I can't believe the comments! This is the reason a no-talent like Michael Bay still has a job. We wanted to see The Transformers..not a dorks journey towards adolescent puberty. CGI was the only thing worth watching.

I also saw Transformers yesterday and going in I was hoping that they'd retain some elements of the original cartoon. Coming out I wished it wasn't entirely exactly like the original cartoon. It was fun, too long, of course and the special effects were awesome. But man was it cheesy. Pretty much all the way through. It may have been live action, but make no mistake, it's still a cartoon. Some parts make no sense and the design of the robots make it difficult to tell what is actually going on sometimes. And why do all the protagonists need to be hot high school students?… Expand

I went into this this movie wanting to like it, I really did, but it just wouldn't let me. The pacing is so bad that by the time the robots actually started fighting I didn't care. While it does have it's awesome moments the overall jerkyness of the camera keeps you from seeing most of the action.

Another action film that thinks that fast paced editing makes for clever direction. When the plot is as wafer thin as this it hardly seems worth the while to even bother to take notice of the amphetamine fuelled action. Kinda boring.

Where do I begin! Pro's: Great transforming animations. Big explosions. Shia LaBeouf. Con's: Completely top-heavy plot revolving around three human story lines misses the point of what this movie was/should-have-been about. Thus; Not enough screen time given to the Transformers on both sides. Peter Cullen as the voice of Prime was wasted, as most lines were taken from "Dude Where's My Car". Most Bot vs Con fight's were either hidden [only heard], or in the background as humans carried on fighting or generally being annoying. "Starscream & Megatron who?" The generally rushed feel to the back 1/2 hour suddenly spills into the Transformers dialogue. Unfortunately, this means not a lot was said by any of the transformers. "Don't feed Frenzy after Midnight". Honestly, Jar-Jar Frenzy's antics, whilst like all the humor in the movie [fun the first time 'round] become tiresome, as he is only one of five Transformers used repeatedly in the first hour 1/2. All in all - a big budget Hollywood block-buster of a American summer pop-corn flick: CRAP! See it - but don't expect anything to keep you thinking late at night - other than how did Bay screw up something so cool!?… Expand

Transformations - AWESOME!! Everything else about this move - awesomely bad. The human characters and story line are nothing more than filler between Transformer battles, and believe it or not, the Transformer battles are few and far between. The attempts at comedy and romance are absolutely abysmal and the script as a whole may set a benchmark for all time worst . In fact, I am not at all convinced there even was a script. Of course you signed up for a movie about giant transforming robots so you may not care about script or story or characters, or anything other than CGI robots - and I was with you on that - unfortunately that eliminates about 90% of the movie because it is mostly filler.… Expand

The CGI was flawless and I wanted to like this movie but it tried painfully hard to be funny and completely failed. Every movie trick in the book was thrown out. The hot 22yo Australian girl who is smarter than the entire US government and military put together ETC ETC ETC ETC ETC. Movies like Aliens were capable of being a kick ass action movie but not insulting the viewers with every mindless movie cliche and painfully mindless pop culture "funny" reference. Great job on the CGI and bringing this to life but maybe if the writers/directors didn't treat us like we were 8, it might have been anywhere near decent.… Expand

Garbage. Another piece of crap from Bay. There's bad acting, bad action "sequences" (a few missiles are fired and that's it) and no plot. What'd you expect?

Great sound! Great voice work for the autobots! As for everything else... oh god... this is one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

The movie was a huge bust! You sit in your seat waiting for it to pick up, but it never delivers. The movie is filled with scenes that are there to fill up time. The movie is only fulfilling in one aspect and that is the great CGI work. Even the showdown between prime and Megatron is anticlimactic because prime is getting his ass handed to him.

A ridiculous let-down. If you want an action movie go see Live Free or Die Hard. Bruce Willis might be an old man, but he's better than any of the crap in this movie.

Utter, utter bilge. I wasn't expecting much, just a few laughs, some impressive effects and exciting action, but it failed to provide any of these. The script is tedious, witless and utterly devoid of charm. The Transformers change from car to robot in the blink of an eye, a total cop out that negates any clever mechanical movement. And the action is unforgivably tedious. Worst of all, it's far, far too long - this is simply a 2hr 30min commercial for American muscle cars and the US military. Massively disappointing.… Expand

Second worst movie of 2007. The only reason it is second worst is it's rip-off movie, "Transmorphers".

2 1/2 hours of pure Hollywood crap. As a matter of fact, I don't think I ever enjoyed a Micheal Mann movie. Just because it was packed full of ridiculous comic relief and backlot explosions makes it a blockbuster hit? I guess so. This is definitely a movie for the masses.

Overrated. Hired it at blockbuster...what a waste of money. I was expecting much better. There's barely any story and they overdo the action which is like 90% of the movie. Constantly has shooting, blowing up which really gets boring half way through the movie. Some of the actors/actresses were terrible. Would only appeal to those that are 'wowed' at special effects and nothing else.… Expand

Terrible movie. Transformers aren't old school. So many cheesy slo-mo "moments". I went into this thinking it was going to suck, but at least I'll get to see some cool robot fight scenes onscreen. No, not even that. The director went for that stupid new style of shaky-cam for the fight scenes. With most of the robots being solid gray, it was hard enough to tell what was going on in the fight scenes without the shaky-cam crap. Just a bad, bad movie. God it was bad.… Expand

I had low expectations entering this movie, and Michael Bay somehow managed to fall below them. Horrible directing, horrible story. Full of every cliche from the action movie canon. The special effects were not that impressive. And the Autobots were a bunch of goofballs.

As with all movies based on television shows or comics, it

I was expecting this to live up to my memories of the original franchise. It fell way short. The effects were amped up in overdrive, but that didn't mask the lack of intelligence or soul. Big dud.

Lack of Imagination, stupid plot...I wasn't expecting nothing special though..those American franchises (Spiderman, 4fantastics, sth..man etc.) movies are all crap and I think people,at least in my country, is realizing of that.

Great Graphics, Great characters, but the fighting sucked big time, In the cartoons they use weapons!! not wrestle. Story line sucked big time, they said they want to make it follow the real story line but it didn't, first of all, Megatron all the other characters did not look or sound the same as the original, second, The girl who studied the sound waves of the machine that attacked the military base, was not important at all, she wasted pretty much 20 minutes of the movie, all she had to do was just come in and say, "These could be organic machines". Third, the ending is the worst part, the conclusion of the movie, was pretty lame, I was almost asleep at the end because most of the people knew how it was going to end.… Expand

Let me start by saying the only thing that gave this a 2 is Peter Cullen came back as Optimus Prime and the last 30 minutes which was good but not great and the flawless CGI. Why is Megatron a jet/spaceship? Why isn't Jazz a porsche or Bumblebee a vw bug? Where is Soundwave? How were they supposed to get back to Cybertron? All spark?! How creative! I curse Bay for making this one big stupid commercial for GM and their pathetically ugly cars & trucks. Stephen Spielberg should have been in the driver's seat because at least he would have put more heart into it. Thank you Michael Bay for turning something I love into one big 2 hour and 23 minute joke!… Expand

How on earth is Anthony Lane's New Yorker review an 8/10? If you read it properly you might realize that it is dripping with irony and is probably a 3/10.

This film is an Incredibly juvenile piece of garbage.

This movie had more plot holes than a Swiss cheese factory. Given the genre and subject matter, some leeway is acceptable, but some of it was just ridiculous. Tow trucks with the wires to hot wire it pre-exposed for no good reason, robots who will do anything to save humanity and not harm anyone haphazardly damage and destroy buildings that undoubtedly have people being crushed in them, small kids who go "Wow" at the robots instead of crying in a fetal position like any kid would...just bonkers. Great CGI, great action, funny moments, but absolutely and completely ridiculous where it didn't need to be.… Expand

Austin Chronicle Marrit Ingman (about The Island) "If you like "Maxim," you will love The Island. It is glossy. It is expensive. It has lots of slick ads for Aquafina and Cadillac." ... Transformers, same Sh*t, different channel...Michael Bay you are a one trick pony. I walked out of the theater praying the Decepticons had win.

I know StarScream, and you, Sir, are no StarScream. Cut out the story and Transformers would at least be entertaining. For some reason it was decided that the robots would play second fiddle to lame "American Pie"-esque teen themes. Like most of the more notable critics have pointed out; no personality is to be found among the Decepticons (the least they could've done is to synthesize StarScream's rasp to throw the fans a bone for God's sake), an overly active camera and "busy" robot models make some action scenes little more than a confusing blur, and goofy, unfunny dialogue permeates the story. I'll stick to the 86 Transformers Movie, thank you. At least the only unbearable cheese there is the crappy 80's soundtrack. It had story, characterizations, and only one product placement: the Transformers.… Expand

Terrible movie, even when I went in just wanting nothing but action. I get nothing but action, however...its filmed so badly that I can't even enjoy it. Shakey camera zooming in and out nonstop while filming missles flying everywhere and soldiers screaming while shooting at things we can't see. As far as I could tell, the Decepticons (bad guys) won every fight yet the good guys came out on top somehow. Its still a mystery to me...… Expand

Hilariously awful, sub-Ed Wood trash. I started laughing sometime during the opening narration and hardly stopped until the end. Somehow contains even more cliches than Armageddon. The funniest movie so far this year. Terrible, terrible, terrible, but not offensively bad (not on the badness level of, say, Star Wars Episode I). At least John Turturro looked like he was having fun and getting a paycheck for it - he must have been the only one who read the script in advance.… Expand

Michael Bay's career topped out at "The Rock." This is one big P.O.S. with underdeveloped characters with no emotional involvement, unnecessarily stylized shots and one dumbed down script. Lowest common denominator shilling is at its peak. You might be mentally retarded to like this movie much. It deserves a "2" but I had to rate "0" for the over-exuberant people.

It's like Triumph of the Will- but for adolescent idiots of all ages, instead of nazis...

Starts off great but slides down hill after that,corny dialogue accompanied implausible human vs mech fight scenes,I know it's just a movie but come on! do you really think that we would have a chance against something this advanced? Ok they had help but then again, the outcome was so pridictable....disappointing!!!

It feels like I am in the Invasion of the Body Snatchers....what is wrong with everyone? This is one of the worst films in history. This is Battlefield Earth bad, this is worse than Bad Boys 2. Seriously, did I walk into a different movie? What is it that you people love? The acting, the nonsense plot, the horrid action sequences, the wholly illogical ideas, the complete lack of regard of the original Transformers? The animated movie was much better.… Expand

Saved from being a complete disappointment only in the jaw-dropping final 15 minutes, Transformers tries too hard to do too much and succeeds at none of it. Things blow up, yes, and that's where Bay, as always, is at his best. There's just not enough of that, as the space between is filled with cornball jokes, a contrived plot, a half-assed attempt at social commentary (regarding terrorism), and absolutely horrendous acting -- sorry if Shia LaBeouf's "brilliant" performance as the cliched "unlikely dorky hero" felt a little amateurish (compared to, say, Tobey's far more believable and polished Spidey) but you can't really blame him for the dialogue. It would be excusable if the one-liners and sight gags were actually, you know, funny, but having Optimus and his gang act like impatient 5-year-olds and getting peed on by dogs is anything but. Oh, and don't even get started on eBay being a major plot element. And having a parents-to-son talk about masturbation is not only cliche, it's also totally unneeded. Again, Transformers has its moments - the chases are great, the last battle is pretty impressive, and LOTS of things get blown up in stunning CGI. But unlike the Transformers, there's no more to this one than meets the eye - and it pains me to say it, but F4:SS was simply a more entertaining summer film. Maybe it was just as cheesy, maybe the effects weren't as stunning, but at least there was chemistry with the cast, a coherent plot, and the goofball jokes were an expected part of the package and well-executed - a huge improvement over its predecessor. We can only hope the next two Transformers movies follow that lead.… Expand

Another mindless piece of Hollywood garbage that trades on some rose colored nostalgia for the dubious 1980s. Give me a break.

Don't know what to say about this movie. there are soo many things wrong with it. i hated the GM ad factor and the direction. i love transformers but i cannot even bring myself to give it a two. i gave it a 1 for the CGI (thanks to mr. farar) and shia, but as far as michael bay movies in the future, ill never see another one. see live free or die hard instead. transformers was a HUGE dissapointment. Trust me.… Expand

A dumb action movie. However, the plot and dialogue was so dumb I laughed most of the way through the movie.

Well to get the blindingly obvious out of the way the special effects are very good. But once you get over the CG eye candy all you are really left with is a bad dialog, bad product placement, a plot that never really goes anywhere, and a camera that will never allow anyone to really see what the heck is going on. This movie is great and really horrible. A fanboy fantasy

Way to go NICK H! You nailed it perfectly with your short review. I'm 32 years old -- I should have LOVED this movie. I grew up with Transformers and was awaiting this greatly. What an absolute disappointment. The effects were good but there was so much wrong with the movie I couldn't help but hating it. It is full of young actors in their mid-20's trying to come across as Grade 11 students ala Beverly-Hills-90210 but worse! They're totally annoying. The lead character is so high-strung he's exhausting to watch. The blonde "hacker" gal has the absolute worst fake accent I've heard in decades. And the gorgeous raven-haired lead gal's acting is TERRIBLE! In her defence though, it isn't entirely her fault -- the movie pits her in numerous poor facial closeups at wrong times and so-called dramatic moments (eg. a loving touch of fingers with the lead guy during one action sequence while they're laying on the ground - aaarrggh! It was worse than when the rock man on Fantastic 4 coudln't pick up the engagement ring on the bridge). I want to know how Megatron, having been incased in ice for several millenium, suddenly wakes up knowing the english language. At least the Autobots blame it on listening in on Internet. I want to know what Michael Bay's obsession is with shooting dramatic scenes with sunsets in the background? Once or twice if fine but come on! He must do it ten times in the movie. Every time the military climbs into aircrafts - sunsets and sunrises. How cliche. By the way, I counted two instances of re-used footage in the film. The same desert explosion was used twice and the same footage of the helicopter Decepticon was used twice. Not a big deal but I hate this. I hate directors who think the audience are morons. The last time I saw footage used twice so blatantly like this was in an 80s porn flick. Come on Bay!… Expand

Worse than bad. Terrible movie.

Is this a movie or a f%&kin video game???

I give it an ace because although it is an action movie (and it had A LOT of action) there is no script, there is quite a lot of stereotyping (especially in regards to black people) and the dialogues give me the impression that I'm watching a 'who's the biggest smartass' contest and who

I'm sorry, but I will have to agree with Ben L. Micheal Bay did an absolute hack-job on this movie..needless to say I was very disappointed. So often in present day cinema it seems we have a ever increasing number of movies with billion dollar budgets for special effects and ABSOLUTELY no story...what sover. I was fortunate to have watched the original transformers animated movie. I left there as a young boy with my hair standing up and my mouth wide open...I loved it. The story, the drama....the soundtrack to that movie was also incredible and complimented the scenes to build mood, such as sadness, danger laughter and uncertainty. The transformers as a whole were given personalities which were developed in detail with MULTIPLe sub-plots which kept it like a nonstop roller coaster...never a dull moment. However. In the recent 2007 Transformers, there was way too much human screen time, which I thought was a big part of the problem, along with a non-existent sound track...which seemed like the same exact score for every scene in the movie. Too much corn ball humor(which wasn't funny to begin with) took all credibility away, coupled with the cliche' lines and Micheal Bay glorifying the military....which was thoroughly outclassed and out-gunned, but somehow always manage to save the day! I can't throw believability out of the window. This movies was about HUMANS who happened to be around transformers and nothing more. The transformers were inconsequential. This movie if done right could've been great, really...but since every movie is out to make blockbuster hits...the art of story telling has been forgotten or looked over for ticket sales....bottom line. I will say that I enjoyed the very beginning with the decepticon blackout destroying the military base in quartar...and some of the many scirmishes between Star scream and the associated autobots and devastator with Jazz etc...the sound effects were great..from the machines guns firing from devastator...otherwise everything else was forgotten...sadly...hopefully Micheal Bay will look at some glaring weaknesses from this first debacle and make adjustments in story and transformer character development for the second transformers....and lose those humans!… Expand

After watching Transformers a second time I still find nothing redeeming in it. It's a typically embarrassing Michael Bay action flick with all the stuff you've come to expect: explosions, car chases, borderline anorexic "just one of the guys" female lead, terrible script, worse acting, and it's just too long. This is not the fun cartoon of the 1980s. This is new-age, embarrassingly serious, violence-glorifying, military fist-pumping, emotionally vapid, humorless, glossy no-substance cinema. Avoid at all costs. Truly one of the poorest films ever created.… Expand

Ouch. That's all I can say about this failure. To be honest I didn't expect much of it to begin with, but I had no inkling as to what I was in for. The writers fail. Bay fails. Shia shows the most promise but fails. And my oh my does Megan Fox fall flat on her alien face.

Terrible writing and god awful acting while the entire audience is waiting for the fifteen minute increments of action. Sound familiar? No, it's not a porno, it's Transformers. Michael Bay is the most talentless and moronic person ever to set foot in California and should stick his head in a magic bullet.

Not a very good movie.

Are you kidding me! I don't understand why everyone liked this movie so much. Special effects doesn't automatically mean a movie is a 10 out of 10, this is ridiculous. The movie drags on too long but that isn't what's so bad about it, the worst part about this movie is how it totally makes a laughing stock out of optimus prime. To see the leader of the good guys, the robot everyone has grown to love, get his a$$ kicked left and right by megatron was the most depressing sight i have ever seen. I'm pretty sure that the autobots lost practically every single fight in this movie and literally got owned by the decepticons, that is until shia cheap shotted megatron by basically kicking him in the balls (putting the cube in his chest unexpectedly). I cant stand this movie and regret paying my money to watch the autobots get slaughtered.… Expand

Uninterruptedly awful. A 2+ hour commercial for the army. A huge disappointment.

My 4 year-old sister can write better dialogues.

I played with them as a kid; they toyed with me as an adult. This movie is so Michael Bay it makes me want to melt the other couple of DVDs of his flicks I own and donate the plastic to Hasbro. Obligatory rotating-camera-as-stars-stop-and-stare-vacuously shot that is his corny, hackneyed signature? Check. I actually wanted to like this for what it is, and perhaps I would have if I was 10 years old. The few merits were overshadowed by the extra-long running time for this kind of movie, which short-circuited the entertainment factor. The dizzying action seemed to just blend together like a washing machine stuck on spin cycle. Do not think I'm a snobby elitist either, I actually enjoyed the Fantastic Four movies for the silly entertainment they provided. This just took itself seriously when it shouldn't have and tried to be funny when it was not. The best parts were Bernie Mac, the credits and yes, some of the action. I'm surprised how kind so many of the critics were.… Expand

I realize that it is nothing more than an action movie but even the action wasn't that good. There was plenty of it the problem was that it was so polished and over the top most of the time you couldn't even tell who was doing what to who.

Wasn't great, I might watch it again. I found it difficult to distinguish the difference between each transformer, I get where they were going with it but I think they just went to far, the only one you can recognize is Optimus. I was also a little disappointed that the kid defeated Megatron, I was really hoping for a full on boat between Optimus and Megatron, but instead all I got was a few sucker punches.… Expand

Way over hyped. CGI was good, but that's not what I go to the movies for. I go for characters and plot, not mindless action. So for my criteria, this movie gets a 1.

If you liked Armageddon and Pearl Harbor, you will like this. I think that just about says it all. I mean just look at most of the higher user ratings: "Funny". Yeah, that's what I want out of my giant robot action movies.

Oh man. I love mindless stuff, but this movie is painful. It makes live free or die hard look like Citizen Kane. Honestly, I have LOW standards for CGI action flicks, but this movie is complete and utter crap. I wanted to like it and I can usually laugh at a bad script, but for the love of everything...I can't believe the "script." I can't believe they threw so much money into this movie and decided on this script. I find the constant advertising and product placement amusing...at one point they shamelessly zoom in on a panasonic Secure digital card. I'm writing this review to save the few souls who think they can watch just about anything mindless...cause trust me people this movie is an exception.… Expand

If I'm going to see a movie about giant fighting robots, is it too much to ask that the robot fighting scenes be cool? Even a little bit? It's a summer flick -- I'll give you the crap story, the bad acting, the ridiculous lack of logic. Really. Just give me a few minutes of really cool robot fighting. Sadly, for all the frenetic camera-work, oodles of CGI and loudy, bangy sound effects, Transformers couldn't deliver even that much.… Expand

The "Starship Troopers" for the next generation. Great special effects. Terrible acting (except for eye candy from the terribly hot new costar). Absolutely no plot. If you're over 25 you will want to vomit when you watch this movie.

So tell me, why does everyone who gives this film a great review also mention ways in which it fails? So many comments by reviewers say things like "don't expect a masterpiece" and "to hell with those who rate it by plot." To admit that this film is neither a masterpiece nor a movie with plot is to admit it is a bad film. Period. You can say you enjoyed it, yes, but saying "it was AWESOME LOL except for this, this and this" calls into question the integrity of your judgment on the matter.… Expand

My assessment can best be explained by a partial quote from the movie Team America: "Girl, I miss you more than Michael Bay missed the point, when he made"... Transformers. Save yourself some money and rent the cartoon movie from the late 80's. This modern day flick was just another Michael Bay crapfest.

Basically I felt as if I were watching a commercial. There were so many product placements surrounded by bad jokes, easily stereotyped characters, and boring action sequences.

OK, I understand this is supposed to be a summer action movie about giant robots battling it out, but come on... this is the BEST Hollywood could do with the Transformers license? How bad was this? First, when you're making a movie about giant robots fighting, DO NOT zoom the camera all the way in, so the only part of the robot I can see is a few whirring cogs and wire bundles. Second, if you're going to start off the movie portraying the government and military as serious and in control, DO NOT introduce a secret government group guarding 'the biggest discovery ever" as having the competence of the Keystone Cops. Third, I don't really think giant robots are going to care about whether the Shia LeBouf's parents discover them trampling the grass while they are trying to save the world... much less drag the scene out for 10 minutes. I give this film a 2 because, for the first 15 minutes or so, I was genuinely entertained. The movie felt like it was going to be great, it had a good vibe and pace to it. Then the idiotic humor, witty teenage banter, terrible cinematography, and complete disregard for physics started to get worse... and worse... and worse.… Expand

I can't wait for years from now when people look back on this film like Batman Forever and realize just how awful it is. The cheesy cartoon from the 80s was more well thought out and had less plot problems than this god-awful film. Not enough robots, not enough good.

Utterly meh. What's all the fuss over? It was way over the top and not very enjoyable at all.

Craaaapy!!! the robots where kind of cool, everything else sucked. the action was jerky so you couldnt figure out what was happening, horrible director. it was like badboys 2 slash armageddon with robots. im sorry i love transformers but this movie is a waste of 2hrs should have just rented short circuit !!! johnyy 5 alive!!

Haha. Why all the good reviews? This movie had so much potential man. As much as I do hate Michael Bay, that probably being the reason I disliked this movie so much. Was he ALWAYS has those stupid F**king 1 liners.. For example in this film "You shoot, i'll drive". Once you see the film, you'll understand what I mean. How in the world would a Semi-Truck hold a Robot the size that they were? They tried to make the movie more funny than serious sci-fi. Again good job Michael Bay, for doing something incorrect. Stop directing. You haven't made a good movie since the original Bad Boys.… Expand

I left the theater after about 45 minutes. I don't think I've ever done that. The movie was so bad I decided I'd rather be anywhere else than watch another minute. Sorry, but I suspect most of these reviews were written by Michael Bay himself. Because this is a very, very, very bad movie.

Terrible. Action sequences had a terrible tracking time. There were moments that I got lost and couldn't tell who was fighting who. Since when is Optimus a Peterbuilt? This is what happens when they trust the IP to such a director. This is what happens when corporate interests corrode and hinder creativity.

Could have been so much, turned out to be so little. How is it possible to fuck up giant robots smashing stuff? Ask Mr. Bay, he seems to have figured it out. Overall, a perfect night at the movies, if you're hoping for a pounding headache and a lingering feeling of emptiness.

Very poorly done movie. Terrible pacing, not enough Transformers. They simply didn't get enough screentime or lines. The humans were in it far to often and killed the movie for me.

OK, so finally bringing big budget GIANT ROBOTS to the silver screen should be amazing, right? After seeing Transformers, I'm still waiting to find out. The camera was either moving too fast, too close, or too far from anything to even tell what was going on most of the time... A sure sign of trying to hide something. When they were clearly visible, especially with the faces, the design was pretty poor. They had no humanity and equally lame personalities. It was really hard to feel bad for Bumblebee getting worked when his personality consisted of radio sound bites. The human characters were hard to take seriously so it never felt like anything truly intense was going on even though there were lots of loud explosions and frenetic action. It was also hard to get into it as a movie cause it felt like an overblown GM commercial. It was more like watching an ad in between quarters of an NFL game. Michael Bay definitely seems more appropriate for heavy equipment or military recruitment ads than he does at making a compelling action flick. He just recycles the same cinematography from his other movies making it a rote experience of gleaming product placement backed by a perpetually setting sun. For a really amazing experience, free of cheese and cliche, with more action, excitement, and humanity in one scene than all 140 minutes of the bloated Transformers, see Brad Bird's Ratatouille instead.… Expand

Typical Michael Bay-influenced bad acting. Shia Lebouf is the saving grace of this film

So bad, I had to rate it zero twice! To Adam, although Shia may have had chemistry on the set, it is how their chemistry shows on the screen that matters! The way Bay directed those scenes with unnecessary use of slo-motion and having tender moments inappropriately placed in the middle of action sequences, there seemed to be no real chemistry between the two teens that was not obvious manipulated. The characters were too shallow to begin with so chemistry did not seem to enter the equation in my opinion. The character that had the most personality was Soundscreen (sp?) and he seemed to have a gremlin/Johnny 5/Scrat mix in him. This was a POS and those who liked it are a product of the conditioning that hacks like Bay have caused the general population to accept style over substance. Was it fun, a little - because of the audience enjoying the ride with the other patrons, but I do not imagine it translating well to the little screen and I dread going to see it again because it was painful to see some of the awkward scenes the first time.… Expand

This is like watching the commercials during the Superbowl, except less clever. Director Bay is so obnoxiously cynical it makes you cringe. The CGI is cool but you never can really tell what is going on so you don't really care. The female lead love interest is possibly the most superficial example of such a character ever... Bay doesn't care if you like her or care about her character, she is just a predictable prop, that is all she is suppossed to be. I feel sorry the actress. I find it hard that people would want to watch this complete movie a second… Expand

michael bay's transformers is the equivalent of limp bizkit covering a beatles' song.

this was not a good movie. michael bay does not know how to keep the camera steady enough so you can see what transformer is fighting which other transformer...and the script was terrible, and oh man what a bad movie.

Loud, silly plotless and only for those that are 10yrs old or feel like a 10 yr old. The only thing saving this film is the CGI transformations of cars and planes into robots. However at two hours 20 minutes plus it can serve as a good baby sitter and probably the reason Mothers like it.

So much potential, but an awful, awful movie. Why???

Epileptic camera and hyperactive editing, so-so actors, a very poorly written story, and the most stupid jokes about... robot urine?! Give me a break. The visual effects are awesome, but a few decent action scenes can't turn this mess into a good movie.

Let's hear it for Mr. Bay, his Playmate posse (Fox??? & Taylor), the ADHD kid (LaBeouf) as well as the bodies at work and minds on vacation (Gibson & Duhamel)! Buttom line: BENEATH CONTEMPT.

So, okay, I guess I'm the only one who's not a critic who didn't like this movie. I'll be honest, this movie was a big disappointment, and my least favorite of the summer so far. Transformers delivered on its promise of stunning action and visual effects. The opening sequence in Qatar was literally jaw-dropping. My friend next to me had to push my mouth back up. Absolutely stunning. The final 45 minutes were also full of jaw-dropping visual effects, the most amazing shot being Optimus and Megatron flying through a building in downtown Los Angeles. Unfortunately, there's another hour and twenty minutes of the movie that we have to sit through. The plot for this movie is barely enough to cover two hours, let alone close to two and a half. The Decepticons are evil and want to use the Allspark to turn Earth into their new empire. The Autobots have to stop them. That's it. So Bay fills the rest of the movie with total filler material that's about as necessary as the cannibal island in Pirates 2 (meaning completely unnecessary). There is almost no characterization for any of the main characters. There is no depth or motivation for any character. Sam wants to score. Mikaela is there for eye candy. The Sector 7 agent is there for humor only (not to mention poorly executed humor). The Secretary of Defense is there to have a veteran actor on board. The chick hacker is there for eye candy. And that's just the humans. The Transformers have no character development whatsoever. They're giant five-story tall robots that transform into cars and blow things up. Nothing more. There are no relationships explored between robots. The closest we come to character development for them is Megatron's line, "You fail me yet again, Starscream." That's it. In the final battle sequence, I found myself disinterested because I didn't care who won. I didn't really care if any of them died. No motivation was explored on either side. It was just Autobots vs. Decepticons. That's just boring. Another thing. I'm able to suspend belief for movies if I have to. I'm a seasoned 24 viewer. But I can't throw believability out the window. Come on. A five-story robot literally pissing on some guy. Give me a freaking break. It's hard enough even accepting that there are five-story tall robots that transform into cars. When you have them do really stupid things like that, you destroy any possible credibility that the movie may have. Bay also tries to insert campy humor into the movie. He fails miserably. The only time I laughed while watching the movie was when the soldier (don't know his name) in Qatar was on the phone with the operator who was asking him about a credit card. That was it. The cheesy humor puts more nails in the grave marked "Credibility and Believability". Finally, we have this massive battle in downtown Los Angeles. Massive death, destruction, and mayhem. And in the end, the government buries the evidence and goes about their normal business. Come on! Like you could cover that up. That's like trying to cover up the destruction of the White House. It's just not possible. Completely impossible. That put the credibility coffin six feet under. So, in the end, this movie focuses on eye candy and nothing else. The effects are eye-popping and jaw dropping. But eye candy will not float a film. To get a really good and entertaining film, you need: 1) characters you care about 2) a plot that is more than twenty words when boiled down 3) stunning action (on which Transformers delivers 4) believability and credibility And all Transformers has is eye candy. It is certainly not "more than meets the eye". 3/10. You also know it's not good when one of the trailer you see (1-18-08) is as memorable as the movie itself. If you want a great action movie this summer, go see Live Free or Die Hard or The Bourne Ultimatum.… Expand

I honestly feel bad for the people who liked this movie. As a huge Transformers fan from childhood, I was willing to hope for the best with this film despite the inclusion of Michael Bay. Since when does a movie aimed squarely at kids have such sitcom-raunchy humor? I knew I hated the movie the second Bumblebee peed on John Tuturo. Secondly, when I go to see a movie called Transformers, I fully expect to see the Transformers, not a strained love story with a cameo by the Transformers. I mean, Optimus Prime shows up over an hour into the film and Megatron over two! Also, this is another sad case of changing things from the original story for no reason and, as usual, the new version just doesn't make any sense. Why make it harder on yourself as a writer? This is a film version of a fourth of July fireworks show. The only difference is the hot dogs are way more expensive.… Expand

Not worth seeing. Most of the movie was pointless drabble by the military to figure out what was happening. And there were a surplus of characters. The movie attempted to make the giant robots 'Cooler then they were before' which actually made them not so much, they didn't stick with the original concepts. The visual effects were awesome, a little too awesome at times, making it almost impossible to actually figure out what the hell was happening in the battle scenes. And a classic movie mistake. A pointless romance story in the middle of everything. Lame as hell movie.… Expand

Supremely overrated,all my friends think its gods gift to earth and get mad when i try to tell them that its average at best, I liked transformers growing up but this movie isn't good! Transformers 2 looks better but i don't know if ill be attending.

Wow, maybe I should forget about anything in a movie except explosions and giant robots... Maybe story, character, and acting are unnecessary whenever you make everything giant and explode, that is what makes a good movie. Hell, instead of transformers you should have called the movie "Giant Robots and Explosions" So the audience has no possibility of getting confused that there is any other redeeming qualities of this movie. Man, I have got movies all wrong... The original trilogy of Star Wars wasn't good because of the Story, characters, or plot it was because of the explosions and giant robots.… Expand

These types of movies are simply quick dollar exploitation, to make art into a form of prostitution for all the drones in the world.

Ben S. has no idea what he's talking about at all. The cartoon movie is amazing and at least a hundred times better then this embarrassment. It tries so hard to be funny but isn't at all. In the cartoon, optimus prime is BA but in this one he's not cool at all. It was depressing. I hate michael bay. He ruined all my childhood memories.

Worst action movie I've seen all year. You know the movie is bad when you have Anthony Anderson in it. Top it off with Bernie Mac and Tyrese and you get a masterpiece of crap. Did these guys write the script? I swear I thought I saw Eddie Griffin made a cameo in the film, who's another overrated comedian/actor. This is not a racial thing. Jamie Foxx is one of my top favorite actors. Good thing he was smart enough to be in the film. Also, I like Michael Bay's previous works (Bad Boys, the Rock, Armageddon), but this is horrible. I think Shia is a great actor, but even he couldn't save this film. I hope not to see Marlon Waynes as the comic relief in Transformer 2.… Expand

In the immortal words of Bart Simpson - this movie simultaneously sucks and blows. The effects are good but the story suuuucckks!

This movie is terrible on so many levels. The attempts at story are painful bouts of product placement, and the Director would have been off making an hour long FX shot and casting off all attempts at cinematic storytelling. Much like an adult movie, the only thing worth watching is the action.

Horrible plot, horrible and annoying characters and very few average action scenes.

An overlong, idea-void mess of a movie. It's just action scene after mind-numbing action scene of huge, clunky, metallic CGI-robots fighting and blowing each other up and blowing up big buildings, and then more robots fight each other and the screen is filled top to bottom with fires and explosions and loud noises. If this sounds like a fun time to you, enjoy. If this all sounds dull and stupid and mind-numbing and unnecessary, you are correct.… Expand

Hear that? That's the sound of IQs dropping steadily all over America. Sounds a little bit like thunder.

My main comment about this movie would be: "Where are the Transformers?" The fighting giant robots barley make a noticeable appearance until the tail end of the film. It focuses too much on the boring 2d characters, instead of its namesake.

I expected to see a movie about giant robots. Not a very poor John Hughes knock-off. 15 minutes of screen time for Megatron... poor. It's not as if Michael Bay is known for his great characterization, but that's what your getting in Transformers.

read peter v's review..

Oh My. J Arr's review almost made this whole movie worth it. My goodness man. I laughed my ass off at your review. You rock dude. I can't believe you're passionately defending this movie. You're a bush vote for sure.

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