Taglines: The fight for our freedom begins.
Against the backdrop of the space race between the U.S.S.R. and the USA, the alliance between Sam Witwicky and Optimus Prime is put to the test against a common enemy: Shockwave. Like the first two films, this is a very action- and effects-heavy blockbuster aimed at a young adult male audience. Fans of Megan Fox will be disappointed by her absence here. Shia LaBoeuf fans won’t be disappointed, but then this is really all about giant robots fighting. Some action scenes may be too violent and intense for children.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon (or simply Transformers 3) is an American science fiction action film based on the Transformers toy line. First released on June 23, 2011, it is the third installment of the live-action Transformers film series. It is a sequel to 2009’s Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen taking place three years after that. The film is also the first in the franchise without the involvement of DreamWorks, leaving the series to be produced solely by Paramount Pictures.
Like its predecessors, Transformers and Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Transformers: Dark of the Moon is directed by Michael Bay and executive produced by Steven Spielberg. This was the last film in the series to be owned by Takara Tomy, as Hasbro assumed ownership of the Transformers films in Japan. The film’s story is set three years after the events of the 2009 film, with the Autobots, during their collaboration with the NEST (Nonbiological Extraterrestrial Species Treaty) military force, discovering a hidden alien technology in possession of humans, which had been found by Apollo 11 on the Moon 42 years earlier. However, the Decepticons unveil a plan to use the technology to enslave humanity in order to restore Cybertron, the home planet of the Transformers.
About the Story
In 1961, the Ark, a Cybertronian spacecraft carrying an invention capable of ending the war between the benevolent Autobots and the malevolent Decepticons, crash lands on the dark side of Earth’s Moon. The crash is detected on Earth by NASA, and President John F. Kennedy authorizes a mission to put a man on the Moon as a cover for investigating the craft. In 1969, the crew of Apollo 11 lands on the Moon.
In the present, the Autobots assist the United States military in preventing conflicts around the globe. During a mission to Chernobyl to investigate suspected alien technology, Optimus Prime finds an engine part from the Ark, discovering that it had survived its journey from Cybertron. The Autobots are attacked by Shockwave, who manages to escape. After learning of the top-secret mission to the Moon, the Autobots travel there to explore the Ark. They discover a comatose Sentinel Prime – Optimus’s predecessor as leader of the Autobots – and the Pillars he created as a means of establishing a Space Bridge between two points to teleport matter. After returning to Earth, Optimus uses the energy of the Matrix of Leadership to revive Sentinel Prime.
Meanwhile, Sam Witwicky is frustrated that he is unable to work with the Autobots or find a job. He also becomes envious of the close relationship between his new girlfriend, Carly Spencer, and her boss Dylan Gould. After finding work, Sam is provided information by his eccentric co-worker Jerry Wang about the Ark, before Jerry is assassinated by the Decepticon Laserbeak. Sam contacts the now-independently wealthy Seymour Simmons, and together they learn that the Decepticons and their leader, Megatron, are murdering people connected to the American and Russian space missions to the Ark.
They locate two surviving Russian cosmonauts, who reveal satellite photos of hundreds of Pillars being stockpiled on the Moon. Sam realizes that the Decepticons raided the Ark long before the Autobots’ mission and intentionally left Sentinel and five Pillars behind to lure the Autobots into a trap – Sentinel being the key to activating the Pillars and the Decepticons lacking the means to revive him. The Autobots rush to return Sentinel to their base for protection, but Sentinel betrays them and kills the Autobot Ironhide, revealing he had made a deal with Megatron to ensure the survival of the Cybertronian race.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Directed by: Michael Bay
Starring: Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Patrick Dempsey, Kevin Dunn, Julie White, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand
Screenplay by: Ehren Kruger
Production Design by: Nigel Phelps
Cinematography by: Amir Mokri
Film Editing by: Roger Barton, William Goldenberg, Joel Negron
Costume Design by: Deborah Lynn Scott
Set Decoration by: Jennifer Williams
Art Direction by: Julian Ashby, Benjamin Edelberg, Kevin Ishioka, Richard L. Johnson, Ben Procter, James F. Truesdale
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense prolonged sequences of sci-fi action violence, mayhem and destruction, and for language, some sexuality and innuendo.
Studio: DreamWorks Pictures
Release Date: June 29, 2011
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