Michael Bay gets a lot of sh*t for his willingness to only make films for teenage boys, but even his biggest detractors would probably admit there is something about his explosive style that marks him out as an unlikely auteur. Only a fool would make the claim that Michael Bay doesn't know how to shoot action, after all - he's arguably something of a genius in the field, in fact, and miles better at doing so than more respected contemporary filmmakers like Christopher Nolan, who could learn a thing of two from Mr. Bay's talents. The problem with Bay, of course, is that he's not anywhere near as good at handling narrative and characterisation, and his films frequently fall into the realms of melodrama and incomprehension. But that only matters when he's making movies like Armageddon and Pearl Harbour, which require more than just "badass action scenes." The Rock, on the other hand, requires only that, and as a result it's probably Bay's best film: who could deny, after all, the inherent attraction of Sean Connery and Nicolas Cage breaking into Alcatraz to stop a nuclear fallout from a demented Ed Harris? Nobody, that's who.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
