Not for the over thinkers

Rating: 7/10 (11 July 2011)

To Start, I loved the first transformers movie. I thought it was a very well done popcorn flick and it held my interest. I walked into Transformers 2 with semi-decent expectations and walked out of the theater angry that I just wasted 10$ to see what basically amounted to a half baked attempt at a cash grab. I had very low expectations walking into this one. Maybe that's why I enjoyed it so much.
Actors: The loss of Meghan Fox is a huge plus in the movie's favor. The new girl was alright, not amazing, bu she did a passable job. There were no Oscar performances in this movie, but you didn't buy the your ticket for an Oscar performance. If for some reason you did well god help you. The actors were passable, and, in my opinion, did not drag down the movie. the voice acting for the transformers was good too, again nothing amazing here so lets move on.
Story: Yes, you could examine the continuity and ask why didn't Megatron attempt to retrieve the pillars in the first movie since apparently that was the overall plan? You could question how his film is attached to the other two (other than the returning characters). I'll admit this movie does suffer from some continuity issues. That is the problem when a movie is made without planning for the sequels in the beginning; the writers are forced to make an attempt to connect the stories. Without taking into account the other two movies, the story is decent in here, and (as I've been wishing for since the first transformers)the series finally takes a dark turn. In the past movies it never seemed like human civilians were truly harmed. It was implied that people were being killed in the battles, but it really felt like Michael Bay was avoiding the idea. Not in this one. Mr. Bay did not hold back in the last hour and many, many people were killed. The slapstick comedy does return but for the most part it was actually funny and not annoying this time. At the end of the day, the plot was good enough to hold my attention to the end unlike Transformers 2: ROTF's sloppily thrown together story.
Action: Here's where this movie made up for it's faults. This is the reason you bought your ticket, and Michael Bay did not falter here. This is hands down some of the best CGI/Action I've ever seen in a movie. Trust me when I say the last hour was worth the price of admission. Just turn your brain off and enjoy this movie for what it is and you will walk out satisfied. Epic action, intense fights, huge explosions. Enough said
Overall: People. Stop criticizing every detail. Its a movie about giant robots that transform into cars. What do you expect? Turn your brain off. Enjoy the action. If that doesn't sound like your kind of movie, then go see something else.