I watched this thing last night and it was horrendous. It was laughably bad in a lot of scenes, and the one thing it has going for it, “action” is shitty – it's just the same robot fight over and over again.

I did up a review here: http://filmvisuality.blogspot.com/2009/07/revie…

I guess I can see the appeal of these films but Transformers 2 has nothing on the first one. Truly awful.

Don't get me wrong, Transformers 2 is a largely artless and vapid movie, but I find it hard to criticize it based on these terms when everybody knows that going in. I'm a movie snob, and there's evidence of that in my other posts; the best time I've ever had in a movie theater was seeing Andrei Rublev, a black-and-white 3 1/2 hour Soviet film. I have pretentious, highfalutin taste in movies, and I am legitimately entertained by such movies and often bored by Hollywood entertainment. But I couldn't go into this movie with any sort of expectations than those I had, that Transformers 2 would be anything but silly, dumb, and loud. And when I stepped down from my critical pedestal and looked at it directly into its empty robotic eyes, I surprisingly found that I had a good time.

Is it a problem that we need to lower our expectations and not engage our brain to enjoy a Hollywood blockbuster? Absolutely. Filmmakers like Paul Greengrass and J. J. Abrams are 10x the Hollywood filmmaker Bay will ever be, as their films are entertaining for entertainment's sake while respecting the intelligence of their audience. But I find it hard to sympathize with hating a movie like Transformers when it doesn't pose itself as being anything other than it's big, dumb self. There are problems with it, but it's also (for the most part) harmless. It's when movies like this pose as significant (like Bay's past work) that these movies become detrimental to filmmaking at large. It's okay for movies like this to exist. They have their place. Whether or not you like these movies (as I often don't), they have mass appeal for one reason or another, and I think it's important to stoop down to their level and see why. Once I did, I found that I had a big, dumb, fun time at the cineplex.

Sorry Landon, but you sound like you are trying to convince me why I should like the movie, sort of the way a used car sales man tries to make you overlook a broken windshield or a bumper falling off a car he is trying to sell. When I have to over look or suspend my belief in good story and good acting that normally means the film is a bomb.

Add in dogs humping, robots dry humping Megan Fox’s leg, Bumblebee pissing in a girl’s face and a Decepticon with balls. So how did you give this a B- again? Because you turned your brain off before you walked into the theater? Come on, man. You’re better than that.

You say it would seem easy to point the finger at Bay. Do you blame anyone that does? Whether you say it is necessary or not, a film of this size has to be smarter than this. I am not talking about plot as much as the sensitivity to the world outside of Bay’s land of explosions. Much of his market consists of youth. Yes, the parents don’t have to take the kids but do we have to hear bitch, mother fucker, pop a cap in your ass, etc. from Autobots of all characters?

Michael Bay is the director’s equivalent of a redneck and frat boy rolled into one. I can’t wait til Transformers 3 when the latest Decepticon can pop his pink metallic collar, shoot a rifle into the sky, slip an Energon rufie into Optimus Prime’s sister’s drink and date rape her. It’s the next logical step, right? Transformers 2 is trash. I am glad that I didn’t waste any money on it. The only people that should feel obligated to watch it would be us media members, and I feel bad that we do. Who knew that McG would look like Steven Spielberg, who I can not believe was attached to this project, when placed next to Michael Bay this summer.