Movie Review – Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)

In 2009, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen was one giant mess of a movie.

While the movie brought back the characters for more over-the-top action, the movie had numerous issues from the characters to the plot to inconsistencies and other problems.  Although the film performed well in the theaters and made the producers a lot of money, the sequel was pretty much an insult to the fans of the Transformers.

Could Michael Bay redeem himself and make a sequel worthy of the first live-action Transformers film?

Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the second sequel in the series, was released in 2011.  This film returns the surviving Autobots and Decepticons from Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, adds some new robots to the mixture, and creates a tremendous science-fiction movie.

Directed by Michael Bay, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen stars Shia LaBeouf in the role of Sam Witwicky.  Supporting him are Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as Carly Spencer, Josh Duhamel as Lt. Colonel William Lennox, John Tuturro as Seymour Simmons, Frances McDormand as Charlotte Mearing, and Patrick Dempsey as Dylan Gould.  You’ll also find John Malkovich and Ken Jeong in the film as well.  There are also cameos with astronaut Buzz Aldrin and Fox News journalist Bill O’Reilly.

No Megan Fox this time?  She decided to speak ill of the director after the release of Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and that move eliminated her from the third film in the series.  In Transformers: Dark of the Moon it’s briefly mentioned that Megan Fox’s character Mikaela dumped Sam at some point before this film and he moved on to other women.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon begins with a brief voiceover by Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen) as he explains how a civil war transformed planet Cybertron into a wasteland.  An Autobot spacecraft named the Ark manages to escape from Cybertron and transport an invention capable of ending the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons.  As the Ark flew away from Cybertron, the Decepticons successfully shot and heavily damaged the spaceship.

The Ark drifted through space and made a crash landing on the far side of the Moon in 1961.  This crash was monitored by astronomers on Earth.  After being briefed about the alien spaceship, President John F. Kennedy makes it America’s goal to land a man on the Moon by the end of the decade, launching the space race with the Soviets.  The Americans succeed and Apollo 11 lands on the surface of the Moon in July of 1969.  Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin then reach the alien spacecraft and retrieve part of its valuable cargo.

In reality, Apollo 11 landed in the Sea of Tranquility in the northern half of the side of the Moon that always faces Earth.  In the movie it’s implied that the Ark crash landed on the far side of the Moon, but it doesn’t really show it that well.  No lunar missions have landed on the far side of the Moon.  The scene with the Director of NASA in having scale models of the Saturn V and Saturn IB rockets behind his desk in 1961 was also highly questionable.

To make matters more confusing, it’s stated that the Ark crash landed in 1961. The crash is immediately reported to the Director of NASA who then orders that a report be sent to the Pentagon.  However, the date on the report says July 10, 1962.  President John F. Kennedy’s famous “We choose to go to the Moon” speech wasn’t delivered until September 12, 1962.  That’s Hollywood for you.

Fast forward to today.

Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) is now a college graduate in hunt for a job.  He’s living in an apartment with Carly Spencer (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley), his new girlfriend.  Carly works as a personal assistant for Dylan Gould, a wealthy car collector.  Also living in the apartment are Autobots Wheelie (voiced by Tom Kenny) and Brains (voiced by Reno Wilson).  Bumblebee, Sam’s personal guard, is off on secret missions with Optimus Prime and the rest of the Autobots.

To make matters worse for Sam, his parents Ron (Kevin Dunn) and Judy (Julie White) show up a few weeks early for their scheduled visit.  They’re on a cross-country tour in their fancy motorhome, and Washington, D.C. is one of their planned stops.  Thankfully for Sam, his parents don’t stick around that long.

Since the Decepticons had been stopped in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the Autobots have changed their focus on preventing humans from destroying each other and preventing Earth from ending up like Cybertron.  The Autobots are in the Ukraine and on a mission with the NEST team in Chernobyl when they discover an engine part from the Ark‘s spaceship.  It’s implied that this part was misused by the Russians, and it caused the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

The situation at Chernobyl is a trap.  NEST and the Autobots are suddenly attacked by a giant wormlike drilling machine controlled by Shockwave.  NEST is able to retreat out of the area and save themselves from the ambush.

Sam’s parents help take him to his job interviews, and Sam finally lands a job after speaking with Bruce Brazos (John Malkovich) at Accuretta Systems.  It’s not anywhere close to being a dream job though as Sam will be working in the company’s mail room, a place normally designated for college interns and those without degrees from Ivy League schools.

Back at NEST’s secret headquarters in Washington, D.C., Charlotte Mearing (Frances McDormand), the Director of National Intelligence, demands that Lt. Colonel William Lennox (Josh Duhamel) answer for the Autobots’ recent actions around the world.  It’s implied that she takes over and runs the operations at NEST.  Optimus Prime awakens from his comatose state and expresses his displeasure with Charlotte and how he believes that she and other Earthlings have lied to him about sharing all of their information.

The group is then visited by astronaut Buzz Aldrin (himself in a cameo role) and other NASA scientists.  It’s explained that after the astronomers detected the crash landing on the Moon, President Kennedy authorized the top secret mission to retrieve the alien technology.  Only 35 people knew the true intentions of the lunar mission.  Although the Russians never landed a man on the Moon, it’s theorized that one of their unmanned probes made a landing near the wreck of the Ark and managed to retrieve part of it and return it to the Soviet Union.  That part was then researched and tested at the Russian nuclear plant at Chernobyl.

Meanwhile, Sam Witwicky visits Carly at her place of employment, the luxurious office of Dylan Gould (Patrick Dempsey), a wealthy car collector and racecar driver.  It’s hinted that Carly and Dylan have more of a relationship than it’s implied, but Carly insists that her relationship with her boss is strictly professional.

Optimus Prime and Ratchet (voiced by Robert Foxworth) take a rocket to the Moon and explore the wreckage of the Ark.  They retrieve the body (still in a state of extreme hibernation) of Sentinel Prime (voiced by Leonard Nimoy) along with some of the Pillars that he was protecting.

Out in a remote section of the African savannah, Megatron (voiced by Hugo Weaving) has learned about the Autobots discovering the Ark’s technology in Chernobyl.  He tells Soundwave (voiced by Frank Welker), Shockwave (also voiced by Frank Welker) and Starscream (voiced by Charlie Adler) that it’s time to eliminate the loose ends, implying that people are about to be assassinated.  The Decepticons disperse and begin their individual assignments.

At Accuretta Systems, software programmer Jerry “Deep” Wang (Ken Jeong) seeks out Sam Witwicky.  He secretly meets with him in the men’s restroom and passes on information about NASA scientists suddenly dying in car accidents and other causes.  All of the scientists are tied to the secret part of the lunar missions.  Jerry is one of them.  Jerry meets his fate when Laserbeak, Soundwave’s little companion, kills Jerry and makes it look like he committed suicide.  Laserbeak then spots and tried to attack Sam, but he misses and causes a bunch of chaos.

Knowing that the Decepticons are back, Sam takes Carly and tries to access the NEST headquarters and warn them about the trouble.  The security guards try to arrest him when they spot Wheelie and Brains in the back seat of Sam’s car.  Suddenly Bumblebee comes to the rescue and Sam and his girlfriend are allowed into the headquarters building.

Inside of the building, everybody watches as Optimus Prime uses the Matrix of Leadership to reactivate Sentinel Prime and bring him back to life.  It works and the Sentinel tries to attack everybody, thinking that the war is still taking place.  Optimus calms his former leader and tells him that the war ended and the Decepticons had won.  The Autobots are now living in secret on planet Earth.

Sentinel tells Charlotte that the technology he was guarding was a set of Pillars to be used as a Space Bridge.  When activated, the Space Bridge is capable of instantaneously transporting matter from one place to another.  While the concept seems peaceful, Charlotte believes that it can also deliver weapons of mass destruction to be used against one’s enemies.

Sam and Carly are placed in witness protection to keep them out of harm’s way.  But Sam doesn’t want to just sit and wait.  He wants Bumblebee to help him figure out why the old NASA scientists are being targeted by the Decepticons.  For this they seek the help of Seymour Simmons (John Turturro) and his assistant, Dutch (Alan Tudyk).  After Seymour finishes with a television interview with Fox News journalist Bill O’Reilly (himself in a cameo role), he receives a phone call from Sam.

Sam and Seymour research the material, and Seymour ultimately takes Sam to meet one of the Russian cosmonauts that was originally supposed to land on the Moon, but the Russian program was cancelled.  The Russians show the Americans secret documents and photographs of the wrecked spaceship.  They learn that there were originally hundreds of Pillars on the Moon, but they were removed by the Decepticons before Optimus Prime retrieved Sentinel.  The Decepticons intentionally left Sentinel and five Pillars behind as part of a trap as Sentinel was the only one who could activate the Space Bridge, and the Autobots were the only ones who had the Matrix of Leadership and could revive Sentinel from his state of hibernation.

Sam relays this information back to Charlotte at NEST, but he and the other Autobots are attacked on the highway before they can reach the headquarters.  A trio of Decepticons cause chaos and damage the freeway, but the Autobots ultimately destroy them.

Back at the NEST base, Sentinel reveals that before he left Cybertron he struck a deal with Megatron.  Sentinel shoots and kills Ironhide and then destroys NEST’s headquarters before fleeing the area.

That night, Sentinel places the Pillars in the National Mall and uses them to create a Space Bridge to link Earth and the Moon.  Decepticons hidden beneath the surface of the Moon suddenly arrive in Washington, D.C. and wreck havoc.  Optimus Prime tries to confront Sentinel, but Sentinel insists on his actions with the Decepticons.

Meanwhile, Sam and Carly had an argument, and Carly went to go have dinner with Dylan.  Sam is able to find and convince Carly to leave with him, and she does so.  Things take a turn when it’s discovered that Carly’s car, a $200,000 gift to her from Dylan, is really Shockwave in disguise.  Shockwave kidnaps Carly and keeps her prisoner.  Sam tries to fight Dylan, but he’s overpowered by Dylan’s guards. Dylan reveals that he chose to side with the Decepticons as he believes that they will win the war.  As a result, the Decepticons have promised him special favors when the human race is made into slaves.

Dylan forces Sam to wear a special watch (a miniature Decepticon) that will spy on his activities.  If Sam wants to see Carly again, all he has to do is return to NEST and learn of the Autobots’ plan for striking back against the Decepticons.  The watch will record everything and transmit it back to Soundwave.

At NEST’s headquarters, Sam learns that the Autobots have been exiled from Earth as part of an agreement by the Decepticons to avoid an all-out war with the humans.  The plan is to use a secret spacecraft at NASA to launch the Autobots into outer space.  Sam tries to get Optimus Prime to reveal his plan to counter-attack the Decepticons, but he reveals that there is no plan.  Leaving Earth forever is their only option.

The advanced Space Shuttle launches from Kennedy Space Center, carrying all of the Autobots.  Suddenly Starscream appears and launches a few air-to-air missiles at the spacecraft.  The missiles reach the spacecraft and easily destroy it.  After the destruction of the Space Shuttle, the watch releases itself from Sam’s wrist, freeing him of his obligation.

Now it’s time to find Carly before it’s too late.

Sam uses the help of Seymour and Dutch to trace a call made from Dylan’s phone.  They successfully trace the call to a penthouse in a tower building in downtown Chicago.  The only problem is that the Decepticons are also using Chicago as their base of operations for the next phase of their plan.  The Decepticon robots set up a deadly perimeter around the city, destroying anybody or any thing that tries to enter or leave the city.

Using the help of former soldier Robert Epps (Tyrese Gibson) and other soldiers, Sam is able to approach the perimeter to Chicago.  They run into a Decepticon on patrol, and there’s a battle as they try to defeat it.  The Decepticon is finally defeated by Optimus Prime.  It’s revealed that the Autobots never intended on leaving the Earth.  They were all hiding in the first stage of the rocket (not exactly realistic here as the Space Shuttle used a pair of solid rocket boosters for its first stage, and there wouldn’t be any hiding or storage room there) and safely jettisoned before the rocket was attacked by Starscream.

Bumblebee pilots the Decepticon’s flying machine and carries Sam to the building with Carly.  He is able to rescue her from Dylan and escape with Bumblebee, but the flying machine gets heavily damaged.  They’re forced to make a crash landing in the city.

Epps, Sam and Carly find a crashed drone and discover that its camera still works.  They communicate with NEST’s headquarters and inform them of the situation with the Decepticons and Sentinel using the Pillars to create another Space Bridge.  They mention that the Control Pillar, the one that activates the rest of them, is located on a specific building downtown.

The Decepticons’ plan is to use Pillars located around the world to create a Space Bridge large enough to bring planet Cybertron to Earth, and then use the Earth’s resources and human slave labor force to rebuild Cybertron.

What happens next is a lengthy action sequence during the Battle of Chicago.

Sam’s group of himself, Carly, Epps, and the other former soldiers try to take out the Control Pillar by firing a rocket at it from an upper floor of a damaged office building.  They make it to the building, but the building is heavily damaged and leaning over.  Things get worse when they’re spotted by the Decepticons, and Shockwave tries to use his Driller to bring down the rest of the building.  They almost succeed until Optimus Prime attacks and defeats the Driller.

While that is taking place, Lt. Col. Lennox takes a team of NEST volunteers to fly into Chicago on MV-22 Osprey aircraft, and then use special wingsuits to fly into the city and avoid the Decepticons.  Most of the soldiers make it into the city, and Lennox helps Sam kill Starscream.

The Autobots have been fighting the Decepticons, and Bumblee and others have been taken prisoner.  Just before Bumblebee is executed by Shockwave, Wheelie and Brains create a distraction with one of the flying machines.  Bumblebee then attacks and kills Soundwave.

The NEST soldiers and Autobots then launch a coordinated attack against Shochwave and more Decepticons.  Optimus goes on a killing rampage and destroys the evil robots and kills Shockwave.  Before killing Shockwave, Optimus aims Shockwave’s cannon at the Control Pillar and fires, knocking the Control Pillar to the ground and disabling the Space Bridge.  This stops the transfer of planet Cybertron about halfway through the process.

The Autobots and NEST soldiers then launch another attack against the remaining Decepticons while Optimus Prime fights with Sentinel.  Sam rushes into battle to try to destroy the Control Pillar, but he’s stopped by Dylan Gould.  The two of them fight and Sam wins by pushing Dylan into the Control Pillar, electrocuting the man.  Bumblebee and Ratchet then grab the Control Pillar and start a chain reaction that redirects the power of the Space Bridge against planet Cybertron, and Cybertron is destroyed.

Meanwhile, Carly finds Megatron and talks him into challenging Sentinel for the position of supreme ruler.  Megatron agrees and goes to find Sentinel and Optimus Prime.  Those two robots are still fighting each other and Sentinel gains the upper hand by chopping off Optimus’ right arm.  Just as he is about to execute Optimus, Megatron interferes and knocks out Sentinel.

Optimus Prime then summons the strength to fight Megatron, and he kills Megatron by ripping off his head.  Optimus then uses his cannon to execute Sentinel, ending the Battle of Chicago.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon ends with Sam reuniting with Carly.  With Cybertron gone for good, the Autobots accept that planet Earth is now their home.

So is Transformers: Dark of the Moon a good movie?

Absolutely!

The story is good revolving around the Sentinel and the Decepticons’ plot to take over the Earth, the Autobots are great in their scenes, the action is amazing, and it feels like the standard clichés are kept to a minimum this time around.

It’s obvious that Transformers: Dark of the Moon is significantly better than the previous film, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.  It’s just a question of whether or not this sequel is better than the first film.

My vote is that this sequel is a better and more enjoyable film than 2007’s Transformers.

For starters, this film has the best version of Shia LaBeouf’s character Sam Witwicky.  In the first film he was really annoying and unconvincing as a high school student.  Him having a girlfriend anywhere near as hot as Megan Fox’s character was not believable in any way.  The annoying character continued throughout the first sequel when Sam Witwicky was allegedly an Ivy league college freshman.

Pretty much everything involving Shia LaBeouf was just once cringeworthy moment after another in the first two films.  Thankfully the Autobots and Decepticons were there to help make the films fun to watch.

In Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the cringeworthy moments with Shia LaBeouf / Sam Witwicky are not nearly as numerous as the first two films.  Once his character lands the job with Accuretta Systems, Shia’s character suddenly becomes much more believable and easier to watch.  It’s as if he flips a switch and just acts like a normal person.  Normal that is until his girlfriend is kidnapped and he does whatever it takes to get her back and then fight for the human race in the Battle of Chicago.

I’d say that the only problem with Sam Witwicky this time around is that his girlfriend is definitely out of his league.  Even though Sam has earned a prestigious award and basically helped save the world twice, his personality still does not seem anywhere near compatible to be dating a woman who looks like a supermodel.  They seem to have too much of a clash with their personality.  You know that they’re not going to last as a couple.

Why can’t they have Sam Witwicky date a normal girl?  Would that be too boring because that’s how it would happen in real life?  Is that illegal in a Michael Bay film?

It’s too bad that the character Carly Spencer looks more like a supermodel instead of a “regular” person.  Perhaps that’s the main cringeworthy moment in this Transformers movie.  Instead of it being Shia LaBeouf, this time around it’s Rosie Huntington-Whiteley because she’s so out of place being Sam’s girlfriend.

When you look beyond Carly Spencer, and some minor technical details in the name of Hollywood, the rest of Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a great science-fiction / action movie with the Transformer robots.  The film really picks up its pace in the second half, and it’s easy to keep watching the Battle of Chicago scenes over and over again.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) – movie trailer

This is a Transformer movie that involves the best characters in both the Autobots and Decepticons.  You also have the Sentinel, a great Autobot warrior who makes a deal and changes to the Decepticons.  There’s also the plot involving the Space Bridge and plan to conquer Earth and use the human survivors as salve labors to rebuild Cybertron.  In the end you have the heroic Autobots having the biggest of battles with the Decepticons, and the predictable outcomes.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon won’t win any awards for its script or acting, but this is truly an awesome science-fiction movie, and an epic Transformers film.  It’s easy to see why this third film was such a huge hit in the theaters.

 

 

Megatron – “All hail Megatron!”

———————-

Optimus Prime – “Why, Sentinel? Why?”
Sentinel Prime – “For Cyberton! For our home! What war destroyed, we can rebuild – but only if we join with the Decepticons!”
Optimus Prime – “No, it’s not the only way! This is our home, we must defend the humans!”
Sentinel Prime – “So lost you are, Optimus. On Cybertron we were gods, and here they call us machines! Let the humans serve us, or perish!”

———————-

Optimus Prime – “In any war, there are calms between the storms. There will be days when we lose faith, days when our allies turn against us. But the day will never come, that we forsake this planet and its people.”