Movie Gods, I have sinned. All the years, all those film studies classes, so much spent learning the intricacies of character, story, method acting, the visual language of film, all for naught. I have offended you, and I'm sorry. What is the crime? I like Michael Bay movies.
Ok, yes, the sentences above are a joke. The Godfather, now and forever, is my favorite movie. Character, story, and a certain sense of visual wit will always define the films I return to, year after year. But…. But….. A few weeks ago I wrote a not-particularly-impassioned defense of Bay's latest, smallest feature, Pain and Gain. Basically, I thought it was a lot better than it needed to be, that the actors were having fun, and that Bay's signature - ahem - style was in service of the story instead of replacing it. Recently, I decided to take a look at his larger career, partly because I'm deeply twisted, partly to make sure my childhood epilepsy really has gone away, and mostly out of a certain odd curiosity. And, to my surprise, the movies really are worthy of a closer examination. So…..
We go to movies for a lot of reasons. Part of it, undoubtedly, is to observe gifted artists in action. Part is to have our minds enriched and our perspectives broadened. Remember, though, that the first cinematic image was of a speeding freight train. It was a thriller, designed to bring a certain spark of adrenalized tension into the audience. There's a lengthy, proud, artistically valid legacy of films seeking to achieve exactly that effect. Pure entertainment, delivered maximally to a perpetually juvenile part of our brains. In the 21st century, this is called a popcorn movie, and Michael Bay is among its foremost practitioners.
He's attained that status mostly through the act of being more. The movies exist in a kind of unfettered zen state, translated with shocking immediacy from Generalissimo Bay's brain. Revenge of the Fallen, in particular, is a really rather remarkable example of Id writ large. It's terrible by every concievable measure, but that's beside the point. The only sin, in Bay-world, is boredom. Revenge of the Fallen barely has a script, but it's never boring to look at. Bay's palette, visual craft, and general hyperactivity make every frame worthy of eyeballing, even as the more mature part of your brain processes the idiocy of the dialogue but oh look there's a model pracing upstairs with her ass hanging out. Etc etc.
Perhaps more importantly, there's a big part of me that thinks Bay is completely in on the joke. He's made fortunes, for himself and others, by becoming a laughingstock in the film critic community. The movies have a cheerful, self-aware ridiculousness. Consider, in Pain and Gain, that the dimwit body-builders essentially trust their maximalism to deliver the American dream. No further action is required on their part, simply attainment of that blessed state of being worthy. Is this starting to sound like anyone?
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