Terrible Movie

Rating: 2/10 (5 July 2011)

I saw this movie a couple of days ago, and I think it's fair to say that there are two parts to this movie -- the humans and the robots. The Robots don't matter. One look at the casting list in IMDb shows you that. A movie that is supposed to be about the robots doesn't even list the characters on the first page here. They are after-thoughts in a thoroughly forgettable film.
The voice acting for the Autobots and Decepticons is absolutely superb, and the only reason this movie is getting a 2/10 from me. Peter Cullen's iconic voice acting is better than ever, and Hugo Weaving and Leonard Nimoy are amazing as well, in their very very limited screen time.
I'm a long-time Transformers fan, and with all of the reports about how good the script was supposed to be, had the expectation that this movie would be better than the second. It wasn't.
The plot holes were numerous or unexplained. The large numbers of Decepticons on the moon isn't explained, nor is why they had to be transported to Earth instead of simply flying there, and the amazing "rewind" function of only the second pillar disruption was just stupid.
As for why Sentinel Prime gave Optimus the Matrix (All Spark) back isn't made clear in any of the movies, and my guess that the Matrix would sense his betrayal and destroy him, or simply outright reject him which could lead to suspicion, is simply that -- a guess. Not that I think Michael Bay is clever enough to mean to do something like that.
The script writing is terrible, and the human actors need to go to acting school. Sam reaches new levels of annoying in this movie, and the dialogue is contrived and insulting; this is highlighted by the obvious and contrived "homage" lines throughout the movie -- Sentinel saying "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few.." and Bumble Bee saying to Sam, "I am and always will be your friend." before they blast off to "leave" the planet.
I'm all for mindless action movies, but this one just blatantly insulted the audience. I'd also like to suggest that Transformers is no place for toilet humor, and I feel the writer(s) and director really did the franchise a disservice with this movie (and the second one) by including it.
Transformers never "talked down" to its audience, which is one of the things I think that made it so successful and worth watching, and I feel the last two movies did just that.
Another positive is the CGI, it was very very good. But that isn't a good reason to see this movie. It never is. Looks cannot hide this movie's lack of substance, and I am insulted yet again by the assertion that bigger and better CGI is what I want. It's not. It's a tool in a story-telling toolbox, and since there was no story, the audience is simply and continuously hit over the head with a giant CGI hammer. Safe yourself the headache, and skip this movie.
If you pay more than $1.00 to see this movie, you'll be wasting your money.
2/10 stars