Transformers: Dark of the Moon is a 2011 American science fiction action film based on Hasbro‘s Transformers toy line. It is the sequel to Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009) and the third installment in the Transformers film series. Like its predecessor, the film was directed by Michael Bay, and written by Ehren Kruger. Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Kevin Dunn, and Julie White reprise their roles from the previous films, with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Patrick Dempsey, John Malkovich, and Frances McDormand joining the cast. In the film, Optimus Prime and Sam Witwicky must lead the Autobots against Megatron and the Decepticons as they battle to possess powerful technology abandoned on the Moon in order to restore Cybertron.

Development of a third Transformers film began in May 2007. The film employed both regular 35 mm film cameras and specially developed 3D cameras, with filming locations in Chicago, Florida, Indiana, Milwaukee, Moscow, and Washington, D.C. The visual effects involved more complex robots than the previous films, which took longer to render. The release date was moved from July 1 to June 29, in order to monitor an early response to footage.

Early screenings took place on June 28, 2011, one night before worldwide release by Paramount Pictures. The film received mixed reviews from critics and grossed $1.124 billion worldwide, becoming the fifth highest-grossing film in history at the time, and the second highest-grossing film of 2011. Like the first film, it was nominated for Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Visual Effects at the Academy Awards. It was followed by Transformers: Age of Extinction in 2014.

PLOT

The Ark spacecraft escapes from the planet Cybertron carrying an invention capable of ending the war between Autobots and Decepticons, and crash-lands on the dark side of Earth’s Moon in 1962. NASA detects the crash, and President John F. Kennedy authorizes a mission to put a man on the Moon as a cover for investigating the spacecraft. In 1969, the crew of Apollo 11 lands on the Moon and secretly inspects the Ark before returning to Earth.

In the present day, three years after the battle of Egypt,^[b] the Autobots assist humanity in preventing major conflicts. During a mission to the site of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster to investigate suspected alien technology, the Autobots are attacked by Decepticon scientist Shockwave and his giant worm Driller. After the two escape, Optimus Prime discovers that the technology is a fuel cell from the Ark. The Autobots travel to the Moon and discover Sentinel Prime, the Autobots’ leader before Optimus, in a comatose state along with five Pillars he created as a means of establishing a “Space Bridge”, a wormhole able to teleport matter between two points. On Earth, Optimus uses the energy of the Matrix of Leadership to revive Sentinel.

Meanwhile, Sam Witwicky lives with his new girlfriend, Carly Spencer, but is unable to work with the Autobots. At his new job, co-worker Jerry Wang gives him information about the Ark, before being assassinated by the Decepticon Laserbeak. Sam contacts Seymour Simmons to investigate the Decepticons’ murders of people connected to the American and Soviet lunar space missions. They locate two surviving cosmonauts, who show photos of hundreds of Pillars on the Moon, and realize that the Decepticons raided the Ark long before the Apollo 11 mission and left Sentinel and the five Pillars for the Autobots to find, knowing that Sentinel was the key to activating the Pillars. Meanwhile, Sam and the Autobots fight off three pursuing Decepticons — Hatchet, Crankcase, and Crowbar — and return Sentinel to their base. Revealing that he made a deal with Megatron to ensure Cybertron’s survival, Sentinel betrays the Autobots and kills Ironhide.

Sentinel uses the Pillars to transport hundreds of concealed Decepticons from the Moon to Earth. Dylan Gould, Carly’s boss, is revealed to be working with the Decepticons, and captures Carly with the help of Soundwave, who was disguised as Carly’s car. At the demand of the Decepticons, the Autobots are exiled from Earth, but Starscream destroys their ship as it takes off. The Decepticons invade Chicago while placing Pillars around the world to begin transporting Cybertron to the Solar System, planning to enslave humanity and use Earth’s resources to rebuild their homeworld. Sam teams up with former NEST soldier Robert Epps to go into Chicago to save Carly and arrest Dylan. They are nearly killed by the Decepticons before the Autobots, who survived their ship’s destruction, intervene. Sam, along with NEST teams led by Lennox and Navy SEALs, rescue Carly and begin fighting the Decepticons. During the battle, the Autobot Que is executed, and Bumblebee kills Soundwave, while Optimus fights Sentinel. Laserbeak, Starscream, Shockwave, and the Driller are also killed in the ensuing battle. Meanwhile, Wheelie and Brains sneak onboard and sabotage the Decepticon mothership.

Carly convinces Megatron that he will be replaced by Sentinel as leader of the Decepticons. Sam fights Dylan and knocks him into the Pillar, which electrocutes and kills him. Bumblebee destroys the Control Pillar, closing the Bridge and causing the partially transported Cybertron to implode. Sentinel overpowers Optimus, but is incapacitated by Megatron, who is determined to regain his leadership. Megatron offers a truce, but Optimus refuses and kills Megatron by tearing off his head, before executing Sentinel for his betrayal. Sam and Carly are reunited, and the Autobots remain on Earth as their hopeful home.