Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a 2011 American science fiction action film directed by Michael Bay and based on the Transformers toy line created by Hasbro. It is the third installment in the live action Transformers film series, and is the sequel to 2009's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. It is also the first film in the series not to be co-produced by DreamWorks. The film stars Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Patrick Dempsey, Kevin Dunn, Julie White, John Malkovich and Frances McDormand. Transformers: Dark of the Moon first premiered at the Moscow International Film Festival on June 23, 2011. Linkin Park performed a special outdoor concert in Red Square in Moscow on the same night in celebration of the event. It was released on June 29, 2011. Though it was meant to be the final Transformers film, it was followed by Transformers: Age of Extinction in 2014.

Plot
Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) and his new girlfriend, Carly (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley), join the fray when the evil Decepticons renew their longstanding war against the Autobots. Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) believes that resurrecting ancient Transformer Sentinel Prime (Leonard Nimoy), once the leader of the Autobots, may lead to victory. That decision, however, has devastating consequences; the war appears to tip in favor of the Decepticons, leading to a climactic battle in Chicago.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) It wastes potential for Shockwave, The Driller, Crankcase, Crowbar, Hatchet, Soundwave (again), Laserbeak, Dino/Mirage, The Wreckers and Wheeljack/Que.
 * 2) Just like Revenge of the Fallen, it butchers great actors, such as Leonard Nimoy, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, and Patrick Dempsey.
 * 3) Mikaela Banes (Sam's girlfriend played by Megan Fox), doesn't appear in this film and is instead replaced by Carly as Sam's girlfriend, due to her decision to leave the franchise. Carly herself isn't that interesting of a love interest compared to Mikaela. Many fans believe it's a wasted potential since she never appears again and it could have made the movie better if Mikaela Banes was married to Sam at the end of the movie.
 * 4) Shockwave was the most hyped, which many people believed that he would be the main antagonist. However, he only had seconds of screen time and Sentinel Prime was the main antagonist.
 * 5) Lots of plot holes, for example, Carly overheard Sentinel's plans but just looking into a microscope and once she was rescued, Sam told the N.E.S.T about their plans despite Carly not having any time to tell him.
 * 6) All of the Autobots are treated as disposable redshirts except Bumblebee and Optimus.
 * 7) Jolt, Arcee, Chromia, and Elita-1 are suddenly gone with no explanation of what happened to them.
 * 8) Mirage and Wheeljack have been renamed to "Dino" and "Que" for no reason.
 * 9) Several major Decepticon characters are violently killed off for no real reason other than because their evil.
 * 10) Many of the characters that were underdeveloped in previous films never develop in any way.
 * 11) There are two scenes where it can be clearly seen that the stock footage of The Island, also directed by Michael Bay, is used. Click here to see the proof.
 * 12) It's another film filled with mindless, consequence-free city-destruction.
 * 13) *Speaking of the city destruction, some shots are very disturbing for a PG-13 movie, such as a shot where a Decepticon fighter turns a group of running civilians into skulls and bones, and a shot with human corpses in a destroyed bus.
 * 14) *There was even a scene in the original script where Megatron shoots an elephant which leads to scaring the animals, but was never made being deemed too violent for the movie and due to Michael Bay being an animal lover. That scene however is available in the comic book adaptation of the movie.
 * 15) Seeing the running civilians in terror getting blasted apart on-screen is very frightening.
 * 16) Sam and the others go to Chicago with their only intention being to save Carly, and not to stop the Decepticons from taking over the entire world.
 * 17) The opening scene where the Ark crash lands on the moon is a blatant rip-off of Transformers: Armada's intro.

Good Qualities

 * 1) Pretty good CGI for the Transformers, as like the previous films.
 * 2) Good and emotional soundtrack composed by Steve Jablonsky, especially the credits song ("Iridescent" by Linkin Park)
 * 3) Leonard Nimoy (AKA Spock from Star Trek) voices Sentinel Prime, which is also a call back to him voicing Galvatron in the animated movie.
 * 4) Some Transformers fans prefer this film's version of Sentinel Prime over Transformers Animated 's Sentinel Prime. As in Animated, Sentinel was portrayed as an irredeemable pompous jerk.
 * 5) Ironhide's death was so unexpected and was really sad.
 * 6) While it can be dark, the movie's action scenes can feel epic.
 * 7) Great sound design. In fact, it could be said that at the time, it was even better than the previous two films, given a trivia point below.
 * 8) Jerry Wang can be funny some times (although unnecessary)
 * 9) While it does waste potential for certain Decepticons, not all of them are treated as mindless monsters here.
 * 10) It’s at least a slight improvement over Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Such as when The Transformers has more screen time.
 * 11) *It doesn't even have as much juvenile humor as the previous film.
 * 12) *The ending is a lot more satisfying than the other 3 aforementioned films. Despite that, many major Decepticons are killed off without fleshed out detail.
 * 13) Some pointless Transformers from previous movies, such as Grindor, as well as Skids and Mudflap are removed (the latter 2 are barely in the movie however, they were killed in the comic book adaptation).
 * 14) As always, Ratchet, Ironhide (Despite getting killed off) and Sidewipe are still great charatcers.
 * 15) The poster with Sam, Carly, and Optimus with the destruction of Chicago and those two Decepticon ships in the background is really chilling. And it gives you a hint that the Autobots are about to make their last stand.
 * 16) The Battle of Chicago was a pretty good battle.

Reception
Transformers: Dark of the Moon received mixed reviews from critics, audience, and fans of the series, who praised the special effects, action scenes, scores, 3D work, and the performances of Peter Cullen, and Leonard Nimoy, and is considered improvement over previous films while criticizing the runtime, storyline, performances, and screenplay. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 35% based on reviews from 261 critics, with an average rating of 5/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Its special effects—and 3D shots—are undeniably impressive, but they aren't enough to fill up its loud, bloated running time, or mask its thin, indifferent script.". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 42 out of 100 based on 37 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.

Awards
Despite the mixed reviews, it was nominated for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects at the 84th Academy Awards, like the first film.

Trivia

 * This was the first Transformers film to be released in 3D and the first to utilize 7.1 surround sound audio.
 * This was the final Transformers film to be dubbed in Bengali and Marathi.
 * This was originally suppose to be the last film Transformers film, but Paramount wanted to make more Transformer films.
 * This was also the first Transformers film not to co-produced by DreamWorks Pictures.
 * After mh:greatestmovies:Avengers: Endgame dethroned mh:greatestmovies:Avatar as the highest-grossing film of all time, Paramount announced that they would re-release Dark of the Moon in theaters with five additional minutes of content and keep it playing until it outgrosses Endgame.

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