An exhausting, interminable experience

THE high-tech demolition derby that is the Transformers movie series is nothing if not thoroughly predictable. Viewers come expecting a sensory assault on an epic scale - and director Michael Bay readily delivers it in his trademark excess-is-best style. Transformers: Age of Extinction is his latest unsubtle instalment - the fourth in a megabucks enterprise that began in 2007 (US$2.7 billion and counting at the global box office) - to feature the metallic mutating robot-machines with a penchant for breaking things.

A city-as-battleground scenario is standard operating procedure in Transformers 4 but before the over-long, explosion-filled finale where Hong Kong gets its close-up, there is also a two-hour prologue and attendant action sequences to endure. Bombardment by Bay is comprehensive and severe, and not even hard-core fans will emerge from the cinema unscathed.

It's worth remembering that this is a noisy, numbing, effects-driven summer blockbuster where most of the primary characters are based on toys - so there will be no distractions in the form of character development or thought-provoking dialogue. Although the Transformers universe has grown to include humans, they don't matter nearly as much as the assembled Autobots and Decepticons.