No matter how many buildings, spacecrafts, and sentient robots Michael Bay explodes, the director can’t seem to get any respect. His movies are widely panned by critics, and his bombastic filmmaking style is routinely mocked by respectable, erudite writers on the Internet. Nevertheless, his films continue to clean up at the box office, so someone must be enjoying them. With the latest installment in his Every Frame A Painting series, Tony Zhou looks into why.
Michael Bay – What Is Bayham? thoroughly breaks down the director’s visual style, with close looks at Bay’s use of off-screen space, his signature twirling camera movements, and how some of his style can be traced back to West Side Story. Featuring comparisons to the likes of Hot Fuzz, Jurassic Park, andThe Lego Movie along the way, it’s a detailed, well-edited examination of what makes a Michael Bay movie tick. Bay’s movies will probably continue to make gobs of money, but this video may at least help his detractors articulate their distaste with a greater degree of specificity.