More metal mayhem; The robots may be bigger and better in this epic sequel but it's a movie with no soul.

WITH the box office fortune generated by the first Transformers film there was never going to be an overhaul for this sequel, so it's very much as you were.

Last time out, high school student Sam Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf) and his Autobot friends defeated power-hungry Megatron (voiced by Hugo Weaving) and the Decepticons, and the humans are now working with Autobot leader Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) in a secret military division.

Sam has now settled down into a "normal" life with Bumblebee - his giant futuristic robot pet from another planet - and has bid farewell to his parents and beautiful girlfriend Mikaela (Megan Fox) for his first year at college, where he begins experiencing hallucinations of ancient hieroglyphs.

Meanwhile, Megatron has reassembled his forces and is heading back to earth with some nasty supreme being called The Fallen, to wreak havoc and fulfil an ancient prophecy. Are the hieroglyphs and the prophecy connected? Does anyone care? Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen is a hulking machine lacking in human spirit.

Two years on from his promising franchise launch, director Michael Bay has added length instead of depth, simply upping the carnage level and increasing the spectacle.

The film is a procession of computer-generated imagery, but Bay and his digital team are so pleased to be able to render this fantastical action that they forget to actually make it clear what's happening and at times your eyes fail to take it all in. That said, the fights between these huge mechanical animals offers real spectacle and there is something to be said for just sitting there agog at the beautiful carnage.

On the human side of things, LeBoeuf is his usual loveable self, wringing out the humour with that hang dog smart-mouthed persona, while Fox watches the world being destroyed without so much as a smeared lipstick trace to trouble her.

But unfortunately this film isn't about the humans, it's about the action, and it's a big dumb blockbuster in every way. In cramming all this action together it out-stayits welcome by at least half and hour, clocking in at an almighty two and a half hours, but it's long rather than epic.

There is no doubt that Bay is a master at creating spectacle on a massive scale, but his films (Pearl Harbour, Armageddon) still reek of cheese rather than cool.

This franchise doesn't need transforming, it just needs some intelligent tweaking, but someone other than Bay should wield the spanner.

CAPTION(S):

Megan Fox stars in Transformers but really it's all about the robots