* AlternateCharacterInterpretation:
** Sentinel Prime: [[spoiler: Was he a WellIntentionedExtremist who only wanted his people to have their home restored, or did he just want to return to an era where he was revered as a god?]]
*** What did he mean by saying ''[[spoiler: [[WrathOfKhan The Needs of the Many Outweigh the Needs of the Few]]]]''? Was it just a blatant ActorAllusion, or was there a deeper meaning behind it, in a metaphorical sense (in terms of power) rather than a literal sense (numbers)?
**** It can't be literal numbers (if the Cybertronians have more than a population of 7 billion, somebody needs to get them the memo that they aren't exactly endangered) and power doesn't make any sense to me, so I am guessing it is just actor allusion.
** Dylan Gould: [[spoiler: Is he a JerkassWoobie who was unfortunate enough to inherit his dad's allegiance with the Decepticons, or simply a DirtyCoward who wanted to be on the "winning" side? His MoralEventHorizon crossing indicates that he's more so on the latter.]]
*** [[spoiler:One is also reminded of [[VideoGame/MassEffect1 Saren Arterius]], another organic who made a desperate deal with HumongousMecha From Space in the hopes of saving some remnant of civilization. This is a bit of a stretch, though, as Gould does not ''express'' any such sentiment.]]
** Megatron: [[spoiler: Was he earnest when he wanted a truce, or did he just want to reclaim his role as Decepticon leader? How you interpret this will also say something about Optimus's following actions.]]
** The Autobots as a whole, continuing from the previous movie where they attack Decepticons who are just minding their own business. Here we see the Decepticons aiming to take prisoners (Only deciding to execute the Autobots after being talked into it by Dylan), something the Autobots ''never'' consider doing with Decepticons they defeat. Decepticons are concerned about the wellbeing and future of their race (Megatron's taking care of children at the beginning, and the whole attempts to restore Cybertron). This paints a weird portrait of the Autobots, who seem like sore losers about losing the whole war, and would rather drive their own species towards extinction than accept their defeat and let the Decepticons rebuild Cybertron. It's true that most of these plans for rebuilding were at the Human race's expense, but frankly Megatron's hatred of humans is understandable: The first we did is dig him out, keep him paralyzed, then vivisect him ForScience! (And if you factor the Novelization or the common Handwave for him knowing English when he awoke... [[AFateWorseThanDeath He was conscious through it all]]). It becomes easy to see the Decepticons as WellIntentionedExtremist and the Autobots as borderline sociopaths. And that is without even getting into the Autobots involving themselves in human politics at the behest of a single country...
*** Although this interpretation [[MisBlamed misenterprets]] a few things of the movies: Optimus makes it pretty clear the War is lost (in the third movie, he outright says such to Sentinel) and that he has no hopes or intentions of winning it, his focus is keeping humanity from meeting the same fate as his race did: In the first movie, for example, he attempts to sacrifice his own life to save humanity, even though that would mean the Decepticons would win. The second movie also shows The Decepticons planned comitting genocide here long before the war even began (With [[BiggerBad The Fallen]] and all), not to mention seeking to destroy/enslave the entire human race because a bunch of agents from ''one'' government from a ''one'' country imprisioned you (without the rest of the country knowing it, mind you) is a pretty big overreaction. On the politics matter, the label of the scene said "ILLEGAL nuclear facility", meaning it probably belonged to some guerrila warlord and not a government.
**** That said, it is still possible to view the Decepticon as heroes and the Autobots as villains (specially with the 'Cons noble goal and Optimus' penchant for "Jury, Judge And Executioner".)
* AngstWhatAngst: By the end of the film, the Autobots seem pretty held together despite the fact that[[spoiler: they just possibly lost Cybertron forever]]. Then again, [[spoiler: they had already more or less accepted that Cybertron was irredeemable by the end of the first film, so it may not be that big a deal]].
* BadassDecay: Megatron suffers ''hard'' from this, although this is at least partly justified by his injuries in the previous film (the novelization even implies that he has a third of his brain missing). Throughout the movie, he [[NonActionGuy behaves in a somewhat tired manner and tends to stay away from the battlefield]], all while getting [[TheWorfEffect kicked around by both]] Sentinel ''and'' Optimus ([[spoiler: getting killed by the latter in a CurbStompBattle when he starts actually trying to ''fight'']]).
* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:Dylan Gould, a slimy, yet successful billionare]] who is revealed as an agent for the Decepticons. [[spoiler:Although he implies to Sam that the alliance is not exactly his choice (inherited from his father) and he tells Carly that his primary motivation is survival of any sort, his actions tend to go towards doing reprehensible things regardless of being forced by the 'Cons. In particular when some Autobots are taken captive Gloud is the one to suggest executing them, and when the Space Bridge Pillar deactivates he is the one to personally reactivate it. Ulitmately his actions outweigh any possible sympathy as he is willing to betray '''HIS OWN SPECIES''' just to walk free when the Decepticons take over]].
** As much of a monster [[spoiler:Gould]] is, he does have somewhat of a reason (although not justifiable) for not defecting: He inherited the Decepticon alliance from his father, so the alliance was forced upon him. [[spoiler:His father]] probably qualifies moreso than his son, since unlike his son, it is fairly clear that he entered the alliance willingly and knowingly for no reason other than to broker a financial deal to ensure his company is the hotshot company. His staff may also qualify as such, seeing how it is strongly implied they supported [[spoiler:Gould]]'s alliance with what would likely result in the genocide of the human race.
* ContestedSequel: It's better than [[Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen the wretched and reviled predecessor]] or just as bad?
* CrazyAwesome: Jerry Wang.
* EndingFatigue: The final battle goes on for a very long time.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Jerry Wang, [[OneSceneWonder due to his status]]. Dino/Mirage may also count for some, and as always, Sideswipe, carrying over from this status in the previous film.
* HateDumb[=/=]ComplainingAboutShowsYouDontWatch: Suffers incredibly from this, partly due to the HypeBacklash against [[Film/TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen the previous movie]] and Creator/MichaelBay in general, though it may also be because, like many things, the films are primarily for teenaged boys and adults who act like teenaged boys so anyone outside the demographic will likely dislike it. Although some negative reviews and complaints about the movie are completely valid[[note]]such as Shia's over acting in some scenes or repeating certain clichés like Optimus' BigDamnHeroes moments over and over[[/note]], a good few of the movie's negative reviews suffer from CowboyBebopAtHisComputer [[note]]such as MeganFox's acting being criticized[[/note]], shallow criticism without justification, and plain old inattention[[note]]one critic admitted to playing a video game during the movie's entire runtime[[/note]]. Similar to the previous movie, it was nominated for "Worst Picture" at the Razzies; arguably, the HypeBacklash in this case is more blatant. The entirity of Movie Juice's review (of which many believe they didn't bother to watch the film) of this film consists of this: Rating the film 'rancid', making a comment about how any film produced by a toy company is stupid, make joke about funny names, make joke about transforming robots, make joke about the fanservice, repeat step three to 5 over and over. When called out on this, the reviewer replied by just trolling the comment. Not a good day for movie reviewers, or reviewers in general.
* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: The writers might be prepared to kill off [[spoiler:Wheeljack]] and [[spoiler:Ironhide]], but ''Bumblebee?'' Get real!
** Also, you know, blowing up the entire [[spoiler:Autobot spaceship with them inside.]]
* MoralEventHorizon: [[spoiler:Sentinel Prime]] crosses this when he reveals himself as a traitor willing to [[spoiler:enslave humanity in order to ensure Cybertron is rebuilt, killing Ironhide in the midst of revealing it.]]
** Any sympathy for [[spoiler:Dylan]] leaves when one sees the lengths he's willing to go to ensure that [[spoiler:he isn't harmed by the coming AlienInvasion. Like when he reassures himself that he's safe... while watching ''hundreds of innocent civilians be slaughtered by the Decepticons.'']]
* {{Narm}}: [[FamousLastWords RUNFAAAGH!]]
** The fact that's it's a stock sound effect from the previous film doesn't help.
* {{Padding}}: It's 2:30 hours long, so [[http://www.agonybooth.com/movies/Transformers__Dark_of_the_Moon_2011.aspx?Page=11 a few people]] find many scenes unnecessary.
* ReplacementScrappy: This was anticipated with Megan Fox / Mikaela's departure and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley brought in as a new character, as a lot of fans appreciated that Mikaela wasn't a useless screaming love interest and disliked that Rosie was a Victoria's Secret model with no prior acting experience. The potential anger was ebbed slightly when Rosie's character was named Carly after the [[TransformersGenerationOne G1 character]] and Rosie herself commented on being proud of being a part of the franchise. But to a lot of people's surprise both Rosie's acting and Carly herself turned out better than expected, as Rosie wasn't a rehash of Mikaela as a blonde and she was consistently cheerful and friendly even through Sam's moody moments in the movie.
** On the other hand, one ''hilariously'' vicious review said that ''Dark of the Moon'' is the only movie that could possibly make you miss the acting talents of MeganFox.
** It's also clear at times that the script was written as though Fox's character was still in it. For example, the fact that the government is comfortable with Sam bringing Carly into their secret Autobot command base without any prior approval is rather forcefully handwaved, whereas Mikaela would have had the same protection that Sam enjoys, since she was there for all of the events that Sam was present for.
* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Wheelie was better received than in the second movie because A) no leg humping and B) he actually helps in the climactic battle. Along with his partner, the even more quirky Brains, they manage to liven up the mood without being too obnoxious.
** Sam also earned the respect of some when he TookALevelInBadass and [[spoiler: killed Starscream.]]
*** On the other hand, that pissed quite a few of [[spoiler: Starscream's fans off, attributing it more to Starscream suffering from BadassDecay than Sam having TookALevelInBadass.]]
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: It's generally agreed that, like with the previous movie, the alternate ending depicted in the novel and comics [[spoiler: where Megatron pulls a HeelFaceTurn and joins forces with Optimus to kill Sentinel, afterwards leaving for Cybertron to help rebuild it,]] is better than the movie's actual ending. [[spoiler: It would have shown Megs get some of his old {{Badass}}ery back and made his CharacterDevelopment more obvious, showing that he was a WellIntentionedExtremist all along who genuinely cared about restoring Cybertron and would even give up his evil for that end]]. One guesses that this may have been because Paramount wanted to leave him evil so that he can return as a villain for future sequels, [[spoiler: should he be revived]].
** It's shown in the third film that humans are aware of the Transformers, and that the Autobots are not well liked by the US population (being referred to as "alien mercenaries"). There are clear reasons for this dislike; the Autobots cause countless property damage in their battles, and there's the fact that the average US citizen has to worry about whether or not the car or machine near them is not a dangerous alien warrior. Sadly, the movie only touches lightly on this, and never really explores how the Transformers' known presence has affected the world at large.
*** Transformers 4, anyone?
* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: It is up for debate, but the movie does aim to fix the problems that happened in the second film and fans were generally impressed with some of the story twists like [[spoiler: Sentinels betrayal and Ironhides death, Gould's reveal as a bad guy and Carly convincing Megatron to retake his leadership of the Decepticons]].
* UncannyValley: Wheeljack/Que's face might seem a ''little'' too human-like for some viewers.
** Most of the time they show their cg JFK's face out of focus. They focus on it one time briefly. And boy is it creepy.
** There's also the CGI version of Sam as [[spoiler:he swings around after stabbing Starscream in the eye]]. The CGI becomes noticeable when they show the close up of his face.
* TakeThat: Against Megan Fox's character for the actress comparing Bay to Hitler.
** When did this happen?

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