Revisited it last night. Genuinely creepy, and still pretty effective. If only Harry Potter wasn't the lead character with his completely wooden smug filling the frames.
* * *
If you thought that a 2 hour, 45 minute-film filled with incessant explosions and metal-clanging is a fun ride, think again. I had to actually stop the film at the 1 hour, 40 minute-mark and take a 10-minute break just to give some respite to my ringing ears and continuously vibrating, screeching brain.
A totally unnecessary sequel with a non-existent plotline. At times even the characters must be wondering what the heck they were supposed to do. They could have easily cut at least 30-45 minutes of unnecessary chit-chat and kept the film's duration under tolerable time limits. Some of the dialogues make you want to shoot the screenplay writer. And, as if the giant robots weren't enough, we now have super-giant dinosaur transformers! As for the characters, Wahlberg seems totally lost, a chick who's in it just to show off her legs, her beau who's only expertise is to (supposedly) dodge exploding bombs in race cars, and a couple of talented actors such as Stanley Tucci and Kelsey Grammer who are totally wasted.
CGI is supposed to make audiences go "WOW!". But in this extremely overdone blockbuster, Bay has stretched the limits of it. So much so, that I was yawning all through the final half hour of the film.
Another sequel after this? Thanks, but no thanks.
* ½