Transformers Was Michael Bay a Good Choice?

[blind_fury]

The Jaws sequels were missing something. It wasn't enough to have "Giant Sharks Biting".

With great storytelling even a movie about a giant shark can be box office hit and well-regarded classic. Imagine the hidden storytelling potential G1 offers. It's characters/stories/concepts are far more layered and sophisticated than one giant shark.

If Bay directed it Jaws it would've been just as memorable as Deep Blue Sea.

 

[shigsy2003]

The Jaws sequels were missing something. It wasn't enough to have "Giant Sharks Biting".

With great storytelling even a movie about a giant shark can be box office hit and well-regarded classic. Imagine the hidden storytelling potential G1 offers. It's characters/stories/concepts are far more layered and sophisticated than one giant shark.

If Bay directed it Jaws it would've been just as memorable as Deep Blue Sea.

Agreed, but it will be extremely risky for Spielberg to produce the sequel to Transformers focusing on story and not trying to make the action 100 times bigger. The reason this film is going to be a blockbuster is because of the action...the story is mediocre at best but that isn't the point, the action is going to be kick a$$

If a sequel came out and they deciced to invest more into character development this is going to put of many casual fans, whereas for G1 fans like you and me we would love it. I have a feeling this franchise is neer going to satisfy us story wise....but hey...there ain't no arguing....we won't be bored

 

[AyeCapn]

The Jaws sequels were missing something. It wasn't enough to have "Giant Sharks Biting".

With great storytelling even a movie about a giant shark can be box office hit and well-regarded classic. Imagine the hidden storytelling potential G1 offers. It's characters/stories/concepts are far more layered and sophisticated than one giant shark.

If Bay directed it Jaws it would've been just as memorable as Deep Blue Sea.

QFT

 

[AyeCapn]

I'm glad to hear that Spielberg's storytelling and directing talents may have rubbed off on Bay in Transformers. I can just picture him telling him "Michael, no, that's hackneyed acting.... I keep telling Lucas this but he doesn't listen... Please don't let me down too! Now go in there and give that actor his motivation!"

Everyone learns and grows, and I think Michael Bay has talent that can be refined. Looks like it took Spielberg to help bring it out a bit more.

IMO Bay should take some time and do a no-budget film that no one will see. He should restrict himself with no guns, cars, or explosions. One camera, and a small cast for a character piece. I really want to see what he can do when REAL restrain is put on him. He shines in action movies with budgetary restraint, but I want to see how far he can push himself.

 

[CFlash]

Agreed, but it will be extremely risky for Spielberg to produce the sequel to Transformers focusing on story and not trying to make the action 100 times bigger. The reason this film is going to be a blockbuster is because of the action...the story is mediocre at best but that isn't the point, the action is going to be kick a$$

If a sequel came out and they deciced to invest more into character development this is going to put of many casual fans, whereas for G1 fans like you and me we would love it. I have a feeling this franchise is neer going to satisfy us story wise....but hey...there ain't no arguing....we won't be bored

It kinda bugs me that since Indiana Jones and Back to The Future, Spielberg hasn't been able to get a successful trilogy or series of movies (either as director or producer) off the ground. I mean JP sequels sucked. Men In Black 2? Bleh! It pains me to say, but this is a big failure for the guy. Maybe Transformers will be different.

 

[Weadazoid]

NO, take a look at some of the reviews a common note by every reviewer so far


Great action
Huge Plot holes
Bad melodramma...ala TV movie style
uneven comedy




Thease are the same writers that brought you MI 3, and some other forgetable summer Flicks..now they have been paired with Bay

so...watch out

 

[CFlash]

^ ^ ^
Man! I liked MI:3. Was I the only one?

 

[Hunter Rider]

I'm glad to hear that Spielberg's storytelling and directing talents may have rubbed off on Bay in Transformers. I can just picture him telling him "Michael, no, that's hackneyed acting.... I keep telling Lucas this but he doesn't listen... Please don't let me down too! Now go in there and give that actor his motivation!"

BTW, I'm pretty pumped for Transformers.

While we disagree on Bay to many degrees i do feel that outside the Rock which was note perfect IMO he either goes for all flash with the funny (Bad Boys 1/2) or gets overly mushy when trying to add sentiment(Armageddon) now i enjoy those movies but i want him to hit his Rock form here....he has by most critics accounts the best grasp of large scale action in the business while Cameron stays under water and has the raw talent to be a great director,hopefully Spielberg has mentored him on the subtler details that can enrich a film in this genre

 

[Hunter Rider]

^ ^ ^
Man! I liked MI:3. Was I the only one?

nope i liked it to,i always find it odd how critics review these movies though,i was just watching Die Hard the other night and wow there are some clunkers in that flick but it doesn't stop it being great,this genre gets the harsh end of the stick most of the time

 

[shigsy2003]

It kinda bugs me that since Indiana Jones and Back to The Future, Spielberg hasn't been able to get a successful trilogy or series of movies (either as director or producer) off the ground. I mean JP sequels sucked. Men In Black? Bleh! It pains me to say, but this is a big failure for the guy. Maybe Transformers will be different.

I am right there with you. Indy and Back to the Future were the last great trilogies he was involved with and I to hope TF will be a successful franchise...I think it will be...just as long as they tread carefully and not try not to get too clever or too over themselves.

The most logical approach is the same but different.

 

[coreymb16]

I think Michael Bay is a great director for this movie because the action movies he directed(Bad Boys, Bad Boys II, Armageddon) were awesome and I'm sure this will too.

 

[nogster]

when i first discovered bay was directing it was dissapointed...bar the rock, i havent enjoyed any of his films, then when i read the script i was disgusted....
but after seeing it...i have done a backflip and think he was the right director....yes...
he made the film a specatacular cinematic outing, i havent had this much fun in the movies for ages, it takes u back to when u were a kid where u would just get enthralled in the experience and didnt over analyize, like u do when u are older and more "mature"...
it bought the wide eyed imaginative kid out in me...
yes there are holes in the plot, yes it has some big cheese moments, it has all of those bayisms, but for the 1st time in a long time, the experience of the film surpassed the nitpicks....
that and optimus prime ROCKS harder than ever before..

"one shall stand, and one shall fall".

 

[Kebab gud]

Long story short... no
To mutch use of Slowmotion, to mutch "comedy" and all that other useless things he is knownfor

 

[Diamondhead]

Absolutely!
The only movies I remember him for was “the island”
And those motorcycle gadget scenes were enough to convince me.

 

[coreymb16]

Long story short... no
To mutch use of Slowmotion, to mutch "comedy" and all that other useless things he is knownfor

I think it's much. t:

 

[Marvin]

the similarities to "Spielberg" are on a scriptual level...
the fact that ppl see a similarity is no doubt due to the fact that spielberg had two dudes write him a script about a boy and his car and aliens...

"bays taking pointers?"
wtf

it's like no one acknowledges that scripts exist...

apart from pirates no movie these days has any visual flare...the Spider-man movies have wonderfull cgi and great animator directed web slinging
but they look decided plain and ugly
(note every scene in oscorp for starters)
(in theory that makes for more relatable visuals...)
same goes for that bland looking superman film

the thing that makes bay so right for this is that his films never LOOK cheap...
(and they more often then not, are half the budget of most films(badboys was 9million)

when he shoots a city...it's golden crisp and epic in scope...
i just seen some more of Tim Storys work and it looks so fu<king horrible...just no sense of scale (and saturn look so weak i'm sorry)

bays a photographer...and it shows
beyond that...as far as directing a this script

he loves cars and action and contemporary scenarios and settings

I have no doubt that gettting bay to tell the story of LOTR would be like gettin a jock to do a book report on it for the class
that's no doubt why Peter Jackson was great for it...he's so into it..so into it that he dwells on the stuff he relates to and then shows them to us cause he thinks they're cool/wonderfull

everything in this movie is worth bays time...espeically when it comes to opening up a car hood or having an army base attacked..

yes bay was right for this
(cameron/spielberg are the only other ones...but bays would look the best and have the most kinetic action)

 

[Marvin]

also

his movies also have the best cgi cause he's right there with the artists...
he hit the nail on the head when he said realistic cgi is dependent on lighting(being a photographer)...it's a safe bet to say he a big reason this sh1t looks so good

plus he never settles

 

[The Kid]

that's what's great about bay. He settles for nothing less than photo-real, very convincing special fx etc.

while lucas, raimi, singer (omfg wolverine's become a cartoon on the statue of liberty, is this a new power?) whoever would let some very bad cgi through to the final film to meet their deadline. bad form, I say.

 

[CFlash]

the similarities to "Spielberg" are on a scriptual level...
the fact that ppl see a similarity is no doubt due to the fact that spielberg had two dudes write him a script about a boy and his car and aliens...

"bays taking pointers?"
wtf

it's like no one acknowledges that scripts exist...

Once cameras start rolling, script can change on the spot. Shots are reordered. Actors told (by the director) to deliver the lines differently even though the script called for them to deliver it one way. That's the art, I think.

My favorite case-in-point: Han Solo's line before he got frozen was scripted (by Lucas) to be "I love you too." The director, Irvin Kurshner, kept making Harrison Ford redo the scene... "no no do it this way... do it that way..." until finally we got what we got, which is one of the most memorable scenes in Cinema history. If it was Lucas, he would have said "that's great! It's a wrap! in the very first take."

 

[Marvin]

it's true...and it's said that bay encourages improv...

the thing is...that the resemblance to ET for example...
it's an upper middle class kid who meets and alien and the gov't gets involved and what not...

thats on a scriptual level...bay or no bay
berg or no berg

 

[gimmen64]

that's what's great about bay. He settles for nothing less than photo-real, very convincing special fx etc.

while lucas, raimi, singer (omfg wolverine's become a cartoon on the statue of liberty, is this a new power?) whoever would let some very bad cgi through to the final film to meet their deadline. bad form, I say.

I will admit tath Bay has always had awesome CGI in this flims. Its sad to see that so movies will let bad CGI in their movies. Movies should be made the way that Blizzard makes their video games, with time and not afraid to push it back for a better product. I was happy to see that they pushed back Ghost Rider and made sure the flames looked awesome!

 

[CFlash]

I will admit tath Bay has always had awesome CGI in this flims. Its sad to see that so movies will let bad CGI in their movies. Movies should be made the way that Blizzard makes their video games, with time and not afraid to push it back for a better product. I was happy to see that they pushed back Ghost Rider and made sure the flames looked awesome!

Too bad the direction in that movie was god-aweful and made for a craptastic movie. Waste too.. because I thought the plot wasn't bad and the acting was competent. Boy, that movie is an example of bad, cookie cutter direction if I've ever seen one.

 

[DorkyFresh]

i remember hearing the news that Bay was going to be the director for Transformers and my hopes plopped. i knew the action was going to be awesome but i knew he was going to drastically change the characters and the story. i also didn't think the effects were going to be that great because he limited experience with digital effects. besides Pearl Harbor (flawless effects imo) the digital effects in his last few movies (Bad Boys 2 and the Island) weren't all that great. i could see some of the flaws. i was expecting something similar to what we saw with the piloted robots in Matrix Revolutions. those fx were great but not totally convincing.

however, Bay stayed more true to the feel of TF than i originally thought and as far as the fx.......well, the images speak for themselves. he hasn't made the best TF movie that could've possibly been made but it seems like he's doing much better than i originally thought he was going to do.

 

[Marvin]

if bay shot spiderman
it'd look like ur avatar only more GOLDEN

 

[CFlash]

i remember hearing the news that Bay was going to be the director for Transformers and my hopes plopped. i knew the action was going to be awesome but i knew he was going to drastically change the characters and the story. i also didn't think the effects were going to be that great because he limited experience with digital effects. besides Pearl Harbor (flawless effects imo) the digital effects in his last few movies (Bad Boys 2 and the Island) weren't all that great. i could see some of the flaws. i was expecting something similar to what we saw with the piloted robots in Matrix Revolutions. those fx were great but not totally convincing.

however, Bay stayed more true to the feel of TF than i originally thought and as far as the fx.......well, the images speak for themselves. he hasn't made the best TF movie that could've possibly been made but it seems like he's doing much better than i originally thought he was going to do.

I wholeheartedly agree with you. I cant wait till tuesday.