Short thoughts on DOTM - SPOILER ALERT!

[Gruff]

My turn!!!!!!!!!! And being the uber dedicated fan that I am, I've seen it twice already lol!!!

I loved it, absolutely loved it!! Did have some gripes but overall really enjoyed it!! Lets go through it......

Rosie Huntington Whitely - her first appearance, ohh yes but initially started to think thats all we'd get from her but she was surprisingly good in the film. Was not a damsel in distress 24/7 and held her own on screen with Shia, Ms McDormand and more importantly Megatron. Only negative side was her running round Chicago in high heels.

Shockwave - looked damn good, there was a real sense of threat around him. Barricade and the others appearing to grovel for his forgiveness, Prime's concern about him and the concentrated effort to take him out at the end. Negatives though, lack of character build up to people who didnt know him and not enough time on screen.

Optimus Prime - THE TRAILER THE TRAILER!!!!! Got G1 goosebumps seeing him with his trailer!! Saw a more ruthless side to him as well, "We will kill them all!" just added to it.......

Sentinel Prime - Superbly voiced by Leonard Nimoy and loved the Spock joke and reference in the film. NEVER saw that twist coming though, when I saw it opening night with THAT scene there were a lot of fanboys (myself included) that shouted NOOOO at the screen. When I saw it the next day the entire audience was hushed into silence. Truly shows that people care about their characters.

Starscream - sigh moving on.......

The Wreckers - Ruthless, bad ass, tough as nails and rude as hell, LOVED THEM!!! They took on Shockwave and laid waste to Primus knows how many Decepticons. Only negative was a certain battle cry missing which I totally would of been out of the seat for.

The film in general :- running time was 2 1/2hrs long and it didnt feel that long. as soon as you see Chicago the movie belts along at a rollercoaster pace. Tone was really dark, the humans being slaughtered in the streets in a War Of The Worlds styling was eye opening but it was the execution scene that did it. That had, in both viewings I went to, wow that scene had people crying their eyes out. On the 2nd viewing there were small children present and some of them had to be taken out but it was mostly adults crying.

Shia brought a new scale of humour, less toilet (LOL!!!) humour and more facial, the parents were reeled in and the double act of Wheelie and Brains was a winner. John Malkovich was very wierd, Turturro was a scene stealer as usual, Frances McDormand was brilliantly icy and objective and with RHW helped ground the film. Patrick Dempsey was also a big big winner here playing against cast and being a baddy!!!

Overall Bay went out with a huge winner of a film here, the epic battle of Chicago at the end was awesome and the building up to it with its conspiracies and betrayals, new loves and lost friends kept the film balanced. There was plenty there to keep everyone of all ages happy and amused.
i loved all the G1 references, Megatrons Master Plan and The Ultimate Doom for a start, The Wreckers brought in, the cyberworm from the game War For Cybertron (not one reference to that yet!!).

The outlook for the franchise is very very very strong, realistically we wont be seeing big box office revenue as you have the last Harry Potter and Captain America all out shortly but it will still be a very strong return I feel.
I also believe the franchise can survive without Shia and Bay, we dont need to look for a new director as the best possible replacement was the executive producer!!!

9/10 not a 10 mainly due to lack of characterisation on newer characters. But overall one of the greatest cinematic experiences of my life!!!!