Definitive Proof That Every 'Transformers' Movie Is Exactly the Same

Just in case you were worried that there wouldn't be any well-written, highly-emotional, well-acted movies coming out this summer worry on: Transformers 4 comes out Friday with Mark Wahlberg in the lead role, meaning you've been proven right already.  

A new video from the movie review YouTube series, "Half in the Bag," takes a look back at the three previous Transformers movies to give us a hint of what to expect from the forthcoming fourth installment hitting theaters Friday. The results are pretty astonishing: Transformers 1, 2 and 3 are almost minute to minute, the exact same movie.

To illustrate just how similar the movies are, the "Half in the Bag" gang watches all three films on side-by-side televisions simultaneously. Even just watching the first eight minutes of the movies — which follow the pattern of the Optimus Prime voice over cutting straight into military action, which then moves into scenes of the main character at home — it is clear that there is a down to the minute formula at play here. The films are not just plotted similarly but more pointedly the same things are essentially happening at the exact same time, no matter which installment you watch. As one member of the "Half in the Bag" team says, "it's like they took the same script and just replaced words." 

So in case you'd forgotten the plots of the first three Transformers movies and wanted a reminder of what you put yourself through, this video will give you a perfect primer — or should I say Optimus Primer — of what to expect this week with Transformers: Age of Extinction.

The only big difference we're predicting in the new movie is no Shia LeBoeuf. Which, let's be honest, isn't such a bad thing anyway.