Some flaws, but otherwise Brilliant!

Rating: 8/10 (19 June 2009)

I saw this last night at a special viewing and thought it was generally amazing. I am a special effects sort of guy, and this was packed with some amazing sequences.
It is a long movie, branching around 2and half hours, but to me that's value for money. I hate it when people say its too long. I bet the same people complain when its only an 1 hour 45 and say its to short.
This movie is brilliant I believe, but it does have its flaws. There are a lot of Unnecessary scenes that did not need to be there, which could have shortened the movie, or left more space for some character building on some of the newer characters. Complaints about explosions? I've heard many critics say the trailer looked like an explosion fest, but what on earth would you expect when giant mechanical robots are fighting. Its going to be a lot of big explosions, its not a movie about peace and negotiations. I expect some of the die hard fans not to like this movie, as it probably doesn't follow exactly, to what ever story arc they have taken to adopt this movie from. For anyone else, when it finished, the whole screen I was in clapped, which to me proves that to the average movie goer it is a must see.
There loads of new transformers in this movie, some are signature characters like Skids and Mudflap, the twins, Jetfire and the construct-icons, with many more as well. If time was taken to delve into these new signature characters you would be sat there a lot longer as there as plenty. It is a shame that some feel 'popped in', and i do understand when others cry out for character depth, it is a missing part of this movie, but then the movie would last even longer. Maybe some should not have been introduced? probably but it does not detract that much away from the movie. You still get the big bots out there kicking robot ass, which I loved.
The human element is decent with Shia back as lead, the parents are back too but really should have only been in the start of the movie. There are many light heart-ed, comic moments that I enjoyed, even if i thought they should not be there, they actually fit well. Megan looking as good as ever, not the best of actors mind personally, but she does well. Leo was a slightly unnecessary I thought, and I believe was there for a more comic role then anything else, or maybe to have a future role in another movie with his own guardian like Shia and Bumblebee? Simmon's is as quirky as ever and was nice to see him back. Lennox and his military pals play a very good role as the US military and they really add to the final scenes.
The storyline is clear throughout, or so I thought, its pretty basic to be fair. Keeping to it through the whole movie make have a bit lax, with some of the chopping and changing of what everyone was doing, the story only comes into play in certain scenes, but it is there, and I thought it was a clever one to have as it may lead to a sequel or hopefully will! There are some some major points scored for some areas of the plot, when you see it you will know, i'm not here to spoil anything! This gets 8 of 10 for me, the reason I gave it 8/10 was due to some of the scenes been a tad pointless as they were really not needed, and just seemed to be there to fill some space, but even so most of the time they were pretty comical. Critics complained last time about, there not been enough Optimus, or robot fighting, then when Bay does what they ask he still gets slated for doing to much, he cant really win. It is a popular franchise to try and get right, the die hard fans may not like it, I did I used to watch the cartoons and loved seeing some of my favourite characters back on the big screen. It is a must see for anyone in my opinion even if its just to satisfy your curiosity. For those that know a bit about the transformers world, and the average movie goer it is a definite must and you will enjoy it.
This is my first review, and I hope it helps those waiting to see it, I have to tried to show flaws of the movie and make it unbiased, but I did really enjoy watching it so I found it hard to rip to pieces like others do.