TRANSFORMERS: DARK OF THE MOON REVIEW!!! (SERIES RE-VISIT)
- Matt Palmer
- Jun 23, 2023
- 3 min read
Initial release date: June 29, 2011
Studios: Paramount Pictures/Hasbro Studios
Tagline: Mankind's finest achievement. Our nation's proudest moment. A secret hidden for forty years.
Plot: Sam Witwicky and his new girlfriend, Carly, join the fray when the evil Decepticons review their longstanding war against the Autobots. Optimus Prime believes that resurrecting ancient Transformer, Sentinel Prime, once the leader of the Autobots, may lead to victory. That decision, however, has devastating consequences; the war appears to tip in the favor of the Decepticons, leading to a climactic battle in Chicago.
Cast
Shia LaBeouf - Sam Witwicky
Rosie Huntington-Whitely - Carly
Josh Duhamel - Lennox
John Turturro - Simmons
Tyrese Gibson - Epps
Frances McDormand - Mearing
John Malkovich - Bruce Brazos
Kevin Dunn - Ron Witwicky
Julie White - Judy Witwicky
Alan Tudyk - Dutch
Ken Jeong - Jerry Wang
Writer: Ehren Kruger
Director: Michael Bay
Rated PG-13 for intense prolonged sequences of sci-fi action violence, mayhem and destruction, and for language, some sexuality and innuendo (154 minutes)
Now, moving on to the third entry of the live-action franchise, Dark of the Moon. Just like Revenge of the Fallen, when I first watched this movie, I thought it was simply eh. But after watching it for the first time in quite awhile, I just have to say that Dark of the Moon is a really decent entry in this series.
The action in this sequel is incredible and the entire action-packed third act that takes place in Chicago is one of the most intense action sequences in the entire franchise. During the movie, there are quite a few intense moments that will easily keep you glued to the screen. *** Here is a slight spoiler for a sub-plot of the movie - I honestly thought it was really cool to add in that some humans were helping the Decepticons in this sequel. Definitely a change in the series that worked in this one! ***
I really liked how the filmmakers tied in the Apollo 11 mission into this sequel's story. And, it was really cool to see Buzz Aldrin make a brief appearance in the movie. It also seemed that this sequel is more put together and planned well more than Revenge of the Fallen. Also, it's a good thing that the Sam character's parents aren't in this one as much since they're the most annoying human characters in the series. Well, maybe not the 2007 movie but definitely in this movie and the 2009 sequel.
Overall, Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a big improvement of the first sequel that delivers some really great visually-stunning action and will definitely move up on my Transformers rankings towards the end of giving this franchise another look!
Here are some fun tidbits for Transformers: Dark of the Moon!
The Driller was composed of 70,000 pieces. It required ILM to use up its entire render form, and took 122 hours per frame (288 hours in the Driller's attack on the skyscraper) - which was one of the movie's coolest moments.
According to Michael Bay, 532 vehicles were destroyed in the movie. They were given away by an insurance company, at no charge, as all of them were flood damaged.
Peter Cullen's favorite moment in the movie is when Optimus Prime meets with astronaut Buzz Aldrin.
The idea of Apollo 11 being connected to the discovery of the Transformers had been previously put forth in the 2007 Transformers tie-in prequel novel "Ghosts of Yesterday."
Orci and Kurtzman, who worked on the screenplays for the first two movies, declined to work on this movie due to schedules with other movies, and because they "risked getting stale."
Last appearance of Shia LaBeouf in the series.
As a preemptive measure before the release of Revenge of the Fallen, Paramount announced on March 16, 2009, that a third movie would be released in July 2011, which earned a surprised response from Michael Bay.
Dark of the Moon first premiered at the Moscow International Film Festival on June 23, 2011. In North America, it sold 716,218 DVD units (equivalent of $13,565,169) in its first week, topping the weekly DVD chart. As of February 26, 2012, it has sold 2,829,285 DVDs (equivalent of $48,058,979).
Transformers: Dark of the Moon had grossed $352.3 million in North American, and $771.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $1.123 billion. It was the 5th highest-grossing film of all time and the 2nd highest-grossing film of 2011.
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