Top 10 Moments in Michael Bay Films

October 5, 2021 George Karystianis

One of the most critically (and audience wise) dividing filmmakers out there, Michael Bay is undoubtedly though a box office king. Despite his larger than life appeal to the masses and his string of commercially successful films, he seems to be getting quite the flack due to his insistence on his trademark style which has not seen much evolution over the course of three decades; the inclusion of shameless product placement (particularly in his later films), crude underage humor and borderline walking caricatures.

Nevertheless, he is one of the few filmmakers that can handle productions of massive scale, creating novel shots with state of the art effects and excessively putting strong emphasis on practical set pieces that shame everything that the copy/paste factory of Marvel produces these days.

Film Mining 101 presents the top 10 moments in Michael Bay films. Some might surprise you.

extra moment: Bad Boys (1995) - The chemistry between Will Smith and Martin Lawrence

Starring: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Tea Leoni, Joe Pantoliano

Genre: Buddy cop action comedy

Release year: 1995

Country: USA

Bay’s directional debut is nothing too memorable in terms of action or plot. His later well known trademarks have not fully developed at this point but placed complementary and in small doses around the electric chemistry of Will Smith and Martin Lawrence which let’s be honest is the main attraction here. While this is not really a “moment”, Bay sets up gun fights, corpses, gorgeous women and the exotic locale of Miami as a playground for Smith’s and Lawrence banter to hilarious effect since they improvised most of the dialogue much to our amusement. If a film can rise and fall with its stars, then “Bad Boys” is one of the most entertaining buddy comedies in film history.

10. The Rock (1996) - Navy Seals massacre

Starring: Nicholas Cage, Sean Connery, Ed Harris, Michael Biehn, William Forsythe

Genre: Action thriller

Release year: 1996

Country: USA

Easily Michael Bay's best movie, "The Rock" has great one liners (with an uncredited scripting pass by Quentin Tarantino), an excellent cast, a multi-dimensional villain and heroes you can related to. Despite several memorable set pieces - setting the mark for Bay’s career like the chaotic San Francisco car chase, nothing stands out more than the massacre of the Navy seals. While attempting to stop Harris' general from launching biochemical weapons, a team of NAVY Seals enters the Rock just to get ambushed. Shot with a tremendous panache (and restrain from Bay’s part who does not glorify the violence here) and complemented by the excellent score of Nick Glenie-Smith and Hans Zimmer, we witness a truly heartbreaking moment making an interesting counterpoint for our villain’s motivations: he relied on terrorism to protect those who serve their country only for some to die in vain. Poetic irony? It is a well done emotional moment that lends more gravitas and impact to the proceedings without rendering them mindless.

9. Armageddon (1998) - "That is my father up there"!

Starring: Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Billy Bob Thorton, Liv Tayler, Michael Clark Duncan, Steve Buscemi

Genre: Science fiction disaster

Release year: 1998

Country: USA

Proof that Michael Bay can handle emotion, the last closing moments of the cheese-fest that is "Armageddon" can cause even a grown up man to cry. Following up one of the best action flicks of the 90’s Michael Bay tackled the disaster genre with spectacular box office results. Packed with an incredible cast and tip toeing between heavy melodrama, full on action flick and comedy, it was most surprising to see that no matter how many explosions he can craft, Bay can be supported by a good scripting segment. After learning that her father (Willis) will stay behind to and blow up the behemothic asteroid, Liv Tayler’s character starts screaming "That is my father up there!" against Billy Bob Thorton's NASA chief. Assisted by the excellent cinematography of John Schwartzman and a truly thunderous score by Trevor Rabin, Bay showcases diligently that no matter how many lives are at stake, the family ties guide our emotions even on our final moments. If that does not get you, I am not sure what will.

8. Pearl Harbor (2001) - Attack on Pearl Harbor

Actors: Ben Affleck, Josh Hartnett, Kate Beckinsale, Alec Baldwin, Jon Voight

Genre: Supernatural horror

Release year: 2001

Country: USA

Although the film was a spectacular (and expensive) misfire that tried to echo the massive success of "Titanic" (1997) and serious war flicks due to its corny love triangle and weak leads, “Pearl Harbor” has one saving grace that helps the film avoid cinematic mediocrity: the actual attack. Michael Bay goes ballistic in the forty minute set piece and accurately recreates entire segments of the doomed harbor with incredible special effects and vast sets surpassing “Titanic” in terms of scale. While the rest of the film relies of heavy handed cliché and poor dialogue, during these actual 40 minutes, you will definitely feel awe, sadness and panic despite the numb PG-13 rating. It makes you wonder what Bay could do with an incredible script at his hands. And that bomb drop is one of the greatest shots in the history of cinema. Period.

7. Bad Boys 2 (2003)

Starring: Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, Jordi Molla, Gabrielle Union, Joe Pantoliano

Genre: Buddy cop action comedy

Release year: 2003

Country: USA

The freeway car chase

Considering the heavy blockbuster competition back in 2003 that promoted more than 10 minutes car chases e.g., (“Terminator: Rise of the Machines” and “The Matrix Reloaded”), “Bad Boys 2” standout segment is the car carrier sequence in the streets of Miami. Implementing stellar stunt work that sees cars (and boats too!) participating in an outstanding demolition derby, it is hard to argue with Bay’s ability to practically craft outrageous sequences without a single note of unbelievability.

The rotating shot

Slightly cheating here but “Bad Boys 2” offers perhaps one of the most ambitious and visually appealing shots of Bay’s career. In a film that contains so much movement, style and sound, Bay captures Lawrence and Smith’s cop duo during a gun battle with a group of baddies in the opposites sites of the same wall. His camera rotates 360 degrees around the characters’ location showcasing the sides of the same wall interacting with bullets. It is an undeniably neat trick for the eyes which he will later reuse on other films like "Transformers" (2007) and "Pain and Gain" (2013).