Just as one visualizes a lot of images in hyper-slow motion when thinking about the American filmmaker Zack Snyder, if it is about his compatriot Michael Bay (b. 1966), it’s easy for flashy action scenes and a handful of explosions to come to mind. Because it is very clear that she likes them a lot. Just take a look at his filmography to have no doubt about it.
Despite the fact that he has made more video clips than feature films since 1989, from 1995 he was able to enter the narrative of the big screen and, since 2003, he has not stepped on the edges of a set for anything else. With some 4,100 million dollars in international collections, it is seventh highest grossing director. Although his six nominations for the Razzie Awards and his two Golden Raspberries are not taken away by anyone.
As Michael Bay himself told USAToday in June 2009, as a child I did home shoots and put firecrackers on a toy train. “I actually set my room on fire once,” he admitted, amused. “The fire department arrived. It was a small Super 8 movie where aliens were invading us.” And he finished: “That was not fun. I was punished. Two weeks”.
The opinion of specialized critics on the work of Michael Bay
This is the ranking of Michael Bay’s films according to the information consulted in the area of Rotten Tomatoes for critics:
- The rock (1996): average grade of 6.7 out of 10 in 68 reviews.
- Ambulance: Escape Plan (2022): mean of 5.8 in 216 reviews.
- transformers (2007): mean of 5.8 in 227 reviews.
- 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (2016): mean of 5.5 in 223 reviews.
- Pain and money (2013): mean of 5.4 in 204 reviews.
- The island (2005): mean of 5.4 in 201 reviews.
- Armageddon (1998): mean of 5.3 in 122 reviews.
- Two rogue policemen (1995): mean of 5.1 in 64 reviews.
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011): mean of 5 in 263 reviews.
- 6 in the shadow (2019): mean of 4.8 in 96 reviews.
- Pearl Harbor (2001): mean of 4.5 in 193 reviews.
- Two Rebel Cops 2 (2003): mean of 4.3 in 184 reviews.
- Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (2009): mean of 4.1 in 250 reviews.
- Transformers: Age of Extinction (2014): mean of 4 in 214 reviews.
- Transformers: The Last Knight (2017): mean of 3.5 in 256 reviews.
Rotten Tomatoes moviegoers’ opinion
Anonymous users who vote on Rotten Tomatoes leave us this result of Michael Bay:
- Ambulance: Escape Plan: average mark of 4.4 out of 5 with more than 1,000 votes.
- The rock: half of 4.1 with more than 250,000 votes.
- transformers: half of 4.1 with more than 250,000 votes.
- 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi: half of 4.1 with more than 25,000 votes.
- Two rogue policemen: half of 3.9 with more than 250,000 votes.
- Two Rebel Cops 2: half of 3.9 with more than 250,000 votes.
- Armageddon: half of 3.8 with more than 250,000 votes.
- Pearl Harbor: half of 3.6 with more than 250,000 votes.
- The island: half of 3.5 with more than 250,000 votes.
- Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: half of 3.5 with more than 250,000 votes.
- 6 in the shadow: half of 3.4 with more than 2,500 votes.
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon: half of 3.3 with more than 250,000 votes.
- Transformers: Age of Extinction: half of 3.2 with more than 100,000 votes.
- Pain and money: half of 3.1 with more than 50,000 votes.
- Transformers: The Last Knight: half of 2.9 with more than 25,000 votes.
The opinion of IMDb moviegoers on Michael Bay’s cinema
On the other hand, here are the numbers that he gives us IMDb on what the public thinks of Michael Bay’s films:
- The rock: average mark of 7.4 out of 10 with 332,439 votes.
- 13 hours: The secret soldiers of Benghazi: half of 7.3 with 137,708 votes.
- transformers: half of 7 with 626,239 votes.
- Two rogue policemen: half of 6.8 with 259,383 votes.
- The island: half of 6.8 with 313,294 votes.
- Armageddon: half of 6.7 with 418,595 votes.
- Two Rebel Cops 2: half of 6.6 with 246,635 votes.
- Pain and money: half of 6.4 with 214,027 votes.
- Ambulance: Escape Plan: half of 6.2 with 24,699 votes.
- Pearl Harbor: half of 6.2 with 327,544 votes.
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon: half of 6.2 with 402,224 votes.
- 6 in the shadow: half of 6.1 with 168,426 votes.
- Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: half of 5.9 with 402,398 votes.
- Transformers: Age of Extinction: half of 5.6 with 310,189 votes.
- Transformers: The Last Knight: half of 5.2 with 147,989 votes.
FilmAffinity moviegoers’ opinion
And finally, this is the information about Michael Bay that he gives us FilmAffinity:
- The rock: average mark of 6.8 out of 10 with 58,802 votes.
- The island: half of 6.2 with 55,695 votes.
- 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi: half of 6.2 with 9,305 votes.
- Pearl Harbor: half of 6.1 with 73,911 votes.
- Pain and money: half of 5.8 with 18,754 votes.
- Two rogue policemen: half of 5.8 with 53,473 votes.
- Armageddon: half of 5.7 with 91,770 votes.
- transformers: half of 5.7 with 53,939 votes.
- Two Rebel Cops 2: half of 5.6 with 27,025 votes.
- Ambulance: Escape Plan: half of 5.5 with 1,094 votes.
- Transformers: Dark of the Moon: half of 5.3 with 27,814 votes.
- Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen: half of 5.2 with 35,125 votes.
- 6 in the shadow: half of 5 with 7,429 votes.
- Transformers: Age of Extinction: half of 4.5 with 13,164 votes.
- Transformers: The Last Knight: half of 4.3 with 5,909 votes.
Conclusions on the best and worst of Michael Bay
Both professional critics and moviegoers who vote on the IMDb and FilmAffinity platforms, but not those of Rotten Tomatoes, consider that The rock is the best film of pyrotechnician Michael Bay. For dissidents, however, it is Ambulance: Escape Plan, the last of his to hit theaters. However, it is very possible that, as they vote, his average grade will fall.
What there is no doubt about is which film by the Californian filmmaker should be singled out as the worst. Both critics and users of the three pages have decided to point out Transformers: The Last Knightthe fifth on alien robots that has been commissioned before Travis Knight made the spinoff Bumblebee (2018). absolute unanimity.