History Film / TransformersDarkOfTheMoon

* AxCrazy: Some very rare ''heroic'' examples:

* AxCrazy:

* NeverTrustATrailer: [[spoiler:The trailer's have Optimus telling Sam "From here, that fight will be your own," before cutting to the final battle with Epps and co. running from the Driller, implying that the Autobots leave the humans to fend off the Decepticons on their own. In the actual film, Optimus does indeed say this, but it's all part of a ruse to convince the 'Cons that they actually are leaving, in order to spring a surprise attack later on.]]

The film marks Creator/LeonardNimoy's long-awaited return to the franchise [[note]]He openly asked to participate in the previous film, but Bay couldn't work up the courage to ask him in[[/note]] after twenty-five years - and sadly his final appearance in the franchise before his death in 2015. Likewise this is the last film to feature Creator/ShiaLaBeouf as Sam Witwicky. He wouldn't participate in the following two movies that followed.

-->''"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 when we forsake this planet and its people."''

** The effects used for when the Decepticons kill people with their energy weapons -- with the victims' bodies being blasted into powder, leaving only their scorched clothes behind -- are very similar to those used for the tripods' victims in executive producer Creator/StevenSpielberg's ''Film/WarOfTheWorlds'' adaptation.

* BoomHeadshot: [[spoiler:How Optimus kills Sentinel. He fires two blasts from Megatron's fusion gun.]]

'''Sentinel:''' [[BigNo NO]], Optimus!!!\\

* ScarsAreForever: Megatron is still visibly reeling from the heavy wounds Optimus inflicted on him in ''ROTF''; he has a large gash across his head, exposing his brain circuitry, and his right arm, which previously contained his fusion cannon, has been replaced [[FashionableAsymmetry with one of a different model]], while he now carries a handheld shotgun as his primary weapon. Starscream, eager to take up Megatron's leadership, mocks him for his resultant weakened state. Justified, since you can’t really regrow an ''entire third of your head'' in the space of two years.

* OffModel: A rare Live-Action example.
** Bumblebee's stripe pattern is not the same in either form.
** During the stand-off scene with Ironhide, Sideswipe and the Dreads, Ironhide's recently detached guns can be seen on his back in one shot. They're absent (as they should be) for the rest of the film afterwards.
** The blurry JFK effect.

* ALighterShadeOfBlack: Compared to Megetron, [[spoiler:Sentinal Prime is this]]. He does not hate humanity, just ambivalent toward them, only wants to dominate them to have a work force to restore Cybertron.

* FoeTossingCharge: Optimus cuts down about a dozen Decepticons before going up against Shockwave in Chicago.

** At one point Sentinel raises his sword over Optimus and declares, "...there will be only one!", a suspiciously similar moment to [[Creator/ClancyBrown The Kurgan's]] [[Film/{{Highlander}} "There can be only one!"]]

** At one point Sentinel raises his sword over Optimus and declares, "...there will be only one!", a suspiciously similar moment to [[Cretor/ClancyBrown The Kurgan's]] [[Film/{{Highlander}} "There can be only one!"]]

* ArmorIsUseless: Averted, surprisingly enough. Sentinel [[Spoiler:survives as long as he does once the tide turns because of his shield, and during his duel with Optimus, his helmet saves his skull from being chopped open by Optimus' sword]].

* ArmorIsUseless: Averted, surprisingly enough. Sentinel [[Spoiler: survives as long as he does once the tide turns because of his shield, and during his duel with Optimus, his helmet saves his skull from being chopped open by Optimus' sword]].

* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: The only reason Sam goes to Chicago is to rescue Carly, and doesn't seem to mind that thousands of people have just been killed by the Decepticons.
* AnArmAndALeg: [[spoiler:Sentinel cuts off Optimus's arm.]]
* ArmorPiercingQuestion: [[spoiler:Carly uses her diplomatic skills to convince a disheartened Megatron to help defeat Sentinel Prime by pointing out he's about to become "Sentinel's bitch". He comes within a few inches of ''killing her'' before realizing she has a point.]]

** Optimus has a wider chest and "abs." His overall design is more powerful looking.

* AGodAmI: [[spoiler:Sentinel Prime shows this attitude after his FaceHeelTurn, bemoaning that they used to be gods on their planet, but the humans view Cybertronians as mere machines. As soon as it looks like his plan is succeeding, he declares Earth to be ''their'' planet and that they were gods now]].

* EarnYourHappyEnding: Which [[Film/TransformersAgeOfExtinction the sequel]] completely [[HappyEndingOverride negated]]. But overall ''Dark of the Moon'' did not end very happily; Ironhide is terminated, Que is decapitated and 1,200 humans perished in the battle of Chicago. The upside here is that everyone else survives.

* ScarsAreForever: Megatron is still visibly reeling from the heavy wounds Optimus inflicted on him in ''ROTF''; he has a large gash across his head, exposing his brain circuitry, and his right arm, which previously contained his fusion cannon, has been replaced [[FashionableAsymmetry with one of a different model]], while he now carries a handheld shotgun as his primary weapon. Starscream, eager to take up Megatron's leadership, mocks him for his resultant weakened state.

--->'''Wheelie:''' This is one big clusterf--

* DarkerAndEdgier: Being the third movie of what was intended to be a trilogy, this is to be expected. In the first 2 films, while there were obvious casualties, they were barely shown. In this film, you not only get to see Laserbeak murder people ([[spoiler:as well as a ''family'']]), you also get to see [[spoiler:Chicago destroyed and people practically ''vaporized'']]. The FamilyUnfriendlyDeath quotient even seems a bit darker. It is undoubtedly the darkest and most violent of the first three films, and arguably still takes the crown within the Michael Bay's Transformers quintology. Michael Bay openly stated he wanted this movie darker and more dramatic than the first two movies. Even the concept art has a much gloomier atmosphere to it

-->'''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 when we forsake this planet and its people.''

-->''"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 when we forsake this planet and its people."''

* UpToEleven: In describing Shockwave as the new BigBad of ''DOTM'', the production stated that he is even more vicious than Megatron. Considering this Megatron is in all reality one of the most vicious villains in any ''Transformers'' continuity, that really means something. [[spoiler:This turns out to be rather not true, with Shockwave being more of a RedHerring villain. He is, of course, in the movie and evil, but accomplishes little of importance and there are at least two Bigger Bads than him.]]

!!Who would you be without these tropes, Prime? (Optimus: "Time to find out Megatron.")

* ImprobableFallingSave: When Sam, Carly, and the soldiers are in the collapsing building, Sam catches a falling Carly, but her weight and momentum mean that one or both of their arms should have been torn out of their sockets.

* KillEmAll:
** The Decepticons are looking forward to using the Earth's humans as slave labor for rebuilding their broken world Cybertron, but still seem to find an incentive for introducing genocide to Chicago, Illinois with their mooks wildly shooting down fleeing humans on the streets because 1) they need a military hub and what they're doing is pest control of insects, 2) it's to demonstrate their potential and military prowess and 3) it's fun!
** Optimus announces, "We will ''kill'' them all" when the Autobots arrive in Chicago to fight back Decepticon invaders.