Transformers: Dark of the Moon



Transformers: Dark of the Moon is the third installment of the Transformers film trilogy and was released on June 29, 2011.

Synopsis
"We were once a peaceful race, of intelligent mechanical beings. But then came the war, between the Autobots that fought for freedom, and the Decepticons who dreampt of tyranny... Over matched and out numbered, our defeat was all but certain...

But in the war's final days, one Autobot ship escaped the battle. It was carrying a precious cargo which would have changed our planet's fate. A desperate mission, our final hope. A hope that vanished..."

- Optimus Prime's intro commentary.



The movie opens, telling the story of the war that the Transformers fought on their home planet of Cybertron, and how Neil Armstrong finds the legendary Autobot spaceship, the Ark, on the Moon, which has crash-landed there with a secret and very important load: Hundreds of Pillars, which are to be used to open a Space Bridge.

Having been dumped by Mikaela Banes Sam has met another girl, Carly Spencer, on his visit in the White House, where he was awarded a medal for helping to save the world twice. Sam falls in love with Carly, and they move in together. He tries hard to find a new job, so Carly helps him, giving him an opportunity to work under her own boss, Dylan Gould. However, he was having rotten luck trying to get a job, with one person sealing the refusal when he learned that Sam got a medal from President Obama (the job he tried to apply for was primarily Republican in ideals) On the first day of his job, Sam meets his co-worker, Jerry Wang, who tells him about the Decepticons plan. Wang returns to his office, where his computer screen transforms into Laserbeak, who throws him out the window, killing him.

Sam then meets up with former Sector 7 (now 8) agent, Seymour Simmons. They work together, along with Simmons' new assistant, to try and to figure out what the Decepticons' next move will be. They meet up with some ex-cosmonauts who provide them with more info about the moon and reveal that some people are working for the Decepticons, including Dylan who later takes Carly hostage.

Sam has a fight with Carly about responsibility and safety, but he says he needs to help save the world and she drives off.



Realizing that humanity has held a secret about their race for a long time, the Autobots travel to the Moon and find a few of the Pillars and the pilot of the spaceship, none other than Sentinel Prime, the former leader of the Autobots, and prior Prime to Optimus. They bring the Pillars and Sentinel back to Earth, resurrecting him with the Matrix of Leadership, which Optimus now carries in his chest. The Autobots then learn of the Decepticons' plans as they see old images of the surface of the Moon. Something on the images, believed by the humans to be markings made by vehicles, are in fact all the pillars. In over 50 years the Decepticons have planned to use the pillars to bring back their home world.



On the Highway heading back to the NEST base, Bumblebee, Dino, Sideswipe and Sentinel Prime come under attack by the Dreads. Crowbar is the first to engage. He transforms and pulls Agent Simmons from his car. He then proceeds to knock a highway sign over. the Dreads use it as a ramp and transform while flying through the air. As they catch up to the Autobots, they brake sharply, making the Dreads fly over them. They then proceed to attack in stealth force mode. Dino catches Hatchet with his hooks and slings him into the on coming line of traffic, decapitating him. Further up the road Crankcase and Crowbar knock over loads of cars to try and block the Autobots route, they manage to get through.



Crankcase tips up a truck carrying gas tanks. Bits fly everywhere causing Bumblebee to quickly jettison Sam and quickly transform to fly over it. He catches Sam and puts him back inside his interior as he transforms, leaving Sam in hysterics.

At the NEST base Ironhide is released. And, now off the highway, the Dreads pursue Dino, Sideswipe and Bumblebee. Sideswipe transforms and fires at the Decepticons, and tells Dino he'll handle it, with Bumblebee following him. Ironhide drives past the two retreating Autobots at fall speed. He slams strait into the two cons, they all transform as they fly into the air. Ironhide lands on his feet, but Crankcase slams into the ground, and Crowbar falls onto a bus stop.



Sideswipe catches up, they all draw their guns, coming into a Mexican stand off. The Autobots force the 'cons to drop their weapons, Sideswipe and Ironhide do the same. But secretly, Crowbar reveals two spears, or spiked long-delay grenades, and throws one at Ironhide lodging it in his chest. He throws one at Sideswipe, but he jumps and dodges it, cutting it in half. Using his arm blade as a "Golf club" he chucks his gun to Ironhide who blasts Crowbar in the head. Sideswipe then attacks Crankcase, he wounds him twice before the 'Con kicks him off. Ironhide the rips the spear out of his chest, plunges it into Crankcase's head, tosses him onto a car and kicks it into a car shop, which then explodes into a ball of flames.



The Autobots then head back to NEST base. Sentinel Prime reveals he is a traitor, as he made a deal with Megatron, the leader of the Decepticons, being forced to bring the Pillars. Sentinel then blasts Ironhide twice with his Cosmic Rust blaster, to stun him, then again with the rusting agent, killing the Autobot warrior. Sentinel then attacks Bumblebee before heading into the base, he goes on a killing spree. He blows up the interior of the N.E.S.T. base and starts killing humans, he breaks open the NEST vault and retrieves the Space Bridge pillars.



He then flees, meeting Megatron at the Lincoln memorial. Megatron blasts Lincoln off his chair so he could sit on it. Sentinel activates the Space bridge over the Reflecting Pond in front of it. The activated bridge transports an army of Decepticons and Cybertronian spaceships hidden in the Moon to Earth. They flood into the city assuming new forms. One takes the form of a police car, another scans a Garbage truck.

The Autobots arrive with Colonel Lennox and NEST. Optimus goes after Sentinel and tells the others to retreat, Sentinel tries blasting him with his rust gun. Optimus tackles Sentinel and tries to reason with him, Sentinel shoves him aside and beats him up, but lets him live. Sam and Carly try to evacuate using Carly's car, but it actually turns out to be Soundwave in his vehicle mode. Soundwave throws out Sam and traps Carly inside in vehicle mode. Dylan and the other Decepticons' human collaborators come explaining that they had decided to join the "winning side" of the war in order to keep their freedom while letting the entire human race to be enslaved or massacred in genocides. Dylan puts a Decepticon wristwatch on Sam. Sentinel sends a broadcast message across Chicago and orders the Autobots to be exiled.

The Autobots are blamed for all of this and are exiled away from Earth with a specially designed space shuttle. Sam and Seymour come to the harbor of the shuttle the Xanthium. Optimus states that the conflict is his fault because he told the humans to trust Sentinel Prime, not knowing he was a traitor. He tells Sam that the Autobots have no plan, claiming "You may lose their faith in us, but never in yourselves. From here, the fight will be your own". When the Xanthium starts to lift off, Starscream shoots it down from space before it has time to escape Earth's atmosphere and Sam and all others are left to mourn that no one can help them in the war. During one scene, Dylan forces Carly to get into an airplane heading for Dylan's apartment keeping her as a prisoner and as his future wife.

The Decepticons attack the city of Chicago. They seal off the entire city and prevent any aircraft or UAVs from getting anywhere near the city. N.E.S.T. tries to infiltrate the city but their drones are continuously shot down. Sam, Epps and his N.E.S.T. buddies try to enter the city on foot but they are attacked by a Decepticon piloting a small ship. Just as the fighter is about to deliver the final shot the Autobots appear and intervene by shooting it down, rescuing them from the Decepticon. Optimus explains that they in fact never were aboard the shuttle, but rather in the first booster that detached from the shuttle. Sam asks Bumblebee if he can fly the ship, and he isn't too sure of himself, but after some time, he gets the hang of it.



They fly off to Dylan's apartment. Sam with a gun provided by Epps and his team confronts Dylan, but is attacked by Dylan's Decepticon bodyguard Laserbeak, who is then killed by Sam and Bumblebee. Carly is rescued by Sam and the two flee. Meanwhile the Autobots are fighting back the Decepticons and Sentinel Prime, who have placed the pillars all over the world, releasing them, starting the process of Cybertron’s teleportation to Earth. Cybertron then appears in the atmosphere.

Wheelie and Brains sabotage the largest of the dropships, sending it crashing down into the Chicago River. On top of a building, Sentinel throws off Megatron, telling him that he wanted his home world back, but Megatron won't rule it. During the battle, Starscream, Soundwave, Que, Barricade and Shockwave are killed. Sam manages to get the control pillar near the streets, but he is attacked by Dylan who tries to stop him. Sam throws Dylan into the pillar, killing him in a burst of a electricity. Ratchet shoots the Pillar before Bumblebee tackles the pillar, smashing it to pieces in the process, sending Cybertron back through the Space Bridge, collapsing and crumbling into millions of pieces.



Carly finds Megatron sitting up against a wall, and she starts telling him how he'll be under Sentinel's control if he doesn't rise up to where he believes he should be, ready to take over control of Cybertron. Optimus appears, attacking Sentinel, but loses his right arm in the fight. Soon, Megatron saves Optimus by shooting Sentinel in the back and beats him up and tears him apart. Megatron has Sentinel on the verge of death when Cybertron is destroyed. Megatron offers Optimus a truce saying he just wants to be in charge again and asks "Who would you be without me, Prime?" To which Optimus replies, "Time to find out" and an axe to the face. Optimus rips off Megatron's head and slams it to the ground, revealing the large axe in the middle of it. He then turns to Sentinel and disregards all of his pleas for mercy with the claim that Sentinel hadn't betrayed him or the Autobots, but rather himself. Optimus picks up Megatron's gun and shoots Sentinel in the back and head, killing him.



The movie ends with the Autobots accepting that they might never return to Cybertron, and accepting Earth as their new home.

"In any war, there are calms between storms. There will be days when we lose faith. Days when our allies turn against us... but the day will never come when we forsake this planet and its people"

- Optimus Prime's typical closing scene narration.

Quotes
Carly: "My hero needs to wake up." Sam: "What is that?" Carly: This is your new lucky bunny." Sam: "It's a beautiful thought Carly, but I don't think this is the whole uhhh, bunny this lucky. You see this section here, this is just a rabbit foot, this is just lucky." -Sam saying that rabbit feet are luckier than the rest.

Brains: "Well you tell her, we are not your pets, we are not your toys! We are an advanced, genius race, just looking for a home." -Brains on how Sam and Carly treat him and Wheelie.

Judy Witwitcky: "I think its darling. It kinda reminds me of Bumblebee, if Bumblebee were a sad piece of shit." -Judy on Sam's new car.

Shockwave: "Optimus...." -Shockwave mutters one of his only just comprehendible lines.

Mearing: "Okay, what's wrong with him?" Dino: "He's in a bad mood. He's a not talking to anybody today." Mearing: "What is this, a silent treatment?" Ironhide: "We've seen that. And this is not that." Que: "Definitely not." Ironhide: "This is worse. Prime, make something of your self! He's pissed. " -N.E.S.T tries to figure out why Optimus Prime is in a foul mood.

Megatron: "You did me great honor tracking that ship to the moon. Your human collaborators have served their purpose, Soundwave. It's time to eliminate loose ends." Soundwave: "Laserbeak; kill them all!" Laserbeak: "With pleasure." -The Decepticons plot to kill their human allies

Wheelie: "Yeah, enjoy your next job with 7-11, dickhead!" -Wheelie to a soldier accosting him and Brains.

Dutch: "Oh and I had this man, Witwicky, who keeps calling me 5 times today." Simmons: "The kid! What's he want?" Sam: "I called because the Decepticons are back and I wanna know why and I need your help." Simmons: "They're back? Wow, that's good business." Sam: "What if I told you a 50-year old secret that nobody ever told you." Simmons: "Do not tempt my addiction. I've gone for withdrawal kid. Dutch, is this line secure? Dutch: "No." Simmons: "Protect your risk. Risk? Why should I? Do not relapse, I won't! Do not let the demons win." Dutch: "Go." Simmons: "What kind of, secret?" Sam: "Apollo, moon, aliens, cover-up, future tech, assassinations, that kind of stuff." Simmons: "Ohhhh, Apollo..." -Sam and Simmon's Chit-chat.

Ironhide: "Is there a problem?" Sideswipe: "Whoa, little Mexican stand-off we got here." Ironhide: "Weapons down..." Sideswipe: "...And we'll let you escape with your dignity." -The Mexican stand-off with the Dreads.

Starscream: "Ah, my master, such a brilliant scheme!" -Starscream being sycophantic

Megatron "Here we are. Fight us now." -Megatron, sitting atop the Lincoln Memorial as his invasion begins.

Optimus Prime "You may lose your faith in us, but never in your selves. From here, the fight will be your own." -Optimus to Sam as he prepares to leave Earth in The Xantium.

Sentinel Prime "I have deigned to work with you, so that our planet may survive! I will never work FOR you!" -Sentinel Prime lays down the law to Megatron.

Optimus Prime: "Shockwave can't hunt all of us at once. Wreckers, we need a diversion." Roadbuster: "Let's get some!" Leadfoot: "You got that right!" -The Wreckers get ready to do some wrecking.

Epps: "Why do the Decepticons always get the good shit?!" -Epps complains about the greater arsenal of the Decepticons.

Gould: "Prisoners? You're taking prisoners?" Soundwave: "Yesss." Gould: "You need to teach them about respect. This was all business, but now it's personal, do you understand me?" Soundwave: (laughs) I understand. No prisoners, only trophies!" -Dylan convincing Soundwave to take trophies.

Optimus Prime: "Get down here Sentinel!" Sentinel Prime: "Optimus, you forget your place... I bring you Cybertron, your home! And still you choose humanity." Optimus Prime: "You were the one that taught me freedom was everyone's right." Sentinel Prime: "I will re-trigger that pillar!" Optimus Prime: "Then, you'll have to go through me." -Optimus and Sentinel begin to battle.

Megatron: "Now, we need a truce. All I want is to be back in charge. Besides, who would you be without me, Prime?" Optimus Prime: "Time to find out." -Megatron offers a truce to Optimus. It didn't go so well.

Sentinel Prime: "Optimus, all I ever wanted was the survival of our race. You must see why I had to betray you." Optimus Prime: "You didn't betray me. You betrayed yourself!" Sentinel Prime: "NO, Optimus!!!" -Sentinel tries to justify his actions to a pissed off Optimus. 'Jerry Wang:"You messed with the wrong Wang today!" -Jerry Wang as he held Lazerbeak at gunpoint.

Dylan "You think you're the hero? YOU THINK YOU'RE THE HERO?!" Sam "No, I'm just the messenger" -Sam's best line from the movies

Errors

 * Wouldn't it be much more efficient to have Transformers rebuilding Cybertron instead of humans?
 * Possibly because the Cybertronian Civil War turned the planet into a barren wasteland, it possible the population was decreased or scattered across the universe. It was lack of manpower that they needed billions of humans to rebuild Cybertron.
 * It's also possible that the plot of building an army from the first movie was tied into the Sentinel-Megatron alliance, to have the army be the labor force to rebuild with earths resources.
 * The personal jet inside the space center has the identity number: 4500X, the same number as Blackout's helicopter form. It also has an Autobot logo on.
 * Silverbolt was supposed to be a confirmed character, this could be him.


 * Sentinel Prime claims to use humans to rebuild the planet. However, after arriving Chicago, they start a massacre on the civilian populous. While there are possible answers of various likelihood, the inconsistency is unexplained.
 * The Decepticons needed to assert their authority over Earth, as well as establish a secure base of operations, devoid of any possible internal threats, besides, they have the rest of the planet full of humans, killing of Chicago's citizens wouldn't really have much affect.


 * Sentinel Prime said, "How doomed you are Autobots. You simply fail to realize, that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." However, he's talking about only hundreds of Decepticons to be served by 6 billion humans.
 * It is possible that he was referring to the fact that there are few Autobots while there are many Decepticons.
 * Or it is also likely that, at this point, he considered humans to be only slaves, and thus property. Not worthy of status as equals.
 * This quote, is in direct opposition to the same quote by Leonard Nimoy's famous character Spock from Star Trek, who was the original speaker of the quote before his death literally. However, Spock's death in that movie was to save others, not at their expense.


 * In the beginning, it shows John F. Kennedy planning the Man on the Moon, which was in 1969. Although Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. He couldn't have been there. (OR HE'S A 6 YEAR ZOMBIE!)


 * Decepticons have an interesting idea of strategy, as they seem to devote a large portion of their troops for decades to a strategy which hinges upon a mythical item that only the Fallen from the previous movie seems to know about the Matrix, an item they are not even looking for until 2009, between 50 and thousands of years after they implement the strategy.  Meanwhile their core elite and commanders are being wiped out over the course of these years. It is a good thing real world military don't try this rather chronologically backwards strategy.
 * It's possible that the Decepticons did know about this, but used the Fallen as a plan B. This would make scense. If they were going to use the AllSpark to build an army for labor force in the first film, and had the cube destroyed, they had to go with a plan B. If the Fallen's plan failed, they would take it to their advantage and use the Matrix to revive Sentinel and fulfill the original plan with a few edits made during the second and third film.


 * Laserbeak did not use guns to shoot down Sam Witwicky the same way he did with Alexi Voshkod, even with perfect opportunity.
 * The possibility of bringing him in for interrogation falls into place. But not the second time when Sam came in to threaten Dylan to release Carly.
 * Laserbeak probably wanted to prolong Sam's knowledge that he would die, plus dishearten Carly who had just arrived. Besides, firing a gun attached to your physical anatomy in a confined space would most likely cause the shot to go astray, possibly hitting Dylan.


 * Why didn't NEST go underwater just like Navy SEALs? If the NEST soldiers aren't good at diving, at least they can get an underwater vehicle to ship them into the city. Availability may be an issue but still remains unclear in media.
 * Lack of the existence of such a vehicle is probably the reason they didn't use that route. The SEALs were probably airdropped with a Zodiac far out on Lake Michigan and moved closer until they could swim in. Another consideration is that SEAL teams are small, eight men is standard, compared to Lennox's Osprey-borne force, which considering the number of planes used probably originally numbered somewhere closer to 150 or 200, assuming all of them were loaded with troops instead of some of them being decoys.


 * Sam's fight with Starscream leaves several questions:
 * Why did Sam not just take off his equipment when he is swung by Starscream?
 * Sam's equipment seems to attach itself to his arm, due to the fact that it is a climbing equipment.
 * With the violence of Starscream's motion, how did Sam avoid broken limbs? Well, that's just the magic of the movies.


 * Why doesn't Optimus Prime just use his blade to cut off the cables when he is tangled?
 * Possibly because he was tangled in the cables and unable to reach the blade to cut the cables.


 * Carly's clothes are too clean after the final battle.


 * When the Autobots arrive on the battlefield, in the first shot where Ratchet is in humanoid mode saying "Mortar that bridge", his vehicle mode can be seen in the back in the followiing shot with Sam and Carly.

Continuity errors

 * In the first movie, Megatron travels to Earth in search of the All Spark. However, in this film, it is mentioned that Earth is the rendezvous point for him and Sentinel Prime. This is confounded by the fact that no Transformers in the first film seem to have knowledge of Earth up to this point.
 * It is possible that Megatron had intended to meet Sentinel after retrieving the Allspark and then have Cybertron bridged to Earth in order to restore it.
 * The comic adaption says that Sentinel was supposed to find the last Solar Harvester to fuel their empire's expansion before the rendezvous with Megatron.


 * Even if they retrieve the All Spark, they can simply restore it on Cybertron and revive the planet instead of enslaving humans to rebuild the planet.
 * Probably since the planet "happened" to have intelligent life there, it is possible that the Decepticons took the opportunity to enslave them.


 * Seymour Simmons was thrown by a Dread and got a broken leg in the highway chase. When he comes with Sam to watch the Autobots' exiled, he is on a wheelchair with his leg bandaged. However, after Sentinel Prime killed Ironhide, Seymour is seen with Lennox ordering him to evacuate all the remaining soldiers not killed off by Sentinel back to the NEST base. This cannot be possible because Seymour should not have been at the site where Ironhide died and Dutch should have taken him to the hospital. Seymour would then be wheelchair bound for the rest of the film, so this makes the question why was he injured, then uninjured, then wheelchair-bound?


 * In 1963, the Decepticons on Moon started to move energon pillars out of the Ark. However, Megatron, who arrived at Earth ten thousand year ago, woke up in 2000s. So who gave the order to take energon pillars out of the Ark? Especially confusing as in Dark of the Moon, this seems to be a long standing plan to which other Decepticon Leadership such as Starscream have been kept in the dark as to the disposition of a large portion of their own troops.
 * Megatron and Sentinel Prime's deal should be secret between them. A possible reason is that Megatron has told all or part of the deal to his lieutenant, who later ordered Decepticons go to the Moon.
 * Or simply the Decepticons found the Ark and decided to steal the pillars.
 * Soundwave seemed to be aware of the plan and Dylan Gould said he and Laserbeak were responsible for the human collaborators shutting down the space programs. He could've easily given the order.
 * In the comic adaption, Megatron states that "While I lay prisoner in that wretched dam, Soundwave was watching over this planet.


 * For a "secret" deal between Sentinel and Megatron, an aaaaaawful lot of troops sure seem to know about it. Decepticons must have some pretty impressive discipline if not a single troop, message, or other hint of this plan is leaked by anyone in 50 years, if not, 10,000+ depending on your theory.


 * The Driller was able to capture Optimus Prime's trailer why didn't it destroy the trailer?
 * The Driller serves only as Shockwave's hunting pet, protector and main way of transportation. The Driller might not be smart enough to recognize the trailer as any important material for the Autobots, and Shockwave was too busy trying to hunt down the Autobots.
 * In the novelization, Shockwave leaves it as part of a trap, setting Decepticon guards to kill Optimus, but they fail.


 * So, apparently Megatron is able to be incapacitated by the cold temperatures of the Arctic, which can get as cold as -50 degrees Celsius in the first movie but Optimus, Ratchet, and a whole hoard of Decepticons can survive on the Moon unaided. The temperature of the Moon can get as cold as -153 degrees Celsius.
 * In the first film, Bannacheck said that his navigational systems were screwed up when he hit the atmosphere, sending him off course and "unexpectedly" crashing into the ice. In Dark of the Moon, they are intending to go to a cold environment so they probably had some kind of heating system in them or they could stand it for a certain time period, but the Decepticons there were under the surface, as seen when Sentinel activated the space bridge to the moon, which could have kept them "warm" enough to still live consciously or they could have been in stasis until the activation.
 * Also, it is possible that the presence of the ice imprisoning Megatron, not just the cold temperatures, is what incapacitated him.


 * So, a bunch of the Decepticons just stay on the Moon instead of coming to Earth to support their leader in the last two battles when such force would be equally decisive? This is especially confusing since the Decepticons have traveled across whole star systems to arrive at Earth then wait right next door for a space bridge.


 * Bumblebee saves Sam and Lennox, but is somehow captured with the others by Soundwave seconds later. However there was a minute gap before we saw him again, it's possible that he was captured off screen, possibly trying to free the others.

Not actually an error

 * Why did the Decepticons try and destroy the Ark in the beginning of the movie if they intended on using it to rebuild Cybertron?
 * Not every Decepticon knows that Sentinel Prime has secretly compromised with Megatron. In the novelization, it's stated that it was Starscream who shot down the Ark, which would work because during the Washington invasion, Starscream asks Megatron what exactly was the plan, meaning he wasn't fully aware of the alliance with Sentinel.


 * Sentinel Prime can speak English right after being revived?
 * In the novelization, it is explained that, through Optimus already knowing the language, this knowledge was transferred to Sentinel through the Matrix which is used to revived him.


 * Agent Simmons is thrown by a Dread but only got a broken leg.


 * While that does seem rather impossible, real people have survived worse circumstances.
 * There is a television series called The Indestructibles for crashes and survivals from that kind of circumstance.


 * One of the characters had expressed disapproval of sending away "9 Autobots" on a spaceship to leave the Earth. Some may argue there are 11 Autobots, including two former Decepticons: Wheelie and Brains.
 * Perhaps, because Wheelie and Brains have never done much to physically help their cause, they do not consider them as much use as the others.


 * Skids and Mudflap do show up in the background of a few shots in the NEST base. When the convoy comes in, they are right on the tail end but the scene cuts as they come into a clearer view. When Ironhide is testing his new weapon, Mudflap can be seen in humanoid mode in the background. Their deaths are shown in the novel.


 * When the Autobots attack Sentinel Prime in the Battle of Chicago, why didn't Sentinel use his cosmic rust blaster to kill them like he did with Ironhide?
 * It is possible Sentinel viewed Ironhide more of a threat to the Decepticons than the other Autobots; after all, he WAS the Weapons Specialist.
 * Where were the other Autobots when Sentinel destroyed the N.E.S.T base?
 * Lennox mentioned that the Autobots "have a habit" of sneaking out on their own and do not strictly obey the orders of the NEST authorities.
 * Lennox did tell everyone not to engage Sentinel, most likely to limit casulties to both humans and Autobots. They may have left soon after Sentinel started destroying the base.

Trivia

 * Optimus Prime continues his strange beheading fetish by ripping off Megatron's head, pulling out Shockwave's eye, and shooting Sentinel's top of head. Apparently this is possibly because the Transformers can still live if their limbs were cut off, but will die when their heads are cut off and cannot be resurrected with any reviving device.


 * Because the film at the last minute changed names, Mirage was referred to as Dino (pronounced Dee-no) while Wheeljack was referred to as Que in the film. This is likely because the writers at first decided to name them after Generation One characters before deciding to establish them as separate, new characters.


 * As the tradition goes, Optimus Prime has the first and last lines of dialogue before the credits.


 * The Autobots make a strange change in this movie. In the previous two, they had tried to avoid human casualties at all costs. However, in this movie, they not just Ironhide  are rather careless when it comes to avoiding collateral damage. Bumblebee may have even killed a few humans in the scene when they attack an illegal nuclear arms site, and Dino intentionally slams Hatchet into a passing car.
 * Dino did show little respect for human lives in the video game.


 * As the movies have progressed, a trend appeared where the Autobots were depicted as progressively more human and the Decepticons as progressively more alien/monstrous. Dark of the Moon brings this trend full circle. The Autobots now look, sound, and act very human while the Decepticons have separated from any human-like qualities they might have had.
 * Examples of this are that the Decepticons often take on strange body shapes, have multiple or only one eye(s), and they often have mandibles or other strange facial features.


 * A change has been made in this movie concerning the weapons of the Transformers. In the previous two films, all of their weapons formed from their hands/forearms, but in this one, many of the Transformers have actual weapons that they hold and carry on their back. Examples include Megatron's new blaster, Optimus Prime's sword and axe, Ironhide's heavy weapons, and Sentinel Prime's Cosmic Rust Gun.


 * Sentinel Prime is the primary antagonist, Megatron is the secondary antagonist for the most part, but a crucial plot twist has him rescuing Optimus Prime's life and helps him fight Sentinel Prime, with Dylan as the tertiary antagonist.


 * Optimus Prime was using new equipment similar Jetfire's parts from Revenge of the Fallen while battling with the Decepticons.


 * Before NEST starts attacking Shockwave, a Decepticon protoform said, "Holy s***!" before getting shot by gunfire.


 * Shockwave was supposedly intended to be the main antagonist in the early development as mentioned by Michael Bay in USA Today. However, Shockwave only received partial screen time like every Decepticon and was only a supporting character who played a minor role.
 * This misinformation was obviously intentional so as to leave viewers utterly surprised to learn of the real main antagonist.


 * Megatron had less screen time than in Revenge of the Fallen and the first movie. Nobody in the film seem's to consider him the threat in the movie, very few people actually mention his name, mostly because he is phyicaly rotting away.


 * Deaths:
 * Alexi Voshkod, Jerry Wang and the other Decepticon human collaborators by Laserbeak
 * Several soldiers on Ospreys and other soldiers off-screen by Starscream
 * Megatron, Shockwave, Sentinel Prime, Driller, Barricade and several Decepticon protoforms/ones from the Moon by Optimus Prime (the most amount of kills)
 * Ironhide by Sentinel Prime
 * Hatchet by Bumblebee and Dino
 * Crowbar and Crankcase by Ironhide with assistance from Sideswipe
 * Starscream and Dylan Gould by Sam Witwicky (First time he kills a human)
 * Que by Barricade
 * Soundwave and at least one Decepticon protoform by Bumblebee
 * Laserbeak by Bumblebee and Sam Witwicky
 * Every other Decepticon by NEST and other Autobots.


 * Nearly all of the Decepticons are killed off, including Starscream, Soundwave, Barricade and Megatron. Apparently, Igor may have survived according to the novelization.
 * Megatron gets killed off again, this time by Optimus himself.
 * Maybe this one will be permanent.
 * If it isn't, this won't be the first time someone survives decapitation.


 * Optimus kills Megatron by slamming his battle-axe into his head, ripping it off along with his spine. However in both the Junior Novel and movie adaptation, Megatron offers a truce and Prime accepts it while in the movie Optimus refuses it. Megatron then leaves with the remaining Decepticons to Cybertron, which isn't destroyed in the novels.
 * While both Roadbuster and Leadfoot spoke in Scottish and Cockney accents, Topspin didn't speak at all.


 * Laserbeak is shown to be a shape shifter; shown changing into a smaller pink version of Bumblebee, an office printer, a flat screen T.V. and a desktop computer monitor.


 * The fate of Wheelie and Brains is untold in the film. It is mentioned they survived the crash in the novelization.


 * Dylan states that he "inherited" the job of working with the Decepticons when his father died.


 * The Wreckers are shown to be more brutal killers than Optimus, Ironhide, Bumblebee, and Sideswipe all combined as shown when they ripped apart a Decepticon fighter pilot in pieces alive and played with his body parts. Leadfoot is shown playing and chewing on his head.


 * Mearing has some of Theodore Galloway's personalty traits, as both believe that the Autobots are too dangerous. However, Mearing eventualy becomes more supportive of the Autobots, unlike Galloway, who kept his point of view the same through out the whole film.


 * In the scene where the missiles are fired, there is apparently a reuse of movie from Revenge of the Fallen as the guy who says "Target Acquired" is the same guy in the same way that said it when the destroyer, USS Kit in Revenge of the Fallen, blew up Devastator.


 * Barricade makes his return since his unexplained absence from the last battle in the first movie, which makes him the only Decepticon to appear in both the 1st and 3rd movies besides Megatron and Starscream.


 * Despite being a confirmed character, Silverbolt never made an appearance.
 * Maybe he is the jet inside the space center (read the errors section in this article).


 * Transformers continues featuring a song by Linkin Park at the start of the end credits with "Iridescent".


 * Unlike the previous films, Dark of the Moon showed more than one on-screen Autobot death in which the Autobot stayed dead (Optimus and Jetfire die in Revenge of the Fallen, though Optimus is resurrected).
 * Ironhide and Que/Wheeljack being the seconds.

Production
Transformers: Dark of the Moon was one of the most difficult movies produced by Industrial Light & Magic, even probably the single most difficult movie made using computer technology. Very similar to the animated broadcast cartoons including the Generation One cartoon and Transformers Animated, there were many errors in animating the robots. Similar to the first two films, live-action vehicles or objects had to be computer-animated for the Transformers which was challenging similar to the traditional animated cartoons. One example is that 10,000 parts were computer animated to design Optimus Prime and the most complex Transformer design was Driller's which was made of 70,000 parts. Not only was the Computer-Generated Imagery a challenge, but IMAX 3D and real 3D versions had to be made due to the promotion of films using the latest 3D glasses technology. Many accidents using vehicles were damaged as well, such as the Bumblebee Camaro.

Transformers references

 * The whole second part of the plot is a references to the The Transformers first season finale "The Ultimate Doom".
 * This time, Optimus Prime immediately rejected the plan to give all of Earth's natural resources to Cybertron and was not the one who activated it.
 * This time, the Decepticons have a human helper, too. This was also done before in the first two seasons of The Transformers.
 * However, unlike the two G1 Decepticon human allies in cartoon, Dylan wants the best for Cybertron and tries to give all of Earth's natural resources to Cybertron through the space bridge pillar. Dr. Arkeville did not care for his own kind, but he was angry that the Decepticons planned to damage Earth, his home planet. Shawn Berger was not an intentional ally because he was used by Megatron through deception to enslave humanity.


 * The Ark is a reference to the ship with the same name in the Generation One.
 * There is a scene featuring the Ark that referencing the classic view of the Ark in The Transformers.


 * Dark of the Moon introduces more characters from the Generation One cartoon than in Revenge of the Fallen and the 1st film. They are Laserbeak, Carly Spencer, Sentinel Prime, and Shockwave.


 * The brand of Sam's car is Datsun, which produced the Datsun Fairlady Z (280 ZX), the vehicle mode for Prowl, Bluestreak, and Smokescreen.


 * This isn't the first time the Autobots were forced by the Decepticons to ride a ship to leave the Earth which the Decepticons secretly planned to destroy with the Autobots inside but the Autobots used an illusion to trick the Decepticons to return for battle.


 * Leonard Nimoy, who voiced Galvatron in The Transformers: The Movie, once more acts as an antagonist, but this time the true villain of the movie and not an antagonist against a more evil antagonist.


 * The Cosmic Rust is used as a weapon by Sentinel Prime.


 * This isn't the first time Ironhide gets killed off in a movie.


 * Megatron destroyed Abraham Lincoln's statue out of its chair so he could sit there, much like his Generation One counterpart did in the episode "Atlantis, Arise!".
 * He also does this if you complete the game as the Decepticons in the video game for the first live action movie.


 * The missile that damages the Ark in the opening sequence is very similar, albeit larger, to the missile used by Inferno to attack Cheetor and Dinobot in the episode "Law of the Jungle".


 * Near the end of the final battle, Bumblebee transforms with the classic transforming sound.


 * This wasn't the first nor second time Optimus Prime has one of his arms ripped out.


 * Another Starscream got killed on screen.


 * Wheeljack gets killed in the film, just like his Generation 1 counterpart.


 * Starscream thrashed around when both his eyes were destroyed. The same thing happened to Metroplex when his eyes were stolen when the ghost of possessed Scourge.

Characters

 * Carly - Shockwave - Sentinel Prime - Wreckers


 * Driller's appearance resemble the Dweller.


 * Like his Generation One counterpart, Sentinel Prime is the predecessor of Optimus Prime.
 * Sentinel Prime got killed off just like his Generation One counterpart.


 * A rich evil guy siding with Decepticons? Sounds familiar.

Real-world references

 * When Brains and Wheelie are watching Star Trek: The Original Series, the screen features Mr. Spock, portrayed by Leonard Nimoy who voices Sentinel Prime. They comment that it is "the one where Spock goes nuts", possibly a subtle nod to Sentinel's role in the movie.


 * Sentinel Prime says "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." The voice actor said the same line in the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as Mr. Spock. However in that movie, Nimoy's character dies a hero.


 * When Bumblebee says his goodbyes to Sam, he uses a clip of Spock, saying "I will always be your friend.", another line from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.


 * Dutch and his girlfriend's name, "India", is a references to Dutch India.


 * The final battle taking place on a bridge, with the protagonist's arm being cut off might be a reference to the final showdown of the 1980 film Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back.


 * Crankcase, leader of the Dreads vaguely resembles a member of the Yautja species from the Predator series of films.


 * When Mirage threw Hatchet on the car, it was the same crash scene as it is a stock footage from Michael Bay's 2005 film The Island.


 * The final battle featuring blade battle with the line "There can be only one" may be a reference to the 1986 film Highlander.


 * Que's name may be a reference to Mr. Q from James Bond novels and films. Que also gives weapons to NEST soldiers while explaining the advantages and abilities for the weapons much like Q does for James Bond.


 * The inside of the Ark resembles the Space Jockey set piece from the 1979 film Alien.


 * The way Optimus kills Megatron by ripping off his head with his spine still attached is very similar to the original Sub-Zero from Mortal Kombat.


 * The heated debate between Bill O'Reilly and former Agent Simmons references the anchorman's real life quarrel with real life conspiracy enthusiast Jesse Ventura, completed by calling the agent a "pinhead".

Box office

 * On 10th July 2011, Dark of the Moon remains #1 in Weekend Box Office, and becomes 2011's Top-Grossing Movie.


 * On 27th July 2011, Dark of the Moon has bypassed the $900 Million Barrier and is well on it's way to $1 Billion by the end of next week (3rd August 2011).


 * On 3rd August 2011, Dark of the Moon has reached one billion in the box office.


 * The film is currently (2011 Nov 1) the 4th Highest Grossing Movie of All Time.