Transformers: Dark of the Moon – Movie Review

We were once a peaceful race of intelligent, mechanical beings. But then came the war between the Autobots, who fought for freedom and the Decepticons, who dreamt of tyranny. Overmatched and outnumbered, our defeat was all but certain. But in the war’s final days, one Autobot ship escaped the battle. It was carrying a secret cargo which would have changed our planet’s fate. A desperate mission. Our final hope. A hope that vanished. 
VLA Radio Observatory- New Mexico, 1961 – Impact Detected
NASA Director at Langley Virginia is notified. Impact confirmed at 22:50 GMT
Secretary of Defense is notified. Lunar impact detected. Deep space track at 22:50 GMT

President Kennedy in the Oval Office

The Pentagon – National Security Command is notified. Mr. Mc Namara talks to President Kennedy. “Get Bobby in here.” In the Oval office. “We believe a UFO has crashed into the Moon. We think the Russians are onto it as well,” Kennedy’s advisors tell him and Bobby.JFK orders, “Well, then you tell NASA to move heaven and earth. We need to get to the moon.”
“NASA says it will take five years.”
“You get there before the Russians,” Kennedy orders. His goal, “Landing a Man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth before the decade is over.”
Eight years later, July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 lifts off. Neil Armstrong is aboard from the Saturn V 250,000 miles away.
They land on the moon. First live pictures from the moon.  Tranquility Base reports live. “The Eagle has landed.” 400 million persons watch the live broadcast.
Neil Armstrong steps on the moon. “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Neil and Buzz find the alien space craft

The signal is lost for 21 minutes. The mission is, “Go!”  Neil and Buzz find the crashed machine. A ship, massive, with a metal face. They go inside and collect samples to bring back to NASA.President Nixon calls Neil and Buzz from the Oval office. Extends his, and the nations, congratulations. A call straight to the moon.
The astronauts arrive back on Earth safely. They bring the samples of the alien ship.

Sam and Carly

Carly and Sam are in Washington D.C., In their apartment. They have small Autobots. Sam is unemployed. His parents arrive in their motorhome. They’re not pleased that he’s without a job.Narration; In the years since the Autobots arrived on Earth, much has changed. Energon detectors guard the cities now. Long-range defense systems watch the skies.
Middle East- Illegal Nuclear Site. The Autobots fight off an attack. The Autobots search for their true enemy’s return, while keeping the Earth safe.
Chernobyl. Something alien in nature was discovered. Mr. Voshkod and his team inspect the abandoned power plant. Uninhabited since 1986. Won’t be livable for another 20,000 years. Ukraine was very fertile land, before the radiation. The men wear radiation suits as they enter the empty facility.
They are attacked! By Shockwave! Wormlike, Decepticon.
Optimus Prime arrives. He fought Shockwave. The Decepticon quickly flees. “Shockwave wanted an engine part from a long lost Autobot ship,” Prime says. He sees the part Shockwave was after.

Mr. Brazos and Sam

After numerous interviews, Sam Witwicky lands a job at Accuretta Systems. Mr. Brazos hires him for the mailroom. A global leader in telecom and aerospace. He applied for administration aide.Classified Nest Headquarters - Washington, D.C.  Health & Human Resources Building. The Autobots arrive to the secret location.  The Director of National Intelligence, Charlotte Mearing, is talking with  Colonel Lennox, he’s in charge. The engine part from the lost Autobot ship is there. It has been Director Only clearance at Sector 7 until now.
Optimus Prime is angry the part is in human hands.
Dr. Buzz Aldrin, the astronaut, is there. Only 35 people knew the real plan at NASA for the moon mission. To investigate the alien ship on the dark side of the moon.
Soviets picked up the fuel rod on the moon. A fissionable fuel assembly. Believed they had it mastered at Chernobyl. Tried to harness it at the power plant.
NASA landed six moon missions. Gathered hundreds of photos and samples. Locked them away forever. Top secret. The moon program was shutdown.

The crashed Ark on the moon

Optimus asked, “Well, did you search the crash vault?” The ship’s name was the Ark. It escaped Cybertron. Captained by, “The great Sentinel Prime, the technology’s inventor.”  Technology that would have won the war. Sentinel Prime commanded the Autobots before Optimus. He must find it before the Decepticons find it.

Dylan Gould

Sam visits Carly Spencer at her job to tell her the good news—he got the job. Dylan Gould is her boss. Carly helps run the collection of antique cars. He restores them. Dylan called Accuretta Systems and got Sam his job.Xanthium approaching Tranquility Base. Ratchet and Optimus are on the moon. They enter the Ark. Locate Sentinel. Bring him home to Earth.

Megatron in Africa

In Africa, Megatron has a camp. There are other Decepticons. Soundwave, the bird, reports, “Autobots took the bait. Discovered the Ark. Returned with its cargo.” Soundwave tracked the ship to the moon.Megatron orders, “Laserbeak, kill them all.” “With pleasure.” Laserbeak begins killing the   NASA and CCCP employees that knew about the top-secret mission on the moon, to find and investigate the alien space ship.
Dylan Gould gave Carly a Mercedes SLS AMG, a $200,000 car.
Laserbeak is at Accuretta Systems reeking havoc. A Decepticon, they’re back. He’s trying to kill Sam.
Later, Sam and Carly enter Health and Human Resources Building in Washington. Director Mearing took possession of the five devices that were hidden in the ship with Sentinel Prime. They’re prototype Autobot technology. Sentinel was the Einstein of his civilization. The five devices are locked up. No one gets to them. No one gets access.
Director Mearing sees Colonel Lennox, Carly, and Sam.

Sentinel Prime

Sentinel Prime is there. He’s in sleep mode. Optimus awakens him with his Matrix. Only Optimus can do it. He asks about Cybertron? Now a barren wasteland. “Where are the pillars?” Sentinel askes. He saved Five out of hundreds. Including the control pillar. “The ability to reshape the universe, together the pillars form a space bridge.” Sentinel designed and alone can control them. Teleportation devices that defy the laws of physics.The Decepticons would use the space bridge to destroy earth.
The O’Reilly Factor; The author of, Code-Name Hero, Seymour Simmons. Special Agent Simmons goes after Megatron, after a call from Sam.
Carly wants out. No more fighting Decepticons. She breaks up with Sam and leaves.
Agent Simmons and Sam look for two Russian cosmonauts in a CCCP pub. One explains, “In 1959, Russian’s Luna 3 took pictures of the dark side, the shadow side. Nothing.
In 1963, Luna 4  sees hundreds of strange rocks around a ship. With drag marks.”
Sam says, “It’s the pillars. Alien pillars for a space bridge. The Decepticons raided the ship before Apollo 11 got there. Hid the pillars. The Decepticons still need Sentinel. They have the pillars. They are coming for Sentinel Prime! Optimus was the only one who could revive Sentinel.”
In Washington,  “For the sake of their planet’s survival, a deal had to be made with Megatron,” Sentinel said. The Autobot began wrecking the building, OPS control. "Return what belongs to me!” He wants the five pillars. Sentinel hit the vault! Took the pillars!
The 101^st Airborne is called. Hunt down Sentinel.

Megatron sits on Lincon's Memorial

Megatron shoots Lincoln’s statue. Sits in Lincoln’s chair, in the memorial in Washington.  Sentinel uses one pillar to open a space bridge. “For Cybertron! For our home!” The Autobot wishes to join with the Decepticons. He and Optimus Battle. Briefly. Optimus loses. Sentinel wishes to be a God again, like on his planet before the war. Sentinel stops fighting, flees. Didn’t kill Optimus.
In 1972, two Decepticons came to Dylan Gould’s father. He did some creative accounting and made the space program too expensive for America and Russia. The Decepticons have been Gould’s clients ever since.
Sam is to be a spy, close to the Autobots. He is to track down Optimus. “What’s his strategy? Tactics?” He’s to ask the questions. A Decepticon wrapped around his wrist, as a watch, is a spy. Communicates with Megatron. Soundwave is there, also.
200 Decepticons are hiding on Earth. Energon detectors locate them all over the planet.

Sentinel sends a Global message

United Nations receives an encrypted audio file from Sentinel. “Defenders of Earth. We have come for your natural resources to rebuild our damaged planet. When we have transported all we need, we will leave your world in peace. For such peace to exist, you must immediately exile the Autobot rebels you have harbored. Nonnegotiable. Renounce the rebels. We await your reply.”At the Capitol, legislation is passed to exile the Autobots from American shores. The U.S. military alliance with them is officially over.
Xanthiun, brought the second wave of Autobots. It’s been under NASA’s care and study ever since. Deport nine Autobots in this ship.
The Autobots drive to the Xanthium. Some are transported. Sam asks Optimus for his plan. “There is No plan. Your leaders have spoken. From here, the fight will be your own.”

Bumblebee

Bumblebee says goodbye to Sam. The Autobots are aboard the Xanthium. NASA launches the spacecraft.Megatron blows the ship up, high in the sky. It falls to earth in a fireball. The Decepticon on Sam’s wrist, crawls away, he’s free. Everyone works for the Decepticons now.
Chicago, Illinois- A call comes in from Trump Tower, lower penthouse. Dylan Gould has Carly there. The Decepticons are shipping their planet to earth. People will be slave, labor force. Six billion workers.
Bring Cybertron into Earth’s atmosphere. Sentinel has hundreds of pillars. Spreading them around the globe. Launch into orbit. The red one controls the rest. Trigger that one, the reaction begins.

Decepticons attack downtown Chicago!

Decepticons attack Downtown Chicago. A war zone.At the Packard Motel, in Chicago, Sam and his friends, including Epps, drive into the city. See the devastation.
The Autobots are back. They take the battle to the Decepticons, in the name of Freedom! They hid in the first booster rocket to separate. Splashed down back in the Atlantic, just as planned. They’re strategy; the element of surprise.
Sam goes after Carly at Trump Tower. He’s attacked by Soundwave, the bird. He rescues Carly. The couple gets a message to Director Mearing of National Intelligence, telling her team about the pillars on top of the building on the Chicago River owned by Hotchkiss Gould Investments. Chicago is ground zero. Sentinel Prime is there. The pillars are to his space bridge. Now, the pillar that controls everything is in the southeast cupola. Destroy the pillar. Shoot down the pillar or they’re going to transport Cybertron here, do you understand?
As Director Mearing sits in a daze, her team goes to work.

Optimum battles Shockwave

The battle rages in Downtown Chicago! People and Autobots vs Decepticons, Shockwave is there.Optimus battles Shockwave.
“Decepticons around the world, launch the pillars,” Sentinel orders.
The pillars are launched!
“Activating the bridge,” Sentinel says.
The battle continues. Humans go after the Decepticon’s eyes.
128K binary encryption code. Bridge down. Seymour hacked the code and brought the bridge down, Dutch Seymour. He thought.
Megatron prepares to kill Bumblebee. Autobots come to the rescue.

Sentinel atop the Hotchkiss Gould Investments building

“It’s our world now! Commence transport!” Sentinel shouts.The beam connects Earth to Cybertron.
The battle rages in Chicago, downtown.
Optimus shoots the Hotchkiss Gould Investments Building. The beam is shut down. “Get down here, Sentinel!” Optimus shouts.
Optimus and Sentinel battle.
Sam goes to the pillar. Also the men charge the pillar.
“Decepticons fire at Optimus!” Sentinel orders.
Epps yells, “I need those Tomahawks Now!”
Dylan and Sam fight at the pillar. Dylan restarts the pillar.

Carly tells Megatron, "You will be Sentinel's Bitch!"

Carly talks to Megatron. Tells the badly injured Decepticon he will be Sentinel’s Bitch!As Sentinel is about to kill Optimus Prime, Megatron attacks Sentinel. “This will be my planet!”
The pillar is still connected.
Bumbleebee rips down the pillar, breaking the space bridge. A black hole consumes Cybertron.
Optimus fights Megatron. A quick battle. Optimus ripped off his head. Megatron is dead!
Optimus kills Sentinel, shoots him in the head—twice.
Sam and Carly reunite, hug, and kiss after the battle, in the ashes.

Optimus Prime

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 that we forsake this planet and its people.The End.
Transformers: Dark of the Moon is an incredible movie. It defines scifi.
Who doesn’t love Optimus Prime?
My rating: 5 stars
May good fortune guide your path.
J.A. Ireland