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Saturday
06Jun2009

Shia On Michael Bay's Style: "Big, Bad, Sexy, and Fast"

DateSaturday, June 6, 2009 at 8:19AM
How confident is Shia LaBeouf in Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen? He's calling it Michael Bay's best film. I know, I know - that doesn't take much - but Shia is now jumping to his director's defense over the perception that Bay is some kind of lightweight.

"He's getting better as he goes. He is attempting to do different things. He sticks with the same formula, it's proven," Shia tells Wizard (via IGN). "He's not the only one to do that. The most important thing a director can do is establish a style. Michael Bay has a definite style."

Adds LaBeouf, "There's a bit of John Ford in Bay, and then there's a bit of like, f**cking Looney Tunes, you know?" Well, I might go along with the second part of that, but John Ford? William Wellman, maybe, if you want to throw out a director from a bygone era who knew how to blow stuff up, but I don't see much John Ford. Sorry.

"I don't know of anybody that shoots action like Michael Bay. Nobody shoots women like Michael Bay. He is shameless about it. And the world wants that. Middle America wants the shameless, exploitive, escapism film. That's what they want. They want big, bad, sexy and fast."

Big, bad, sexy, and fast: All trademarks of John Ford's work, I guess.

I have no doubt that the first Transformers was/is Bay's best movie, and maybe the sequel's better. Shia is correct about the action and the women, because Bay does that about as well as anybody. Doesn't hurt that Megan Fox is his leading lady and he has basically an unlimited budget and owns his own effects shop, Digital Domain.

I'd take Paul Greengrass' approach to action over Bay's, aesthetically speaking, but that's just a personal preference. And I have zero problem with Bay as a popcorn director, but no matter how successful that popcorn is, it's still popcorn.

Bay hinted recently he wants to go low budget for his next film, and I'd be really curious to see what he can pull off that way. To this point, he's only illustrated that he's oblivious to the concept of showing restraint, the "More is Never Enough" style. And that won't always work, unless he sticks to popcorn.

AuthorColin Boyd | | in , , | Print ArticlePrint Article | | Comment1 Comment |

Reader Comments (1)

Michael Bay has no discernible visual or narrative style. I would say that the absence of a personal touch is his biggest trademark. If you show any scene from Transformers that doesn't have a transformer in it, you wouldn't know what it was. It's totally generic.

But Michael Bay and Shia Le Boeuf are not in cinema to change the world. They are trying to make money for the studios and they do it.

As long as you understand the difference between real film and mere movie entertainment, there will be no cause for arguments.

Sunday, June 7, 2009 | Unregistered CommenterLengthy Johnson

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