This is yet another film I missed at the cinema and only just got around to seeing on DVD. Please don’t read if you have not seen the film, spoiler alert.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon, is the third in director Michael Bay’s series of sci-fi epics featuring the heroic Autobots and the nasty Decepticons. I am not a fan of Transformers and I didn’t particularly like the 2nd film in the series so I watched this film with an open mind.
Before I start you should know that Megan Fox was dismissed from Dark of the Moon before shooting began for dissing Bay in a magazine interview. To replace her we have Huntington-Whiteley who plays Carly Miller who works for some Washington government organisation. She hooks up with the movie’s human hero Sam Witwicky ,played ,for the third time by Shia LaBeouf.
Bay sets the story up well with a prologue set in the early 60s, when Kennedy was in the White House, and the movie suggests that the space race between The USA and Russia was kicked off when each nation detected an unknown vessel had crashed on the dark side of the moon. By the way, that reminds me of another summer blockbuster that begins in the Sixties, Oh yes it was the brilliant X Men:First Class. Which was also set against a backdrop of the 60s, read my review here.
Anyway, In 1961, the Ark, a Cybertronian spacecraft carrying an invention capable of ending the war between the Autobots and the Decepticons, crash lands on the dark side of Earth’s Moon. The crash was 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 Chernoble, to investigate suspected alien technology, Optimus Prime – the valiant leader of the Autobots – finds a fuel cell from the Ark, discovering that it had survived its journey from Cybertron.
Optimus Prime is none too pleased about the fact that the humans have hid their knowledge of a crashed Autobot ship on the moon during the historic space race. The Autobots travel there to explore the Ark. They discover a comatose Sentinel Prime – Optimus’ predecessor as leader of the Autobots – and 5 of 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 his Matrix of Leadership to revive Sentinel Prime. Leonard Nimoy is excellent as the voice of Sentinel Prime.
Meanwhile, Sam Witwicky is frustrated that he is unable to work with the Autobots and is failing to 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 realize 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.
Sentinel uses the Pillars to transport hundreds of concealed Decepticons from the Moon to Earth, and Carly is captured by Gould, who is revealed to be in the service of the Decepticons. The Autobots are exiled from Earth at the demand of the Decepticons to avoid war, but as their ship leaves Earth it is destroyed by Megatron’s second-in-command, Starscream, seemingly killing the Autobots. The Decepticons, led by Megatron and Sentinel, seize Chicago as their agents place Pillars around the world. Gould reveals to Carly that the Decepticons plan to transport their homeworld of Cybertron to the Milky Way, then to enslave humanity and use Earth’s resources to rebuild their world. Sam teams with USAF Chief Robert Epps to go into Chicago to save Carly, but they are nearly killed by Decepticon forces before the Autobots intervene, revealing they concealed themselves during the launch of their ship to convince the Decepticons they were destroyed.
Working together, the Autobots and human soldiers manage to rescue Carly and save the day. The films finale is an epic battle between Optimus and Sentinel. While they are fighting Carly convinces Megatron that he will be replaced as leader of the Decepticons by Sentinel. Sentinel severs Optimus’ right arm, and is about to execute him when Megatron intervenes, incapacitating Sentinel. Megatron asks Optimus for a truce, having the desire to become the one-in-charge again. But Optimus attacks Megatron, knowing Megatron’s true intentions, decapitating and killing him. Then Sentinel pleads for his life but Optimus executes him too, for betraying his own principles.
With the Decepticons defeated, Carly and Sam are reunited and the Autobots accept that with Cybertron gone, Earth is now their home.
As I said I not being a huge fan watched it without any expectations and I have to say the film was pretty good. It had me on the edge of my seat. This film was so gripping and action packed that you don’t notice that it is nearly 2 1/2 hours long. I think it is for every one, fan or not. It had everything including gripping emotional scenes, deception, betrayal, fabulous action sequences and epic battles that take your breath away. By the way did any body notice the nod to Star Trek by Sentinel Prime.
In my opinion the action in DARK OF THE MOON eclipses everything from the first two films.
So well worth a watch in my opinion.
What do you think?
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Blog of Darren Derbyshire 