Review: Robots galore, but low on fun

When Sam Witwicky (Shia LeBouf), Mikela (Megan Fox) and the Autobots saved the human race from the invading Decepticons in the first big-screen actioner, it was a moment worth cherishing. This second installment though appears to have veered-off from the progressive intelligible path into a mayhem that goes awry from the first act itself.

Sam leaves home for college. Autobots are living as refugees on Earth, working with the military on a hush-hush project monikered NEST, while the Decepticons are planning new invasions to find the hidden energy source and re-ignite the Allspark. The story is nothing but an excuse to add a few more twists to that of the first, there’s a new
Decepticon known as The Fallen and there are far more digitised transformers on screen than before. Unfortunately, the greater numbers do not add up to greater thrills, they just manage to create a great many confusing visuals of wafer-thin caricatures/machine-like characters morphing into earthly contraptions and vice versa.

The bare-lines plot appears to be a pretext to showcase smartly designed creations starting from a toy car, a metallic fly to a stealth bomber, all of which morph quite easily into life-like forms with mechanised parts. However, the effects are unbelievably crazy.

DOP Ben Seresin does a good job matching the CGI and live-action and Helmer Michael Bay is consistently over the top in his display of non-stop action and race-against-time tension. As a result, there’s not much to enjoy. The whole experience felt manufactured and forced. Only gaming geeks and hard-core action lovers are likely to sit through this one!