Can someone explain to me why so many people hate Michael Bay's Transformers movies?

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Michaeljones
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Can someone explain to me why so many people hate Michael Bay's Transformers movies?

Post by Michaeljones »

I understand that the movies are geared towards teenage boys, but I really enjoy watching them. I don't find anything deplorable in the movies (besides some lack of story).
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Unicron
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Post by Unicron »

Most of the complaints I see tend to be some mix of the following:
  • Too much focus on the humans
  • The design aesthetic of the Transformers
  • Due to the color schemes, a number of action scenes devolve into gray blur fighting gray blur with no idea who is who
  • The 'humor'
  • Characters appear and disappear as the writers seem to remember that they're supposed to be in the movie
  • Irrelevant or meandering subplots
  • General length of the movies
There's probably other general points I'm forgetting
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Clay
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Post by Clay »

It's complicated. As films, they don't measure up very well to usual metrics of quality, but there's obviously something to them that kept people coming back. Well, at least until the last knight.
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inflatable dalek
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Post by inflatable dalek »

I like'em.

And enough people did to go back three more times in bigger numbers till the tail-off kicked in with the fifth.

Hell, I even have a strange love for Last Knight, just for being batshit.
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Post by Cyberstrike nTo »

This is a two part video essay on all of Bay's films that he's directed and it explains why some people have problems with Bay's films.




and here is part 2 which talks about Bay's Transformers films:






Then there is also Lindsay Ellis' series The Whole Plate which is currently at part 9 and focuses more on Bay's Transformers films and some of his other films, to explore various film theories like auteur, feminist, queer, Marxist, and so on it's worth a look. I'll post part 1 here because I don't have the time right now to post 9 links to these videos, but they are really good and informative.

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Post by Sades »

If it makes you feel any better, I don't thin they're overly horrible. I just wish everything didn't look like randomly spinning blurry metallic things half the time.
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Re: Can someone explain to me why so many people hate Michael Bay's Transformers movies?

Post by Rurudyne »

I've liked them.

But their excess in the fiddly details, the aesthetic mentioned, kinda reminds me of the particular synth pop sound pioneered by Donna Summer in the mid-to-late 70s ... at first it's brilliant and then, later as it's been done to death, it just distracts.
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Re: Can someone explain to me why so many people hate Michael Bay's Transformers movies?

Post by Auntie Slag »

Lately here in the UK they've been showing 'Dark of the Moon' on repeat. I turned on the subtitles with the most recent airing and it made the world of difference. There was so much babble that I wasn't comprehending until now. Sam is incredibly annoying, and its not a patch on the first film, but definitely try these films with subtitles if you can!
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Re: Can someone explain to me why so many people hate Michael Bay's Transformers movies?

Post by inflatable dalek »

But surely comprehending Dark of the Moon takes all the fun out of it?
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Re: Can someone explain to me why so many people hate Michael Bay's Transformers movies?

Post by Skyquake87 »

There's fun in DOTM?
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Re: Can someone explain to me why so many people hate Michael Bay's Transformers movies?

Post by Prowl1984 »

The only two I enjoy are the first one and DOtM. The rest are garbage IMO. The last two felt like endurance tests with little to no reward. Loved Bumblee though, it was a much needed Bay-less reset.
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