Fails to live up to the original with a muddled plot

Rating: 4/10 (24 June 2017)

The Transformers return for a lackluster, poorly written sequel that still has some stunning visuals. The Michael Bay-directed film operates off the premise that the Transformers had come to Earth long ago. In the present, an elite military squad called NEST led by Major Lennox (Josh Duhamel) and Sargeant Epps (Tyrese Gibson) works with the Autobots to hunt Decepticons. In a destructive battle in Shanghai, Optimus Prime takes down a Decepticon but receives a warning of the Fallen. As Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) readies for college, he discovers a sliver of the Allspark cube that brings household appliance to life and destroys his parents', Ron (Kevin Dunn) and Judy (Julie White), house. Sam has to leave his transformer car Bumblebee behind and say goodbye to Mikaela (Megan Fox) as they start a long distance relationship. He gives her the cube sliver as he departs.
The government wants to shut down the Autobots just as the Decepticons plan to revive Megatron. At college, Sam tries to cover up his strange past as he meets his crazy roommate Leo (Ramon Rodriguez). Judy gets high on pot brownies in a moment of humor. Sam starts seeing symbols, an effect from handling the sliver and finds a girl Alice (Isabel Lucas) has taken an interest in him. Bumblebee shows up to take him to Optimus who warns him of a coming war. Sam continues to have strange visions and discovers Alice is a Decepticon just as Mikaela shows up to see him making out with her. Resurrected, Megatron confers with the Fallen and catches Sam to have a microscope transformer probe his brain in search of a source of Energon.
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