Shia LaBeouf

I am happy I have never said anything bad about Shia LaBeouf over the course of his recent rise to Hollywood stardom. Before Disturbia even hit theaters on its way to over $80 million he was already booked to star in Transformers and Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. There was no doubt there was confidence in this kid, and for good reason, he can act. However, looking around the Internet you wouldn't think that were the case… at least not in the eyes of the fanboys.

I found a few comments over on JoBlo regarding the news that George Lucas was considering passing the Indy torch to Shia in a fifth Indiana Jones film. Here's a little of what they had to say:

Harrison Ford playing second fiddle to maybe the single most overrated kid actor in years. Bad bad idea.

Most overrated kid actor? There seems to be a little bit of misplaced anger in that statement.

This shits gone too far.. Shia Lebouf is the most overrated non "Next Tom Hanks" in recent memory. The kid has the same gee wiz look on his face throughout an ENTIRE movie. He just yells a lot and gives a quick delivery.. he's fucking awful.

I was hoping he wouldn't have that big of a role in [Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull], but I guess that hes got a much bigger role then I thought.. and making an Indy movie based on another character with Indy making a cameo???? Wow. Fuck George Lucas.

Okay, "overrated" was used again, but I think the "Fuck George Lucas" statement has us getting closer to the real reason for the hatred in this comment.

Shia LaBeouf is only "in" right now… If he doesn't actually do a non-blockbuster movie soon and prove he's more then just a whiney face, I can't see him sticking around the spotlight.

This is the one I can't quite figure out. "If he doesn't actually do a non-blockbuster movie soon and prove he's more then just a whiny face, I can't see him sticking around the spotlight." What does this mean?

Does this mean that he needs to make a movie that is not a blockbuster? Is this in reference to the amount of money it makes or the amount of money spent making it? Disturbia was made for $20 million and made over $80 million. Transformers was made for $150 million and went on to make $707 million worldwide. One appears to be a massive hit for little dough and the other appears to be a worldwide hit for blockbuster dollars. Does that satisfy our commenter?

Looking back at Shia's career, sure, he had a slow start, but what actor doesn't? Comparing him to Tom Hanks is a bad example considering they are two different kind of actors. Hanks was a comedic actor to start and slowly became Meg Ryan's on screen boyfriend at the same time he became a serious actor with Philadelphia.

I would say Shia's career started in 2003 with Holes, another film our commenter above may want to make a note of considering it was made for $20 million and ended up grossing $67 million at the box-office. He then went on to have a couple of small roles in I, Robot and Constantine along with a couple of smaller films; The Battle of Shaker Heights (a "Project Greenlight" winner) and The Greatest Game Ever Played. Overall, looking at Shia's filmography he appears to be box-office gold. Even if the film he is in stinks, Transformers, he still manages to nail his role.

In this Wednesday's Indiana Jones flick he isn't given much to work with, but you can still see the potential as he never holds up the show. His future looks bright with the intriguing Eagle Eye with Disturbia helmer D.J. Caruso, Transformers 2 and The Dark Fields with Neil Burger who directed The Illusionist.

Even though I didn't really like Transformers (review), didn't really enjoy Disturbia (review) and didn't really like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (review) there is no denying Shia's potential to dominate the movies for a long time. Hopefully he will get a script worthy of his talent and I can actually like the movie along with his performance. I guess I could count Constantine, but he didn't have a whole lot to do with that one. I did like Surf's Up, but animated movies don't count… do they?

Related post categories: Editorials, Features : Disturbia, Holes, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Shia LaBeouf, Transformers

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