, but usually when a great foreign film comes along, we step up to the plate to piss all over it. While this is not my favorite zombie movie of all time, it ranks very highly. I will try to locate it to add it to my personal collection, I was expecting one thing and got something completely different. I thought I was going to have to review this harshly when I first turned it on, but that was quickly dispelled. I recommend this for definite watch, if not a purchase of your own.
