Director: Michael Bay
Stars: Ken Jeong, Shia LaBeouf, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Patrick Dempsey, Josh Duhamel, John Turturro, Tyrese Gibson,
Rating: Rated PG-13 for intense prolonged sequences of sci-fi action violence, mayhem and destruction, and for language, some sexuality and innuendo
Runtime: 154 minutes
Studio: Paramount

Autobots Rachet, Ironhide , Bummblebee, Sideswipe and Optimus Prime deliver action personified as they join with their friends, the humans on earth to rumble with their sworn enemies, the Decepticons, as both race to uncover the secrets of a Cybertronian spaceship on the moon. If this is all Greek to you, you’ll still enjoy the film.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon is the third installment of the movies featuring Autobots: walking, talking, caring robotic vehicles; and their pal Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf). The fight scenes were of a tolerable length and the action, when only the actors were involved in the scenes, was pulse pumping; particularly, the scenes that involve actor Ken Jeong as Sam’s conspiracy theorist co-worker Jerry Wang. Jeong is a fantastic comedic actor and really needs his own movie because he steals every scene he is in, no matter the film.

Regretfully, no Megan Fox, and that is really too bad because she is just part of the fabric of this franchise. After airing much publicized differences with the Director Michael Bay, Fox walked. English born Victoria’s Secret model Rosie Alice Huntington-Whiteley stars as Carly Spencer, Sam’s new love. Pretty is the only thing these two ladies have in common. Fox is the “action” gal, where as Huntington-Whiteley was clearly used as a decorative prop.

Altered history is the set up for the story, as Presidents Kennedy, Nixon and Obama are weaved into an initial conspiracy theory. While the public is told that our astronauts have stepped onto the moon for the first time for exploration purposes, the Transformers storyline suggests that the true reason the astronauts’ visited the moon was to investigate the crash of an alien spaceship. Fast forward to a future where the U.S. military and Transformers work together to keep the world safe and use information collected from the crash site to protect the earth.

When Sam and Carly, well, Carly’s backside enter, the story, like most of America, Sam is looking for work ; and his parents just don't understand why such a qualified young person has failed to secure employment. While Sam lives with and off of his girlfriend Carly, the film includes a montage of interviews with crazy employers. Sadly, and comically, all of interviews are reminiscent of what many job seekers today have to experience. When Sam does find a job, it is with the assistance of Carly’s scheming boss Dylan, played by Dr. Yummy from Grey's Anatomy, Patrick Dempsey.

Naturally this film gives us plenty of what you would expect the Transformer franchise to deliver: a never-ending stream of autos, many of them luxury, chases on foot, by plane, by helicopter and loads of loud booming sounds accompanied by fire. Explosions, and sexual innuendo toward pretty young blonde Barbie, I mean Carly (wink).

Transformers Dark of the Moon is out on DVD but if you rent it from Redbox , like I did, don’t expect to see anything but film, I mean there weren’t even any previews on my disk. Why does power and popularity so often corrupt? As the Redbox franchise has blossomed, we get less for our buck. Lately, many of the movies that I rent from Redbox don’t have the DVD extras like interviews with the stars and the directors, secrets and revelations on how this cinematographer secured this shot or on how that special effect was executed, gotta love those quirky featurettes. Hope full DVD's with all of the extras come back, until then, at most, we are served a skinny helping of a couple of previews and the film. Humph!