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The entire plot synopsis given on the website MovieTickets.com for Transformers 2 (let's forget this subtitle nonsense) goes like this: "Sam Witwicky again joins with the Autobots against their sworn enemies, the Decepticons." That really says it all. Despite the writers, the returning Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman (the duo responsible for the recent Star Trek) along with Ehren Kruger, finding enough incident to pack 147 minutes of screen time, there really is hardly any plot. It was flimsy enough in the first Transformers, but here there is barely an attempt to disguise how non-existent it is. Sure, there are some clumps of exposition, the biggest given by old coot Decepticon-turned-Autobot Jetfire, which tries to tie the history of the Transformers to that of mankind itself (alien race responsible for the development of early man - how original), but any pretence of plot depth is soon forgotten when the next dust-up comes along.
This sequel is basically a remix of the first film with the entire script typed in CAPITAL LETTERS. Like last time, for much of the film the narrative (if it can be called that) is divided into two strands, one following the military's involvement with the invading Decepticons and one focused on the hapless Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) and his stunner of a girlfriend Mikaela (Megan Fox). But director Michael Bay clearly felt that Transformers was far too low-key, and responds by absolutely cramming the film with wall-to-wall destruction. It's certainly visually impressive, with effects to match the ambition, but it quickly flies well past saturation point. It's frankly ridiculous how chaotic and frenetic the whole two and a half hours are; this is the attention-deficit blockbuster trend taken to its absolute extreme.
There are so many Transformers (approximately 42, apparently) that most of them get barely any screen time and they all blur into each other, and it even becomes difficult at times to discern who the good guys and bad guys are meant to be. During the action scenes the frame becomes so absurdly busy that, combined with the constantly-in-motion camera (seriously, there's barely a static shot) that it's often impossible to make out what's going on. The cutting is not as rapid as in some recent films and Bay tends to go easy on the suffocating close-ups, but these robots are just so huge that the screen just becomes a mass of undiscernable CGI metal bits. Ludicrously, given the amount of action, when the final face-off between Optimus Prime and the titular big bad, The Fallen, finally arrives, it's over in the blink of an eye.
What made Transformers so surprisingly enjoyable was (along with the relative restraint shown by Bay) the comedy. There are some good laughs again here, but there are far too many recycled jokes that, typically, are only differentiated from the same gags last time by their being more excessive, and therefore less funny. For example, Sam's embarrassing parents this time just become tiresome, although LaBeouf himself manages to remain pretty likeable thanks to his clumsy charm (his relevance to the robotic mayhem is even more tenuous, though). Also, John Turturro's late introduction injects a good deal of welcome humour, as it did the first time round.
For all these grumbles, it cannot be said that the film is not successful at what it sets out to do. Bay obviously set out to make a film packed with more epic destruction that has ever been seen before, and in this dubious quest, it certainly reaches its goal. It exemplifies the film's approach that the fracas between Optimus and an enormous, building-sized one-wheeled Decepticon on a freeway, as shown off in the trailers, is actually the start of the film. And following that, everything just gets bigger. Some entertainment is supplied by a few of the new Transformers, including a pair of perpetually bickering twins - although their blatant racial stereotyping is rather crass, a word which applies to most of this film - and a mini-Decepticon that becomes attached to Mikaela (literally and figuratively). There are enough amusing moments amidst the noise that the film, just about, passes muster as a piece of spectacular pandemonium.
The summary
By repeating everything the first film did, just amplified, Transformers 2 simply becomes less satisfying and more bloated. Straining coherency and logic at every turn, it may satisfy some purely as a sensory overload.
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