Who else but MBay could have pulled off Transformers?

Michael Bay has been brought back for TFilm4, after stating he was DONE and through with the franchise. He was brought back by Paramount/Hasbro for more money, true, but the studio wanted him back because in their eyes he is the only one who could pull off a TRANSFORMERS flick. The thing is, I’m not sure I disagree with them.

MBay was hired by Steven Spielberg in the beginning. Spielberg could have given the film to one of his protégés like Robert Zemeckis, Joe Dante or Chris Columbus; he could have even gone to George Lucas, whose STAR WARS saga inspired TRANSFORMERS. Instead, he hired Bay, whom he described as “the best action director out there” and the action in his films (BAD BOYS, PEARL HARBOR, THE ISLAND, ARMAGEDDON) counts as one of the best, having inspired other directors in filming their action sequences (even recently THE AVENGERS and TDKR were compared to DOTM).

Bay refused at first. Not because he found it impossible, but because he found it beneath him: a cinematic adaptation of a cartoon show, back then was like a real low for directors (Raja Gosnell’s SCOOBY-DOO, and even the POPEYE film by Robert Altman did not get much popularity). He was interested, though: it was his first family film and the material was about a war on Earth and involved cars, stuff he could handle. Hasbro agreed on MBay being a good choice; to make sure he knew who was who, they gave him a Transformers crash course so that he would balance his fresh approach with some semblance of faithfulness to the TF saga (Optimus is suitably awesome, Bumblebee a great underdog, Starscream an utter suck-up, but unfortunately Megatron got progressively downgraded).

The rest, is silence. TFilm 2007 was one of the greatest experiences ever IMHO, and has some of the most epic VFX/fights in cinematic history. The two sequels that followed weren’t that great or impressive, but rather than point fingers I’d rather blame the production issues that spoilt much of what happened:
- the set production dates (two years was too short, an extra year would have aided a lot)
- the WGA strike which caused ROTF to be rather sketchy and underdeveloped
- replacing Megan Fox with Rosie Huntington-Whitely

I admit that MBay definitely made screw-ups in some parts. He places way too much focus on the human factor, in fact unbearably so, and he has no understanding of non-army civilian people whatsoever (no one in my region of the world – southern Africa btw – acts anything like Sam Witwicky, and for this I am eternally grateful). But beyond the human bits, most people find the Transformer action fantasic and interaction fairly good (DOTM screwed a bit of that up, but its being meant to be the last instalment HAS to be considered).

On the whole, I am glad he’s back. Very few can do action like he can. All I ask form him now is that cut down on the humans, and cast more robots and allot them enough screentime and character; it's their story after all.

JJ Abrams, Josh Whedon, Steven Spielberg, the list goes on....

Plenty of people. A special-effects driven summer blockbuster is not something only Bay has been able to do successfully.

Brad Bird.

Originally Posted by Chopperface I love Animated Straxus. Ever seen his "account" on Formspring? His roleplayer is hilarious.

Just look at all the movies coming out THIS summer. Avengers, Spidey, Dark Knight, etc.
All these are considered amazing effects-driven movies.
I think Joss Whendon, maybe Cameron could do a great job.
Maybe if they put Steven Spielberg in charge instead of Bay, we'd be getting more development and less ...

Someone who actually cares about the source material.

Like how Joss Wheadon cares about the Avengers, and comic books in general.

Originally Posted by Meta777 One day, he will return. Yes, he will return, and we all of us shall behold the ultimate glory of Aggron Archer!

The title implies that Bay is the only person that could pull off TF. That is a laughable concept and while I think it could have turned out far worse it could have been infinitely better than what we got.

I don't have all day to run over every director who could have possibly pulled the films off because frankly the list is too damn long. Pretty much just a reasonably competent director who understands Paramount is under budget constraints and who has a bit of a flair for both action and special effects. We see lots of hit movies with special effects and action that make lots of profits each year without being directed by Micheal Bay.

Why is Paramount so crazy about Micheal Bay? Who knows. Given the way Paramount has been screwing up late maybe it's more luck than planning that caused Transformers to turn into a cash cow. Maybe they are just too damn cheap to get someone better.

If you think Micheal Bay is the only person on Earth who can direct a Transformers movie then you are just as wrong as the people who said only Tim Burton could make a profitable popular Batman movie.

Given the way Dark of the Moon toys had to be canceled and shipped off to the Asian market I'm not sure how happy Hasbro is with Micheal Bay.

Plenty of other directors could have made a Transformers movie besides Michael Bay. And I bet they would have done it better - especially a director passionate about the franchise.

The key difference is that Josh Whedon is a screenwriter as well.