Michael Bay makes a serviceable film. Dumb, but fun.

Rating: 7/10 (24 June 2009)

Michael Bay.
Has any other name been as synonymous with big Hollywood productions besides Jerry Bruckheimer? He has been known for his legendary special effects as well as his utter lack of human traits in a film. If there was ever a classic example of preferring style over substance, look no further than Bay himself.
Thus, imagine the surprise many felt when they actually admitted to liking Bay's Transformers. While his critics were still present, he had actually received several praises from several thousand fan boys and was green-lit to do a sequel.
The plot starts off much later after the initial Decepticon encounter. Literally. Apparently at 17,000 B.C., there were also giant robots raging war with our ancestors. In the present, however, the U.S. military and the Autobots combine together to form NEST, a secret force made in order to defeat incoming Decepticons. However, after a messy battle, the military has had it. They want the Autobots to either cooperate or leave. Elsewhere, Sam Witwicky (Shia Lebeouf), leaves for college and tries to have a 'normal' life. Of course, when he accidentally touches a cube fragment, he sees symbols, thus destroying his wishes altogether.
To be honest, with the exception of the giant opening battle, I found the First Act a bit of a bore. It's ironic because in the first Transformers, I found the First Act the strongest. It really had a sort of human connection with me that struck me the right way. However here, it has all these messy subplots which I didn't really care about. Like Sam's relationship problems, for example. It's the typical long distance troubles and new hot girl that really didn't interest me. I also didn't particularly care for the in-fighting of the Autobots vs. the U.S. Government. It's sort of that expected feeling you get from a sequel.
Luckily, the rest of the movie follows up to what passes for an entertaining popcorn movie.
All the vices of Bay's film work are here: the shaky camera, the 360 camera, the explosions, the loud noises, the heavy editing and of course, boyish humor. And just like the last Transformers, Bay always had to refer to one of his earlier works.
What really brings the movie out are its actors. While the characters they play are a bit bland, they are given a lot of screen time and a lot of situations to express their acting range. Shia Lebeouf is as strong as ever as well as Peter Cullen as the infamous Optimus Prime. John Tanaturo is hilarious again, but credit should go to newcomer Ramon Rodriguez as Sam's roommate, Leo. He has some bright charm to him that compliments Shia's acting.
The robots in the film are given a similar treatment in the first film. While Bumblebee and Optimus are given sufficient screen time, the rest of the Autobots don't really have that luxury. Add in the fact, that there are even more Autobots than prior, and you have a problem.
An odd note I'd like to comment on is the Megatron/Starscream interaction. In the original cartoon, Starscream made it no secret that he wanted to overthrow Megatron and lead the Decepticons. Hell, he even tried to kill Megatron a couple of times. But in the movie, Starscreams kind of a coward, and begs at Megatron's feet. I kind of wished that Starscream would've back stabbed him, but oh well.
The action of the movie is intense. If you ever find yourself lacking a reason to go see a film, just go for pure eye-candy alone. The battles are on a large scale, and bigger than ever. Contrary to what a lot of people said, I could keep track with all the action on the screen. Perhaps it was the color scheme, but I found myself engaged with a lot of the battles, and knew who was winning and who was losing.
The humor is questionable to say the least. A large part of the movie is comedy and it comes from all directions. From speech to slapstick, there's humor to be found everywhere. Some of it works, such as slapstick from Rodrigez's part. Some of it is crass, like a robot dry humping Megan Fox. And some is just plain painful. There are two robots who are twins. Whether they are offensive Mexican Stereotypes or Black Stereotypes, doesn't matter to me. I just want them gone.
In the end, you go in hating this film, you'll hate this film. If you go in liking this film, you'll like it. It's just another one of Bay's works that will appeal to a certain audience. The plot is serviceable enough, though with plenty of holes, to get us through and there are good moments as well as painful moments. In the end, I liked it just fine.
Verdict: Go see it.