Transformers 2

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: I don't ask a lot from a movie. I like to leave my brain at the door and be entertained. BUT I don't need the film maker to assume I did leave my brain at the door and make a movie that is well...brainless.
This movie suffers from the same problem the first Transformers movie did - The Transformers are more interesting and well thought out characters than the flesh and blood ones.
Shia LaBeouf had some obvious potential in The Greatest Game Ever Played but has since squandered any talent in material such as this and the last Indiana Jones installment. I know it isn't easy talking to a character that isn't there (special effects) but at least give it some effort. The rest of the cast are well known and reliable character actors but seem to wince their way through this lame material.
The Transformer thing never gets old, I have to admit. I totally dig those guys going from cars, planes and truck to being big bad ass robots. Maybe that is a problem as well. I would rather see a movie of just the Transformers doing their thing. It is certainly more entertaining than anything else in the movie.
In any case, Transformers 2 follows our hero, Sam, off to college where he has some post-pubescent antics and finds out he has acquired some kind of special knowledge and now the bad guy robots, Decepticons, are after it. I can't believe it would be hard to find what is in this guy's brain, anything extra would stand out. Yawn. The military now has a special unit that is dedicated to finding these Decepticons, since the last movie, and end up bumbling through a major city and tearing it up a bit. The unit is shut down and the good robots, Autobots, are mothballed. Of course, the Decepticons stir things up and our Autobots are called on again. Big battle scenes, etc. There are some references to some old time Autobots and shows pictures of them as model T's and bi-planes. I really thought they were going to resurrect some of those. Now, that would have been cool but not to be. Please hurry up and end this 2 and half hour movie!
Another problem I have with this movie, which I also had with the first one, are the amount of US military casualties. Maybe it is because we are at war and maybe it is because much of the military bloodletting is in the desert scenes of this movie but I find it disturbing. Sure the scene with a Decepticon crashing through the deck of the USS Theodore Roosevelt is a stunning effect but it is also hard to watch. The ship sinks with all hands lost. We see people and planes sinking to the bottom of the ocean. I heard that kids in my son's class at school (4 and 5 year olds) were talking about seeing this movie. I cannot imagine how they felt watching a ship, much like one of their parents could be on, being destroyed. I know, I know, in most sci fi movies, such as Independence Day, the military is being obliterated left and right but something about the way this movie goes about it is different. At least for me. It also shows the military being heroic but we know this already.
This movie is not for kids. I don't want to sound like a fuddy duddy but there is some cursing (by parental types), drug references (once again by a parent) and even a reference to "cherry popping" (by a parent!). They could have called this movie, "Parents Behaving Badly."
The movie suffers on many levels and that includes - Who is the intended audience?
Yes, I am being harsh. I know it's only comic book sci fi stuff BUT after movies such as Iron Man and most recently Terminator Salvation and Star Trek - we, the fans, want more. Maybe that is my problem, the last movie I saw was Star Trek and was superior quality for sci fi and well, any movie. My suggestion is see if Star Trek is still playing and go see that.
MM (out of 5 M's) because the Transformer effects are so cool.