Transformers: Dark of the Moon

aalleexx said:
i think that many people fail to see that bay is a director that is hired to make money, and he's pretty good at doing that
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Who isn't in Hollywood? :)

Ever since the 70s the film industry in Hollywood has been the most profitable American export around the world. If financiers are going to invest 200 million on a product/film, whoever is controlling that project has to make sure the investors get their money back, in double please! Its a business.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon topped Revenge of the Fallen by 50% in its opening week! So far, Dark of the Moon has made 160 million in just six days, US only! Now, I'm sure MB would have preferred to have a more friendly reaction from the film crowd, but his job first and foremost, was to make money, lots of it.

For sure, if all 15 year olds round the world watched Pressburger and Goddard, then Bayhem would be out of business, but so would Hollywood. But we know that's not what 15 year olds want to see, and I'm sure Pressburger wasn't making films for 15 year olds either.

Obviously, I would prefer if big money makers would be more like The Dark Knight or Avatar rather than Dark of the Moon, no questions about it. But these are nonetheless "events" and kids around the world just want to seat in the dark theater, eat popcorn and watch giant robots smack each other up! Personally, I see nothing wrong with that, as I don't see nothing wrong for anyone above that age to not like that.
 
Kingswell said:
I wasn't and so weren't many of my friends at the age of 15. I was just getting into Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger, film noir, and Woody Allen by that stage. Many many boys of that age could think of nothing worse than to watch emotionaly vacuous films.

As i said in my previous comment its a very poor defence by Bay. I said it was a scared reaction by a scared directors. I retract that - its cowardice. It's also the same excuse film snobs use to defend some of Godard's awful films-its not meant for you, you don't understand it.

Secondly a studio gave Bay $200 million to make it. They want everyone to see it-they put adverts everywhere. Not just in tv shows and magazines for adolescents , but during tv shows aimed at adults. So it just doesn't wash.

I was told today that Michael Bay directed the video for Meat Loaf's 'I'd do anything for love'. That video is brilliant, full of emotion and drama, great cinematography (although that may be more to do with DOP Daniel Pearl). It's just really good. Miles better than millions of other music videos before and since.

So why can't he do that in a full feature length film. Cause it seems he's capable and talented. That's why i get so angry at him-i just feel he's better than this.
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Kingswell said:
That's true, but the video is still very good. If Bay would allow himself to direct a proper script i can imagine him making a decent film
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"Why do I do this? Because the money's good, the scenery changes and they let me use explosives, okay?"
- Actual quote from a Michael Bay movie

I'm sure he could direct a character driven costume drama too, but that's not what he's interested in and it's not what he's best at.
"Michael Bay" is a brand name, like Stephen King. He'd have to use a pseudonym.
 
The effort needed to make a movie like Transformers is exceptionally high. You have to have passion or the movie just wouldn't get made period. The guy cares enough that he approached James Cameron to make sure the 3D didn't turn out poorly. Plus I don't know how you can look at the breathtaking action, which has a extremely fine attention to detail, and call Bay lazy. His action sequences are anything but lazy. If anything they are a testament to his ability to push his team one step beyond where 99% of directors would go.
 
Well what Bay does is certainly no crime against humanity, which is the case the reviewer in my original post was trying to make. In my opinion, his only offense is against good taste, but that's entirely subjective. More insight into Bay, from his Wikipedia page--

Bay often traces his interest in action films back to an incident during his childhood. As a boy, he attached some firecrackers to a toy train and filmed the ensuing fiery disaster with his mother's 8mm camera. The fire department was called and he was grounded.

Seems like his filmmaking hasn't progressed much some 30 years later.
 
Danespina said:
The effort needed to make a movie like Transformers is exceptionally high. You have to have passion or the movie just wouldn't get made period. The guy cares enough that he approached James Cameron to make sure the 3D didn't turn out poorly. Plus I don't know how you can look at the breathtaking action, which has a extremely fine attention to detail, and call Bay lazy. His action sequences are anything but lazy. If anything they are a testament to his ability to push his team one step beyond where 99% of directors would go.
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If only he would apply that same commitment and attention to detail to his scripts, then maybe he'd really have something. I could call him many things, but no, lazy would not be one of them.
 
Batutta said:
If only he would apply that same commitment and attention to detail to his scripts, then maybe he'd really have something. I could call him many things, but no, lazy would not be one of them.
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If he was as talented with his scripts, as he was with action, then he'd be one of the greatest directors of all time. Unfortunately he isn't that perfect, instead he is someone who is exceptionally gifted at action, and thats why he continues to float around in that genre. Thus Transformers, an action film.
 
Danespina said:
If he was as talented with his scripts, as he was with action, then he'd be one of the greatest directors of all time. Unfortunately he isn't that perfect, instead he is someone who is exceptionally gifted at action, and thats why he continues to float around in that genre. Thus Transformers, an action film.
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Well, if I'm being honest, I don't really like his approach to action. It's often a lot of high speed noise that lacks suspense. It's all explosive money shots, without enough tension building moments to really put you on the edge of your seat. I think the most effective sequence in TF3 was in the collapsing building for this reason. He is gifted at orchestrating chaos, but I think good action is also what happens between explosions, even within the action itself. This is what Spielberg has always been a master of.
 
Yes I also thought the collapsing building was great in TF3. Spielberg is indeed a master at creating suspense within action, he's another guy I always find myself defending so I'm glad I don't have to here. Regarding Bays overall suspense throughout the action of Transformers, I wouldn't say it was bad. The first transformer reveal in part 1 was straight out of Spielbergs handbook, and as for part 3, I for the most part could feel the tension escalating. One thing in particular that I liked, was the decision to cut Primes arm off for the final battle. Also I wasin't sure whether or not they would kill off bumblebee, the build up was done in such a way that it could have gone either way.
 
Nuno Dias said:
I don't think Michael Bay takes himself as seriously as a lot of people often do...<br>
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Hmmmm.......I wonder though. He cant be ignorant to the amount of ridicule his films and style seems to attract. So its kind of like when a home sex tape surfaces on the internet the embarrassed celebrity can either try to ignore it (bad for career) or go on Saturday Night Live and make fun of it (good for career because everyone thinks, hey, at least she doesn't take her self too seriously and she has a sense of humor). Now, I'm not saying MB films are as embarrassing as a home sex tape on the internet (but some would say that), and I'm not saying that SNL wouldn't take him on the show; but I guess this is one way to respond.

Yeah so now we can all say MB can make movies as bad as he wants because they will be justified by everyone saying he doesn't take himself seriously and he has a sense of 'humor'? Naaaaaahhhhh!
 
simonpwood said:
Hmmmm.......I wonder though. He cant be ignorant to the amount of ridicule his films and style seems to attract. So its kind of like when a home sex tape surfaces on the internet the embarrassed celebrity can either try to ignore it (bad for career) or go on Saturday Night Live and make fun of it (good for career because everyone thinks, hey, at least she doesn't take her self too seriously and she has a sense of humor). Now, I'm not saying MB films are as embarrassing as a home sex tape on the internet (but some would say that), and I'm not saying that SNL wouldn't take him on the show; but I guess this is one way to respond.

Yeah so now we can all say MB can make movies as bad as he wants because they will be justified by everyone saying he doesn't take himself seriously and he has a sense of 'humor'? Naaaaaahhhhh!
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Michael Bay's movies are exactly what they're meant to be. So is One Night in Paris.

I don't think either is particularly "ashamed" of their films, and I don't think they should be.

The only thing shameful about the Transformers movie franchise is that the basic G1 story is so much better than this. The source material could have been turned into a new Star Wars that would have been loved for generations while these films won't last five years.

I'm betting 100 bucks there will be a franchise reboot announcement before 2016. Any takers?
 
I think a cool idea would be to introduce the future setting of G1 season 3, after the events of the animated movie (though, I think the animated movie was set in the future as well). The Autobots will have been on Earth for a few decades and they could introduce a new main character in Sam's son or daughter. Also, bring in Unicron.
 
Perhaps the evil Decepticons won (another) war on the Autobots (should we make it Las Vegas...?) and this time, eliminated the entire human race! Now, our world is populated with evil robots, its a dark, trashy and disgusting place... filled with Decepticon evil hookers and thieves!

But somewhere in the rubble lives a small group of survivors, among them, none other than Sam's son, now 18. He's got innate leader skills and gets an entire army of people behind him to destroy the Decepticons. With the help of the Autobots, they will fight the deadliest fight of all (this time Bay can wreak havoc San Francisco perhaps... ) and humans are finally able to exterminate the evil Decepticons, forever!

The Autobots can now return to their home planet and start over, victorious, thanks to the human race! (And Sam's son...)

Of course all this would be sliced into three parts... so someone could profit three times as much....!
 
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Jawa Ex Machina said:
The only thing shameful about the Transformers movie franchise is that the basic G1 story is so much better than this. The source material could have been turned into a new Star Wars that would have been loved for generations while these films won't last five years.QUOTE]

It's a travesty what was done to these characters. The personality of the robots was what made the cartoons so good. Prime was basically John Wayne, Ironhide was the scrappy old codger, Megatron was the badass leader w/a canon on his arm, Starscream was the egomanical lout who wanted power, Soundwave had the cool voice and Rumble was an undersized thug.

Argh. These films could have been so much more.

Anyone besides me blown away by how much B.O. this franchise has done?
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http://www.darkhorizons.com/news/21121/don-murphy-talks-a-fourth-transformers

Producer Don Murphy tells[URL="http://www.tfw2005.com/transformers-news/transformers-movie-just-movie-31/don-murphy-comments-on-the-future-of-the-movie-franchise-172773/"]TFW2005 that despite all the speculation, a fourth "Transformers" film would NOT be a reboot but rather a sequel (or potential new trilogy launcher) featuring the same robots.
"What happens next? Certainly not a reboot. We haven't lost the Transformers. They didn't grow up or become expensive like Tobey Maguire. I don't know what happens next. I'm pretty sure there will be a second trilogy. I am pretty sure it will kick ass. And I am pretty sure some of you will hate it because it wasn't all bots."
Paramount Pictures has not announced plans for a follow-up to "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" as yet.
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