Every Michael Bay Movie Ranked From Worst To Best

It really is astonishing to note that Bay's three best movies are the first three he ever directed.

Throughout a feature-film career that began in 1995, he's been unable to recapture some of that early magic, with 1998's Armageddon being his last widely-appreciated movie (though it was panned by critics at the time).

It's hard to pinpoint exactly what makes Armageddon so much fun; it's so unbearably cheesy, dumb and over-the-top that all conventional wisdom points to it being nigh-unwatchable, and yet... it's strangely compelling.

The positives are numerous. The ensemble cast does a fantastic job of keeping you entertained; each personality is distinct, funny, and never once do they begin to blur together.

That final emotional punch is still distressingly effective nearly 20 years later, and has their ever been a more prominent case of a song - Aerosmith's I Don't Want To Miss A Thing, which helps the tears flow - being so closely associated with a film?

Yes, there are logic issues (wouldn't it be easier to train astronauts to drill than it is to train drillers to work in space?), but Armageddon requires you to suspend your disbelief in order for it to work.

It's a crazy ride, for sure, but if you climb aboard and strap in, you'll find it an absolute rollercoaster of an experience.