Now, two years later, Bay returns to the franchise to take an even bigger scoop of the action in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, with more action and more robots – but less imagination.

In essence Revenge of the Fallen should be the perfect sequel, with Bay upping the ante to a huge cast of 42 robots and bumping the running time to an epic 150 minutes.

But the end result is a film which – like many of this summer's blockbusters – has taken on so much it crumbles under its own ambitions.

As jaw-droopingly stunning as the new CGI creations are, many are only given a couple of scenes to stand out in and as a result the majority just get lost in the melee.

The light hearted comedy of the first film has become forced and awkward in the second. Although Shia LeBoeuf still shines as bumbling protagonist come saviour of the world, Sam Witwicky, the films other characters all give a feeling of trying far too hard to entertain.

The film's plot is also more baffling and convoluted than its predecessor, with the story clearly being sacrificed to leave more space for the action.

But be that as it may, this is without doubt a huge spectacle of a film and one which will inevitably set the standard to beat.

The effects are undeniably stunning, and Bay yet again excels in his strength as a director by raising the bar of technical capabilities on screen – constantly proving that irrespective of whatever has been blown up in cinemas before, he can blow it up more.

Revenge of the Fallen is a hugely ambitious, if ill-fated film. Fans of the first film and those after a few cheap kicks will inevitably enjoy the break-neck pace and action, but Bay has only proved one thing – that less is definitely more.