Good standard Micheal Bay action with some nice 3D, just don't expect a great story

Rating: 7/10 (29 June 2011)

This is one film where if you like a lot of action and CGI effects then you will love this film to bits, however if it's a film where you are looking for a solid and decent story you are going to walk away disappointed.
The CGI is up there with being some of the best films out there. The 3D effects looked simply awesome in the trailer but for some bizarre reason did not stand out as much in the film. There were a few scenes where I was sat there going wow that looks amazing but there were unfortunately many others where I was sat there thinking I could have just watched this in 2D. Simply put it didn't seem like Micheal Bay took full advantage of the 3D technology available to him, which is a shame.
The story, the story could have been so much more! Without giving too much away, it is a very good idea for a story, but it felt very lacking and non-cohesive in places, with very few scenes progressing naturally from one to another. Some parts of the story were all too predictable. The pacing of the film is hurt as it seems to drag on and have lack of real focus in the latter half of the films.
Potential Spoilers
The scene where the top half the building in the Chicago is being eaten away and toppling. I'm pretty sure it doesn't take a building 10 minutes to topple over when it has no supporting structure. This part of the film really dragged on far too long.
I was somewhat amused and it seemed like I was the only person laughing when Leonard Nimoy's character recites a well known Star Trek movie line. The film though it has its little bits of humour isn't used as much in this film as the second film and struck a fairly nice balance this time round. Some of the humour used is unsuitable for young viewers.
Many of the reoccurring actors have much smaller role in the film than before. General Morshower was more or less reduced to just one scene if that, often leading me to question why even have him and some others in the film? Shia Labeouf is more or less similar to as he was in the first two film. Yet that his wit isn't as evident in this one, and the energy we are accustomed to seeing him with seem to be lacking this time round, it's almost like he is just tired of the role. A lot will be said about Rosie Huntington-Whiteley acting in the film. She didn't do a bad job but she didn't do an outstanding job either. It would not surprise me if many viewers just see her as cinematic eye candy in this film. The only performance really note worthy is Alan Tudyk who brings a somewhat complicated side kick character Dutch to John Turturro's Simmons adding much humour and in places sorely needed character/soul to the film.
The robots themselves, a fair number of them are introduced but do not expect to see many of them with much screen time. Only Laserbeak and Sentinel Prime see much in terms of screen time otherwise it's mainly dominated by Optimus and Bumblebee, even Megatron looks to have all but a part bit to play in this film.
There are some nice bits to the film, the few very good 3D scenes, a good story idea (even though poorly implemented in my opinion), fair dose of humour but not too much to distract from the main story. Some nicely packed action sequences. Overall as long as you are not expecting a rock solid story line with similarly solid acting this is a good entertaining film to watch. If you are expecting either of the two, I would probably recommend you give this one a miss.