It’s the Independence holiday weekend here in the US, and I finally saw “Transformers: Dark of the Moon”. My opinion on the movie? Stay Tuned. “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” centers around the Autobots learning of a Cybertronian spacecraft hidden on the Moon, and race against the Decepticons to reach it and to learn its secrets.

Lately, some summer blockbusters have been mediocre at best; but to me, this movie definitely exceeded my expectations. With this film being over 2 hours long (157 minutes), some would expect to lose interest after the first hour; but unexpectedly you’re kept interested in an unpredictable plot twist, new characters, a great storyline, funny comedic moments, and of course great action scenes. When the film begins, you will almost immediately understand the dilemma each character is facing; but you will be kept on your toes trying to figure out how the movie will end (which is a great film in my opinion). The writers also did a good job of explaining why the Transformers came to earth; and because of that I understood the Transformers franchise a lot more (never watched the cartoon or read the comics). This is what I want to see out of a summer movie; something that keeps you interested and makes you leave the theater feeling happy with your purchase. I’m not sure if a child under 10 should see this film but again, you’re the parent. However, if your child has the first 2 films, they should be fine with this one.

Now onto the acting. Shia LaBeouf who plays “Sam Witwicky” did a good job in this film. I’ve never been a big fan of his, but his performance really meshed well with this movie. Rosie Huntington-Whiteley who plays “Carly”, did an alright job; she’s a newly written character and I would’ve liked her better if she was more proactive (yes, I get tired of the damsel in distress). Josh Duhamel who plays “Lennox“, Tyrese Gibson who plays “Epps“, and John Turturro who plays “Simmons” all reprised their previous roles and did a great job in this film. Some of the new characters that acted very well were Patrick Dempsey who plays “Dylan“, John Malkovich who plays “Bruce Brazos“, Ken Jeong who plays “Jerry Wang“, and Frances McDormand who plays “Mearing“. And of course the voices behind the transformers did a wonderful job as well.

Overall, this was a good summer film in my opinion. Even with some bad reviews given by critics and most die-hard cartoon or comic book fans not caring for this movie (and of course the claims of the director recycling old scenes from the movie ‘The Island’), I still enjoyed it. Shia LaBeouf may have slightly gotten on my nerves in the beginning and not caring for Rosie Huntington-Whiteley pumped up lips, I still believe you should make your own decision to see this movie. Who knows, you might be pleasantly surprised with this action film (unless you dislike action films). I give this movie a 7 ½ -8 out of 10.