My theory is that Bay only receives funding for his true passion projects once he makes everyone some cash with tf movies. That's why he said he was done after DOTM, but surprise surprise he's back for AOE bc he wanted to do 13 Hours (which is a great film). He wants to do an elephant poaching film? The studios and producers tell him "no no no, that's a risky move and won't make us money. do TF5 first and we'll let you do that stuff." That's just my theory, anyways. He's been giving off that 'I'm tired of this sh*t' vibe ever since DOTM, or around there.

 

My thoughts exactly. By the way, I saw 13 Hours and thought it was a great movie. If Bay stuck to projects like those he could be a great director but his options are limited as Paramount pressures him into sticking to this franchise.

 

My first statement is going to be about huge action films in general.

The bad guys need a plot they can pull off. When the plot gets to be a huge end of the world type plot then the tension goes right out of a movie because we know the studios aren't brave enough to end one of their fictional worlds. Yes we know the good guys are going to win but you want a feeling of maybe the good guys will not win. The movie Aliens is exciting because you don't know who if anyone will survive so when the hero beats the Alien Queen that's exciting. When you know Ultron doesn't stand a chance then Avengers 2 gets boring.

I think it would make the Transformers movies better if they played up the paranoia that the robots could be anywhere. For an alien threat that could be any car on the road they really don't play up the fear people who know about the Transformers should feel.

The other thing I think that would help is to stop attempting to be like other films and just be it's own thing. Yea The Dark Knight made money by being dark, grim, and gritty, but that doesn't mean every damn film should be dark, grim, and gritty. Lord of the Rings made money with really long films but that doesn't mean every film needs some sort of epic run time.

 

actually he did AOE so that he could do Pain and Gain (another passion project of his, which he originally wanted to be his next film after ROTF, before Paramount moved DOTM from its original 2012 date to 2011)

 

a condensed version of the events of the 3part opener of the original G1 series, basically this G1 based live-action Transformers movie by tritie on DeviantArt

 

And he's doing Transformers 5 because they allowed him to do 13 hours.

 

Y'know, I don't have any chip on my shoulder about Bay doing the Transformers movies, unlike what seems like roughly half the fandom. But if he doesn't really want to keep making them, then Paramount shouldn't twist his arm like that. I'm sure there are lots of other directors who would love to make big piles of money. Hell, let J.J. Abrams do it. It's one of the only franchises that can't really be damaged by his flagrant disregard for plot.

I don't think even I could handle a 13 hour Transformers movie  

 

Good, paced story telling.