Poster © Paramount Pictures. Shown at reduced size for review and commentary.
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GenreAction, Adventure & Comedy
RatedPG-13
Runtime2 hr 34 mins
ReleasedJune 29, 2011
StreamingSee Where to Watch
DirectorMichael Bay
StarringShia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro
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Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)
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| Transformers: Dark of the Moon's Details | |
| Genre | Action, Adventure & Comedy |
| Rated | PG-13 |
| Released | 06/23/2011 (MIFF); 06/29/2011 (United States) |
| Streaming | See Where to Watch on this page. |
| Running Time | 2 hr 34 mins |
| Budget | $195M (reported) |
| Box Office | Updated daily from Box Office Mojo. See the numbers below. |
| Based On | Hasbro's Transformers action figures |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Transformers: Dark of the Moon's Interests | |
| General | The Moon, Apollo 11, mailroom jobs, crashed spaceships, very big robots. |
| Music | Steve Jablonsky, with Linkin Park back for a third round. |
| Movies | Apollo 13 (1995). Same space agency, zero robots. |
| Television | The Transformers (1984). The cartoon that started the whole toy box. |
| Heroes | Bumblebee. Still talks through the car radio. |
| Transformers: Dark of the Moon's Crew | |
| Director | Michael Bay |
| Writers | Ehren Kruger |
| Producers | Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Tom DeSanto, Don Murphy, Ian Bryce |
| Cinematography | Amir Mokri |
| Music | Steve Jablonsky |
| Edited By | Roger Barton, William Goldenberg, Joel Negron |
| Production | Paramount Pictures, Hasbro Studios, di Bonaventura Pictures |
| Distributed By | Paramount Pictures |
A secret robot spaceship as the real reason for the moon landing is a genuinely fun idea, and Dark of the Moon burns through it before your popcorn gets cold. Then there’s the rest of the 154 minutes. Sam has a new girlfriend, played by Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, and the script gives her nothing to do but look worried. Patrick Dempsey plays a rich guy with a car collection and a secret you’ll guess right away. The robots still look like the same pile of knives. Then the last hour turns Chicago into rubble, and to be fair, a few of those shots are nuts, especially the soldiers gliding between skyscrapers in wingsuits. Audiences gave it an A CinemaScore and it made $1.12 billion worldwide, so clearly I’m outvoted. A 3.7 because one wild final act can’t carry an hour and a half of filler. $922 says you doze off before Chicago, wake up for the building collapse, and swear you saw the whole thing.
What works: The moon landing opening is a clever hook, and the wingsuit jump through Chicago is a genuinely great stunt sequence.
What doesn’t: The first ninety minutes are padded with dull subplots, and the new love interest is written with nothing to do.
Who it’s for: Fans who want the biggest, loudest robot city battle in the series and are happy to fast-forward to get there.
Spoilers
Sentinel Prime, Optimus’s old mentor, is secretly working with the Decepticons to pull their home planet into Earth’s orbit. Optimus takes out both Megatron and Sentinel in Chicago, and the space bridge collapses with Cybertron along with it.
Back in 1969, the Apollo 11 trip had a secret side quest: check out an alien ship that crashed on the dark side of the Moon. In the present day, Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) has saved the world twice, has a medal from the President, and still can't land a job. His new girlfriend Carly (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley) is crushing it at work, which isn't helping. Meanwhile Optimus Prime (voiced by Peter Cullen) and the Autobots find out about the wreck, fly to the Moon and bring home their old leader, Sentinel Prime (voiced by Leonard Nimoy). Michael Bay directs. One hundred fifty-four minutes, heavy on the slow motion.
Anyone hiring recent grads with world-saving experience. References available.
Retired U.S. Air Force Combat Controller Chief Master Sergeaphoto: MILLION DOLLAZ WORTH OF GAME, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
| Shia LaBeouf | Sam Witwicky |
| Josh Duhamel | Colonel William Lennox |
| John Turturro | Seymour Simmons |
| Tyrese Gibson | Retired U.S. Air Force Combat Controller Chief Master Sergea |
| Rosie Huntington-Whiteley | Carly Spencer |
| Patrick Dempsey | Dylan Gould |
| Kevin Dunn | Ron Witwicky |
| Julie White | Judy Witwicky |
| Ken Jeong | Jerry "Deep" Wang |
| Alan Tudyk | Dutch Gerhardt |
| Glenn Morshower | General Morshower |
| Lester Speight | "Hardcore" Eddie |
| John Malkovich | Bruce Brazos |
| Frances McDormand | Charlotte Mearing |
| Elya Baskin | Cosmonaut Dimitri |
| Josh Kelly | Stone |
| Ravil Isyanov | Voskhod |
| Andy Daly | Donnie |
| Keiko Agena | the aide and assistant of Charlotte Mearing |
| Buzz Aldrin | himself |
| Bill O'Reilly | himself |
| Markiss McFadden Jr. | "Baby Face" |
| Tom Virtue | NASA Technician |
| Bonecrusher the Mastiff | Bones |
- (cur | prev) 14:30, 17 October 2026 DataBot +480 Numbers refreshed: Worldwide box office $1.12B; Domestic box office $352.4M; Opening weekend $97.9M; Profit / loss (est.) +$269.4M; Rotten Tomatoes 35%; CinemaScore A; box office chart updated; Rotten Tomatoes critics 35% (259 reviews); Metacritic 42 / 100; CinemaScore A; IMDb users 6.2 / 10 (461,475 votes); movie.guru score 4.4.
- (cur | prev) 12:00, 17 October 2026 DataBot +2,000 Profile created from Wikipedia and Box Office Mojo: cast, crew, release dates, budget, official trailer.