I didn't hate this movie but, I am fully aware of how bad it is.

Rating: 4/10 (29 June 2009)

Sequels are hard to make, you have a plot to continue, characters to continue to develop, and expectations from fans to surpass. Michael Bay and company seem to have found a way around that, and that is to not do any of these things.
The plot of the first Transformers may not have been the best, but it worked for that movie while this movie manages to disregard the plot of original and goes off in a new direction resembling a retarded version of National Treasure mixed with War of the Worlds. It fails to be interesting or intelligent.
Most of the major characters return, one noticeable loss is Jon Voight as the secretary of defense. although the characters seem oblivious to the events of the previous film this is not the main failing of the movie, it is the dialog. While the first movies dialog ranged from decent to good this movie stayed in Pearl Harbor territory almost the whole time with the only tolerable lines delivered by the main autobots and decepticons. Another problem is the inclusion of new autobots and decepticons there are so many thrown into this movie that you do not care or sometimes even notice when they meet their demise. However there are two new autobots Skids and Mudflap who you will notice because the movie forces you to. They both horribly annoying ethnic stereotypes that add nothing to the movie.
The action in this movie is intense if not slightly confusing. While the action scenes in this movie are on par with the first movie they couldn't overcome the horrible story. Unlike the first movie in which the action builds up over time to thrilling climax. This one just has action throughout. While the action in it is good it never builds to a true climax.
It seems Michael Bay pulled a Ghostbusters 2 on us, sure the movie has the same characters and subject matter but it is severely lacking in the areas where it counts.