Transformers 3: A 'merciless' assault on moviegoers?

Critics are leaving the Michael Bay blockbuster feeling underwhelmed, and some are even saying the action flick left them physically ill

Shia LaBeouf flees an evil Transformer in Michael Bay's third, and decidedly, worst installment of the blockbuster series.
(Image credit: Paramount Pictures)

After Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the second installment in the mega-hit movie franchise based on Hasbro toys, earned the not-so-prestigious distinction of being the "worst-rated" blockbuster of all time, the next film about alien robots hell-bent on destroying the world had nowhere to go but up, right? Maybe not. The third installment, Transformers: Dark of the Moon, hits theaters Wednesday, and Roger Ebert says it's one of the most "unpleasant" movie-watching experiences he's ever had. Another critic says the 154-minute film leaves you with post-traumatic stress disorder. Is it really that hard to watch? (Watch a trailer for the movie.)

This movie is sickening: "I miraculously survived" a Transformers screening "with a throbbing headache and slight nausea," says Lou Lumenick at the New York Post. "Others may not be so lucky." Everything is wrong with the film: A "brain-dead" plot, "lousy" 3-D effects, no character development. Between the "frenetic" editing and the "assaultive" sound effects, "I felt my brain had been rewired by the end."

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