Michael Bay....just mention the name and your likely to get a strong reaction, good and bad. Among many "movie geeks" he is revered as "the single greatest thing wrong with American cinema", which to me is a bit of a stretch. He is also one of the more successful directors of the past 13 years. So let's take a look at this.Bay started making movies in 1995 with "Bad Boys". The movie was a modest hit, it had a $23 million budget, and grossed $65 million. Not bad for your first feature film.
Next up was 1996's "The Rock", which pulled in $134 million, and was a good slam bang action movie and showed that Bay was a very capable action director. 1998's "Armageddon" with Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck pushed Bay into $200 million territory with a gross of $201 million. It pulled heavily on the heartstrings, and that obviously was part of the reason for the movie's success. That was also one of the things that the film's detractors pointed out, that it pulled at the heartstrings to cover up for what was a totally implausible movie.
In 2001 Bay gave us "Pearl Harbor" his attempt at making a "Titanic" like historical epic/love story. The influence of "Titanic" was obvious from the get go, and that was a big point of criticism. Overall, I felt it was a solid movie, the attack on Pearl Harbor was amazingly well done, and from what I have heard, was an almost perfect re-creation of the historic attack. I will admit I was not crazy about the overt attempts to once again pull at the heartstrings, which worked fine in "Armageddon" but seemed forced in "Pearl Harbor". Regardless of its faults, "Pearl Harbor" grossed a respectable $198 million. Short of expectations, but profitable nonetheless.
Bay did his first sequel in 2003 with "Bad Boys II" which grossed almost twice as much as the first ($138 million), but because of its bloated budget ($130 million) was considered a moderate failure. It didn't have the same charm as the first one, and some people actually complained that it had too much action and not enough of a story to drive it. This pleased Bay's detractors, and his next movie would be his next misstep, pleasing them even more. "The Island" came out in 2005 and grossed a mere $35 million on a $126 million budget. At this point, Bay was considered a master of blowing things up to cover up the fact that he was unable to tell a good story. His detractors were hoping that this was the end of the Bay era, two big budget failures in a row is certainly enough to make a studio leery of shelling out a crap load of money for another big budget spectacle. Much to the dismay of his haters, Bay delivered "Transformers" in 2007, and he was back on top. The film had a gross of $319 million and a sequel, "Transformers:Revenge Of The Fallen" is due next summer.
After all of this I am sure you are thinking I am a Michael Bay "apologist". That is not the case. Am I a fan of his movies? Yes, I have no shame in saying I enjoy his films. Do I think he is a great film maker? No. He can blow things up with reckless abandon, and does it well. As far as story telling, he falls short. Most of the movies he makes are thin on story, long on action. The characters in most of his films are stereotypical, with a few exceptions (one that immediately comes to mind is John Mason, played by Sean Connery in "The Rock"). "Armageddon" was loaded with them, as was "Transformers". I could swear he uses the same music in just about every movie. Yes, I agree that "Bad Boys II" had too much action and not enough story. I know it was an action movie, but it veered so far from the first one that it was just too much, there was not enough interaction with the main characters like there was in the first one. Not that I didn't enjoy it, it just was not as good as it could have been. "Pearl Harbor" tried too hard to be like "Titanic", and while it told the historical part of the story quite well, the love story aspect of the film is what pulls it down. "Transformers" was another movie I enjoyed immensely, but again, it had its flaws. The action at some points was so crazy it was hard to tell who was who and what the heck was going on. But just because I havecriticisms about his movies does not mean I don't enjoy them, and I think that's what a lot of people feel. The people who hate Bay feel he insults your intelligence, cannot tell a story and just blows stuff up when he cannot figure out what else to do, and let me tell you, the people who hate him really hate him. I have seen things said about him on other websites that I cannot even repeat here because of the profane nature of what was said. But his movies are entertaining, and people can overlook flaws in a film as long as it entertains them. Look at "Independence Day" that movie is LOADED with flaws, but it was a fun, mindless ride. People go to movies to be entertained, and sometimes we just want to sit back, turn off our brains and have a good time. I think that is why a lot of people hate Bay, because the movies he makes really don't take a lot in the way of talent. But if actors can get by on minimal talent, why not a director? As long as his movies entertain, he will continue to get money to make more, and, much to the dismay of his haters, his movies entertain. Like him or not, he will continue to make movies. I do think at some point he needs to evolve or he will see his style of movie making become tiresome. But for now, what he does seems to suit the studios and audiences just fine.
No comments:
Post a Comment