In Defense of Michael Bay

In what might be my most controversial subject, I implore you to see my reasoning. Through all of his films, only one has not made money. That being said, lets get to the meat and potatoes of the man who reinvented the explosion. As a member of the 90's youth you recount those summers at the cineplex. As a member of the card-carrying club for dudes, you tend to gravitate toward action films. Action films at this point were evolving. No longer was the cultural lexicon satisfied by mindless dribble, they wanted brains and pragmatism. The days of AH-nuld mutilating his enemies while using catchy idioms were numbered. However, some staples still applied. Earth rattling explosions, war-like gun-fire, epic cleavage and platinum vixens, and a villain with an accent were requirements if you wanted to be a part of the new cannon. Two films I believe gave birth to the new action renaissance. "Heat" and "The Rock". "Heat" was directed by Michael Mann, whom I truly consider the Oracle of gunfights. See "Public Enemies" or "The Kingdom", which he produced if you doubt my claims. But Bay made Nic Cage a smart, intellectual hero. Bay became the newest disciple to bravado cinema. Yes, he did Bad Boys in 1994, but The Rock showed us a new vision of what action could be. We saw helicopters flying into sunsets... actually we saw a lot of helicopters. Add Sean Connery, Ed Harris and you get accomplished actors headlining a film. It showed us that the acting must be on par with the ambition and the writing. Afterwards we got "Armageddon", which is a damn good movie too. The only thing good about "Deep Impact" (its meteor related rival that summer) is that you can remember it, CONGRATS! You reduced your chance of Alzheimers! Armageddon rescued Bruce Willis from obscurity in the genre he helped build. My only remorse for this film is... Ben Affleck. Michael Bay's next film became inexcusable... even for a fan. The only thing in recent memory to hurt my heart as bad was when Posh Spice left the Spice Girls. "Pearl Harbor" entered this world in 2001... starring Ben Affleck. Three things made me through this film; Kate Beckinsale, Jon Voight, and the bombs-eye view shot. Bay had created a shot that entered the literature of film students, which modern day movie snobs loathed. The bombs-eye view is something to be marveled, because frankly... Bay perfected it. He contributed to ACTUAL cinema. Then came "Bad Boys 2", and "The Island" which spread his ability to coach actors in real emotions, though not especially deep ones. Bay hit GOLD by becoming the newest mentoree to Steven Spielberg with the "Transformer" movies. All I can say is, if Spielberg believes, then so do I. Now Bay has become an American caricature (or icon), but his imprint on action in irrefutable. His influence stretches into his horror-produced remakes and the willingness for big name stars to work with him. He became Jerry Bruckheimer's prodigy. With the exception of Tony Scott, Bruckheimer (the greatest action producer of all time) goes with directors of little talent. He saw Bay hone his skills as a director of Aerosmith videos, to one day become the man who possibly upstaged him. Next time you marvel at how "cool" Tarantino is, or how much David Fincher rocks, or even when you hang that "Boondock Saints" poster... remember... who made the sunset cool again.