Urged on by a friend, he gets embroiled in some grand theft auto, except that the Porsche he steals is Mirage (voiced by Pete Davidson), one of the stranded Autobots led by Optimus Prime – voiced by Peter Cullen, sounding more like Taken-era Liam Neeson by the day.

They have a chance to leave Earth thanks to a McGuffin, the “transwarp key”, hidden in a museum. Unfortunately, a planet-eating dark lord named Unicron also wants this portal-opening device, and he has sent his loyal lieutenant Scourge (Peter Dinklage) to retrieve it.

With Diaz roped in, so is Elena (Dominique Fishback), who works at the museum. No one seems too freaked out that there are talking robots that morph into motorbikes, trucks and aeroplanes.

Soon enough, everyone is off to Peru – of course the key was split in two, just to prolong the agony – where they meet a group of alien-robot “beasts” or “Maximals” including the gorilla-like Optimus Primal (Ron Perlman) and the majestic-looking falcon Airazor (Michelle Yeoh).

This jaunt to South America provides some spectacular mountain scenery, and it makes a change from watching robots smashing into skyscrapers. That does not exactly make the film a delight, but Caple has a better sense of restraint than Bay ever did.

Yes, there are still some terrible lines – “the galaxy will once again be yours to feast on” – but at least Davidson’s hyper-turn and Ramos’ easy-going authenticity offer some fizzy chemistry. Even the sexism of the early films, with Megan Fox bending over in teeny-tiny shorts, has largely been erased.

Do not expect this to be the end, though, with a Rise of the Beasts trilogy in the works. Maximal tedium ahead.