Michael Bay and his army are back at it again: Giant robots tearing up our peaceful green earth all in a battle to enslave us. Good thing there’s Shia LeBeouf to help save the day with a smoking hot girl at his side. This time, Bay has opted to cast Sam Witwicky’s romantic interest as a blonde (Victoria’s Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley).

After seeing both previous installments of this mega-monstrous franchise, I was leery going into Transformers: Dark of the Moon. But after the first 30 minutes, I was hooked. There weren’t any cheesy, overdone stereotypes or goofy, overdramatic plotlines. This was a full-on action movie with humor in all the right places and an excellent supporting cast.

You’ll see a lot of familiar faces: everyone from John Malkovich to Patrick Dempsey, even Ken Jeong shows up to add to the depth of this movie. Yes, it actually has some depth to it. But it’s not the acting that makes this a fantastic escape from the summer heat, it’s the sound design and visual overload that will be packing the theaters.

Shot in 3D, not added after the fact, the film really uses the technology to its fullest. During the battle scenes, you truly feel pulled into the movie. Especially a scene toward the end where soldiers are jumping from an aircraft, it’s hard not to watch in awe as you are instantly transported on board and brought into the fight.

But, my favorite part is the sound design. You hear things that you won’t find in nature or any other movie for that matter. Only Star Wars has been able to truly design sound that pummels your chest and lets you question what the future in sound technology holds. All of this, together with some amazing backdrops in Chicago and D.C. and a little soundtrack help from Linkin Park, makes this a great movie to zone out with this summer. It’s not as intense as X-Men: First Class, but it’s just as fun.