Yes, I know what you must be thinking, I’m thinking it too. Respect Michael Bay? Not once, but six times? The man who has been called the antichrist by his critics, and oftentimes his cast and crew? Despite the shortcomings that first pop into your head, keep in mind not only does he have two films in the Criterion Collection, but he’s catapulted some now-household names to superstardom when they were lowly television stars. The folks at CineFix have put together a video essay with six pleading reasons why we should all reconsider our Bay-tred.
Retrospective: The Films of Michael Bay
In the essay "Film School’D," we learn that Bay was once an intern at Lucasfilm, where he insulted Steven Spielberg as a smarmy fifteen-year-old. Though quite the jerk move, Spielberg praised Bay decades later, and it seems the two have buried the hatchet. Bay, if anything, is brutally honest about the films he makes — he knows they are popcorn flicks and, quite frankly, is proud of that. But as juvenile as certain aspects may seem to you, he orchestrates every shot in real time — no storyboards, just memorization, through the entire shooting process. That’s quite a noble feat for any director, let alone someone closing down an entire city blocks for their shoot.
Bay has made stars out of Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Ben Affleck, and, of course, Shia LaBeouf, propelling these stars to an unforgettable status. Take a few minutes and watch this clever video, I’m not quite sure if my opinions have changed, but I will definitely reconsider my options.
