OK for kids 13+
Slightly better than No. 2 but still crude and very violent.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that the third installment in the blockbuster Transformers franchise is less crude than the first sequel but more violent than the original. Tween and teen boys in particular will be interested in seeing this movie, but even younger kids who are familiar with the Hasbro toys may be curious about yet another live-action adaptation. Like all of director Michael Bay's films, there's a constant threat to all the characters -- in fact, humanity in general -- and an accompanying body count to match that sense of peril. Some robot deaths are particularly startling. Language is edgy, with frequent uses of "a--hole," "bitch," and "s--t" and two variations on the F-bomb. This is a dream movie for car, weapon, and military aficionados, but not so much for young girls, since the only three women in the film are stereotypes -– the young blond "hottie," the tough older careerist, and the wisecracking middle-aged mom.
- Families can talk about the movie's nonstop violence. How does the filmmaker differentiate between Transformer-on-Transformer violence and violence against humans? Do you think the director gets away with depicting more violence because Transformers aren't people?
- Although there's less stereotyping here than in the previous movie in the series, what are some instances in which characters of a particular gender, ethnic, or racial group are depicted in a stereotypical manner?
- Despite the number of attractive male characters, why does the movie focus so much more on the leading actress' body? What message does that send audiences?
- Nearly every scene features a product placement; is this realistic (because people do use particular brands) or is it distracting?
The good stuff
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Messages: Despite the requisite underlying themes of friendship and loyalty, there are a couple of shady messages about what it takes to succeed as a woman (be beautiful and sexy) and a few negative stereotypes and jokes.
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Role models: Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, and the other Autobots are extremely loyal to Sam and humans in general, even when the government turns against them. Sam also will stop at nothing to help his Autobot friends and to save the love of his life. Other characters are brave, but it's their job to defend the innocent.
What to watch for
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Violence: Incessant loud, explosion-based violence, usually featuring the robotic Transformers and human beings. The evil Transformers don't care about collateral human damage, and they routinely cause mass destruction to buildings, bridges, cars, and even national monuments like the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. There's a high body count, even though the camera never lingers on any human death (it does linger on Transformer deaths, including those of sympathetic secondary characters and one that's particularly gruesome). The military (including the Air Force special ops and Navy SEALs) uses technologically advanced weapons and gear to battle the Transformers that are threatening to turn humans into a slave race.
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Sex: No outright sex, but every scene Carly is in features her in either underwear (the actress is a famous Victoria's Secret model) or a revealing outfit. She and Sam kiss in bed and several other times. Her entire purpose is to be attractive and have others make comments about her "hotness." Sam's mother makes inappropriate references to sex and even speculates about how "big" he is to have had two gorgeous girlfriends. In one scene, a sexily dressed Latina character is referred to as a "hoochie mama," and her anger is called a "Latin meltdown."
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Language: Surprisingly frequent use of the following words: "a--hole," "bitch," "s--t," "hell," "damn," "crap," "ass," "d--khead," and "oh my God." One mouthed "f--k," and one memorably (and humorously) said "clusterf--k."
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Consumerism: Not only is the entire series based on Hasbro toys, but there's also an extremely high number of product placements: from cars (General Motors, Mercedes, Corvette, and more) to electronics (Apple computers, iPad, Lenovo desktops) to water (Arrowhead) and apparel (Adidas, Nike, etc.).
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Drinking, drugs and smoking: At a couple of dinner parties, adults are shown briefly with glasses in hand.
Fan Reviews provided by
1
Obviously Michael Bay learned nothing from Revenge of the Fallen! by invisionary1
Why is it in so many sequels they think if they blow up more stuff and show more half dressed hotties that this will make for a better movie. Michael Bay has successfully taken an amazing franchise and flown it right into the ground. He even turned the Hero Optimus into a crazed revenge seeking killer of a defenseless Prime. This was by far the saddest deterioration of an epic that I have ever seen. Yes it was visually stimulating, but the senseless sexual innuendo and foul language takes this movie to a place it should never have gone. I'm not a prude but this is Transformers not the Expendables, which was by the way the best bad movie I have ever seen. Part of the appeal of the Transformers franchise is that it transcends generations and allows older people to feel young again and for young people's imaginations to run wild. There were parts of this movie that just made me mad that they were in it. I felt defiled and that the director soiled the entire ideology behind the story
1
Transformers: Dark of the Moon review by MrMystery
Crappy story...ridiculous fight scenes...no one gets hurt or so much as loses a shoe while sliding down the face of a skyscraper...and then falling through broken glass for 20 stories!!! The "action" was mindless and never ending...plotless, stupid. The only decent thing was the new hot gurl....that's it. All the special effects in the world does not make a good movie....come on hollywood!! The movie was painful to watch...and after about 1/2 way through...I was waiting for it to end...and it just kept plodding along like a lame elephant. No direction, no meat...just endless fluff. Even the wing suit scene was silly...they fly helicopter/planes into the center of the city only to jump out of them to land on the ground and basically do nothing...it was just an excuse to have wing suits in the movie....just plain stupid....AND I LOVE WING SUITS!!!! Save your money...go see Xmen...a much better movie.
5
******* AWESOME!!! by havana.cuba95
This movie just gave me ghost bumps!! My eyes got watery !! It's nerve-breaking! So many mixed emotions right now!! Way better than the second one! I wasn't a big fan of transformers but I gotta admit, I am one now!!
5
The Best of the Three a Must See. dont bring small kids by Fine69
The movie is an adrenaline rush from the beginning to the end. The seamless 1960s footage of original footage of JFK I did a double take from it realizing some of its new and some of it was the real footage. This time they didn?t bombard us with all these new Autobots and Deceptacons. This time they showed us and told us each new one on the scene in front of us. No guessing who's this guy? Leonard Nimoy was such a great surprise to hear and the Star Trek references are priceless. You really have to be a Sci/Fi lover to catch them. The action was not two dimensional. There are scenes in it like the 1st one you don?t know where the computer transformer begins and the live action or animatronic ends. This movie also has all the banter and humor like the first one and inside jokes.
The action is non stop til the end You will be sweating when done watching this and like my wife hold your bathroom break til the end. We can't wait to see it in 3D.
4
Biggest Blow Em Up Shoot Out by Koali
What I liked: Great set design everywhere - great location shots - fantastic eye candy for the demolition action destruction blow em up fragment it tear and and drag it lovers. Cast: Shia LeBeouf is able to keep us believing in him - Rosie H Whiteley has a better than supermodel, yes she is one that uses it to the max but she's also a newer woman - able to stay with her man and help out when she can - not just arm candy accessory. Everyone is in this movie! So good to watch the vets - Malkovich and McDormand and of course Turturo. But really nice to see Tyrese again. What I didn't like: The explanations were so unclear as to how this threat came to the Earth back in the 60's and what ever conversation the two enemies were having was so 'between them' that I was' clueless - someone had a pillar here. Just bad explanation so I just enjoyed the rest of it and said -'They just aren't going to give us the back- history- timeline- to date- why?- story'. Use of Black Gangs as Bad is not cool
3
A little too "Happy Ending" for me... by KogaLuver424
Without giving anything away... The movie was made by Michael bay... Duh.... But the chaos and destruction of this action movie... ends a little too quickly and cinderella-like.... Everything just happens to "fall into place".... Sorry I'm a realist... Love the series... But just saying.... Go and see for yourself... You've been warned...
5
best of them all... by JCOGAR23
Definitely worth paying the extra to see this in 3D! I'm typically not a 3D fan, but this may change my perspective on it. Best movie of the 3! If youre into mindless, nonstop action this is the flick!
5
Bout time! by Ryuujinha
The last installment of the Transformer franchise has to be one of the best since the first movie. This is what part two should have been. Though I have to say that the plot in this movie could have been hinted at the very least in the second movie or even the first, because it would have REALLY pulled it together as a complete story. The actors had their moments all of them, but still the stars of the movie are the actually robots. All I have to say about this movie is that it set the standard for the rest of the Summer movies this year. Love it, hate, I could care less because I loved this friggin' movie.
5
awesome by deathstar105