Michael Bay is at it again with "Transformers: The Last Knight," the 13th feature the prolific action director has helmed. Let's celebrate by taking a look back at his career and ranking all his movies, from least to most awesome.
13. "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" (2009)
There are a handful of Michael Bay movies where he clearly doesn't quite have a handle on, well, himself, and "Revenge of the Fallen" is the textbook case. I'm a big fan of Michael Bay's tendency toward excessiveness, but this one is excessively excessive.
12. "Pearl Harbor" (2001)
The war scenes are great, of course, but the rest of this movie's subject matter doesn't really play to Michael Bay's strengths. I mean, it's a historical romantic drama. That's just not his thing.
11. "Transformers: Age of Extinction" (2014)
The audacity of this 165-minute libertarian screed is really impressive.
10. "Transformers: The Last Knight" (2017)
This is a natural evolution of the "Transformers" franchise because it doesn't make any sense at all and yet is still weirdly enjoyable. It helps that Anthony Hopkins gives the best performance of his career.
9. "The Island" (2005)
This high-concept sci-fi story is one of those Michael Bay movies where he clearly wanted to try to achieve some semblance of respectability. But he made the mistake of making a Michael Bay movie at the same time. It's still pretty fun, though.
8. "Bad Boys" (1995)
In Bay's first movie you can definitely see exactly what he wants to do with his filmmaking career, but the $19 million budget of "Bad Boys" didn't exactly let him spread his wings. Still, this movie is hilarious.
7. "Armageddon" (1998)
Usually your movies about the end of the world are pretty serious in tone, but that's just not what Michael Bay does. And we're all winners because of that.
6. "Transformers" (2007)
It's kinda hard to remember a decade later, but there was a time when every mention of the "Transformers" franchise wasn't met by an obligatory scoff. That first "Transformers" movie is great.
5. "The Rock" (1996)
Michael Bay's second movie is an action classic, largely free of his trademark excesses we've come to know and love. Might be his best movie, but looking at it as a Michael Bay movie from the year 2017 it kinda feels like a minor work.
4. "13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi" (2016)
Michael Bay was finally able to crack the code on making a normal movie with this totally engrossing military thriller. So long as you're able to ignore all the real-life crackpot conspiracy theories about Benghazi, which this movie doesn't play into at all.
3. "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" (2011)
The third "Transformers" movie is the ultimate Michael Bay mega-budget experience, with an action climax that lasts a solid hour, and great character actors popping up all over to make jokes.
2. "Pain & Gain" (2013)
After two decades of moviemaking, we got a Michael Bay movie that was all the standard Michael Bay sensibilities but without any action.
1. "Bad Boys II" (2003)
What some might call the seminal Michael Bay experience. Incredibly crude and extremely violent with zero regard for the sanctity of human life. And also a perfect movie.
