It really takes the wind out of your sails as a fan

Rating: 4/10 (6 January 2015)

One thing that always bugged me about TRANSFORMERS (aside from the eyesore robot design, LaBeouf, and giving Optimus Prime a mouth), is that it felt like a ripoff of INDEPENDENCE DAY: nerd pinpoints enemy signal, big attack, stuff blows up, motley band of heroes find alien that the government's been hiding for decades; that was kind of a deal-breaker for me. Most of my problem with this movie is script-related. A lot of it is hard to watch, the logic is specious and the gags are awful.
On the whole, there are better ways to do a big Transformers blockbuster, and Michael Bay is the wrong direction (incomprehensible action scenes, dizzying camera movements). For one, alien doesn't equate with insectile. They don't have to look like toys from the '80s, but they also don't have to be hideous. This is some expensive CGI, but I can't tell what body party I'm looking at. And it feels like a Michael Bay movie for most of its running time, and the guy's got his own massive niche (this is not a dig) . . . but this is unbelievably silly, even in its serious moments.
4/10