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It is not until the last 66 minutes of Transformers: Dark of the Moon, released on June 29, 2011, that the action moves to Chicago but once there, most of the story takes place along the main branch of the Chicago River. Marina City shows up numerous times, both real and imagined, from many angles.

10. Transformers on the roof of 35 East Wacker Drive, seen here from the east. Across the river at Marina City, the plaza is completely destroyed. Smith & Wollensky appears to be, well, no longer taking reservations. The commercial platform above the marina is gone except for – and here is your silver lining – Dick’s Last Resort. Several...things...have crashed into the towers and small fires burn throughout the complex. Paramount Pictures/Di Bonaventura Pictures.

9. Humans flee from Transformers (left) fighting on Wacker Drive. Small fires dot Marina City and a large hole in the west tower is definitely lowering property values.

8. Sentinel Prime (left) and another Transformer fight on Wacker Drive with Marina City in the background.

7. “Raise the bridges!” With the Renaissance Chicago Hotel and Leo Burnett Building smoldering in the distance at left, the Wabash Avenue and State Street Bridges are raised. An extensively damaged Marina City is at right.

(Left) This stunt was performed on Saturday, August 21, 2010. A helicopter flew low through the raised bridges at Michigan Avenue, Wabash Avenue, and State Street, and is seen here going back for another take. The bridges were raised simultaneously shortly after 9:00 a.m.

6. A flying vehicle ferrying heroes Sam Witwicky and Carly Spencer flies directly over the west tower of Marina City. The east tower and State Street are on the right.

5. Sentinel Prime hops down to the first setback of the 40-story 35 East Wacker Drive, formerly known as the Jewelers’ Building, overlooking the Chicago River and Marina City.

(Left) What it looked like from the roof of the east tower at Marina City during filming on July 11, 2010. The camera crane is to the right of the turret at far left.

4. A Decepticon airship at top of frame flies directly over Marina City. This is based on real aerial footage. If you look closely, you can see wooden scaffolding that covered most of the plaza during a concrete restoration project.

3. At the film’s climax, a wounded Optimus Prime stands on the LaSalle Street Bridge with Marina City behind him at left. Other buildings smolder along Wacker Drive at right.

(Left) Filmmakers work late on the scene on August 20, 2010.

2. Whatever has Rosie Huntington-Whiteley’s attention, it is distracting her from the alien robot crashing into the west tower behind her on the left and the truck blowing up on the right.

1. Alien craft fly east down the Chicago River, past a riverfront devastated by intergalactic war.

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