By now, director Michael Bay has well exceeded any goodwill left over from the actually-quite-good original Transformers film.
The smart in-jokes, deft comedic touches, well-developed plot and intergrated CGI that made 2007's Transformers so enjoyable was largely absent from 2009's sequel, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.
They're also AWOL in the third instalment.
Instead, Bay chooses to bash viewers into submission throughout Dark of the Moon's two-and-a-half hour marathon length that mostly involves giant robots crashing into each other at dizzying speeds.
Yes, there's a plot that takes quite some time to pick up and get going - something involving an object being hidden on the moon that could allow the Decepticons to destroy mankind.
