I'm on the side of the critics with this one (I'm afraid)...

Rating: 4/10 (19 May 2012)

The opening sequence of the film is very well done (IMO); it sets up the story very well and leaves enough mystery to keep the audience guessing. Unfortunately the film cannot sustain this level for long and pretty soon we're back to the usual 'big robots hitting each other in the streets of America' scenario that (personally) I've seen enough of.
On the plus side, there were some nice comic moments mainly provided by John Turturro and Alan Tudyk. I will also give a nod to the guys that did the CGI, it's all top-notch stuff and some of it is quite spectacular. On the downside I found many of the human characters irritating, in particular Sam Witwicky. He comes over as a bit of a petulant kid when he doesn't get the job he wants. Carly; well I guess she was just there to show off her curves, but as we all know, Michael Bay likes curves. I guess the whole franchise doesn't quite work for me because the filmmakers are so insistent on putting human traits on alien beings. Every robot, whether it be Autobot or Decepticon has to have a character and most of the time and in a lot of cases, it just makes them look stupid. Over all, not one I'll be watching again but I guess there will be a lot of fifteen year old boys out there that'll love it!... NOT RECOMMENDED.
My score: 4.2/10 IMDb Score: 6.3/10 (based on 141,806 votes at the time of going to press).
MetaScore: 42/100: (Based on 37 critic reviews provided by Metacritic.com at the time of going to press).
Rotten Tomatoes 'Tomatometer' Score: 35/100 (based on 235 reviews counted at the time of going to press).
Rotten Tomatoes 'Audience' Score: 67/100 (based on 124,673 user ratings counted at the time of going to press).
You can find an expanded version of this review on my blog: Thoughts of a SteelMonster.