I freely concede to being easily pleased when it comes to movie watching preferences but I don’t think that translates for having poor taste. Really, I reckon I can see the merit in and derive enjoyment from those films which might not necessarily be in the running for Best Picture at the next Academy Awards. So if you hadn’t guessed it already this review falls in Michael Bay’s corner.

Seriously, I don’t understand the postulating high brow reactions to the live action Transformers series of films and in particular the latest edition, Transformers: Dark Of The Moon. C’mon, this is Michael Bay’s third go round at a movie about giant robots in an interstellar dick-swinging battle, not a brainy Godard work of art.

What I’m trying to say with that extended introduction is that now, at Transformers #3, we all know what we’re getting ourselves into. From my perspective what that means is high energy, high gloss and often highly ridiculous fun. It really just is fun. So let’s get to that part!

After a generally pretty clunky sequel in Revenge Of The Fallen, Dark Of The Moon thankfully picks up a few years on with Shia LaBeouf’s Sam Witwicky out of college and feeling a little sorry for himself having been dumped by both Megan Fox’s character and his Autobot friends who’re now working with the US government on covert ops that involve fucking up unsanctioned nuclear facilities in the generic ‘Middle East’. Classic Michael Bay move. He needn’t feel too blue though as Megan Fox’s Mikaela has been replaced by new squeeze Carly Spencer – played by notable Victoria’s Secret model and notable novice actress Rosie Huntington-Whitely – who we’re literally introduced to bare legs and butt first. Again, that’s vintage Bay. Before the invisible threats to his manhood (which also includes a perilous job hunt) send Sam over the edge he’s thrust back into the world of transforming robot vehicles and steely eyed CIA operatives when he uncovers parts of a Decipticon plan to kidnap and exploit the technology of recently revived Sentinel Prime (voiced by Leonard Nemoy with a knowing wink), the former Autobot leader uncovered on the moon by Optimus Prime.

Finishing at around two and a half hours in length, Dark Of The Moon is certainly a bit bloated with a lot of time spent laying the initial groundwork for the film’s second-half conflict. And while some of that pipe-laying could’ve been trimmed a bit I found the setup to be quite fun and interesting, especially the use of found footage and the moon landing cover-up plot point at the very beginning. As Sam races to piece together the clues of the Decipticon plan – accompanied by a returning John Turturro as an increasingly eccentric Agent Simmons and his aid Dutch, a very hilarious Alan Tudyk – the pace is particularly energetic and nothing is given away too easily.

A recurring sticking point with Bay’s Transformers series seems to be with the humour injected into each film and Dark Of The Moon is no exception with Bay and screenwriter Ehren Kruger continuing their pursuit of some belly laughs. As I think these are pretty light hearted films the humour works for me, especially in this one as, alongside Turturro and Tudyk you’ve got Ken Jeong thrown into the mix, Fances McDormand gets some snarky one-liners and John Malkovich shoplifts his scenes as Sam’s bronzed idiot boss Bruce Brazos. And hey, there’s no robo-balls in sight this time!

If the goofy laughs aren’t your thing then you’re probably at least slightly interested in the action side of Dark Of The Moon and Michael Bay and his team of effects warlocks don’t hold back, packing in perhaps the biggest and most brutal action scenes of the series as the Decepticons fuck up every inch of Chicago. The scope and sheer extended length of the action scenes is very impressive this time around, whether it’s from the eye-popping robot fight scenes or the human resistance brawling on the ground – and later in the air with the camera literally free-falling out of an aircraft with a squadron of ‘wing-suit’ soldiers.

I won’t pretend like Dark Of The Moon doesn’t have a wealth of cheese-ball moments, stretched plotting and characters afflicted with expository dialogue diarrhea but there’s really so much more going on in Dark Of The Moon to enjoy that if you’re holding back and grumbling over the bumps along the ride then you’re doing it wrong.

Transformers: Dark Of The Moon is in cinemas now.