*Sigh* What a pity...

Rating: 1/10 (28 June 2009)

Transformers had potential to be such a great franchise. I loved it as a kid. It was my favorite cartoon to watch. I had a ton of the action figures. Loved it to death.
And then came the movies...
Now, I kinda liked the first one. I thought the visuals were really neat, but mostly I just thought it cool that they brought my childhood love to life (Yay, Optimus!). I excused the pitiful plot in the first one. But I should have been able to have had one in this second movie. No. I get nothing. Just another random scrap heap thrown together in a semblance of coherency (and failing pretty hard).
It would seem that most of the effort was spent making the visuals, which are quite amazing, I'll admit. And at first I believed that it would be okay just to see for the eye candy aspect (I'd read the horrible reviews before and was sad that it was considered so awful). I hoped for something though and went to see it. There's all this talk about reboots these days. I think Transformers is already in need of one.
There is a "plot," but it's just boring and cliché. About 90 percent of the characters are cardboard cutouts and stereotypes. I didn't really feel there were racist robots in the film, though I can understand why some people want to believe it. Most of the humor is vulgar and asinine, the kind that 12 and 13 year old boys make up and repeat to each other over and over again. Halfway through the movie, I was bored, even though there was non-stop action taking place. But it's not even good action. It's chaos and confusion. You can't tell who's who. Some of the new robots weren't even given proper names or lines. I don't have a beef with the acting. I thought it was okay. But it couldn't save this sad beater in need of a date with a car crusher. Also, there was no suspense, no sense of threat or danger, and no emotion evoked where it should have been had.
Wait for the DVD if you haven't already seen it. No, I take that back. If you must see it, go now. Seeing it once in the theater is at least cheaper than buying the DVD.