Transformers 4 is the first in the next trilogy, gone is Shia Labeouf and the rest of the human cast to be replaced by Mark Wahlberg as essentially Megan Fox, the on screen hottie, his blonde daughter as again Megan Fox, and her boyfriend as, yep Megan Fox. For this instalment they’ve decided to go with shiny fast cars and trucks and a catalogue of models to represent the average joe. Then again you wouldn’t exactly go to see a Michael Bay film for its realism.

The story line should be a simple one, Cade Yaeger (Wahlberg) is an inventor who spends his money buying worthless junk to try and sell on for profit, all to put his daughter Tessa (Nicola Peltz) through college. One day he gets lucky and purchases a Transformer, who is none other than Optimus Prime. Ever since Chicago the Transformers are being hunted by the government, and have therefore gone into hiding. Eventailly the CIA comes knocking and Cade must take his family on the run with her boyfriend Shane Dyson (Jack Reynor). Cue massive car chases, explosions and slo-mo scenes of Transformers rolling about and shooting massive guns.

All this pretty much happens during the first hour, leading to the question, how much of this will they cram into just under three hours? The answer is way too much! Michael Bay has taken what should be a simple storyline and fills it with unnecessary scenes, overblown action and random backstories to the now incoherent Transformers saga. Previously we were told that Optimus’ ancestors came to the planet but chose not to change it to their own planets structure, as it was inhabited. Now we get a story about the original Transformers came to earth and wiped out the dinosaurs for shits and giggles, and now its being excavated by scientists to create ‘Transformium’ (not similar to James Cameron’s Unobtanium).

As the storyline progresses we get more and more reasons for excessive explosions and robot fights such Optimus fighting Galvatron who sounds like a Chemical Brothers song, and typical situations where a normal human would use their common sense but as this is Hollywood they have trouble opening a door.

The problem with Transformers 4 is that it goes on for too long, and you feel like you’ve seen it all before. Yes, the graphics look amazing but there’s only so many times you can be blown away by a city being invaded. Once you get passed that you figure out you have another two hours left to go. Transformers 4 is a good film at times, it’s just too much for one film. Bay has crammed it full of special effects that the audience doesn’t get a breather, instead the storyline suffers and viewers just get bored.

Hopefully the second two will be better!