When I watched Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011), I didn't even notice that it was set in Detroit.

I was too busy watching Optimus Prime and Bumblebee running around, buildings collapsing, and cars transforming into robots.

However, looking back years later, I realize there are more Detroit vibes than I initially thought.

The large-scale urban battle in the latter part of the film is set in Chicago. As the Decepticons take over the city, buildings are destroyed and the streets become a battlefield.

A significant portion of the actual filming took place in Chicago. But it's not feasible to destroy everything right in the middle of Chicago.

So one of the locations the production team chose was Detroit.

A notable site is the Michigan Central Station.

While it has been restored and transformed now, at the time it was a massive abandoned train station that had been neglected for a long time.

The windows were broken, and the interior was empty, creating an apocalyptic atmosphere without needing to build elaborate sets.

The Packard Plant was similar. The sight of the massive factory in ruins provided an incredible filming location for a movie like Transformers.

In other cities, they would have spent millions of dollars creating a set of ruins, but at that time, Detroit had real ruins to work with.

A city once called the capital of the world's automotive industry had become a perfect place for Hollywood to depict a city destroyed by alien robots.

Still, the filming helped the local economy. When a large production team comes in, money flows into lodging, food, transportation, equipment, and local labor.

The claim that the Transformers shoot brought about $30 million in economic impact to the Detroit area is due to this reason.

The movie itself is a typical Michael Bay production. Following the story can be exhausting.

Once the battles start, it's hard to keep track of who is hitting whom. One robot falls, a building collapses, and another robot comes flying in.

If you want a quiet moment for dialogue, there's an explosion five minutes later. But that's part of the charm of Transformers.

Especially the third installment showcases where the production budget went throughout its two-and-a-half-hour runtime.

It feels a bit different from today's CGI. Because visual effects were added on top of real cities, buildings, vehicles, and explosion scenes, there's a strange weight to the visuals.

It's quite ironic to think about. Detroit, which once dominated the world with cars, became the filming location for a movie about cars transforming into robots.

So now when I watch Transformers: Dark of the Moon again, I pay more attention to the background than the robots.

It's quite fun to look for where that building is, whether that ruin is a set or real.

The film essentially documents the city during its most challenging times.

Transformers 3 is still a loud and chaotic movie. But knowing Detroit and watching it again feels a bit different.

The old buildings and factories behind the robots reflect the time that American manufacturing cities went through.