9. Transformers: The Last Knight.

The fifth film in Michael Bay’s Transformers universe suffers from bland and forgettable new characters and a weak villain whose end goal is the same as a previous villain but with none of the nuance that villain had.  Not to mention, the titular knights do very little to justify being part of the film’s title. Add a quickly scrapped attempt at starting a shared universe, and you have a finale that’s an absolute bore to get through.

8.  Transformers: Age of Extinction

Dinosaurs are cool and Transformers are cool. So, Transformers that turn into dinosaurs should be ultra cool right?  Unfortunately, Micheal Bay somehow failed to understand the assignment as none of the Dinobots resemble their animated counterparts in looks or personality. Despite being featured heavily in marketing, they don’t even show up until the end of the movie. Add in a sudden switch of protagonists and a super bleak storyline about the Autobots being brutally massacred by the humans they defended, and you get a slow, bleak slog. The only pros are a conceptually interesting pair of villains, but neither can do much to improve on this movie.

7. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen

 Most longtime fans are probably wondering how this film isn’t the worst on this list. The answer is simple — it’s an enjoyable movie in the right mindset. Hear me out! It’s still bad. The humor would make even the worst of frat boys cringe, the villain is terrible and wastes Tony Todd’s talents, the racial stereotypes are beyond insensitive, and the climax is insanely rushed. However, this movie has memorable scenes such as the forest fight and Megatron’s revival. Plus, it has a so-bad-it’s-good kind of charm to it. Also, Revenge isn’t a depressing slog to get through, so you have a bad movie that’s perfect for shutting your mind off and watching some pointless action.

6. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts

While the second entry in the rebooted live action series is a significant improvement over the later films in the original live action series, it’s still a step down from its beloved predecessor. It works to combine elements of “Beast Wars” and “Generation 1” and does okay at making a fun movie, but at the same time doesn’t fully succeed in adapting either. Its main selling point was finally bringing Unicron, the big bad of the original series and eater of planets into live action in all his terrifying glory. Unfortunately, the film also suffers from being very formulaic with very few surprises. The only surprise is Bumblebee’s death at the hands of Scourge, but by the power of merchandise sales, he’s alive and kicking in time for the final battle. Overall, Rise of the Beasts isn’t a bad movie but it’s far from what it had the potential to be, sadly settling for mediocrity.

5. Transformers: Dark of the Moon

This is easily the most violent of the original five films with gratuitous quantities of Cybertronian deaths, all of them brutal enough to get an R rating had they been human. However, this was intended to be the grand series finale, so having a high corpse count helps raise the stakes for the finale, and its dark tone never quite feels depressing. The movie’s main issue is its failure to use any of the new characters in memorable ways. However, Dark of the Moon is a fun film if flawed in how they utilize beloved characters and is an entry I still watch on occasion.

4. Transformers (2007)

The first live-action film is easily the best in the original run of live-action movies, building likable and relatable characters and giving the audience some of the best action sequences in the series. The Decepticons are made to be scary and inhuman with their designs and garbled alien language. As for the human characters, they aren’t the unlikable or useless cutouts that they are in later movies. The only issue I have with this movie is that some of the crimes of the later films, such as its low-brow humor and Optimus’ uncharacteristic brutality, are committed in excess here. Overall though, Transformers is a decent start to the live-action franchise that remains enjoyable to this day.

3. Bumblebee

Bumblebee marked the start of a rebooted film series and is widely considered the best of all the live-action Transformers movies. It’s not hard to see why, as it takes a fan-favorite character and sets him in the ever-popular backdrop of the ‘80s with a likable human hero in the form of Charlie. As a standalone solo movie, the story is much smaller scale than the previous films, with only Transformers’ biggest Cybertronian stars relevant to the plot. The main antagonists are cartoonishly evil yet also genuinely intimidating. Bumblebee is an enjoyable movie that has both equal parts action and heart,only outdone by my top two choices.

2. Transformers: The Movie

The very first theatrically released Transformers film hit theaters in 1986, where it tanked at the box office and received mostly negative reviews from critics. However, in modern days, it’s undergone a critical reanalysis of sorts. Alongside adding several icons to the lore such as Unicron and the Matrix of Leadership, the film is best known for one thing: killing off Optimus Prime. It was a ballsy move then and it’s still a shocking moment today. The movie almost takes glee in making sure that no one is ever truly safe. If you watch this film, the twists in plot development and iconic ‘80s hair metal soundtrack provide a cheesy but epic time.

  1. Transformers One

Transformers One is a masterpiece of a movie with the misfortune of the worst marketing team of all time.  It’s a tragedy about lost brotherhood through irreconcilable differences. The villain is a breath of fresh air — there’s no tragic backstory or good intentions, just a power-hungry robot willing to do anything to maintain his power. This movie is as close to perfect as you can get. All the details come together to make for one of the best origin movies I have seen in a long time and easily the best Transformers movie ever.