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Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011) theatrical poster

// THE END OF THE WITWICKY TRILOGY

Dark of the Moon

Earth will fall.

Michael Bay’s trilogy-closing third film reframed the 1960s Space Race as a cover-up, revived a traitor voiced by Leonard Nimoy, and levelled Chicago in a native-3D battle still cited as the technical peak of the live-action series. It became the first Transformers movie to cross a billion dollars. This is the deepest record of it anywhere: every score, every character, every secret, and the long road that got it to the screen.

35%Critics
55%Audience
2h 34mPG-13
Jun 292011
WATCH THE TRAILER MEET THE CAST
DirectorMichael Bay
ReleaseJUNE 29 - 2011
Runtime2h 34m
RatingPG-13
GenreSci-fi action adventure
StudiosParamount Pictures / Hasbro / di Bonaventura Pictures / Tom DeSanto-Don Murphy

// THE VERDICT

Every score, in one place.

Reviews improved over Revenge of the Fallen without winning critics over: a 35 percent Tomatometer and a 42 on Metacritic, against a warmer 55 percent audience score and an A from CinemaScore on opening night. Most reviewers praised the spectacle and native-3D craft while criticising the length, the thin human story and the relentless noise.

35%RT Tomatometer
Critics - 258 reviews
55%RT Popcornmeter
Audience - 250,000+ ratings
42Metacritic
37 critics - mixed or average
5.9Metacritic Users
User score, out of 10 - 1,304 ratings
6.2IMDb
Approx 460K votes, out of 10
2.7Letterboxd
Community average, out of 5 - 2.4K fans
ACinemaScore
Opening-night audience grade
As a performance-art act of juvenile Id-fulfillment, it’s magnificent.
Andrew O’Hehir · Salon
Nothing you see makes any sense at all, but the sensations are undeniable, and kind of fun in their vertiginous, supercaffeinated way.
A.O. Scott · The New York Times
The franchise remains as much an endurance test as a movie, but at least a better Bay has delivered a leaner, meaner, cleaner 3-D rage against the machines.
Betsy Sharkey · Los Angeles Times
★★★★★
The climactic Bayhem, in which the Decepticons occupy Chicago and transform it into a smoking ruin, is stunning. Price-of-admission-alone stunning.
Dan Jolin · Empire
But don’t worry about remembering the characters, the movie certainly doesn’t.
Liam Lacey · The Globe and Mail
Marveling at its grotesque gigantism doesn’t make this two-and-a-half-hour-long movie any less dull.
Dana Stevens · Slate
★★★★★
It is a plot that cannot be described in terms of structure, more in terms of duration. When it stops, it’s over.
Roger Ebert · Chicago Sun-Times
A movie bereft of wit, wonder, imagination, and any genuine reason for being. Watching it makes you die a little inside.
Peter Travers · Rolling Stone
LaBeouf, who appeared to hit a low in the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, has sunk to greater levels of incompetence here.
James Berardinelli · ReelViews

On a reported budget near 195 million dollars, Dark of the Moon opened to a massive global launch and finished around 1.124 billion dollars worldwide, roughly 352 million at home and 771 million abroad. It became the first Transformers film to cross a billion, the fifth film ever to pass that mark at the time and the year’s second-highest earner, with 3D and IMAX premium pricing doing heavy lifting. An A CinemaScore showed audiences left far happier than the reviewers.

// THE STORY

A traitor from the Moon, and a war for Earth.

The film rewrites history: the 1969 Moon landing was secretly a mission to investigate a crashed Cybertronian ship on the lunar far side, the Ark, carrying the Autobots’ lost leader Sentinel Prime and a cache of war-ending technology called the pillars. In the present, Sam Witwicky is a frustrated college graduate who cannot find work despite having twice helped save the world.

When the Autobots recover Sentinel and revive him, his return unleashes a betrayal reaching back decades and a Decepticon plan to teleport the ruined planet Cybertron into Earth’s orbit and enslave humanity to rebuild it. The third act unleashes that plan on Chicago, turning the city into a war zone of toppling skyscrapers and gravity-warped streets as Sam, his soldiers and the Autobots fight through the rubble to shut the pillars down.

A course correction

After Revenge of the Fallen was savaged, Bay and the studio set out to make a leaner, more serious film: the juvenile humour dialled back and the maligned twins Mudflap and Skids cut entirely.

The secret Space Race

Its central conceit reframes real history, casting the 1960s Space Race and the Apollo landing as a cover story for a crashed Cybertronian ship, with Buzz Aldrin appearing as himself to sell it.

A darker full stop

Positioned as the end of Bay’s first arc and Shia LaBeouf’s final turn as Sam, the film gives the Witwicky trilogy a clear, brutal, destructive ending before the series rebooted its human cast.

The billion-dollar peak of the original trilogy, its tilting-skyscraper Chicago finale is still cited as the most technically accomplished action the live-action series ever staged.
On what Dark of the Moon achieved

// INTERACTIVE CHARACTER EXPLORER

The Autobots and Decepticons.

Tap any character for the voice actor, the backstory, and our read on how faithful the design and role are to Generation One.

The humans of Dark of the Moon

Shia LaBeouf as Sam Witwicky Sam Witwicky Shia LaBeouf The trilogy’s human lead in his final appearance, a jobless college graduate pulled back into the war and fighting through the Chicago siege to save Carly.
Rosie Huntington-Whiteley as Carly Spencer Carly Spencer Rosie Huntington-Whiteley Sam’s girlfriend, an aide to a wealthy executive, in Huntington-Whiteley’s first acting role after Megan Fox left the series.
Patrick Dempsey as Dylan Gould Dylan Gould Patrick Dempsey A slick businessman and secret human collaborator with the Decepticons, Sam’s smooth-talking rival.
Josh Duhamel as Colonel Lennox Colonel Lennox Josh Duhamel The NEST military commander leading the human soldiers, including the wingsuit jump into occupied Chicago.
Frances McDormand as Charlotte Mearing Charlotte Mearing Frances McDormand The National Intelligence Director overseeing the Autobots, a wary government handler.
John Turturro as Seymour Simmons Seymour Simmons John Turturro The former Sector Seven agent turned bestselling author, back to help Sam untangle the Moon conspiracy.
John Malkovich as Bruce Brazos Bruce Brazos John Malkovich Sam’s eccentric corporate boss in the film’s comic early stretch.
Buzz Aldrin Himself The real Apollo 11 astronaut appears as himself, meeting Optimus Prime on screen to sell the Moon-landing conceit.

// THE FILM, MOMENT BY MOMENT

The moments that define the movie.

The beats the film is built on, walked in order. Click any still to enlarge. Everything from Raising Sentinel Prime on is a spoiler. These slots are built to take two-minute scene clips as they are added; for now, official stills stand in.

The secret of 1961

A Cybertronian ship, the Ark, crashes on the far side of the Moon. The United States detects it, and the 1969 Apollo landing is revealed as a covert mission to investigate the wreck and its lost cargo.

Cold open, history rewritten

Sam adrift

Fresh out of college and unable to find work despite twice helping save the world, Sam Witwicky chafes in a dead-end office job while his new girlfriend Carly supports them.

Human lead introduced

Raising Sentinel Prime

The Autobots recover Sentinel Prime and the pillars from the Ark and revive their lost leader, only for his return to unleash a betrayal reaching back decades.

The turn

The pillars and the plan

Sentinel and Megatron reveal the pillars can build a space bridge to teleport the ruined planet Cybertron into Earth’s orbit and enslave humanity to rebuild it.

The stakes

The Autobots banished

With the humans forced to expel them, the Autobots appear to leave Earth, and their ship is destroyed, a false low that clears the board before the counterattack.

The false ending

The tilting skyscraper

Trapped inside a collapsing, tilting tower sheared apart by the Driller, the human team slides down a shattering glass facade as the floor becomes a wall, the film’s signature set piece.

Second act peak

The battle for Chicago

Decepticons occupy and reshape Chicago into a war zone of toppling skyscrapers and gravity-warped streets, as wingsuit soldiers thread the skyline and the Autobots fight to shut the pillars down.

Third act, ILM

A brutal full stop

Optimus tears through Sentinel and Megatron without mercy, ending the war and the space bridge. The trilogy closes on its biggest and darkest note.

Resolution

// THE ROAD TO DARK OF THE MOON

From critical backlash to a billion-dollar close.

Two years from the savaging of Revenge of the Fallen to a leaner, darker, native-3D finale. Scroll the timeline.

2009 After Revenge of the Fallen is savaged by critics, Bay and Paramount commit to a leaner, more serious third film to close the arc.
2010 Megan Fox departs the series; model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley is cast as Sam’s new girlfriend Carly in her first acting role. Ehren Kruger takes sole writing credit.
2010 Persuaded by James Cameron’s team, the initially skeptical Bay commits to shooting natively in 3D with the Cameron-Pace rigs used on Avatar. Filming runs across Chicago, Washington and Florida.
2011 John Malkovich, Frances McDormand and Patrick Dempsey join the cast; Leonard Nimoy is announced as the voice of Sentinel Prime.
2011 The film releases June 29 and becomes the first Transformers movie to cross a billion dollars worldwide.

Bay shot extensively on location in Chicago with real military support before handing the finale to ILM, and committed to native-3D capture with the Cameron-Pace rigs used on Avatar. The choice forced a calmer, more legible visual style than his usual rapid cutting, producing what many call the most coherent action of the trilogy.

// CRAFT & VFX

Native 3D, and a city torn apart.

VFX leadIndustrial Light & Magic
CaptureNative 3D (Cameron-Pace)
Runtime2h 34m
Oscar nomsVFX + 2 sound

ILM and the largest urban destruction yet

Bay shot extensively on location in Chicago with real military support, then handed Industrial Light & Magic the largest urban-destruction work the franchise had attempted, reshaping the city into a collapsing war zone.

Native 3D over post-conversion

Persuaded by James Cameron’s team, Bay shot much of the film with the same Cameron-Pace 3D camera rigs used on Avatar, becoming one of the first major action directors to embrace native stereoscopic capture rather than cheaper post-conversion.

A calmer camera, on purpose

Because 3D punishes chaotic cutting, the format forced a more legible visual style than Bay’s usual rapid-fire editing. The result is widely called the most coherent action of the trilogy, with depth used to sell vertigo and scale.

The Driller and the tilting tower

The worm-like Driller and Shockwave were among the most complex creature builds to date, and the tilting-skyscraper sequence used real wingsuit base-jumpers filmed over the Chicago skyline, blended into the digital carnage.

The tilting-skyscraper sequence, where the floor becomes a wall as the Driller shears the tower apart.
ILM built the Chicago siege, the largest urban-destruction work the franchise had attempted.

Directed by Michael Bay; visual effects led by Industrial Light & Magic; shot natively in 3D with the Cameron-Pace rigs developed for Avatar; score by Steve Jablonsky. Nominated for the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects and in both sound categories.

// THE SOUND OF THE WAR

A Steve Jablonsky score, closed by Linkin Park.

Steve Jablonsky returned for his third Transformers score, building the film’s brooding, choral-driven sound around cues like It’s Our Fight and There Is No Plan, the latter a slowed reprise of his 2007 main theme. Linkin Park again supplied the anthem: their song Iridescent scores the drive to Chicago and opens the end credits, the band’s second run at a Transformers theme after New Divide.

Score highlights

  • Dark of the MoonSteve Jablonsky
  • It’s Our FightSteve Jablonsky
  • There Is No PlanSteve Jablonsky
  • The Fight Will Be Your OwnSteve Jablonsky
  • I’m Just the MessengerSteve Jablonsky

On the soundtrack

  • Iridescent - Linkin ParkEnd credits / the drive to Chicago
  • New Divide (reprise motif) - Linkin ParkFranchise theme carried forward
  • It’s Our Fight - Steve JablonskyThe Autobots regroup
  • There Is No Plan - Steve JablonskyA slowed reprise of the 2007 main theme

Original score by Steve Jablonsky, the official album playlist via YouTube.

Linkin Park’s Iridescent, the film’s end-credits theme, official video via Linkin Park on YouTube.

// OFFICIAL TRAILER

Watch the official trailer.

Official trailer via Paramount Pictures on YouTube. Embedded with youtube-nocookie for viewer privacy.

// THE CAMPAIGN

Selling a darker, 3D spectacle.

A darker, cleaner promise

After the backlash to Revenge of the Fallen, the marketing sold a leaner and more serious film: the juvenile humour dialled back, the maligned twins Mudflap and Skids cut entirely, and a grimmer tone signalled by the tagline Earth will fall.

The 3D showcase

Trailers and press leaned hard on the native-3D capture and the Chicago finale, positioning the film as a premium-format event and driving a huge share of ticket sales to 3D and IMAX screens.

The Moon conspiracy hook

The campaign built intrigue around its central conceit, that the real 1969 Moon landing was secretly a mission to a crashed Cybertronian ship, with Buzz Aldrin lending real-world weight to the tease.

A new leading lady

With Megan Fox gone, the studio built press around Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s casting as Carly in her first acting role, alongside a prestige adult cast of Malkovich, McDormand and Dempsey.

// AFTER THE CREDITS

No stinger, and the end of an era.

No stinger

The film ends where it ends

Unlike the later Marvel-era blockbusters it shared multiplexes with, Dark of the Moon has no mid- or post-credits scene. The story closes cleanly on the ruined, reclaimed Chicago and the end of Bay’s first arc.

The real coda

The end of an era

The film was positioned as the finale of Bay’s first trilogy and Shia LaBeouf’s last appearance as Sam Witwicky, giving the Witwicky saga a clear, destructive full stop before the series rebooted its human cast.

// EASTER EGGS & DEEP CUTS

For the fans who never stopped watching.

Tap a card to flip it.

Did you know

  • It was the first Transformers film to gross over one billion dollars worldwide, at about 1.124 billion.
  • The film reframes the real 1969 Moon landing as a secret mission to a crashed Cybertronian ship.
  • Leonard Nimoy voiced Sentinel Prime, having voiced Galvatron in the 1986 animated movie.
  • Bay shot much of the film with the same native-3D camera rigs developed for Avatar.
  • The maligned twins Mudflap and Skids were cut, with Bay joking he would reward anyone who spotted them.
  • Rosie Huntington-Whiteley was cast in her first acting role after Megan Fox left the series.
  • The tilting-skyscraper sequence used real wingsuit base-jumpers filmed over Chicago.
  • Buzz Aldrin appears as himself, meeting Optimus Prime on screen.
  • It earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects and nominations in both sound categories.
  • It was Shia LaBeouf’s final appearance as Sam Witwicky and the end of Michael Bay’s first trilogy arc.

// COLLECT THE MOVIE

Explore the cast in the archive.

The Autobots and Decepticons of Dark of the Moon, each linked to its full dossier and figures in our encyclopedia.

Optimus Prime Optimus Prime The Autobot leader in his most ruthless trilogy turn. Read his dossier and track the figures in the archive. View dossier → Sentinel Prime Sentinel Prime The traitor voiced by Leonard Nimoy. Explore the film’s true villain in the encyclopedia. View dossier → Megatron Megatron The broken Decepticon leader hiding in the savannah. Browse his full dossier and figures. View dossier → Shockwave Shockwave The one-eyed Decepticon behind the Driller. See his entry in the archive. View dossier → Starscream Starscream The treacherous F-22 second-in-command. Walk his history from G1 to the big screen. View dossier → Soundwave Soundwave The Decepticon spymaster, voiced by original actor Frank Welker. Browse his dossier. View dossier →

Browse the full Transformers toy archive →

// FREQUENTLY ASKED

Everything people ask about the film.

What is Transformers: Dark of the Moon about?

It is the third film in Michael Bay’s live-action trilogy. When the Autobots discover that a Cybertronian ship crashed on the Moon in the 1960s, they revive its lost leader Sentinel Prime, only for his return to unleash a betrayal and a Decepticon plan to teleport the planet Cybertron into Earth’s orbit. The climax levels much of Chicago.

How does it connect the Moon landing to the story?

The film reframes the real 1961 Space Race and the 1969 Apollo landing as a cover story: a crashed Autobot ship, the Ark, lay hidden on the far side of the Moon carrying Sentinel Prime and the war-ending pillars, and the landings were secretly missions to investigate it. Buzz Aldrin appears as himself to sell the conceit.

Who voices Sentinel Prime?

Leonard Nimoy voices Sentinel Prime, the Autobots’ revived former leader who turns out to be the film’s true villain. Nimoy had previously voiced Galvatron in the 1986 animated Transformers: The Movie, and the film nods to his Star Trek legacy with a Wrath of Khan line.

Why did Megan Fox not return?

Fox did not come back after a public falling-out with the production. Model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley was cast as Sam’s new girlfriend Carly in her first acting role.

Is there a post-credits scene?

No. Dark of the Moon has no mid-credits or post-credits scene. The story closes cleanly on the reclaimed Chicago and the end of Bay’s first arc.

How much did it make at the box office?

It grossed about 1.124 billion dollars worldwide against a reported budget near 195 million, becoming the first Transformers film to pass a billion, the fifth film ever to do so at the time, and the second-highest earner of 2011.

Was the film shot in real 3D?

Yes. Bay shot much of it natively in 3D using the Cameron-Pace rigs developed for Avatar, rather than converting a 2D image in post. The Chicago finale is widely cited as a technical high point of the series.

Where can I watch it?

In the United States it streams on Paramount+ with a subscription, and is available to rent or buy on Fandango at Home, Amazon Video, Apple TV and other major storefronts, plus DVD, Blu-ray and 4K.

// WHERE TO WATCH

Streaming now, and to own.

Dark of the Moon streams on Paramount+ and is available to buy or rent on the major digital storefronts.

Paramount+ Apple TV Prime Video Google Play Fandango at Home YouTube