I loathe Michael Bay movies, his commercial-slick direction and so-called mastery of spectacle are masks for deafening stupidity. But I enjoyed the first Transformers more than I care to admit, and reluctantly resigned myself to seeing the sequel.
In this latest, Mr. Bay has achieved new levels of plagiarism, stealing liberally from his own numerous loud-ass movies, including the first Transformers. Because the robot battles are often so visually incoherent and the gun fire, rocket fire, missile fire, and laser fire so repetitive, the whole thing sinks into a platitudinous military porn movie.
And, man, is it unpleasantly long. I got a headache during the movie, but had fully recovered by the time the credits rolled, about 7 or 8 hours after the whole affair began.