Full of flaws, but still entertaining.

Rating: 6/10 (2 July 2011)

Expectations were still relatively high for this threequel, despite the disappointing Revenge of the Fallen, and director Michael Bay himself had guaranteed to deliver an instalment that lived up to the promise shown in the original Transformers only four years ago. He has partly succeeded. Dark of the Moon still features many of the flaws present in Fallen – lame jokes (especially from Sam's parents), preposterous plot holes, inaudible dialogue from the robots and woeful acting by the love interest, this time Victoria Secrets model Rosie Huntington-Whitely as Megan Fox's replacement – but it improves on one, arguably the most significant, element: the action. Where last time out you couldn't see what the hell was going on, this time around the robotic fighting (rendered in mind-bogglingly good CGI – the best of the franchise) is clear as day and possesses some tremendous slow-mo metallic clobbering. By no means a brilliant movie, even by 'dumb-action' standards, but leave your mind and maturity at the door and you'll be in for an entertaining two and a half hours.