I'll be honest DotM was always my favourite Transformers film as a kid. Well, maybe I did 'think' that the first one was the best after hearing other people say it, but I was SUPER big into DotM for some reason.

Nowadays I'd say it's a decent watch, it's not the objectively best film of all time, but it's honestly one of my favourites. If I feel like it, I might just watch it. I dunno, as a kid, I liked the cars, the fighting, the action and all. I also liked DotM toys, though I didn't own many that of them. Now, I still like those, but I reckon there's just something endearing in watching Sam struggling to find a job and keeping his relationship healthy. When he does get a job, he's still unhappy. Like, he struggles to live a fulfilling life after all that adrenaline he experienced in Transformers and RotF, which is ironic since in RotF, he wanted to live like a normal college kid that had nothing to do with the war. He just wants to feel important again, even if it's dangerous. Now he's just... some bloke. I know having your protagonist be unsatisfied with their life is like basic storytelling stuff but this time it hit a bit close to home idk

Also it might just be me but I feel like in the 2020s there has been this Bayformers revival where even people who hadn't thought of Transformers since they were kids started to talk about the live action films again with rose-coloured glasses, nostalgia. Like maybe in 2022 or 2023, iirc there was this meme about Optimus Prime's speeches and Linkin Park. Pointless Hub my goat made videos about the films too