Got to Love Those 'Transformers' Movie Trailers!

I am in no hurry to see "Transformers: Dark of the Moon." "Revenge of the Fallen" was so atrocious that it made me never want to see another Michael Bay movie. Still, I can't say I wasn't intrigued at the possibility of seeing it as Bay (along with Shia LaBeouf) freely admitted his disappointment with the finished product. Furthermore, the second trailer for "Dark of the Moon" made it look emotionally deeper, far more epic, and would focus on the characters as much as on the robots. Just like with "Revenge of the Fallen's" trailer, it tricks you into buying a ticket to something that promises to be great but turns out to be truly awful.

As much as I despised "Revenge of the Fallen," I still enjoy watching the trailers for it today. The incredible special effects were on display, and the metallic clang of Steve Jablonsky's music made it seem thrilling. Its trailers made it look darker and more epic, and not even the critical pans from Roger Ebert or Peter Travers prevented me from seeing it opening day.

Then we saw the things the trailer didn't show, like the embarrassing bad "comedic" scene when Sam's mother gets high on marijuana-laced brownies. What about Mudflap and Skids? These new characters quickly became the Jar Jar Binks of the "Transformers" movie series, and had these racist caricatures been featured in the advertisements, we would have had advanced warning of just how bad things were going to be. What looked to be "The Empire Strikes Back" of this series was instead appallingly bad. I came out of it feeling I was cruelly tricked.

Now comes "Dark Of The Moon," the one "Transformers" movie Michael Bay said will go "deeper into the mythos" of the Hasbro toys, and which has Shia convincing fans it'll be better than the last one. I rolled my eyes at the teaser trailer though, still dealing with the rancid stench of what had preceded this summer blockbuster.

But the second trailer got me thinking Bay was serious about making a better sequel this time. The trailer made "Dark of the Moon" look darker and more character driven, the camera was not flying all over the place, and you could actually tell the Autobots and Decepticons apart. Heck, even Frances McDormand is in the cast, and I don't see her just doing any film for a mere paycheck. And then there's Steve Jablonsky music pounding away and getting our adrenaline running. Some of us came out of that trailer feeling like Bay was going to redeem himself (many others snickered).

Alas, the majority of reviews so far are as bad as they were for "Revenge of the Fallen." Michael Bay and company appear to have suckered us yet again in making us think this third film would be a conscious improvement. What looked to be fantastic now appears as proof Bay never really learned his lessons from the critical failure of what came before it.

What sucks is that I still want to see "Dark of the Moon" regardless of the critical evisceration it's been receiving. If you have to give anyone Oscars for this trilogy, give them to those who created the trailers. They get people excited for opening weekend, and they remain incredibly entertaining for those who despise Michael Bay. Just don't count on me seeing the movie this 4^th of July weekend!