As a satirical critique of the American Dream, Pain & Gain is about as smart a movie as you're ever likely to see. The fact that it came from Michael Bay - the king of puerile jokes, rampant, unnecessary sexualisation of female characters and explosion porn - was a revelation to end all revelations. Bay had enjoyed success with Armageddon and The Rock before that, but his more recent film canon suggested that those two movies were about as smart as he was capable of. If the gigantic robo-balls in Transformers proved anything, it was that those suspicions were utterly nailed on. But then, Bay threw a spanner into the works, adapting the near-real-life crime farce with uncharacteristic restraint (comparatively so at least) and with a great script and some phenomenal acting (especially from Dwayne Johnson), it was the most disarming surprise of 2013. And unbelievably, it suggested that Bay actually had another level to his film-making. Did It Last? It's Michael Bay, of course it wouldn't, and he proved as much with the fourth Transformers movie. Which movies changed your mind about directors you previously hated? Share your thoughts below in the comments thread.
