Running Time: 144 minutes Transformers is a dumb idea. Not quite as dumb as turtles who mutated into giant ninjas, but it's up there with other series treated with sincerity thanks to nostalgia hiding their stupidity. However, while it's dumb, it also has the potential to be fun. It is robots that turn into cars after all. The films ultimatley fail at this in a lot of ways, with the high levels of product placement almost seeming like they've forgotten this is an advert already, but what seals its reputation is the length. A dumb ninety minute Transformers would be infinitely preferable to a dumb hundred-and-forty minute Transformers. Not only would it be less pain, some of the more obnoxious elements would be less prolonged. We're not saying it would be great, but it would be certainly more palatable. The first film, Transformers, is actually the shortest of the lot (each film got slightly longer than its predecessor), but not only does it suffer in the same way, it set the precedent of bloated movies. What could be cut? In any Bay-inflected state, Transformers is a lost cause, but essentially if all the awkward humour and the obsession with the female form wasn't included then not only would there be a lot less to hate, it may be, to some degree, bearable.
