Michael Bay's 7 Best Guilty Pleasures
Have a favorite city or landmark? Then chances are good that Michael Bay has blown it up. In honor of "13 Hours," we've ranked the director's seven best guilty pleasures based on their explosion-y goodness.
7. 'The Rock' (1996)
Michael Bay, Sean Connery and Nic Cage tear up Michelle Tanner's home town in this R-rated ode to machismo and fireballs. Explosions are so sic, one (seen here) sent a trolly airborne. Respect.
6. 'Bad Boys' (1995)
Yes, that is a Porsche speeding away from an exploding airplane and hangar. You're welcome. Michael Bay's first feature is arguably his best, and intentionally funny, film. It set the stage for Bay's MBA in blowing things up real good.
5. 'Pearl Harbor' (2001)
World War II gets in the way of a love triangle (naturally) in Bay's really not good attempt at war drama pathos. But he and his pyrotechnic team deliver on the titular attack, complete with a shot from a bomb's POV as it drops its fiery payload.
4. 'Armageddon' (1998)
City-hunting space rocks take down most of New York as Bruce Willis and his fellow team of drillers-turned-astronauts brave "Space Madness" to stop a planet killer. In short: Lots of things go explode-y loud and often. Including Paris and Shanghai.
3. 'Bad Boys II' (2003)
Will Smith and Martin Lawrence's Miami super cops wage war on Cuba (because reasons), culminating in a drug lord's mansion getting turned into a small sun.
2. 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' (2011)
Chicago gets attacked by really evil blimps from above, and tentacle Drillers from below, as Bay spends nearly three hours seeing how much bad story/good explosions he can pack into one interminable movie. "Moon" is fantastically stupid, but damn if audiences didn't OD on ILM's eye candy.
1. 'Transformers: Age of Extinction' (2014)
One movie wasn't enough to contain all Bay has to say on how to kill Chicago, so Bay's fourth entry in the franchise destroys the city again -- and, yes, neither the story or characters ever acknowledge the fallout or necessity of this narrative choice. That would detract from the finale, which features boats (and their propellers) being dropped like bombs while city-sucking airships turn Hong Kong into a scrap yard. Bonus points for deploying a winged Dinobot and fire-belching Grimlock. Nevermind that the movie kicks off with a ground-level depiction of the meteor that killed the dinosaurs (basically a remake of the opening title sequence from "Armageddon.") *slow clap.
