The April issue of Empire hits the shelves this week with an uncharacteristic clank. That's right, Michael Bay is putting the polish on Transformers: Dark Of The Moon, the third instalment of his box-office-hoovering franchise, and this month's cover is adorned with a double-dose of metallic panic. Optimus Prime and his mentor Sentinel Prime front up, the former looking battle scarred, the latter boasting what looks like Cybertron's equivalent of a hattori hanzo.

Empire tracked Bay down to his LA post-production studio to quiz him about what he's calling the least "dorky" Transformers adventure yet. What followed is an interview well worth hunting for like your neighbour's AllSpark. "We made some mistakes," the director admits of Transformers 2. Part 3, though, will be a different matter. Bay is promising gravitas and 3D worthy of the gajillion dollar FX. Not to mention all those 'splodey bits that will again blow us to the back of our chairs.

Transformers: Dark Of The Moon is out in cinemas on July 1, and you can read all about it, and a tonne of other big summer releases, when the new Empire lands in stores on March 3.