Transformer 3: A Block-buster with Right Mix of Ingredients

Transformers; Dark Of The moon has had the most lucrative 4th of July weekend and earned a total of $181,125,000 in North America and $237,359,667 in other territories, that means it made a worldwide total of $418,484,667 by the end of the week.

After all the dust raised by the epic battles between humans, Autobots and Decpticons in the battlefield of Chicago dies down, let us sit back and do a re-review.

The first question that comes to mind is, is the movie worth it? The general viewing public seems to think so. Did I enjoy the movie? It was not as excruciating to sit though as Transformers; Revenge of the Fallen.

Here in lies the heart of the matter. After the disaster of Transformer 2, Transformer 3 had to be an improvement.

A director of Michael Bay’s stature could not get it wrong twice. He had all the ingredients of a blockbuster, a good vs bad guy storyline of Autobots fighting for Cybertron and the Earth and being attacked by Decepticons.

There was even a twist in the story with Primus Sentinal vs Primus Optimal.

Michael Bay had the script incorporating a reference to the old enmity between Russia and America, got digitally created John F Kennedy and Neil Armstrong, and Buzz Aldrin.

The story evolves; there are well-choreographed action sequences with humorous scenes and references to the former movie. Shia Labeouf provides the human element with the stunning Rosie Huntington Whiteley providing the romance and sensual content.

All this and also 3D. We have to add, a decent 3D after the disaster that Pirates of the Caribbean 4 was.

In short we had all the right mix for a summer block-buster.

It aimed at the right Demographic

According to Hollywood Reporter, 55 percent of the viewing public for Transformer 3 was below 25. Here is another scoring point; it got the viewers it aimed for. Another distinction is that the movie got a good rating from websites like IGN, Aint it Cool and Cinema Score, all sites visited by the younger demographic. CinemaScore got viewers’ rating of an A for the movie

Discerning Critics Dissed it

Contrast this with the reviews of critics from The New York Times, Chicago Review, Roger Ebert - the Pullitzer prize winning reviewer, Richard Roeper, columnist film critic and Peter Travers, another known columnist and critic who writes for People and Rolling Stone, all gave the movie a thumbs down.

The site Rotten Tomatoes, a films review aggregator, gave it a score of 38 per cent based on 212 reviews and a rating average of 4.9 out of 10.
Here is a round-up of what the critics had to say: The movie was visually ugly, badly scripted, with incoherent dialogues, it was dull overtly violent and had weak wooden acting by everyone.

Shia LaBeouf seemed repetitive and hyper active in the movie. Megan Fox, who was replaced by Rosie Huntington Whiteley as LaBeauf’s new girlfriend after her run-in with the director, had this to say about her role in the film, “I was mostly screaming and running away from the action scenes. Ms Huntington-Whiteley did the same, but in a more wooden manner if possible.

The Us Military team which teams up with Shia LaBeauf and the Autobots to save Cybertron had the right mix of testosterones with the US Army Lt. Colonel William Lennox (Josh Duhamel), master of all conspiracy theories Agent Seymour Simmons (John Turturro), USAF chief Robert Epps (Tyrese Gibson).

Cast had not Much to Do

Here we come back to the question raised earlier, was it worth it? For the younger demographic, it was. So much so that they went out and paid money to see it.

It is an action movie where one hardly looks for moving performances. Shia LaBeauf was just being himself, a highly active overwrought, overgrown kid, Ms Huntington played the perfect damsel in distress in her mannequin way. The actual protagonists were the Transformers viz Primus Optimus, Wheelie, Brains, Leadfoot, Igor, Ratchet et al doing a good enough job. Or should we say the voices that played them and the animators who created them.
Paramount Pictures and Michael Bay can rest easy, they made a best selling block-buster.