Film Review: "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" (2011).

"The battles are over. The war begins" in Transformers: Dark of the Moon. This science fiction action film directed by Michael Bay, written by Ehren Kruger and based on the Hasbro Transformers toy line. It is the third installment of the live-action Transformers film series and a sequel to 2009's Revenge of the Fallen. Sam Witwicky and the Autobots must unravel the secrets of a Cybertronian spacecraft hidden on the Moon before the Decepticons can use it for their own evil schemes.

In mid March 2009, before the critically panned but commercially successful release of Revenge of the Fallen, Paramount Pictures announced a third film, as well as a July 1, 2011 release date and that it would be released in IMAX 3D. Original writers Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman declined to return for the third film. So Revenge of the Fallen '​s co-writer Ehren Kruger became the sole screenwriter for the film. Due to the revived interest in 3-D technology brought in by the success of Avatar (2009), talks between Paramount, ILM, and Bay had considered the possibility of the next Transformers film being filmed in 3-D. Bay originally was not much interested in the format, but he was convinced after talks with James Cameron, who even offered the technical crew from that film. By late May 2010, Shia LaBeouf, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson, Peter Cullen, Hugo Weaving, Kevin Dunn, Julie White, Jess Harnell, Tom Kenny and Frank Welker reprised their roles, with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Patrick Dempsey, Leonard Nimoy, John Malkovich, Frances McDormand, Alan Tudyk, Ken Jeong and John DiMaggio were cast as newcomers. Megan Fox was originally expected to return. But, according to various published sources, Fox's absence from the film was due to Bay ultimately choosing not to renew her role in light of her comparing him and his work ethics to Adolf Hitler. Bay later claimed that Fox was fired by executive producer Steven Spielberg, a claim which Spielberg denied. At the same time, with a budget of $195 million, principal photography commenced and wrapped in early November. Filming took place in Atlanta, Georgia; Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; Esther and Titusville, Florida; Gary, Indiana; Houston, Texas; Los Angeles, California; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; Moscow, Russia; Pollepel Island, New York; and Washington, District of Columbia. Though about 70% of the film's live action footage was shot in 3-D using Arri Alexa and Sony F35 cameras, more than half of the film still had to be converted into 3-D in post production to fix technical flaws 3-D filming produces. 35 mm cameras were also used for scenes where the 3-D cameras proved to be too heavy, or were subject to strobing or electrical damage from dust

The performances given by the cast are some of the worst performances they have ever given, as well as being some of the most worthless performance given by them. End... of... story.

It's another noisy, underplotted, and overlong special effects extravaganza that lacks a human touch. The longer this franchise goes on, the less interesting it becomes; it just wears you down.

Simon says Transformers: Dark of the Moon receives: