Feel the Vern: Simply Movies: Transformers: Dark of the Moon

As is typical in movie trilogies, the third film always comes under the most scrutiny. People will inevitably compare the last in regards to the first and the second.
That being said, "Transformers Dark of the Moon" is an oddity to me when compared to its predecessors.
Good: It is TONS better than 2nd installment "Revenge of the Fallen," which was plagued by crude humor, pointless characters human and robot, and just scenes that did "nothing" for the story. "Dark of the Moon" had a lot less crude humor, and made more use of their characters and scenes than did ROTF.
The action was much more acceptable as well, surprisingly not only from the Autobots but from the human soldiers as well. It seems like years of fighting these metallic monsters have finally evolved past "shoot til it dead" as actual tactics have been developed. Decepticon redshirts didn't stand a chance. But of course, when it comes to rocking and socking, nobody does it better than giant robots with huge honkin' guns and swords.
Storywise, it feels more like what the 2nd movie should have been. Sam going to college? Whoop-de-doo. Government trying to cover up transformer presence on Earth? Pffft. Some kind of sun-destroyer that'll convert the planet to Energon? Meh. Main badguy is basically the Judas Iscariot of the Transformers mythos? Hmph.
THIS was a much more compelling story for sure. Sam tries to validate existence with finding a job AND maintain relationship with girl-that-is-not-Megan-Fox-but-might-as-well-be. Autobots actively working with government is a big plus. Somewhat noble intentions from the big bad despite evil actions? Slag yeah! Big bad a traitor with personal connections to the Autobots? Even. Better.
Also, full Decepticon invasion of major city where almost nobody survives? Dark, but much more realistic for supposed world conquerors.

However, there is still many many things about this movie that is full of sadness and pointlessness.
About the only scenes with Sam interacting with humans that are worth it is him trying to find a job, and him dealing with a Decepticon sympathizer/blind loyalist. Every other scene? Ranges from "painfully pointless" to "OMG why do they even NEED this in the movie?" Strangely enough, I find his interactions with the transformers in this film to be much more meaningful (Bumblebee and his connection = aaaaawwwwesome; he kills a high-ranking Decepticon with Za Bee...geez).
Even though the scenes with just the Transformers in it are mercifully more abundant than the previous two films, this movie still insists on crazyness happening on the human front, especially from a no-nonsense, meddling, government liason lady. Granted, Wash from "Firefly/Serenity" is in this film playing a German super-manservant to Agent Simmons and he's kind of awesome.
Pointless robot characters are surprisingly few and far in-between. Bless us all, no annoying, brightly-colored twins that steal Bumblebee's thunder! Most pointless bots boils down to Decepticon grunts with no names (who actually scan earth modes upon entry! yes!) and teeny tiny Autobots that surprisingly have a big damn heroes moment.
3rd act/climax? EXCEEEEEEDINGLY long. But at least it's not running and firing in the dessert like in ROTF. Final boss fight though? Thankfully lasts longer than 5 seconds.

OVERALL, pretty good. Not great, but not super-awful either. Much more of a solid movie than the first two, but that's not saying much. Recommend to watch on $1 DVD though. Fast-forwarding will be your friend.