"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' 

One and a half stars

RATING: PG-13 (intense sequences of sci-fi action violence, language, some crude and sexual material, and brief drug material)

DIRECTOR: Michael Bay

CAST: Shia LeBeouf and Megan Fox

A joyless cacophony, an insistent and seemingly endless onslaught, director Michael Bay's follow-up to the 2007 smash "Transformers'' plays like a parody of a Bay movie. You name it, it gets shot up, blown up or otherwise obliterated in a massive fiery ball, from suburban homes and cars to aircraft carriers and even an Egyptian pyramid. Along the way, our sense of sanity and humanity also get destroyed.

The Autobots and Decepticons aren't the only ones assaulting us in their epic battle: Regular people are just as obnoxious -- probably more so -- with their nonstop yammering. Everyone is overcaffeinated screams their lines, perhaps so they can hear each other over the explosions and the thunderous score. Who knows, and who cares? It is impossible to become emotionally invested in the Transformers, cool-looking as they are because it's impossible to tell who's doing what to whom. It's all one messy amalgamation of twisted steel and shattered glass, accompanied by generic crunching and shrieking sounds.

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen'' 

One and a half stars

RATING: PG-13 (intense sequences of sci-fi action violence, language, some crude and sexual material, and brief drug material)

DIRECTOR: Michael Bay

CAST: Shia LeBeouf and Megan Fox

A joyless cacophony, an insistent and seemingly endless onslaught, director Michael Bay's follow-up to the 2007 smash "Transformers'' plays like a parody of a Bay movie. You name it, it gets shot up, blown up or otherwise obliterated in a massive fiery ball, from suburban homes and cars to aircraft carriers and even an Egyptian pyramid. Along the way, our sense of sanity and humanity also get destroyed.

The Autobots and Decepticons aren't the only ones assaulting us in their epic battle: Regular people are just as obnoxious -- probably more so -- with their nonstop yammering. Everyone is overcaffeinated screams their lines, perhaps so they can hear each other over the explosions and the thunderous score. Who knows, and who cares? It is impossible to become emotionally invested in the Transformers, cool-looking as they are because it's impossible to tell who's doing what to whom. It's all one messy amalgamation of twisted steel and shattered glass, accompanied by generic crunching and shrieking sounds.