10 Directors Who Could Take Over Transformers From Michael Bay

Now Alex Garland is still relatively new to the directing world, but his experience as a novelist and screenwriter greatly increases his impressive body of work.

His screenplay work on 28 Days Later, Sunshine and Dredd show an immense talent for gripping speculative fiction, and his directorial debut Ex Machina quickly became an instant classic of the sci-fi genre. His new film Annihilation looks to be another big step for Garland that, if successful, should open him up to all sorts of large-scale productions.

So why should he do Transformers of all things?

Well, Transformers is a relatively simple concept, but one with depth to be mined. A centuries-long civil war between two divided factions, a constant search for new fuel sources and places to settle, in-fighting within those factions for leadership control, the choice of sacrificing your own kind or primitive but hopeful humankind. These are all themes intrinsic of the property that Bay has only scratched the surface of.

Garland has a mind that could create gold that framework. His work always find ways to comment on our current reality, and Transformers is greatly in need of something more deconstructive to keep the property fresh. Ex Machina commented on how technology is gradually making us less human and robots more realistic.

Why not make a similar theme out of the Autobots' relationship to Earth, learning to adapt to and help human culture whilst still upholding their own values? A simple idea, yes, but one ripe with oppurtunities that Garland would have ample room to play with.