As someone who considers himself part of the film community, I enjoy learning about film history, gaining as much knowledge as I can on how to make movies.
Recently a friend of mine shared with me this two part series by Patrick (H) Willems on Michael Bay and the creation/success of the (in)famous ‘Bayhem’.
If you’re a male in your teens or early 20’s who enjoys drinking Mountain Dew and screaming at the TV with your bros then chances are you’re already a Michael Bay fan.
Although I actually was a Transformers fan until I took film school and learned not to be a fan of anything Michael Bay because he’s Michael Bay, I can certainly still see the appeal for a ‘Bayhem-With-The-Bois’ night.
Over the last several years my taste for over the top action and explosions has diminished, but as I watched through these informative video essays I noticed my now hatred for Mr. Bay got even stronger, at least until the end, but I’ll get to that in a minute.
Nowadays, whenever I hear someone talk about how much they enjoyed a Michael Bay film, I let out a sigh. I cannot tolerate his work if that’s what you want to call it. I can’t. I just can’t…
His movies are – if I might be so bold as to say – ‘action porn’. They’re classic examples of glorified violence, death, and explosions, just for the sake of spectacle, and people love it.
I’m sure you can imagine I’m letting out one perpetual sigh as I write this.
As an editor myself, I probably would walk in the other direction if I was offered the opportunity to edit one of Michael Bayhem’s mayhems, as I can imagine all of the footage is just one expensive looking shot after another, without much thought on where it actually needs to fit in the story.
Although I agree with most of my film friend’s views of him, it’s hard not to be impressed by someone who’s making films that actually represent himmself so well whilst simultaneously being obscure in their political and social views; meaning his films don’t clearly swing one way or the other, politically, a rarity in Hollywood blockbusters.
After learning more about this wildly popular film director, despite the incredibly poor critic ratings of all his films I can’t help but respect the guy for making such popular movies. He’s either completely insane with no respect for
