So "Sam" (Shia LaBeouf) reckons after his first death-defying dose of mechanised shenanigans, that he is done with all things "Autobot" and so looks forward to settling down at college with "Mikaela" (Megan Fox). Nope, not to be. He keeps having dreams, and vivid, mysterious, dreams that feature mysterious writings? Just like with the first outing of this franchise, the story drags the young couple into a battle between the "Autobots" and their foes, the "Decepticons" only this time the rehash of the hidden power-cube story tries to immerse itself in ancient Egyptian mythology as a means of making the never ending assemble/disassemble/reassemble fight scenes emerge as something less repetitive and, frankly, dull. There isn't really a script to speak of, and at 2½ hours this really does feel like you could have actually built one of the pyramids in the time it takes to come to what is the inevitable tee for another sequel. John Turturro steals his scenes as the ultra-hammy agent "Simmons" and we have Josh Duhamel as the eye-candy in an uniform but as with the first film, Fox is as wooden as a skateboard. Although there is pretty much non-stop action throughout, I still couldn't tell who is fighting with whom nor is "Bumblebee" getting any better at the close protection game. One for die hard fans, I think - it certainly left me yawning.

7.5/10 - IMO this one is actually better than the first movie. It felt less silly but maybe my expectations are just more managed now. It started of really good IMO (apart of a few scenes at the university) but then it did fall off and became more silly/embarrassing again. But it didn't really reach an annoying level of silliness so I guess it's fine.

Anyway, lots of action, explosions, and CGI. It's kinda fun/cool to watch and definitely has it's moments but it lack's a good story (Optimus Prime is the best part of the story but there isn't much beside him).

Some notes:

- I love the sounds / sound effects (e.g., during the intro at the beginning <3).
- "Suck my popsicle!" (On that ice truck xD)
- The collateral damage is really high during the whole movie... :o
- The Witwicky's dogs are kinda funny
- 21 Guns <3 (IIRC I might've even first heard that song from that movie)
- Ron's "jokes" about college and girls
- "Camshafts" (it's kinda funny - I still remember this from the German version where it's "Nockenwellen")
- The little Decepticon is really cool (he's funny, kinda cute, and interesting to watch in general). It's especially interesting when he changes sides to the Autobots (/ the "warrior goddess" :D) - "It's a choice."
- Ron and Judy are kinda funny on their own
- Cisco WebEx. LOL :D That thing is older than I thought... I once had to use it during the pandemic and it really sucked :o (but I guess that explains why it requires old software/frameworks to run)
- Apparently Decepticons can now impersonate humans (that "hot girl" who kisses Sam before Mikaela walks in). This could have a huge potential for them but it seems like the movies won't explore this further.
- The death of Optimus Prime is still hard to watch :o I'm so glad that they brought him back (but it's kinda hard to see the movies succeeding without him so there isn't really an alternative)
- I miss Maddie from the first movie (especially her accent!)


PS: The logos/emblems of the Autbots and Decepticons look so similar that I cannot remember which is which... :o