Firstly, according to
Deadline Hollywood, distributor Paramount Pictures has announced that Transformers 3's release date has been moved from July 1 to June 29 in every single country in the world save for Japan and China. The main reason for this late date change is to cash in on the positive buzz surrounding this film following the well received mind blowing
second trailer and the early positive review from
AICN which has spread like wildfire on the internet. Basically, even if this Transformers film sucks, it is guaranteed to rake in several hundred million dollars or so just from the amount of hype surrounding it.
Next up there are two new, fighting robot free, clips from the film that have just been released by Paramount. The first one below is our first real introduction to the new characters Carly and Dylan, played by English model Rosie Huntington-Whitely and Patrick "McDreamy" Dempsey respectively.
Then we have a scene featuring NEST leader Lt. Colonel William Lennox (Josh Duhamel) giving his team a bit of a pep talk before they parachute into the war zone that has become of Chicago to lead the human fight against the Decepticons:
Then there's a new which trailer is essentially the theatrical version of the trailer that debuted a few weeks back with some new footage here and there.
Pretty cool hey?
Finally, a few days ago, Michael Bay, together with James Cameron, invited a lucky few film critics and bloggers to an exclusive preview of some as yet unseen footage from the film as well as discussion about the state of 3D films in general and by the looks of things everyone left the screening impressed and that much more excited for the film. Here's what Roth Cornet from
ScreenRant had to say about the footage:
We open on Cybertron where the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons rages. Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen) gives a solemn account of the history, and ultimate demise of the planet. We watch as what he describes as the last hope of the Autobots is shot down by the Decepticons and crashes on (yes) the dark side of the moon.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch (if by ranch we mean New Mexico in 1961) scientists “witness” (a.k.a. detect) the crash on the surface of the moon. Here’s the bit that the conspiracy theorists are going to love: As previously mentioned, archival footage of both JFK and the Appollo 11 launch are intermixed with a CGI reinterpretation of the events, which imagines that the Autobot crash was the real reason for the race to the moon.
More than that, we see a tech at mission control in Houston cut the live news feed as soon as Neil Armstrong delivers one of history’s most famous (and still goose-bump inducing lines), “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” As soon as Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are free of the prying eyes of the public, a voice comes in to say, ”Neil, you’re dark on the rock. Mission is a go. You have 21 minutes.”
The two astronauts make their way to the wreckage (which dwarfs them in size) and soon discover that beneath the dust is what appears to be an enormous mechanical face. All interested parties come to the alarming conclusion that we are, in fact, “not alone.” The two men do some minimal exploration and then must leave. Again, via a mixture of archival footage and CGI we witness the men arrive safety back on Earth to an exultant public response – a public too distracted to see that a metal suitcase marked “Top Secret” is making its way to an undisclosed location.
Meanwhile, back on the moon, one eye in the enormous mechanical face (that we presume belongs to Sentinel Prime) begins to shimmer and come back to life. Camera zooms into said eye and its inner-mechanical-workings which “transform” into the title, Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
The montage consisted (mostly) of a series of action sequences, some of which were expanded versions of what we have seen in the trailers – some of which we are certain are going to (as intended) absolutely blow the minds of audiences. These were by far the most compelling moments of the footage that was screened. The idea of rewriting such a pivotal moment in our shared history is always somewhat interesting, but the CG footage of JFK went a bit into the “uncanny valley” (granted we were given the disclaimer that not all of the effects are done, so we can expect to see an improvement in the final version). In any event, action is really where Bay shines, and he is clearly pulling out all of the stops for this film.
There is a base jumping sequence that is truly innovative in addition to being an incredible technical feat. Bay reported that it (understandably) took months to get the clearances to shoot the scene, and painted a hilarious image of Shia LaBeouf sitting in his underwear eating breakfast and suddenly seeing four men fly past his window.
The most memorable sequence is one we don’t even want to ruin for you. It is easy to imagine that it will be fodder for next day “water-cooler” exchanges and all we will say is this: It involves Shia, Bumblebee, a high speed chase, and some genuinely spectacular reflexes — not to mention the best ever use of the Transformers ability to transform. Prepare to be impressed.
End opening scene, begin footage montage.
By the looks of things maybe, just maybe, this will be the best Transformers film yet and will conclude the trilogy with a bang. Fingers crossed that's how things turn out.
Are you excited yet to see the new Transformers film or do you think it will suck?
