Movie Review: Transformers: Dark of the Moon

By Jim Van Nest

June 28, 2011

This is like Batman and The Joker  as cyborgs.

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In 2007, Michael Bay unleashed his special effects extravaganza The Transformers on us. He introduced a new generation to Optimus Prime and the rest of his Autobot pals. He also introduced most of us to Megan Fox, the sexy female lead opposite Shia LaBeouf. Transformers opened to mixed reviews, but was generally thought of as a fun summer popcorn flick. LaBeouf became a star and Fox became a frequent cover girl of magazines like Maxim.

In 2009, Bay kicked us in the groin with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. LaBeouf started getting into trouble, Fox proved she was little more than a pretty face and Revenge of the Fallen was one of the worst reviewed films of 2009 and amazingly enough, the worst reviewed film of Bay's career.

It's 2011 and Fox has been canned and replaced by Victoria's Secret model, Rosie Huntington-Whitely. LaBeouf has had a quiet year or so, while Bay is trying to rescue the Transformers series from the toilet with the third and final (yeah, right) installment, Transformers: Dark of the Moon. And dare I say, I actually think he's done it.




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Dark of the Moon begins by telling us all that the moon landing in 1969 was all a cover up of a crashed UFO on the moon somewhere around 1961. The UFO in question was a huge ship called The Ark from the planet Cybertron. Knowing that his Autobots were about to lose the planetary civil war with the evil Decepticons, Autobot leader, Sentinel Prime flees his planet with technology that could save his race. After an attack from Starscream, The Ark crash lands on our Moon, apparently killing all inside. President Kennedy escalates the space race to get men on the moon to investigate the downed craft.

Over the years, as we know, the presence of the Autobots and Decepitcons is well known and the Autobots have fit in with humans quite well. Their main man, Sam Witwicky (LaBeouf) is now all grown up. He's graduated college, been dumped by Mikaela (Fox), received a medal from President Obama and despite saving the world twice, can't seem to find himself a job. But that's okay, because he's living with his new flame, Carly Spencer (Huntington-Whitely). Meanwhile, his Autobot pals are now working with the government on covert ops in places like the Middle East. Suffice it to say that despite his heroics in the previous two movies, Sam's life is NOT progressing the way he'd like it to. He spends his days going on interviews and feeling sorry for himself. But, as these things often do, all that is about to change.

Sam finally lands a job working for an overly tanned executive named Bruce, but finds himself relegated to the mailroom - but not for long. As fate would have it, a Decepticon spy gets the order to kill one of Sam's co-workers...but not before said co-worker can warn Sam about the problems on the dark side of the moon. Apparently the technology that was evacuated from Cybertron back in the '60s is still viable today and if it falls into the wrong hands, could spell the end for the human race. Naturally, this results in a race to the moon between the Autobots and Decepticons with the fate of Earth hanging in the balance.


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