Summary
Michael Bay’s movies are unique in the sense that you either like them or hate them. He is especially known for his exaggerated action scenes, which aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. However, Michael Bay gave the world some of the most classic movies, like Bad Boys andTransformers.
Every director has good and bad movies in their career, and Michael Bay is no different. But he has made some of the best movies that have become classics, and you’re able to watch them after all these years and still enjoy them, even if some of them may not have aged well.
8Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen
Power Is Earned, Not Stolen
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen shows the Autobots and humans working side by side while Sam is attending college. An ancient Decepticon changes things when he shows up, and Sam once again joins forces with the Autobots to save the world. In this movie, everyone is searching for an item known as the Matrix of Leadership.
The movie explores the lengths Sam, as a human, will go to save Autobots. He must risk his own life to save Optimus Prime, whom he has grown to see as family. This movie also introduces the Transformers using parts of other Transformers to upgrade themselves, which becomes a large part of the franchise.
76 Underground
You Must Die To Protect Others
6 Underground sees an American billionaire and philanthropist, Magnet S. Johnson, fake his death to form a vigilante group to challenge criminals that are otherwise untouchable. Magnet recruits five other skilled people with aligned interests who become known as ghosts. The story isn’t as engaging as it could be, but the signature Michael Bay over-the-top action scenes more than make up for it.
The movie sees Ryan Reynolds deviate from his usual comedic roles as he strives to take down the leader of the fictional nation of Turgistan. How the ghosts achieve their mission and what they decide to do once their goal is met forms the crux of the story.
6The Island
There Is No Island!
The Island has an interesting story and a powerful star cast who play their parts to perfection. The movie shows clones who are harvested when their owners require organs or are used as surrogate incubators. You see the complex reactions from the clones who have never seen the real world and are unexpectedly told they aren’t their real selves and exist only as something the real person can use.
The movie also explores to what extent people will go to save themselves and whether they’ll make an immoral choice if it means they benefit from it. In a movie like this,nothing is as it seems, and you’ll want to refrain from getting too close to anyone because they may not be what they seem like.
Don’t Hate The Player, Hate The Game!
Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett return with Bad Boys 2 in their usual comedic fashion. The opening scene has them infiltrate a secret meeting, but the duo makes a serious operation a funny moment for the viewers. After the success of the first movie, Micheal Bay takes your favorite detectives away from home, but they still manage to save the day.
Mike continues to torture and shoot information out of the bad guys, while Marcus starts to have doubts about continuing their partnership. The movie still has the same theme as the original one, but the character dynamics and struggles are more fleshed out. You can relate to them more, and it makes the movie even better than the first one.
4Transformers
The One That Started It!
The first Transformersmovie started the franchise and laid its foundation. Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox embodied their characters and made the experience of robots that could turn into mechanical objects magical. The story is straightforward and sees the enmity of the Autobots and Decepticons, but this movie still has amazing rewatch value.
Sam Witwicky was the one who trusted the Autobots and went to bat for them when they needed humans to support them. The Autobots have a simple objective: to find the Allspark and rebuild their planet, Cybertron. The Decepticons have a nefarious goal and want to take the Allspark and, with it, the whole universe.
3Pain & Gain
I Need A Pump!
Pain & Gain is based on the real story of the Sun Gym gang, a group of criminal bodybuilders who were involved in kidnapping, extortion, and other crimes in Miami in the mid-1990s. Every character in the movie does justice to their role and makes it a beautiful piece of art. The actors make the characters their own, from their physiques to their body language.
There’s the cocky Mark Wahlberg, who gets everyone into the zone to kidnap Victor Kershaw and Dwayne Johnson, a born-again Christian manipulated by Mark to go back to a life of crime. Tony Shalhoub, as the gang’s first victim, makes his acting so real that you almost have to force yourself to distinguish the character from the actor.
2The Rock
Welcome To The Rock
When a patriot does something unlawful to achieve what he believes is right, does that make him a villain? The Rock tells the story of Brigadier General Francis Hummel, who goes rogue and takes hostages. He threatens to launch missiles armed with lethal gas if his demands aren’t met.
Sean Connery plays the role of a spy who is incarcerated, and Nicolas Cage is a scientist who has to risk his safety to save everyone by disarming the missile and securing the gas. The movie has an engaging story, and Ed Harris is an interestingly complex villain. When everything is said and done, one must ask, was he actually wrong?
I’m Mike Lowrey!
The infamous duo of Mike Lowrey and Marcus Burnett should have a good cop, bad cop genre of their own. The overconfident and trigger-happy Will Smith, paired with the self-questioning Martin Lawrence, made Bad Boys a cult classic movie. It went on to become a franchise, and while the actors are a huge part of it, Michael Bay’s direction also deserves immense credit.
If you haven’t watched the movie, then you’re definitely in for a treat. When a witness wants to talk to Mike Lowrey, who is otherwise indisposed, Marcus needs to step into his shoes to get the information needed to find the killers. The movie has its serious moments, but it’s more known for the amazing comedic timings of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence.
