He's a good CGI/Action director...most of the time. Yes, his films have had some decent success. Doesn't mean he's perfect though either.
Transformers was a C+/B- at best. Several problems with it. One being the closed off angles all the bot fights were shot at where you could barely make out what was actually happening then it was over all of the sudden. The best action/fight part was the highway sequence, but ended abruptly with a short(but awesome) energon sword to the face from Optimus again without really knowing what was happening till it was over. Also, the long build up to a weak and very short finale. I was really excited about this movie. I went to see it and the film burned up in the last 15 minutes. I had to go see the first 2 hours all over again just to see the last disappointing 15 minutes. Overall, a lot of this movie was just cheesy, and not the good kind.
Barring all that, like I said before he's a good CGI/Action director. He's got an idea for what will blow people's minds in the art of stunts and explosions. You want to see that stuff throughout a movie? Great. Though, without a good plot or script to back it up, those types of movies usually fall flat on their face for a lot of people.
Example of good dialog meets awesome action: Bad Boys(both installments), which if IMDB is correct was the movie that probably started his big movie career as it was his first big one. Why did I enjoy that movie? The banter between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence was pretty natural and memorable and added to the drama. Ask yourself this, with those things missing would the action have been enough? Probably not.
Bay didn't always get it right and sometimes he didn't even have a chance, but when he hits the mark it does stick.
Though his track record of late is a little shotty with me, I don't consider him a horrible director in what ever he attempts. I will remain skeptical of his efforts though until I see them for myself. Next movie to come out that he's directing is the next Transformers installment.
For the record, I liked Armageddon, The Rock, and Bad Boys 1 & 2. For nostalgia sake I'll say I liked Transformers too, but it could have been so much better.
Transformers was a C+/B- at best. Several problems with it. One being the closed off angles all the bot fights were shot at where you could barely make out what was actually happening then it was over all of the sudden. The best action/fight part was the highway sequence, but ended abruptly with a short(but awesome) energon sword to the face from Optimus again without really knowing what was happening till it was over. Also, the long build up to a weak and very short finale. I was really excited about this movie. I went to see it and the film burned up in the last 15 minutes. I had to go see the first 2 hours all over again just to see the last disappointing 15 minutes. Overall, a lot of this movie was just cheesy, and not the good kind.
Barring all that, like I said before he's a good CGI/Action director. He's got an idea for what will blow people's minds in the art of stunts and explosions. You want to see that stuff throughout a movie? Great. Though, without a good plot or script to back it up, those types of movies usually fall flat on their face for a lot of people.
Example of good dialog meets awesome action: Bad Boys(both installments), which if IMDB is correct was the movie that probably started his big movie career as it was his first big one. Why did I enjoy that movie? The banter between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence was pretty natural and memorable and added to the drama. Ask yourself this, with those things missing would the action have been enough? Probably not.
Bay didn't always get it right and sometimes he didn't even have a chance, but when he hits the mark it does stick.
Though his track record of late is a little shotty with me, I don't consider him a horrible director in what ever he attempts. I will remain skeptical of his efforts though until I see them for myself. Next movie to come out that he's directing is the next Transformers installment.
For the record, I liked Armageddon, The Rock, and Bad Boys 1 & 2. For nostalgia sake I'll say I liked Transformers too, but it could have been so much better.
